Taxi Driver Online

And that was me as well.

No blast - just part of the market education exercise.

1. Cordic deals with market facts every day. Those who don't think they can afford us are welcome to go and buy a bag of nails and come back when they realise their mistakes....if you can give me a big enough sob story I might even consider offering a better deal...nah, scrap that, you should have learnt first time.

2. "Cheapskate" - I prefer "looking for value for money"

3. GPRS "patchy" ? Patchy as in patchy coverage or unable to support downloads while you are mobile? We have customers using/relying on the national coverage & we don't send large amounts of data (see 4 below). With regard to PMR, I seem to spend a lot of time listening to people moaning about PMR coverage and quality...now there is a patchy technology.

4. I agree that using GPRS for web-browsing and downloading is not perfect (yet - G3 anyone?) but for squirting compressed text messages and GPS updates to and from a mobile handset it is a perfect fit.

5. Big and small fleets want and need this solution. Anything based on PMR is a "get by" fix. It works, (sort of) and certainly be made cheaply but at what cost? Me, I would want to work on my golf swing & not worry about dataheads losing job info or heaven forbid a CLI pop-up crashing a booking terminal....as one prospect embarrasingly demonstrated to me.

Rob Mc

I also prefer your view Rob, however I believe Tom's view to be the accurate one.

Alex

Hi Rob

This isn't meant to be a knocking Cordic theme from me, just trying to raise some relevant points.

GPRS Patchy, yes. I drove for 10 minutes the day within five miles of Vodafone's world headquarters without any signal. On a train journey to the North East recently I had no phone signal for 30% of the journey. Data blast? well my text messages repeatedly failed.

PMR. I don't know what my licence costs per year it is so insignificant. The radios cost £250 per car five years ago. I have an excellent mast that gives me 95% coverage for a 20 mile radius (that'll do for me). I am aware that new radios are becoming available (PT from Denmark) that send data 10 times quicker than the current british market standards. That is a technology leap for PMR.

I have 25 company mobiles and I can tell you how much they cost.

Cheapskate - yes. You were apparently at Sandown. They don't all dress up like tramps just for the show. That is our industry.

Still good luck. Someone is going to breakthrough the technology to the next generation, just I think the successfull ones are going to have their feet in both forms of communication.

You aren't the first with this type of product, Mobisoft have been trying to launch a similar product for a few years and they are backed by Finland's leading mobile phone company. They, Excell? and the one at Sandown the year before have all tried.

Rob,

I like your system, but I see a few problems:

The XDA is NOT robust enough. Geoffs point about 'phones is not valid - not only do 'phones fail regularly, the average mobile is cheap to replace out of warranty - I get a new one every year at no cost. The XDA out of warranty, SIM free probably costs around £500.

As for the manufacturers replacing them under warranty, as I was told by Cordic at Donnington, I rather suspect that after a few too many returns, they will come up with the old "our warranty doesn't cover use in taxis clause", not to mention dropping, theft by passengers, passengers throwing up over them etc.

By far the biggest problem is that if the average driver doesn't own it, he isn't going to look after it. I regularly see much more robust data heads and even metal radios with major physical damage.

The other big problem, as I see it, is the lack of voice communications. Most companies still rely on voice for a reasonable proportion of their comms. If you have a seperate radio system for this, bang go your savings on PMR, if you use the 'phone, you've got to pay for calls.

Even at 5p / minute, assuming 5 mins / driver / day, a 100 car system is going to spend over six hundred quid a month on calls.

For these reasons, not to mention its tried and tested nature, I think data on PMR is here to stay for much longer than some would have us believe!

Regards,

Dave.

Rob, as a very responsible Business Owner my car have all had car kits for five years. My staff also have a very stringent policy on use of phones.

Yes I have 25 mobiles to keep in touch with cars out of area (also to keep in touch with managers). One bill, so admin is simply. Monitoring of billing and a premicell keep costs on track.

Do I understand that you envisage a system with little or no voice communication?

I might just give you a call next week.

Get that right, and you will win the drivers over without doubt.

I'm not too sure the offices will be as warm to it, but the drivers will love it.

As no-doubt will the thieves.

Absolutely! Voice is purely optional.


R.

Rob

Is there any chance you can make me a new wife?

Alex

I didnt stop at Cordic's stand at Sandown ( I was one of those scruffy tramps who walked past), as I thought I couldnt afford it.

But all this for £7 a month? We could sell one to each owner driver. Will you supply them individually?

Does that include the base unit costs?

Two user base installation with GPS and voice comms. Connected to a third management PC running Sage. How much for this then? We already have the PCs.

Do you need to know how many cars we have? If you do, it will cost too much.

_________________
There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Rob you forgot to tell them you can insure them for £4 per month.

Ah. So now its £11 per month.

_________________
There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

remember Steve at National Cabline?
you are safer in thier taxis, except you werent

Wharfie

Does the £7 / month include line rental?
How much for monthly support, for say, a 70 car system?
And what do you recommend for those who want / need voice?

Regards,

Dave.