Incredibly janky port of comments from my old WordPress site:
Giedrius X
2020-03-17 at 7:44 pm
Waay too complicated and not good for what it must do. Also 1gsm does not work everywhere, especially in buildings, 2. Thieves always take all lamps and other stuff off the bike before hiding it somewhere. 3. Only gps with rd position locating van be a good way of finding something stolen..
I think you misread my post. This tracker doesn’t use GSM, it runs on Google Fi so it’s using 3G and 4G. It also has a GPS built into donor the phone itself so it’s getting exact location from that not from the GSM network or whatever else you’re implyng in your confusing 3rd point. True it won’t work inside of every single building, but it will work in most. Also because Google keeps a log of location history you’ll be able to see a map of it being moved into a building before it loses service inside.
The idea that thieves will strip the bike is indeed the main weakness of this project. I have it hidden mine in the huge bucket storage area of my cargo bike. Thieves won’t remove the bucket because they bike is basically worthless without it and there’s so much other junk in the bucket (kids toys, blankets, innertubes, etc) that I am hoping they’ll just leave it in there and ride off. If I had a different bike I would try and mount this under the rear rack. Some bikes have rear racks that are integrated into their frame and thus unremovable, but you can also get security screws to secure the rack to the frame and make removal harder. If you really think that a thief will remove the rack or find the tracker on it then a tracker that mounts inside the bike seatpost tube is probably your best bet. If someone steals your seat post and saddle you could also use this tracker to recover it, but it’ll cost more than this DIY setup.
So to make this essentially free you have to sign up for Fi service for your phone. The Fi phone plan will probably cost over $10/month (assuming you use data) but it will probably be cheaper than whatever phone plan you are currently using (Mint Mobile is cheaper, and T-Mobile is coming out with a new $15/month plan that will likely also be cheaper). Once you have Google Fi service on your phone you can order a free data only sim card from them. They’ll ship it to you for free and it has no monthly fee, it only charges you for data and the charge is 1 penny per MB.
Having run this for a few months now the data usage is a bit higher than I was expecting. My data only sim card uses 90-150 MB of data per month so it costs $0.90-$1.50 each month. Pretty cheap but not free. Most of this data is used by android system services and not checking on the GPS location, but I’ve disabled as much as I’m comfortable disabling on the phone and am fine paying a buck a month for it.
Did you mean to post a link to something here? Google Fi is 3G/4G. I’m not sure what you’re referencing but if it says 2G, it is probably just that and will stop working once the 2G networks are turned off.
I want to supply cheap chinese made GPS trackers for kids we take in the mountains on field trips. The tracker has a SIM. How can I manage this to work with the kids trackers? Or Alternatives other than never ending monthly plans on strange platforms?? Thanks
Incredibly janky port of comments from my old WordPress site:
Giedrius X
2020-03-17 at 7:44 pm
Waay too complicated and not good for what it must do. Also 1gsm does not work everywhere, especially in buildings, 2. Thieves always take all lamps and other stuff off the bike before hiding it somewhere. 3. Only gps with rd position locating van be a good way of finding something stolen..
Profit Greenly (Post author)
2020-03-25 at 12:07 pm
I think you misread my post. This tracker doesn’t use GSM, it runs on Google Fi so it’s using 3G and 4G. It also has a GPS built into donor the phone itself so it’s getting exact location from that not from the GSM network or whatever else you’re implyng in your confusing 3rd point. True it won’t work inside of every single building, but it will work in most. Also because Google keeps a log of location history you’ll be able to see a map of it being moved into a building before it loses service inside.
The idea that thieves will strip the bike is indeed the main weakness of this project. I have it hidden mine in the huge bucket storage area of my cargo bike. Thieves won’t remove the bucket because they bike is basically worthless without it and there’s so much other junk in the bucket (kids toys, blankets, innertubes, etc) that I am hoping they’ll just leave it in there and ride off. If I had a different bike I would try and mount this under the rear rack. Some bikes have rear racks that are integrated into their frame and thus unremovable, but you can also get security screws to secure the rack to the frame and make removal harder. If you really think that a thief will remove the rack or find the tracker on it then a tracker that mounts inside the bike seatpost tube is probably your best bet. If someone steals your seat post and saddle you could also use this tracker to recover it, but it’ll cost more than this DIY setup.
Incredibly janky port of comments from my old WordPress site:
Ron Edwards
2020-03-16 at 9:47 pm
The Google fi website shows the cheapest plan be $10 per month, based on usage. Will the charge with your propose DIY be less than that?
Profit Greenly (Post author)
2020-03-25 at 11:55 am
So to make this essentially free you have to sign up for Fi service for your phone. The Fi phone plan will probably cost over $10/month (assuming you use data) but it will probably be cheaper than whatever phone plan you are currently using (Mint Mobile is cheaper, and T-Mobile is coming out with a new $15/month plan that will likely also be cheaper). Once you have Google Fi service on your phone you can order a free data only sim card from them. They’ll ship it to you for free and it has no monthly fee, it only charges you for data and the charge is 1 penny per MB.
Having run this for a few months now the data usage is a bit higher than I was expecting. My data only sim card uses 90-150 MB of data per month so it costs $0.90-$1.50 each month. Pretty cheap but not free. Most of this data is used by android system services and not checking on the GPS location, but I’ve disabled as much as I’m comfortable disabling on the phone and am fine paying a buck a month for it.
Incredibly janky port of comments from my old WordPress site:
Ron Edwards
2020-03-16 at 9:35 pm
Can this work with a 3G or 4G network? The insert says that 2G is facing out.
Profit Greenly (Post author)
2020-03-25 at 11:48 am
Did you mean to post a link to something here? Google Fi is 3G/4G. I’m not sure what you’re referencing but if it says 2G, it is probably just that and will stop working once the 2G networks are turned off.
Incredibly janky port of comments from my old WordPress site:
Carlos
2019-11-10 at 2:21 am
Nice DIY instructions! Great ideas. Thanks!!
Profit Greenly (Post author)
2019-11-18 at 2:51 pm
Glad you like it. Please comment with any thoughts you have if you end up building on yourself.
I want to supply cheap chinese made GPS trackers for kids we take in the mountains on field trips. The tracker has a SIM. How can I manage this to work with the kids trackers? Or Alternatives other than never ending monthly plans on strange platforms?? Thanks