5 ways to reduce GSM traffic costs of GPS trackers

Posted on: 2017-06-01

If you provide GPS monitoring services, you know how quickly your cellular bills can grow. The more GPS trackers you connect, the stronger you want to reduce these costs. The obvious solution is to get a discount from the carrier. But what if this opportunity has been already exhausted?
iTrack partners' experience shows that there are at least 5 ways to optimize the traffic volume. Use these tips to reduce costs at least by a third.

1. Optimize expenses for roaming

If your customers have an international transportation business then you probably use Internet roaming. In this case, two SIM-card GPS-terminals are very effective way to reduce costs. When the terminal leaves the home region, the data is automatically transmitted via second carrier with cheaper foreign traffic. By the way, the number of two SIM-card GPS terminals grows rapidly. The example is new Galileosky terminals 7.0.

2. Use binary SMS

When a GPS tracker is connected to a monitoring system, a number of parameters (from 3 to 20) are sent to the device: the server's IP, port, APN, etc. Generally, one SMS sets one parameter. However, the leading device manufacturers support composite or binary SMS. Such messages contain dozens of parameters. This helps to save money. For example, the number of SMS messages for automatic configuration of Teltonika terminals in iTrack has been reduced by more than 7 times.

3. Utilize GPRS commands

If you want to configure a GPS tracker, you can use not only SMS, but also GPRS channel. The cost of an SMS is comparable to one GPRS megabyte transfer. It seems clear that using GPRS is more cost-efficient. Currently, 9 out of 10 supported devices in iTrack can be configured via GPRS commands.

4. Choose GPS terminals with Wi-Fi module

If the client is not serious about real-time tracking, recommend him Wi-Fi for data transfer. It usually works like this: when a vehicle returns to the station, the GPS terminal connects to the Wi-Fi hotspot and transmits the data accumulated for the day. This is in high demand if active use of cellular communication is undesirable (eg: at airports).

5. Take a note of UDP protocol

GPRS traffic is the biggest spending within cellular service. Advanced manufacturers offer to reduce GPRS traffic by optimizing the data transfer format. For example, Queclink and Enfora devices support UDP protocol. Unlike TCP it has smaller size of the service data and the guarantee of information integrity is provided in a less expensive way.

Of course there are other ways to reduce costs. For example, you can save money connecting the GPS tracker to LPWAN (Internet of things network). But just applying the methods we have mentioned above, you can save a lot. Choose GPS devices and GPS monitoring system thoroughly. And also consider all specific features of the task being solved.