Dave Burrows – Tech / iPhone Blog – Technical Evangelist

Google Maps is suggested as a good FREE alternative to paying for a SatNav on your mobile phone, but just how free is it?

Garmin did a test on an O2 Android phone and here are the results of their roaming trip through France from the UK on an O2 PAYG tariff…

According to Garmin, it costs around 20p per mile to use Google Maps Navigation on an Android phone.

A return Calais-to-Paris (185 miles) trip by car notched up £74 of data roaming charges, using 12-13 megabytes of data. Here’s what return trips further afield cost:

• Avignon, 614 miles: £245.60
• Saint-Tropez, 730 miles: £292
• Grenoble, 540 miles: £216
• Marseille, 667 miles: £266.80
• Lyon, 474 miles: £189.60
• Cannes, 747 miles: £298.80
• Bordeaux, 540 miles: £216
• Valence, 539 miles: £215.60
• Saint-Etienne, 510 miles: £204

So what’s the real cost of FREE?  Pretty expensive.  There’s no such thing as a FREE lunch.  There’s always a catch, and Google Maps Navigation is a very good catch.

O2 claims “Those figures are incorrect. O2 charges £3 per MB, so 12-13 MB would cost £39 at most. Once you reach £40 per month, O2 stops charging you until you reach 50 MB. We then offer you the high user bolt-on, which gives you up to 200 MB for £120″ yet Garmin received a bill for £74, so looks like O2 are wrong in their estimation.

O2′s own PAYG tariff page at http://freesim.o2.co.uk/terms/simo stipulates “1. The unlimited web allowance (when included) on this tariff is permitted for use in the UK only. Data will be charged at £3 per MB when in the UK or roaming within the EU, and £6 per MB when roaming in the rest of the world.”.

The above costs are true only for roaming, not everyone roams but with unlimited data tariffs now being reduced by most mobile network operators worldwide from unlimited to 250mb in most cases, 500mb in other cases, even if you were to use your device a lot for Data in your own country, e.g. UK and then go on a long road trip in the same country, you’re still going to receive a large bill at the end of your journey.

Based on the above figures, if I were to do drive a route from London to Edinburgh and back, that’s 815 miles at the rate calculated above it would cost £52.86 on PAYG without any inclusive data.

For the cost of £19.99 for CoPilot Live v8 for Google Android, iPhone and Windows Mobile, I think I’d prefer to go the route of a dedicated SatNav still than return with a hefty bill.

Original Source: Guardian UK