If you are a business owner and want to track your fleet do yourself a favor and do it right or don’t do it at all. I’ve been doing this a long time and cannot remember one customer I’ve encountered that has been happy with cell phone tracking in a business application. I suspect I’ll generate some hate mail from this but I’m telling you based on my personal experience over ten years. The adage that if it is too good to be true, it probably is. Read more. Cheap cell phone tracking has to be available because shortcuts are being made in some aspect of what is delivered to the end user. In sales 101, low prices are used to offset shortfalls in features and services. Why would a cell phone tracker be any different.
There are many reasons why you should not do this. Even if you don’t buy a GPS tracking system from GPS Fleet Solutions, don’t get a cell phone tracking system. If you want to go it on your own, at least be smart enough not to sign a contract or have a way to end the service should it not be what is needed.
Here is a list of reasons I say avoid cell phone tracking system (mostly from Sprint).
1. Low prices don’t mean anything if you are not getting what is needed to run your business and drive down costs. $15 a month is too much if you are getting $0 value. Take the cost of a real fleet tracking system [$27] and subtract the cost of a phone tracking solution [$15] and this is really what you are making a decision on. Is the price difference of $12 worth the advantages provided by a black box tracking solution?
2. GPS tracking on a cell phone is very power intensive. If you need to talk a lot on the phone and use the GPS, you can count on the phone needing to be on the charger at all times. Once employees figure out they can let their phone die or use this as a temporary excuse, you suddenly have phones dieing when it is convenient. The trouble is you can’t tell so you have to put up with it.
3. Phones don’t have to be with the driver. A driver can leave the phone at the job or at home and continue to abuse your vehicle. Could they leave your vehicle at the job and catch a ride with a friend, certainly but it is far less likely. At least they would not be using your vehicle to do their business.
4. Phones carry a hidden costs when you get the bill. Cell phone bills carry 20% fees and taxes that have to be added to the overall expense. This means a $20 fee is really a $22 expense to you. GPS tracking systems are not taxed or have these fees.
5. Phone companies are not fleet tracking companies. Taking someone that sells you cell phones and expecting them to be proficient in understanding your fleet tracking needs is a pretty good leap of faith. Cell phone companies cannot be all things to all people. Your company is much better off working with someone that has the expertise to drive your ROI because they understand your fleet issues. I would not even consider selling cell phones because it is not what we do.
6. The user interface is pretty limited for the systems I’ve seen. The mapping is generally a proprietary map that they buy to save money. GPS fleet tracking providers typically use Google or Bing maps which costs money every time you display a map view. This revenue drives them to compete for your business by providing frequent map updates and cool features such as Street View. Proprietary maps used by cell phone tracking companies are a one time purchased and may only be updated every few years because they are very expensive to purchase. The problem with these maps is that they don’t give you the most current mapping data available or the cool features that help you make good decisions.
7. It is very easy to tamper with a cell phone since the driver is holding it. A driver can put the phone in a metal lunch box or do other things to obstruct the reception of the GPS signals. Additionally, GPS signals are directional so the position of the phone has a big impact on the accuracy of the GPS track data.
If I’ve not said enough to make you nervous and make you think twice, you deserve to get roped into a 48 month cell phone tracking contract. $15 monthly fees is $15 wasted if you can’t make better decision, dispatch efficiently, improve customer service and drive decision making with good GPS data. Do yourself a favor and don’t sign up for more than a trial. Then take the unit and try to beat the system yourself. Then give it to your worst employee for two weeks and think about this article. It will quickly become clear if this is the right technology for your company.
Author, Eron Iler, President
