Cycling Safety survey - actually a marketing con

[Shebeen]

Filled it out - they want to sell you a safety tracker for R 1700-00 per month icw Tracker that has a 5 hour battery life, a 5 minute reporting interval and they want a R50 per month fee for the service.

 

Its a crap piece of tech if you ask me and another thing you need to carry.

 

Honestly just write an app - everyone carries a cell phone. Hardware solutions are so dead these days. The cell phone has all the sensors to do it.

 

THere are cell phone apps like eblockwatch that do it.

really, per month or once off?

 

this guy won't cost that much more, and he makes a mean cup of coffee

http://www.afrecotours.com/images/botswana_tracking_course_tuli_block/Tracking_lesson_cyber_level_1_tracking_course.jpg

[HappyMartin]

It's R1700 for the device and R50 a month. I will do it at that price if the size is good and the battery improved. Five hours not really enough.

[Paul Ruinaard]

Yep you can use a phone. Only problem with that is when the nice man put his 9mm to my head it was the phone he was asking for.

 

Some little thing I could hide away I would carry. I ride a lot on my own.

you can track a phone remotely mate and turn on functionality on it as well. So you catch the crook.

Ask Snowden (Edward that is)

[HappyMartin]

you can track a phone remotely mate and turn on functionality on it as well. So you catch the crook.

Ask Snowden (Edward that is)

Really?

 

Look at this realistically. And this really happened. My phone was taken from me at gun point. I was riding on my own. It was a quiet road. I got vp back on the bike and set off for home. In your advice I was supposed to track the phone, with what exactly? Took me about 30 min to get to a police station. They wouldn't help. Said i was in the wrong area. So I rode another 30 min home. Then I got on my iPad and saw my phone was at the Wanderes Street taxi rank. No what? Are you suggesting I should have got in my car and headed off to the taxi rank to catch this guy?

 

And anyway this is about a totally different issue. It was suggested a phone is a security device. I maintain its a security risk. Makes you a target.

[Paul Ruinaard]

Really?

 

Look at this realistically. And this really happened. My phone was taken from me at gun point. I was riding on my own. It was a quiet road. I got vp back on the bike and set off for home. In your advice I was supposed to track the phone, with what exactly? Took me about 30 min to get to a police station. They wouldn't help. Said i was in the wrong area. So I rode another 30 min home. Then I got on my iPad and saw my phone was at the Wanderes Street taxi rank. No what? Are you suggesting I should have got in my car and headed off to the taxi rank to catch this guy?

 

And anyway this is about a totally different issue. It was suggested a phone is a security device. I maintain its a security risk. Makes you a target.

Sorry maybe I need to be more specific. Its clear you have had a 9mm in your face so not trying to make light of that but here is the problem.:

This device is sim based and on the mobile network so it is a mobile device anyway. No one has a dedicated tracking network and even if they did it has to be on the mobile network to make  a call.

 

Ergo sum it looks like a phone.

 

Now when mr 9 mm relieves you of your belongings at gunpoint in 99.995 % of the cases he takes camelbak + watch +contents of pockets and bikes etc.

 

So the likelihood of him missing a small mobile device is very small.

 

Unless you have it in a very unusual place.

 

Which 99.9995% of the folks don't do.

 

So the chances of you ever using this device are well small and the chances of it ending up in a dam with no battery life or discarded is great.

 

Whereas a phone, whenever turned on, can be tracked and remotely locked i.e. bricked and wiped.

 

So you can do a lot more on a phone than a dedicated device.

 

At no cost

 

The technology is there to use and be used. How you decide to implement it and follow up on your stolen goods is not a problem of the technology. That is up to you.

 

Me - if I knew where to find the guy - everyone can be found and tracked....

[HappyMartin]

Seriously IQ of 2. You would try to track an armed hold up artist back to his apartment in Hillbrow to get your insured phone back? A phone he would most likely have already flipped?

 

Besides not knowing how to track the phone once the sim was removed I would think that's about the dumbest most delusional idea I have ever heard.

 

Anyway I'm still alive and still have an iPhone. I still ride loads on my own. I would carry a small security device. When I was mugged the guy didn't take my Garmin, my bike or my ring. Just my phone. It's all he wanted.

 

People have ideas and theories. I have experience.

[Rocket-Boy]

The fees are too high. Also how do they cover false alarms?

the part about wanting to name it was just plain lame.

Its just market research presented as a safety survey.

[Paul Ruinaard]

Seriously IQ of 2. You would try to track an armed hold up artist back to his apartment in Hillbrow to get your insured phone back? A phone he would most likely have already flipped?

 

Besides not knowing how to track the phone once the sim was removed I would think that's about the dumbest most delusional idea I have ever heard.

 

Anyway I'm still alive and still have an iPhone. I still ride loads on my own. I would carry a small security device. When I was mugged the guy didn't take my Garmin, my bike or my ring. Just my phone. It's all he wanted.

 

People have ideas and theories. I have experience.

HI,

 

Umm some faults in what you were are thinking I said.

 

The technology to track someone is there. Thats all I said. You can use that to act on whatever you choose to do. I dont think there are any times I say i would track a guy to Hillbrow.

 

Personally i wouldnt hesitate to act. But maybe I am more badass than you. I didnt once say I would do it myself. Just the way i am. Lots of things can be done mate. depends on your will to address the wrongs that have been perpetrated against you.

 

Secondly the tracking is not sim related it is IMEI related and it does not matter if you discard the sim as long as that IMEI number appears it wont let you use the phone if you as the owner have disabled it. 

 

Called Find my Iphone - at least on Apple. I am sure there are similar for Android. You cant unlock the phone. And it will always report back to you when the IMEI number appeasr on the network.

 

If you did the survey you will see theya re looking at more details than just safety - altitude etc. All those sensors are already on your phone with software like Strava and many others as well as apps like My SOS. 

 

So all they are doing is selling you something you cna do better for cheaper.

 

WRT battery life, try using your phone for navigation and see how it chows the battery, and you will understand what the problem is.

 

So heres the point, at least on Apple they have more apps that do what this device tries to do better and at no cost as well as being secure and being able to be remotely disbled and tracked. this is all software and apps mate - freely available.

 

Strava etc

Find My Iphone

My SOS

 

Never mind Eblockwatch etc who do it all better

 

all cost zero.

 

But tracker want to sell you a R1700-00 device and R50 subscription to do this.

 

Following up on the information you get and the loss of your bicycle and phone is a different discussion - you are confusing the two issues. This device that tracker want to sell aint going to track your crooks either. that is a specialist field.

 

Its like a mate of mine who out in surveillance and caught his employees stealing but didn't have the heart to fire they so they have carried on ripping him off. once he had the information he didn't act. That is your choice - not related to the devices and tracking.

 

Hey maybe I am a techie that knows how these things work and dont see why it isnt obvious to everyone else.

 

Sorry mate - not belittling you - just saying there is another way to do this and you dont need to line Tracker's pockets.

[rouxtjie]

As IQ of two said....FindMyPhone app....no need to buy this tech when its really a free service with smart phones.

[HappyMartin]

Well IQ of 2 we have a difference of opinion that's for sure. I'm sure you are way more badass than me. Not going to get into a dick swinging competition with anyone. Don't feel the need.

 

Yes you must be more tech savvy than me. I simply tracked my phone until it was turned off. A week later it had not appeared so I blocked it.

 

Ever heard of opportunity costs? Spend enough time trying to sort out a wrong rather than moving on and all you do is satisfy your ego that you are fixing a wrong. That's where I draw a line. I charge out my time at R1000 and hour ex VAT. I base a lot of where I spend my efforts on that. In other words I'm not about spend hours and hours sorting out a stolen phone that is insured and has already been replaced. My job is to take photos. Not do poor Stallone impersonations.

 

On the cost of this device. OK. You don't want to line the pockets of tracker. R50 a month. R1700 once off. How do you then figure to pay as much as R14k to Apple who made a profit of $37.5 billion last year for a phone? Yes I use Apple. Two towers, a laptop, a phone two Apple TV, an IPad and I forget how many iPods. But I'm not worried about lining someone's pockets.

 

As I said. The phone is a rubbish security device. It's the first thing to be stolen, it's relatively fragile and is a bitch to use with Brocken hands and collar bones. Yes I have done it but it's painful. It's very expensive.

 

We all have different needs. If I was as badass as you and if I was as tech savvy as you and if I was as resentful of a local company making a living I might agree with you. I'm not so I don't.

[Vangar]

Yup IQ is right. Android has the same functionality. On my Note 4 a triple tap on the power button starts emergency mode. Sends SMS's and photos and location to your selected emergency contacts. You can then remotely track and disable the phone, also Android 5 is encrypted by default so nobody can access any data on the phone any way which is the bigger risk.

 

My personal feeling about dedicated tracking devices is that they are a money making racket and a good place for insurers to hide behind. I was in an accident that wrote of my car, that had an early warning tracking device installed. They phoned me......2 MONTHS later saying oh the device isn't updating anymore........

[HappyMartin]

Perhaps it's to do with our personal experiences them..in an emergency my phone didn't help it was gone.

 

My Landcruiser was stolen and the first I knew about it was when the tracking company phoned to tell me it was on the M2 heading east. Thirty minutes later it was recovered in Soweto.

 

Money well spent in my opinion.