Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2009
- Messages
- 9,560
- Reaction score
- 1,749
Hobby cross-pollination. Found this from recent R/C plane/quadcopter forum posts.
3G sim card support to use AT&T or T-Mobile. 27 grams. With T-mobile, $10 fill card with data plan activated is good for 90 days. Refill account as needed. Very loud location beeper, activated with a call to the device. Very long battery life. True GPS. Apparently, the best unit around right now.
Tech details:
https://blog.sam-thompson.info/rf-v16-gps-tracker-guide/
Video reviews:
[video=youtube;VMrM2F1-xRI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMrM2F1-xRI[/video]
[video=youtube;cyf6FJlK7DM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyf6FJlK7DM[/video]
US source: (actually cheaper than Chinese sources; haven't bought yet from this seller, so I can't vouch for them, but feedback seems good)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-...250?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27fb1d80b2
Recent comments at the blog linked to above are included below. This isn't good for 2G dependent GPS trackers in general. I haven't seen this caveat mentioned elsewhere in the R/C forums, not to say it isn't there. My on-line search for 2G sunset gives a completion date of Jan. 2017. T-Mobile's plan sounds like they may leave some 2G capability behind, just at a lower overall network bandwidth, but that would most likely be for towers near heavy population density areas, not necessarily near your launch site:
https://gigaom.com/2012/02/23/t-mobile-pounds-the-first-nail-in-2gs-coffin/
"T-Mobile plans to sunset between two-thirds and three-quarters of its GSM channels in the PCS bands leaving, only a modicum of 2G bandwidth left for older phones that don’t sport 3G or 4G radios and to support basic data services for its machine-to-machine communications business."
Comments from blog:
Marc • 12 days ago
Will the 2G sunset affect the v16? All carriers are phasing out 2G or have. They say it will accept a 3G or 4g sim but only communicates on 2g. Will the v16 become obsolete the very near future?
Thanks
Sam Mod Marc • 9 days ago
Hi Marc, how soon is the very near future? Do you have a reference for this info? I believe the RF-V16 requires only GPRS at a minimum, and still works fine over 3G and 4G. Is GPRS going away?
Marc Sam • 9 days ago
2g is being phased out by AT&T, not sure about T-Mobile or GPRS. Do you have an RF-V16? I would like to get one but read you should get data. I was in a T-Mobile store and he said the $10 prepaid card does not include data. I ordered a Marco Polo tracker, it's only 12 grams so I could also use a RF-V16 but don't want to spend more than the $3.00 per month. Any further input on people with experience with the RF-V16 would be great.
Sam Mod Marc • 6 days ago
Hi Marc, yes I own an RF-V16, I'm the author of this blog You can read more about it above, and we'd like to hear your experience with the Marco Polo tracker please!
Marc Sam • 5 days ago
Here is the latest daily rate plan off of the T-Mobile web site.
Pay As You Go
Recurring monthly fee of $3 per month.
You get a combined total of 30 minutes of calls or text messages per month.
Additional outgoing/incoming calls or texts are $0.10 each.
Includes nationwide roaming and nationwide long distance while on the T-Mobile network.
You can also add optional data passes:
1-day 500 MB data pass for $5
1-week 1 GB data pass for $10
(this pass is good for 7 days)
This gets expensive quick, any ideas?
Marc
Marc Sam • 6 days ago
Hi Sam,
Be glad to report back on the Marcp Polo when I have some tests done. I'm a little paranoid I guess of loosing my Phantom Vision so I would like to have some redundancy. I've read the entire blog and comments and I want to say thanks as this is helpful to a lot of us. Could you provide some clarification please as I would also like to have an RF-V16. I'd also prefer to keep my recurring monthly costs to a minimum. My original thoughts based on my research findings was that all I needed was a T-Mobile sim and activate it and put a $10 prepaid card / pay as you go plan. $3.00 was the minimum fee that would be deducted from the card per month. In talking with a T-Mobile store associate that plan does not include data which it sounds like you need for true gps tracking. This is where I get a bit confused, what plan do I need to get the gps to work? Other sites have said the $10 prepaid would work but based on what I've read here and some other places data is required. I would love specifics and the best cost effective plan to go with that is guaranteed to give true gps tracking so I know what I'm up against. Also back to my 1st concern the 2G sunset, on another forum a person wrote in that they bought one and couldn't use it because it only supported 2G. So you see the more research I do the more confused I get. Thanks for your help.
Marc
3G sim card support to use AT&T or T-Mobile. 27 grams. With T-mobile, $10 fill card with data plan activated is good for 90 days. Refill account as needed. Very loud location beeper, activated with a call to the device. Very long battery life. True GPS. Apparently, the best unit around right now.
Tech details:
https://blog.sam-thompson.info/rf-v16-gps-tracker-guide/
Video reviews:
[video=youtube;VMrM2F1-xRI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMrM2F1-xRI[/video]
[video=youtube;cyf6FJlK7DM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyf6FJlK7DM[/video]
US source: (actually cheaper than Chinese sources; haven't bought yet from this seller, so I can't vouch for them, but feedback seems good)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-...250?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27fb1d80b2
Recent comments at the blog linked to above are included below. This isn't good for 2G dependent GPS trackers in general. I haven't seen this caveat mentioned elsewhere in the R/C forums, not to say it isn't there. My on-line search for 2G sunset gives a completion date of Jan. 2017. T-Mobile's plan sounds like they may leave some 2G capability behind, just at a lower overall network bandwidth, but that would most likely be for towers near heavy population density areas, not necessarily near your launch site:
https://gigaom.com/2012/02/23/t-mobile-pounds-the-first-nail-in-2gs-coffin/
"T-Mobile plans to sunset between two-thirds and three-quarters of its GSM channels in the PCS bands leaving, only a modicum of 2G bandwidth left for older phones that don’t sport 3G or 4G radios and to support basic data services for its machine-to-machine communications business."
Comments from blog:
Marc • 12 days ago
Will the 2G sunset affect the v16? All carriers are phasing out 2G or have. They say it will accept a 3G or 4g sim but only communicates on 2g. Will the v16 become obsolete the very near future?
Thanks
Sam Mod Marc • 9 days ago
Hi Marc, how soon is the very near future? Do you have a reference for this info? I believe the RF-V16 requires only GPRS at a minimum, and still works fine over 3G and 4G. Is GPRS going away?
Marc Sam • 9 days ago
2g is being phased out by AT&T, not sure about T-Mobile or GPRS. Do you have an RF-V16? I would like to get one but read you should get data. I was in a T-Mobile store and he said the $10 prepaid card does not include data. I ordered a Marco Polo tracker, it's only 12 grams so I could also use a RF-V16 but don't want to spend more than the $3.00 per month. Any further input on people with experience with the RF-V16 would be great.
Sam Mod Marc • 6 days ago
Hi Marc, yes I own an RF-V16, I'm the author of this blog You can read more about it above, and we'd like to hear your experience with the Marco Polo tracker please!
Marc Sam • 5 days ago
Here is the latest daily rate plan off of the T-Mobile web site.
Pay As You Go
Recurring monthly fee of $3 per month.
You get a combined total of 30 minutes of calls or text messages per month.
Additional outgoing/incoming calls or texts are $0.10 each.
Includes nationwide roaming and nationwide long distance while on the T-Mobile network.
You can also add optional data passes:
1-day 500 MB data pass for $5
1-week 1 GB data pass for $10
(this pass is good for 7 days)
This gets expensive quick, any ideas?
Marc
Marc Sam • 6 days ago
Hi Sam,
Be glad to report back on the Marcp Polo when I have some tests done. I'm a little paranoid I guess of loosing my Phantom Vision so I would like to have some redundancy. I've read the entire blog and comments and I want to say thanks as this is helpful to a lot of us. Could you provide some clarification please as I would also like to have an RF-V16. I'd also prefer to keep my recurring monthly costs to a minimum. My original thoughts based on my research findings was that all I needed was a T-Mobile sim and activate it and put a $10 prepaid card / pay as you go plan. $3.00 was the minimum fee that would be deducted from the card per month. In talking with a T-Mobile store associate that plan does not include data which it sounds like you need for true gps tracking. This is where I get a bit confused, what plan do I need to get the gps to work? Other sites have said the $10 prepaid would work but based on what I've read here and some other places data is required. I would love specifics and the best cost effective plan to go with that is guaranteed to give true gps tracking so I know what I'm up against. Also back to my 1st concern the 2G sunset, on another forum a person wrote in that they bought one and couldn't use it because it only supported 2G. So you see the more research I do the more confused I get. Thanks for your help.
Marc
Last edited: