I am wondering if I would be better off renting a Wifi device to use with Google Maps on my phone or to rent a GPS to explore western Ireland by car. Has anyone tried the Wifi device with a Google maps in Ireland?
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9100 posts
Wifi GPS works well in an urban environment -walking around in a city. It's useless when driving in a car, you need satellite based GPS for that.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
135 posts
Except for the major cities, so far WiFi penetration is poor in Ireland by EU standards - and even in the urban areas, WiFi is often 'pay only'. And once you get into the more remote areas, you will even find that obtaining a mobile phone signal (2G or 3G) is not always possible. So ignore WiFi!
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9100 posts
WiFi is often 'pay only'.
That doesn't matter when using WiFi GPS. For more details on how Wifi GPS works look over this post I made about the subject:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/wifi-gps-with-an-ipod-touch
Posted by
Tucson
61 posts
WiFi GPS for location data is good without having to login, but if you need to download maps, etc. on the fly, then you need an actual connection.
Just reserved a car at Dublin airport for my weeks stay in late sept, and they offered a wifi hotspot for an additional 35.00 for the week. I'd have to look into how much data it will allow, but might be easier than picking up a burner SIM card with data if I can share that with everyone in the party so they can do their own email checking, etc.
$.02
Glenn in Tucson