First off, if I hijacked the thread, I apologize. I thought that using
a different subject line would create a new thread. Maybe someone will
"hijack" it back to the original subject.

I have a smart phone and it works with all cell carriers. And it only
costs $9/month since I choose not to have a $40/month data plan because
I don't do Twitter or Facebook and I don't want to surf the web with my
phone. It does all the other data stuff via wifi, but you won't see
that in flight any time soon... From the few short responses above, it
looks like I won't be getting a tracking device any time soon. My wife
and I have discussed this and she's OK with it. She hikes alone in the
wilderness when she's not flying with me and I'm OK with that, too.

Thanks again for the responses and "Go Sean and gang at the SGP!"

On 7/29/2016 2:26 PM, wrote:
Dan

A typical five hour hour flight will use less data than sending a picture with your phone. As Sean said, you can go to Walmart and purchase the cheapest Android phone with a monthly "prepaid" data plan. Just reload the phone as needed. People are typically paying $40 per month for such a phone. Probably the same as adding data to your current phone, assuming yours is capable.

Despite assumptions to the contrary, the tracking apps use very little data due to the compressing of data. Also they can adjust to poor reception areas for the same reason. We do see some erratic altitude reports on some phones in some areas. This is caused be previous generation phones lack of barometric sensors and poor gps reception on some traces. Latest generation phones work better and clear view of sky in carbon ships.

Sorry this thread has been hijacked. Go Sailplane Grand Prix. Go Competitors. Go Sean and Tiffany! Go Soaring!

Lane

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Dan, 5J