[quote=jinder7;20665042]
Originally Posted by artnada;14299716
When I went on the M4 recently, there was an accident beyond J13. I simply pressed "avoid roadblock 1 mile ahead" and my Tomtom gave me an instant result for an alternative route, taking me round the accident and back on at J14. QUOTE:
“
Hi
Can you tell me which TomTom you have as I want it!!”
Most of them will do that.
However to do so requires one of two things in addition to the Sat-Nav itself. Either a RDS-TMC receiver or a subscription to the TomTom Plus Traffic service.
The RDS-TMC receiver is a little dongle that plugs into the sat-nav mount. It picks up FM radio broadcasts that have the traffic data embedded in the RDS data stream.
The TomTom Plus service connects via bluetooth to a mobile phone and makes a data connection to a central server to download the traffic info. So obviously you need a bluetooth phone and a GPRS data subscription with your phone provider.
The RDS dongle is a one off purchase, the Plus service is an annual subscription (£30 or so). Plus depending on your phone package the Plus service may incur call charges. though I only have a 4MB allowance with Orange and never get anywhere near it so haven't yet had any call charges.
The RDS dongle in my experience is a total waste of money. I got one thrown in free with the 510 i bought 13months ago. Good job it was free otherwise I would be totally p'ed off at having wasted 70 quid on it! It never worked properly, rarely if ever locking on to a signal.
The Plus service is far better and does at least show some traffic info. Though it can be a bit variable at times.
http://www.tomtom.com/plus/service.php?ID=3&Lid=1