LIVE Services, HD Traffic and other Services

[YoYoDine]

I live in Southern Ontario and wish to purchase a Go Live 1535m HD Traffic. I was told to purchase this in Canada for the HD Traffic while in Canada, and to purchase a RDS-TMC Free Lifetime Live Traffic Receiver Car Charger for traveling in Michigan. It was my understanding that HD Traffic would only work in the country it was purchased. Now I'm hearing that a 1535m purchased in the US will also have HD Traffic available in Canada, but not visa versa. Has anyone heard of HD Traffic working in Canada with a US purchased 1535m?

[dhn]

The 1535 LIVE bought in the US will NOT have LIVE services in Canada. The sim card for the US units is associated with AT&T down there while in Canada, the HD Services are with the Rogers network. And the cards are not compatible with each other.

The rds-tmc antenna bought here WILL work in the States (or anywhere.......)

[YoYoDine]

Thanks for the reply, DHN, I have had many mixed messages from all different places concerning coverage with the 1535M Live on both sides of the border. I have a support ticket open with the TomTom help desk concerning this issue. Most people believe the 1535M's HD Live services will only work in the country where the device is purchased. However, two different representatives from TomTom told me that it was reported a US purchased 1535M will receive HD Traffic updates in Canada. I am hoping to post the resolution to this issue in this forum when available. Meanwhile, I created my initial post hoping to hear from someone who may have actually received HD traffic in Canada from a US purchased device. Also, I have heard conflicting reports about the RDS-TMC antenna, including a statement from a TomTom tech support rep who said the antenna is not yet available for the 1535M Live device. Hmmm. So I am also looking for anyone who has had success using the RDS-TMC antenna with this particular GPS unit.

[YoYoDine]

I forgot to mentioned, I found another forum here; http://www.tomtomforums.com/ Would it hurt to post my inquiry here as well?

[dhn]

Uh, I am a moderator there (See my sig line). I'd give you the same response there as here ..............

What I replied here is factual. A LIVE unit bought in Canada will NOT have LIVE Services in the the USA and vice versa. Period.

[YoYoDine]

Thanks DHN, I'm looking for any response from anyone, not just the moderators. I was thinking of doubling my chances for receiving responses by posting to the other forum, but am not sure is that is "proper". I'm new to posting to forums, and wouldn't want to do anything improper or frowned upon.

[dhn]

Certainly you can post over there. The point is that I KNOW what I'm talking about in this situation, others may not.

I just don't want you (or anybody) to learn the lesson the hard way, by buying a unit in another country and finding out later that the LIVE services are not compatible.

Unlike Europe, where LIVE users in one country often have access to LIVE services in many other European countries, it isn't like that in North America.

TomTom has decided not to pay the roaming charges thatr both ATT&T and Rogers would charge users from the other country.

[jonstrong Supreme Navigator]

---

YoYoDine wrote:
Thanks DHN, I'm looking for any response from anyone, not just the moderators. I was thinking of doubling my chances for receiving responses by posting to the other forum, but am not sure is that is "proper". I'm new to posting to forums, and wouldn't want to do anything improper or frowned upon.

---

I've got a 2011 Live device (2535 M Live), purchased in America, and can verify that while it works perfectly here - it will not connect over a mobile link to TomTom Live Services when in Canada. There's no magic here or anything mysterious. The Live devices connect over a mobile carrier's service. They authenticate as any GSM cellular data device or phone, using a SIM card to authenticate on the network. Authenticating a US SIM in Canada would require a data roaming agreement between the US carrier (AT&T primarily, and from what I'm reading, perhaps T-Mobile in some areas) and a Canadian GSM carrier (Rogers most likely).

Such cross border roaming agreements are prohibitively expensive for Cellular data customers. This is what is behind the stories you may read about people being hit with $5,000 phone bills after roaming in Canada and using data frequently. Since there is no provision for TomTom customers to pay extra to cover the roaming fees that would be required to have a US Live device get Live services in Canada, TomTom would have to absorb the cost -- the amount of which would be totally unpredictable and would pose an enormous financial risk to TomTom. For example: if it turned out that Canadian customers living near the border could drive an hour south and pick up a Live device cheaper than the Canadian version sells for, TomTom might suddenly find itself having to absorb roaming fees for many thousands of units that would be roaming full time in Canada, for the life of the device. This would totally upend the financial model behind Live Services.

Anyway - I have to reiterate what dhn has told you: a Live device (2535, 1535, etc) provisioned for the US will NOT be able to get Live Services in Canada. 

[idbell]

I am considering purchasing a Live unit, and I live in Canada, so I am reading as much as possible about the Live services in Canada.  I've had a 730 for several years, but it is getting harder and harder to find a traffic antenae each year.

I've read and understand the points that have been made about Tomtom not wanting to have cross-border shopping which would make them have huge roaming charges, so they have made each Live service unit only work in the country in which it was purchased.  The odd thing is that when you purchase a Go Live 1535M unit in Canada, the packaging and even the Tomtom Canada website says that it is "Connected to the AT&T network".  But that is only in the US.  So unless there is an often repeated error, the whole roaming charges issue seems to have a problem.

I press the issue because, in Canada, the only Live model seems to be the 1535M, while the US has higher models, like the 2535M.  I want the 2535M (or better when it comes out), so I feel cheated being forced into a 1535M.

Another question I wondered about, is why the Go Live unit itself is the thing that has to have the SIM card.  Am I not seeing a feature that would simply allow the Go LIve to pair up with a cell phone via bluetooth?  It would seem to solve the entire local/foreign SIM card issue.

[dhn]

Yes, I would have liked the 2535 LIVE model to be available for us Canucks as well. As you've pointed out, we only have the 1535 LIVE (which isn't too bad, you know).

It's an error on the site saying the connection is to AT&T. It's Rogers here and the sim cards aren't compatible between the two telecos/countries.

The sim card needs to be in the unit to get the info from the various towers. What you are suggesting is what used to be available in the States and was known as Plus Services. That's been eliminated; we never had that. It required 'tethering' of a phone and all Teleco's in the States (except for one, I forget which) have eliminated 'tethering'. Again, we never did have 'tethering' plans in Canada, I don't think.