Navigating with Cell Phone - Data usage and planning

[charles meyer]

Hi my esteemed listmates,

 

I would very much appreciate your caring help.

 

So, I’m doing my own due diligence (and helping patrons as well) not having the recommended family, friends or 2^nd or 3^rd homes in other areas to escape to from inclement weather.

 

My budget doesn’t allow for more than Tracfone with their free Samsung A03.

 

Mostly that works OK for texting, phone calls, taking photos/videos.

 

It becomes a problem when you need to escape and have to use Google Maps (GM) or Waze.

 

I read a couple of articles I Googled where they shared that GM uses .73 MB of data every 20 minutes and 3-5 MB an hour compared to Waze using 0.23 MB per 20 minutes.

 

If you use GM turn-by-turn navigation with live traffic updates it uses 7-10MB of data an hour. I can imagine using the turn-by-turn navigation as last escape was a nightmare driving to an unfamiliar area hundreds of miles away.

 

I have 1.46 GB of data on my smartphone.

 

I imagine could use all that up just evacuating our area to wherever we need to go as you never know exactly where a hurricane is heading.

 

If I use a library hotspot to access free WIFI as I drive away from a hurricane will that allow me to avoid using any of my current data?

 

I’ve used the hotspot in the car on a trip and it worked OK but there was no hurricane.

 

Is my only alternative to buy 10 GB of data from Tracfone as the hurricane approaches (in the days before)?

 

Thank you.

 

Charles.

 

 

 

[Dennis Adams]

Note that Google Maps can download maps for an area (ahead of time, depending vet EiFi) and then operate offline. 

///d@

On Jun 28, 2025, at 2:08 PM, charles meyer <reachm...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[John Hess]

Yes and open street map can also download ahead of time.   

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John Hess

http://jthess.com

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[go4...@gmail.com]

I highly recommend the  Here app https://wego.here.com/

You can download maps by state and/or country.

After the initial download - Here can function without any data.

Markus

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Markus Schumann

+1 (608) 628 9600

On Jun 28, 2025, at 14:08, charles meyer <reachm...@gmail.com> wrote:



[Dougal]

Get Google Maps via mobile data for free:  https://www.textnow.com/get-free-wireless

It uses the T-Mobile network. It really is free. I run this as my backup SIM.

Dougal

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[charles meyer]

Hi Dennis... I;m trying to catch up with you on this. So I would Google map From and to specific addresses and then download those results and save them to the Android DCIM folder and then somehow watch that offline? Not sure what it meant by " vet EiF"?

THe challenge is i will probably have to take non-freeway, county roads I've never been on where there's just cow pastures.

Thank you.

Charles.

On Sat, Jun 28, 2025 at 6:25 PM Dennis Adams <dither...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[charles meyer]

Sorry ofr my Forest Gumpishness .... so I would install that app on my Android and then type in From and To like Google Maps?

Download the result to where on my phone?

Then bring that up with that app open?

How does that differ from Google Maps?

I'm trying to out this step by stp together.

Thank you!

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[Dithermaster]

Right, you'd set the view to the area of interest and tell it to download. Then it will be able to show that map information even when offline. Sorry about the "depending vet EiFi" -- I know I saw "using WiFi" on my screen, but it somehow "autocorrected" it. Note: downloaded maps do expire after some time (months?) so make sure to update them from time to time.

///d@