Non-motoring > Trafficmaster or similar Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Westpig Replies: 14
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 17:31 
 Trafficmaster or similar - Westpig
I used to have an Orange phone contract which has now been morphed into an EE one.

Orange had a number you could dial for Trafficmaster reports (177) which was very handy on long journeys and saved my bacon several times.

EE has no such thing.

Is there another outfit that you can ring for traffic info whilst on the move?

A quick internet search hasn't come up with anything.
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 17:34 
 Trafficmaster or similar - Bromptonaut
Is this any good:

www.teletrac.co.uk/trafficmaster-traffic

The cost to call is eyewatering but the 'app' looks better value although it'll gobble up data and your phone's battery. You do need a smartphone though

Surprised if there are not other 'apps' that do same.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 18 Oct 15 at 17:36
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 17:36 
 Trafficmaster or similar - No FM2R
Dregging my brain comes up with 1740.

i think.

Maybe.
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 17:37 
 Trafficmaster or similar - Bromptonaut
>> Dregging my brain comes up with 1740.

Yup, that number is mentioned in the link i posted above.
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New Mon 19 Oct 15 09:30 
 Trafficmaster or similar - Westpig
>> Dregging my brain comes up with 1740.

Thank you.. and Bromp (I looked at that site and missed the number).
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 17:38 
 Trafficmaster or similar - Zero
>> I used to have an Orange phone contract which has now been morphed into an
>> EE one.
>>
>> Orange had a number you could dial for Trafficmaster reports (177) which was very handy
>> on long journeys and saved my bacon several times.
>>
>> EE has no such thing.
>>
>> Is there another outfit that you can ring for traffic info whilst on the move?
>>
>> A quick internet search hasn't come up with anything.

Google maps has more or less made them all redundant. Choose your starting point, your destination, and google maps will sort out your fastest route with current jams and forecasted jams. All data is garnered from tracking users mobiles phones (most don't realise they are being tracked)
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 17:46 
 Trafficmaster or similar - No FM2R
How well does Waze work in the UK?

Its pretty good here for both traffic and directions. It is unfortunately utter garbage at street numbers.
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 18:01 
 Trafficmaster or similar - rtj70
Waze is now a Google company so helping Google with traffic info.

Another option is to use TomTom Route Planner/Live Traffic which have good live traffic services. I upgraded my TomTom mobile app to the latest and now get free traffic and map updates for 5 years I think. All for a free upgrade from the European map/app.

www.routes.tomtom.com/
livetraffic.tomtom.com

If you're after a way to determine holdups whilst driving then these suggestions are not so useful.
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 19:14 
 Trafficmaster or similar - R.P.
I still have Waze from an US holiday - I delved into it recently, it works but I guess the numbers of subscribers in the UK is low...
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 19:21 
 Trafficmaster or similar - sooty123
I remember they were fitted to cars in the 90's/early 2000s. There was a button on the dash you pressed and put you through to a call centre and they told you about any hold ups. Pretty good for it's day I suppose.
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 23:20 
 Trafficmaster or similar - smokie
Yep, as a regular early adopter of technology I paid a small fortune for the Trafficmaster system you describe, along with a monthly sub, it was good though. Also got one of the first TomToms which I think was over £500.

On Cradle to Grave on the telly they were amazed at a video recorder. Reminded me that I bought one of the first in the country which had a cordless remote (Hitachi). It came with two free VHS tapes and cost somewhere in the region of £650. That's when £650 was a lot of dosh. The money I've wasted on technology...
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New Sun 18 Oct 15 23:54 
 Trafficmaster or similar - rtj70
My second company car was a Vauxhall Vectra. It had the Trafficmaster system as standard... the one with just a button that then gave you an update on traffic problems etc. Was it useful?? Not so sure.

My first experience of sat nav was TomTom on an HP iPAQ and I paid for traffic service (well the data) via a Bluetooth connected phone. Now that was useful. But I then drove less and didn't use traffic so much. I did have in on the TT720 (still have that) when needed.

Last two cars have had inbuilt sat nav. Traffic not so good at all via RDS on the VW system. Much better on the Audi system. But I don't do many long journeys.
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New Mon 19 Oct 15 08:02 
 Trafficmaster or similar - smokie
The TrafficMaster I had also gave voice directions. No screen with it though. ISTR you could, however, use the call centre as a concierge type service, for stuff like ordering flowers and finding hotels. I used them once when I had a blowout on the M4, out of interest I called them to tell me where I was and they took on the job of summonsing my breakdown service.
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New Mon 19 Oct 15 08:23 
 Trafficmaster or similar - Bromptonaut
>> My second company car was a Vauxhall Vectra. It had the Trafficmaster system as standard...
>> the one with just a button that then gave you an update on traffic problems
>> etc. Was it useful?? Not so sure.

Known as Oracle I think. Came as standard in my 2000/X Xantia.

Information came from sensors on the M/way and trunk road network. Controlled by a single button requiring combinations of long or short presses it was finicky to set up but could be left in 'automatic' mode. If system detected delay it would beep and give a warning in terms of road number, range (short or long) and severity from 5 mins to 'severe delay; avoid'.

On it's own it was a bit prone to false positives, often predicting non existent short delay on the A5 Stony Stratford to Towcester for example. As a fourth sense together with radio, gantry messages and my own feel for how traffic was running it was worth the few quid a year for the subscription.

It was of course useless in predicting the 'instant' 5-10 mile jam that follows a shunt on a busy M road. But so is every other traffic sensing system.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 19 Oct 15 at 08:24
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New Mon 19 Oct 15 10:12 
 Trafficmaster or similar - Mapmaker
Father's '99 Vectra came with it - there were a few months left on the Vauxhall-supplied deal when he bought the car.

It delivered false positives, and false negatives. It was pointless.
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