AccuTracking

First, let me say that anyone who provides a FREE service that is better than a PAY service in this day and age, deserves a standing ovation. My hat is off to you.

I have been looking for options to track employees as they are traveling to different job sites and AccuTracking is by far the best. However, Nextels prices are a little steep (compared to what I need) and I would like to ask a few questions before spending a lot of money on their service.

1. I see what phones that AccuTracking will work on, but what phone does it work the best on or have the least issues with? This phone would need to have the ability to autostart the software as I'm sure that my employees would "forget" to turn it on when they are "hard at work".

2. The different data plans Nextel offers: what would adequately cover data charges if the phone is on 24 hours a day and is set to transmit the location every 10 minutes? I would rather pay for more data than have to pay nasty charges for going over.

3. Is it possible that Nextel's sub-par service in my area could cause large amounts of data usage due to packet retries?

4. Will I have issues if the phone is indoors most of the day? I'm more interested in the general location of the employee/phone rather than the exact area. I guess this question would pertain more to what happens when the phone is unable to transmit GPS data, will I still be able to find the last location it transmitted from?

Phew! I'm done for now. Thank you in advance for the help!

AZJustin wrote:1. I see what phones that AccuTracking will work on, but what phone does it work the best on or have the least issues with? This phone would need to have the ability to autostart the software as I'm sure that my employees would "forget" to turn it on when they are "hard at work".

I think I can say i730 works perfectly. i58sr, i88s have no color screen, cannot auto start.

2. The different data plans Nextel offers: what would adequately cover data charges if the phone is on 24 hours a day and is set to transmit the location every 10 minutes? I would rather pay for more data than have to pay nasty charges for going over.

A 5M/month plan looks quite enough to me. Try a 5M plan for the first month to get an idea, check and change plan later.

3. Is it possible that Nextel's sub-par service in my area could cause large amounts of data usage due to packet retries?

Yes, poor coverage will cause more packet retries but the 5M plan should be ok.

4. Will I have issues if the phone is indoors most of the day? I'm more interested in the general location of the employee/phone rather than the exact area. I guess this question would pertain more to what happens when the phone is unable to transmit GPS data, will I still be able to find the last location it transmitted from?

Ouch, no position (or rarely) indoors. You are still able to see the last postion from history data.

It also depends on your building... Here in Connecticut, I get GPS in my house and at my work with no issues.
(Wood frame buildings)