step 1: Always know where my 2IS is located
05-23-06, 08:51 PM
#31
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Originally Posted by kensteele
hehe, already have lot of testers in Calif as you can imagine. But all major carriers should have this if not soon since most newer phones are GPS capable.
This would be the beginning to other location-based services. Imagine one day your phone reports your location, speed, direction, etc to a master database and since nearly everyone is reporting, you get realtime traffic on your cellphone. Hit a button and your screen split four ways showing you all the cameras at the next intersection. Hit another button and that screen transfers to your Lexus nav screen using bluetooth. since you paid the hefty "premium highway services" fee, traffic lights are trained to hold longer on yellow just for you to allow you thru and police radar (in rural areas where gps can be more precisely assigned to a car) also tied into the network, flash "exemption" on the speed display unless you are 30 or better over. LOL
it is remarkable that nearly every urban taxi cab in japan and korea has gps with maps for directions both in the cellphone and in the dash. in south korea, law enforcement use fixed cameras and photo radar to catch speeders and they are practically everywhere. i never saw a patrol unit much less traffic radar. drivers use their cellphones and gps radar detectors to alert them when they approach a camera. the service provider has gathered the gps coordinates of all the known cameras and flashed them into the devices, i saw it working (very well) several dozens times.
This would be the beginning to other location-based services. Imagine one day your phone reports your location, speed, direction, etc to a master database and since nearly everyone is reporting, you get realtime traffic on your cellphone. Hit a button and your screen split four ways showing you all the cameras at the next intersection. Hit another button and that screen transfers to your Lexus nav screen using bluetooth. since you paid the hefty "premium highway services" fee, traffic lights are trained to hold longer on yellow just for you to allow you thru and police radar (in rural areas where gps can be more precisely assigned to a car) also tied into the network, flash "exemption" on the speed display unless you are 30 or better over. LOL
it is remarkable that nearly every urban taxi cab in japan and korea has gps with maps for directions both in the cellphone and in the dash. in south korea, law enforcement use fixed cameras and photo radar to catch speeders and they are practically everywhere. i never saw a patrol unit much less traffic radar. drivers use their cellphones and gps radar detectors to alert them when they approach a camera. the service provider has gathered the gps coordinates of all the known cameras and flashed them into the devices, i saw it working (very well) several dozens times.
05-23-06, 10:00 PM
#32
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Thieves are pretty smart theses days...well dumb but street smart I'm sure the first thing they will do is get rid of the cell unless it is not plugged in tucked under a seat or in the trunk it would be hard to hide the power adaptor with out some type of mod.
05-24-06, 05:11 AM
#33
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Style2k6
Thieves are pretty smart theses days...well dumb but street smart I'm sure the first thing they will do is get rid of the cell unless it is not plugged in tucked under a seat or in the trunk it would be hard to hide the power adaptor with out some type of mod.
Anyway I did say I had a backup plan....thief sees nice phone probably thinks that is my only phone lol.
05-24-06, 06:49 AM
#35
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Originally Posted by kensteele
I only keep my primary phone with me at all times in my pocket. If you take your phone with you when you go inside and someone steals your car, how are you going to track it (a phone that is in your pocket).
05-24-06, 07:40 AM
#36
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
Here's the current Sprint promotion buy one phone get the second one free after rebate. total cost $39. Perfect: http://www.sprintspecialoffers.com/d...Grads_3100BOGO
When you pay the $10 Family Locator fee, you can add up to 4 phones to that program for free.
I think it's great that the program doesn't prohibit or make it difficult to use due to extra costs.
When you pay the $10 Family Locator fee, you can add up to 4 phones to that program for free.
I think it's great that the program doesn't prohibit or make it difficult to use due to extra costs.
05-24-06, 07:41 AM
#37
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by diablo1
Ya, it's almost as if tracking stolen vehicles isn't the primary use of cell phones. You definitely wouldn't want to keep your cell phone with you so you could, for example, place and receive calls on it... Now that would just be silly.
hehe, so it's great if you lose your phone, find an internet connect and find your lost phone in just a few minutes. 
ok so this is step 1....now on to step 2 which is......
Last edited by kensteele; 05-24-06 at 04:48 PM.
05-24-06, 11:11 AM
#38
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Not to tout the service, but... I use Guidepoint Systems on all of my vehicles.
http://www.guidepointsystems.com
Side note: Here in Southern California, *I* can probably find you a better deal than any of the Authorized Dealers. The only reason I say this is because I went through an authorized dealer on my first vehicle, and paid a premium price, but found a trick to get it installed for cheaper.
Anyways, about Guidepoint, it's a GPS based vehicle service. They do Vehicle Tracking, Emergency Assistance (via button, sort of like OnStar - except there's no Microphone/Speaker in the car - the call you on your cell), Stolen Vehicle Recovery, Remote Start, Remote Unlock, Road Side Assistance, etc.
It all depends on what you want. Personally, I only have mine setup for Stolen Vehicle Location basic (which is free), and then I added on a PC package which allows me to track the vehicle online up to 150 times per year (over 150 times costs extra), and also via Web enabled cellular (My RAZR on Cingular).
There are good sides and bad sides to Guidepoint.
First default, it does not come with a backup battery. I fixed this on each of my vehicles with a $30 DEI Alarm Backup Battery.
The install cost is a little high. I've seen prices from $695 all the way up to $1295 installed, depending on how well you negotiate. It's competitive with LoJack.
You can't beat the Sprint idea on price, just that the Sprint phone will be way easier to find, the Guidepoint looks like a black box, and the Antenna can be hidden away under the dash, or rear deck.
It's better than LoJack being that it uses GPS. (LoJack uses an RF based, Homing Device style signal which must be picked up via a police unit equipped with a LoJack receiver).
Guidepoint can unlock and remote start (doesn't really apply to our cars), while LoJack and the Sprint phone have no such capability. Guidepoint also has a hookup to the vehicle horn - used for when the system is activated by the command center (in the event of either a theft - the car will start honking with the thief driving it, or if you lose your car in a parking lot you can call them and have them honk the horn for you).
Stolen Vehicle Locator is excellent and that exceeds the level of service that LoJack or Sprint can provide. If your car is stolen, you call them up and they call the police, then they work with the police to locate your vehicle. LoJack will enable the LoJack unit in the event of a theft, but if there aren't any police in the area with a LoJack receiver, your car will never be recovered.
There's a few other features, like "Security Fence", where they will know if the vehicle is moved without being started (like it is towed away), and they can call you.
Some of those features are premium features, being that they will require extra $$. For the price, Ken's solution with the Sprint phone can't be beat, but it all has to do with how discrete you'd like the vehicle tracking to be. Maybe you're keeping track of your teenager (or even spouse). An integrated solution will be much harder to find when installed properly, even for a thief.
-Brian
http://www.guidepointsystems.com
Side note: Here in Southern California, *I* can probably find you a better deal than any of the Authorized Dealers. The only reason I say this is because I went through an authorized dealer on my first vehicle, and paid a premium price, but found a trick to get it installed for cheaper.
Anyways, about Guidepoint, it's a GPS based vehicle service. They do Vehicle Tracking, Emergency Assistance (via button, sort of like OnStar - except there's no Microphone/Speaker in the car - the call you on your cell), Stolen Vehicle Recovery, Remote Start, Remote Unlock, Road Side Assistance, etc.
It all depends on what you want. Personally, I only have mine setup for Stolen Vehicle Location basic (which is free), and then I added on a PC package which allows me to track the vehicle online up to 150 times per year (over 150 times costs extra), and also via Web enabled cellular (My RAZR on Cingular).
There are good sides and bad sides to Guidepoint.
First default, it does not come with a backup battery. I fixed this on each of my vehicles with a $30 DEI Alarm Backup Battery.
The install cost is a little high. I've seen prices from $695 all the way up to $1295 installed, depending on how well you negotiate. It's competitive with LoJack.
You can't beat the Sprint idea on price, just that the Sprint phone will be way easier to find, the Guidepoint looks like a black box, and the Antenna can be hidden away under the dash, or rear deck.
It's better than LoJack being that it uses GPS. (LoJack uses an RF based, Homing Device style signal which must be picked up via a police unit equipped with a LoJack receiver).
Guidepoint can unlock and remote start (doesn't really apply to our cars), while LoJack and the Sprint phone have no such capability. Guidepoint also has a hookup to the vehicle horn - used for when the system is activated by the command center (in the event of either a theft - the car will start honking with the thief driving it, or if you lose your car in a parking lot you can call them and have them honk the horn for you).
Stolen Vehicle Locator is excellent and that exceeds the level of service that LoJack or Sprint can provide. If your car is stolen, you call them up and they call the police, then they work with the police to locate your vehicle. LoJack will enable the LoJack unit in the event of a theft, but if there aren't any police in the area with a LoJack receiver, your car will never be recovered.
There's a few other features, like "Security Fence", where they will know if the vehicle is moved without being started (like it is towed away), and they can call you.
Some of those features are premium features, being that they will require extra $$. For the price, Ken's solution with the Sprint phone can't be beat, but it all has to do with how discrete you'd like the vehicle tracking to be. Maybe you're keeping track of your teenager (or even spouse). An integrated solution will be much harder to find when installed properly, even for a thief.
-Brian
06-13-06, 08:46 PM
#39
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06-13-06, 09:31 PM
#40
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
How do you know when a company is trying to take advantage of customers by claiming a certain superiority over their competitors? When they say "...Its tracking and location functionality is powered by the same Global Positioning System that the government uses."
We're all using the same GPS system available to the US and most of the world. There's only like 2 (maybe 3 now) GPS networks on the entire planet. Everyone in the US is using the same one lol.
We're all using the same GPS system available to the US and most of the world. There's only like 2 (maybe 3 now) GPS networks on the entire planet. Everyone in the US is using the same one lol.
06-14-06, 07:56 AM
#42
As for me, if a thief really wants my car bad, he can have it. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to do everything in my power so that it is hard for him to steal it. But these days, people are clever enough that they can steal anything. If he takes it for a joy ride, trash the car, or just plain vandalize it, I don't want it back. To me, it's not the same anymore. I just hope I don't catch him in my garage or he will get a couple of 9mm slugs in his ***.
06-14-06, 08:50 AM
#43
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by 4TehNguyen
anyway to get a bare bones version of that phone plan, just wanna use the GPS only
but coming soon are the business type apps where you can constantly track your drivers, etc. using gps.
06-14-06, 08:53 AM
#44
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Flipsonic
As for me, if a thief really wants my car bad, he can have it. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to do everything in my power so that it is hard for him to steal it. But these days, people are clever enough that they can steal anything. If he takes it for a joy ride, trash the car, or just plain vandalize it, I don't want it back. To me, it's not the same anymore. I just hope I don't catch him in my garage or he will get a couple of 9mm slugs in his ***.
