LIVE Services, HD Traffic and other Services

[dhn]

If that were the case, everybody in North America with Live Services -- Traffic would be reporting the long delay problem (witness how fast the thread here expanded with the Vodaphone fire a couple of weeks ago) and I'm not seeing any evidence that it is wide spread at this point. But, as Kex points out, a delay in getting traffic of more than three or four minutes is not acceptable.

One thing to watch for ........... retrieving (and interpreting the data) for LIVE traffic puts a big strain on the battery of the unit. A poorly charged battery may result in a longer delay or, in fact, the dreaded yellow warning symbol with the exclamation point that no traffic info is available.

Not saying that is the situation here but just something to keep an eye out for........

[JHFE]

@dhn,

I am in New York (Manhattan), NY, USA.  I have a GO 2535M Live with App 11.037 (and obtain the GPS signal just fine now, having done a "hard reset" (black screen with white text) after its installation).  My TomTom now says my device is "up to date."  With my battery fully charged, my other Live services (such as Fuel Prices, Google Local Search, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Expedia and Weather) open without delay.  Just now (at 8:55 AM, April 20, 2012) it took 17 minutes and 25 seconds for Live Traffic information to become available (the "spinning cogwheel" disappeared twice, but came back and connected after it appeared for the third time).  At 11:30 P.M. last night my Live Traffic connected in less than 3 minutes (and the "spinning cogwheel" did not disappear even once).  It appears this issue in not limited to the Washington, DC area in the US.

[DCTomTom]

My device (2535 M Live) is fully updated as well (including the latest GPS fix) - getting traffic data especially during the evening commute can take over 30-40 minutes.  GSM Signal strength is very strong.

This is really annoying - rebooting it or hard resets do not seem to help.

This is for the Washington, DC area.

[tpw]

I have the TomTom XL 340S LIVE.  It does have all current updates.  And I get the reboot recommendations and update suggestions.  However, given that the same devise works like a champ in the off hours (when you typically don't need it) I have to believe it isn't a device issue.

[Kex]

Personally, I've never had to do a "hard" reset. This is where you hold the power button down even after you hear the drum beat. A black and white diagnostic screen appears. I'm not entirely certain how this works, or if it should ever be used even, unless support suggests it. There is even a method to force these devices to reload the "last known stable state", but I would never recommend that either, without knowing more about it. Basically, it forces the device to brick itself, and then reload the last application considered by TomTom to be stable when next connected to MyTomTom. After that, all the newer updates made available since the last known stable release get applied normally. It doesn't affect what maps are on the device. How do I know? I did it on one of my two newer devices accidentally, and that was the explanation given to me of what I was experiencing.

In any case, I don't see why this would even help those experiencing the delay issues described. I also don't understand why it would work perfectly in Los Angeles, but not in D.C. or New York. I'd be completely frustrated if it were happening to me. It would render the device so useless that I'd have to go fish out my old XL 340TM, with RDS-TMC. It doesn't have information for side streets, other than what is provided by IQ Routes, but it does usually get a signal fairly quickly, and even RDS-TMC information, while not as dependable as HD Traffic, seems to have improved quite a bit over the past year or two in Los Angeles. It's still really patchy between metropolitan areas, however.

Have any of you had any contact with support?

[tpw]

I did contact support and received this message;

"The issue you are experiencing might be for a temporary period and it should be resolved in few days. I do not have any information on plans to increase the TomTom server capacity, but there might be up-gradations of the technology in the near future."

Not holding out much hope.  Service expires in June so I might have to look at Garmins. 

[jonstrong Supreme Navigator]

I've had the Go Live 2535M for a year, and rely heavily on Live Traffic - it, combined with IQ Routes, is THE primary product differentiator that makes this indispensible for me. As such - the few times I couldn't get Live Traffic quickly, I was extremely put out (although my route probably wouldn't have been any different on those days even with Live Traffic working). I can understand your frustration.

That said - using the device several times a week for a year - I've experienced just a few days with a significant Live Services delay or any other kind of outage. Definitely annoying when they happen, but also a pretty rare occurrence.

I live in central NJ near Princeton, and much of my driving is between home and locations such as: Baltimore, Washington DC, Harrisburg, Radnor PA, New York City, Hartford, Western PA... lots of mid-Atlantic through North-East states. I have yet to see a correlation between my location, time of day, and the outages. Could be that I'm not sufficiently observant -- but I'm skeptical...

Also - I can only recall a couple of  times  when Live Traffic wasn't receiving data but other Live Services were working.

[thailand]

Tomtom has very long days .............

[JHFE]

@Kex,

Thank you for your posting last Friday.

Yes, I have spoken with Customer Service in Mexico for the USA as well as had communication with Ms. Ditte of TomTom in the Netherlands.  Ms. Ditte says they are investigating the Live Traffic problem at least as it relates to the Washington, DC, and New York, NY, areas and will get back.

As "Lupus1" wrote one week ago in "Re: Long amount of time to download traffic on the 2535TM Live":

<<

[T]he time you'll need to get the information downloaded from TT's servers gets longer the more users are accessing that server, the more users are using the same network and the more data is needed. Therefore the problems in areas with many people and much traffic are worse than in rural areas.

....

...[I]n the UK it is known that at rushhour the LIVE services often were knocked out especially with the old range of 160km. It is more stable since TT reduced to a range of 120km but still there are some knock-outs from time to time due to overload.

>>

Please note that after a "hard" reset, you must sign into your My TomTom account again on your device itself (with it being outside and having acquired a GPS signal) to reactivate your Live services, according to Customer Service in Mexico for the USA.

On a related matter, the GO 2400/2500 TMC Receiver (Article No. 9UUE.052.00) works very well with my GO Live 2535M both in the USA (when and where Live Traffic is not available) and in Canada (where Live Traffic is not available at all for USA TomTom devices with Live Traffic).  I have it connected to my GO Live 2535M at all times in my car and it only "engages" when Live traffic is not available, but RDS-TMC traffic is (of course, it also keeps my GO Live 2535M charged).  This Receiver is described at:

http://www.tomtom.com/en_us/products/accessories/chargers-connect-cables/tmc-receiver-go-2400-2500/i... 2400/2500 TMC Receiver

Although it appears it is not currently in stock and available at tomtom.com (it was in December 2011), hopefully it can be found elsewhere.

[PODMAN]

Still waiting to hear if there is a fix. This AM's commute in DC from Rockville, MD to College Park, MD in the DC suburbs was awful. My 2535M live took 27 minutes to get the traffic. And today due to traffic it was sorely missed.  My commute began at 8:24 AM. This is not working. I need this thing to work during rush hour.