Taxi Driver Online

I suppose we will wait & see tom if most companies will have gone over to gprs in 5 yrs i personally have no problem with new technology as long it is affordable & like i said i dont think at present its great value for money for companies with large fleets the ongoing costs are to much if the airtime deals become cheaper then yes we will consider it but at present for us its a no go

What!

Don't you have a seperate line direct to the despatcher?

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

I tell you what would be good and that's a data screen you can read from when it gets hot.

FFS we are in 2007, not 1807.

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IDFIMH

Was it fun Labraiz.

Isn't a bit symbolic that Auriga use BT tower as a venue. Surely it is a sad and declining building once regarded at the forefront of its industry.

A bit like PMR really.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Good point.

Would love to know how many times drivers get annoyed at the engaged 'direct despatchers line' and call the customer number instead (don't tell me never, cos that would be unlikely, knowing what drivers are like!)

I suppose of course you may have lots of 'direct despatchers lines' instead, then drivers can get 'your call is important to us, please hold the line', along with some lurvely hold music....and you can be for yet another telephone line....

The point that I am making is that at least with a PMR queue system, drivers have more than one means to speak to the despatcher. From a drivers point of view, speaking to the despatcher by PMR would be cheaper, with none of the 'get the despatcher to call me back, I aint got no credit'.

The use of GPRS for sending jobs out though is a great idea!

Haa Haa, very good - poor, sad old PMR. Sould have departed years ago - never gonna have a future...GPRS is definately the way to go...or is Wifi the way to go...or 3G or 4G or........ PMR (yes an older technology) but still used by most cab firms. Whether this is right or wrong, it is a fact of life.

I wonder what would happen to the GPRS network if every UK taxi company jumped on it? GPRS is a shared network (not to mention the fact that as a major part of the GSM network, it comes second to a voice call) - it has bottlenecks. The more people trying to send a data packet, the longer it takes (can't wait until the nodes around Wembley stadium are being used by 90,000 people all at the same time trying to make a call or send a text message). PMR has similar problems (and other problems aside), but at least the Channel is mine - i'm not sharing it with my competitor just down the road.....

The BT tower is actually considered a very prestigeous (did I spell it right?) location and is used for corporate events by companies from all over the planet. To think that a smaller company like Auriga managed to get to host an event there is a master stroke!

People love the idea that they are being invited to a venue very few people get to visit. I know I can't wait!

Using the message system between the car and driver greatly reduces voice contact.

Drivers can press a 'call me' button.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Ah, that makes sense!

So now, you are also pickup up the tab for calling drivers on their mobiles......

Sorry, GPRS in beneficial why again? PMR is dead why?

Ah but....... You can message them back too.

And I always pickup the tab.

I think if you read back you will find that the argument is GPRS is the future (the system that will benefitfrom billions of investment) whilst PMR is the past.

I amsure that someone somewhere still watches films on Betamax purely because they can.

And most still have a VHS player being used quite happily. But if you were in the electronics industry would you be designing a new 'tape' based mchine?

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

I agree with the concept that gprs is the future but at present its very expensive for larger firms may be in a few years most large firms will move over to gprs but my personel view is that airtime tarrifs will have to be a lot cheaper Tom will you be at the trade fair this year if so will buy you a cup of tea

How can you compare a 'video tape fight' between Sony and the rest with the difference between PMR and GPRS. You may also remember that Betamax is actually the better format - VHS only won because more companies backed it!

I am actually comparing the development of that industry, which has actually moved away from video to DVD and how comms might move from PMR to GPRS.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Labraiz

Yes I will be. Tuesday I think.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

This is the point I am trying to make.

I agree that (in comparison to GPRS) PMR is an older technology, but it still works very very well. I find it difficult to think that anyone would disagree with this (though I'm sure some people will).

For larger companies, moving from a proven technology to a less established one would be a big risk.

anyone used cabmaster