Cat tracker without subscription

These days cat trackers without subscriptions can be bought relatively cheaply. It’s easy to find high-quality devices on the market for well under a hundred euros. However, many of them require payment of a monthly subscription to use all the features that a cat tracker without subscription cannot provide.   

What is a subscription for?  

The price of a subscription usually covers the cost of a GSM connection which is necessary for the collar and end user to interface, as well as a series of secondary services that make a cat tracker without subscription simple and more efficient. The collar connects to the closest satellites itself and communicates with them to establish its land location through trilateration. At this point, the problem is how to send these coordinates to the user’s mobile phone so they can be viewed on the map. The most efficient and common method is through GSM or 2G mobile networks.

The device must have a SIM card with an internet connection, or at least with access to a mobile network to allow communication between collar and app. Many manufacturers include a SIM card with a data plan in the subscription price, so that you can use different operator networks to have the best coverage available. Other manufacturers don’t provide a SIM card and leave it to the consumer to purchase a card from the provider they prefer at their own expense.

Why is it better to purchase a tracker with a subscription?

A subscription usually includes a series of extra features that you should take into consideration apart from covering the cost of a GSM connection: first of all, the collar doesn’t send the collected data directly to your phone; it transmits it to a server which stores a complete history of your cat’s movements for a certain period of time. Secondly, it offers you real time tracking with more frequent location updates.