Is a Sim card worth it for Columbus ?

[rtj70]

If you have a working data SIM then it should work.

[john999boy]

20 hours ago, rtj70 said:

If you have a working data SIM then it should work.

Indeed it does now!

All I can presume is that I must have flipped the Google Earth setting previously and forgot to reset it.

Now to see how much extra data is consumed.

[TGR]

For those interested, here is what the Google Earth navigation looks on the Columbus. 

 

 

[technics100]

I bought a vodafone data sim today and installed in the car, still getting the red symbol on the top of the display.. any ideas?

[Parked]

On 23/06/2018 at 21:04, technics100 said:

I bought a vodafone data sim today and installed in the car, still getting the red symbol on the top of the display.. any ideas?

Have you got this sorted Technics?

 

You have to make a selection through Columbus, if you or anybody needs me to i can go to car and list here the steps of what you need to select.

 

Let me know

[technics100]

2 hours ago, Parked said:

Have you got this sorted Technics?

 

You have to make a selection through Columbus, if you or anybody needs me to i can go to car and list here the steps of what you need to select.

 

Let me know

Hi, yes I got sorted.. I cleared the settings and set it up again.. this time as Vodafone pre-paid.. works 100% and seems great

[anglefire]

Bit of thread resurrection. But did a search and this one seems the best one to reply to!

 

I've just got a mk3 superb (reg sept 2018) and it has the latest satnag and a sim slot 

 

I’ve currently got a giffgaff sim installed which Works fine - though I dropped a unlimited goody bag on it and have updated the maps etc. (Can’t quiet get it close enough to the house to pickup the WiFi!) 

But now that is done I was trying to workout how much data it will use jn everyday use. 

 

So no WiFi hotspot enabled just the navigation- I have tried to see what it uses but it seems a lot - a few mb for a fairly short journey. 

 

I was hoping to use a three sim as that gives you 200Mb a month free and 1p per Mb after that. (Giffgaff is 5p a Mb )

[rtj70]

If you have a good data plan on your mobile you can use the rSIM profile in the car's Columbus unit to take control of the SIM for calls, texts and data. 

 

All it should be doing is grabbing traffic data (sourced from TomTom). It shouldn't automatically download map updates which of course are quite large and best done over wifi or using a USB stick or SD Card.

Edited 20 April, 2019 by rtj70

[anglefire]

I have a currently a 2Gb data allowance a month on my mobile. But I use most of that. 

 

 

[anglefire]

My bmw had a built in sim that you could add the real time traffic to - about £30 a year I think. I don’t really want to be paying more than that! 

[xman]

8 minutes ago, anglefire said:

I've just got a mk3 superb (reg sept 2018) and it has the latest satnag and a sim slot 

 

 satnag 

 

Apt name....

 

"In half a mile, prepare to go straight ahead" 

or

”Turn half left" ?

 

I strongly recommend you update maps from an sdcard or usb stick , downloaded from a home computer.

 

Its the quickest method by far, a map update is at least a 25gb download.

 

If you try to update via the cars wifi, or worse still, using car online sim data because of the size, its prone to hang and crash. If this happens or if you press cancel after its been stood there doing nothing apaet from draining yiur car battery for an hour having downloaded just 22gb, it will just go back to the beginning and download the whole lot again.

 

That's quite some data plan you'd require.

 

 

 

 

[ukgnome]

Quote

I use a Sim from 3, fixed amount of data that lasts for 24 months or until used.   Great for me as it only get used by the kids on long journeys so it is very much feast and famine usage

 

[Jayd]

Hi all, just picked up my new Sportline Plus today and it has the SIM card slot in it. Looking to get a SIM on one of the deals mentioned (probably on Three) what sort of data usage are you seeing just for normal daily stuff, not being used as a WiFi hotspot by passengers?

[rtj70]

If it has the SIM slot (which is standard on Columbus now) then it also supports the rSAP profile which means it can take over the SIM in the phone for a data connection and for phone calls etc. It does mean the phone itself loses the ability to connect to the phone network itself.

 

If you have a good data plan then this is a cheap option and it's what I'd do I'd upgraded to the version of Columbus with a SIM slot (it was not standard in 2017). You could always share out the data connection so the phone connected via WiFi but you shouldn't be reading emails whilst driving 🙂

Edited 12 June, 2019 by rtj70
Put rSIM and not rSAP

[rtj70]

I don't need Internet access in my Superb often but something else I've tried is using a Macro to enable the wifi hotspot on the phone when the car connect over Bluetooth. Another macro disabled the hotspot when the car disconnects. The car has a WiFi connection configured for both my home WiFi and phone hotspot. So within a short space of time my Superb's Columbus system has Internet access.

 

I stopped using this because it's rarely needed and usually just enable/disable hotspot manually for longer journeys and plug the phone into the USB socket for power. Then I can get TomTom traffic updates on the Columbus but also quickly switch to Android Auto for Google Maps.

 

It doesn't take up too much data - not really measured on a long journey. But I've even let it update the maps over my 4G connection but then I have 25GB data a month to use.

[Jayd]

Great, might have a look at setting up this rSIM tomorrow. Is it in the manual how to do that?

[rtj70]

In the latest online PDF of the manual it's page 163. Note your mobile needs to support the Bluetooth rSAP profile for my suggestion to work. 

 

(Note I said rSIM but it's rSAP - Remote SIM Access Profile)

Edited 12 June, 2019 by rtj70

[rtj70]

Just realised my phone wouldn't work in this way. I have the dual SIM Galaxy S9 and the dual SIM version does not support RSAP. Oh well. I prefer having both personal and work SIM in a single phone and don't have the SIM slot in the Columbus unit anyway.

 

 

[Jayd]

Looks like it’s not an option as iPhones don’t seem to support rsap 

[Paul007]

On 12/03/2018 at 14:11, xman said:

Not sure if this helps but a dirt cheap option is Three's data reward sim . Its a pay as you go sim 3p/2p/1p for calls/txts/mb. It gives you 200MB FREE every month, and top ups start at £2 but you don't need to top up to get your free 200mb. 

 

https://www.three.co.uk/Free_SIM_MBB/Order

 

 

 

 I went on that link and the sim came. Going on Skoda Connect, I now see this.  Is it the same for everyone else ?

[anglefire]

Have you activated the SIM? You have to reply to a text from memory - but they come through on the car ok - and I also registered.

 

I've just checked mine - I added £10 and it went down quite quickly at first - but seems to have stayed at £8.87 for some time - and I've done probably 3000miles since I put it in a month or so ago.