Traffic - rds-tmc receiver

[andre]

I just bought a Go 720. One of the primary reasons I bought this unit was for the real-time traffic. I drive from San Diego to LA quite often and figured this would be a big help. But I'm disappointed to see that the Tom Tom traffic service doesn't work with Verizon because Verizon has locked it down supposedly. I don't quite understand that since it's just data, and if I have the data feature enabled on my Razr, how would Tom Tom know the difference? Anyway, my question is about the external rds-tmc receiver. It sure seems like the Tom Tom traffic service is better from what I read, and a couple reviews I read on the rds-tmc receiver were not favorable. Have any of you out there used the rds-tmc receiver, especially in the So Cal area? If so, did it help route you around traffic? Was it accurate? I've got to say one thing I liked about the Garmin Nuvi is that the traffic antenna was built into the unit. I'm disappointed that I now have to buy an external antenna and have one more thing on my windshield to get this to work. Seems like a brand-new model like the Go 720 would have a better option, like Garmin's built-in antenna.

Andre

 

[sonjohn1]

Just this morning my 920T helped me avoid a major tie up on 71 south into Columbus. At least in this town it works great.
JR

 

[trafficinfo]

tomtom rds-tmc receiver basically works the same as the garmin gtm 21 (built into the cig power adaptor). BOTH get the same data from the same provider from the same FM frecuency. The only difference might be the sensitivity of each antenna/receiver. Maybe one gets a signal where the other one does not , pretty much like cellphones , some work inside elevators and some other, even for the same cell provider, does not.

TomTom Plus traffic on the contrary uses the GSM and CDMA cell network and with that you get service almost 100 % of the time almost 100 % everywhere. Also this service can and will send extra traffic data like road conditions and actual speed if available (actual speed not available with their traffic provider , Clear Channel's TTN, but they do get flow events).

 

[jombi]

Hi Andre,

I've got the RDS reciever and I live in SD County. It works fairly well, but like others have said the source data on the RDS network isn't always updated as quickly as I guess the data is on the CDMA network. I also have Verizon (Blackberry 7130e) and can't get that to work. You might try the blackberryforums.com for more info on that.
In the end, having the RDS has helped me avoid some traffic tie-ups, but I also listen to the traffic reports on the radio as well.
I think I'd rather have the traffic through PLUS, but since I've never had it I can't say for sure.

Chuck