Alternative to Real Traffic ?

[Superluminal 15]

I've been an avid user and fan of this software for nearly a year now, and I'm blown away by Nico's efforts with PSXseecon, all provided free. Many thanks Nico.

Inside Systems, developers of Real Traffic, has seen fit to increase the cost of a years license from $9.99 (valid April '17) to today's price of $35.99 for six months, equating to an annual subscription of $72.

A 720% increase in price. Kinda jaw-dropping.

I'm concerned that this hike in license cost may drive a lot of otherwise very content PSXseecon users away.

Is there an alternative on the horizon ?

[dmarques69 316]

ahahah typical, when there's no alternative in the market, unless theres any that i dont know!

That tool was my purchase list, now is Real traffic...

[MarkW 1,490]

I too will drop,it after my sub runs out. 

[pmb 5,137]

I like PSXSeecontraffic, but really think about not extending my subscrition either. I hate all sorts of subscriptions as these tend to quickly stack up to an uncontrollable amount. I made an exception for Real Traffic as it was low-cost and the idea of PSXSeecontraffic has been really bright.

I am afraid this might mean the end of PSXSeecontraffic as the remaining number of subscribers will not cover the Real Traffic server costs any longer.

Kind regards, Michael

[kiek 1,212]

13 hours ago, Superluminal said:

Is there an alternative on the horizon ?

No there is not.

PSXseeconTraffic + RealTraffic is by far the cheapest combination of programs for real live traffic. Our nearest competitor, AirNav.Systems, charges you 39.95 US Dollar every 3 month and has less functionality.

Note that RealTraffic also allows playback of historical flight data up to 48h into the past, something that was especially added upon request of user Michael (previous post). Also note that PSXseeconTraffic has got some options (upon request) for easy merge with other traffic programs, such as the Floor altitude.

It has cost me at least 2000 hours to develop PSXseeconTraffic, and you get that for free ...

Balthasar, the developer of RealTraffic, is a former pilot with Flight Simulation as a hobby. His company, Inside Systems, is operating in a completely different area then Flight Simulation. He is not making money on RealTraffic, but he does not want to loose money either. The price of RealTraffic is purely cost based. Balt not only has to pay for the real time data sources (you cannot get world wide  real time traffic data for free) but also for the IT processing power he hires in the cloud.

The starting fee of 10 Dollar was a mistake. We had estimated that the market for PSXseeconTraffic + RealTraffic would be much much larger. But at the end of the day, also maybe because it did not want to run on Windows 7, not many people signed up (not even for 10 Dollar...). 

But it is always your decision, no problem.

Kind Regards,

Nico

P.S. I forgot to mention that you also get my supporting programs VMRGenerator and ParkposGenerator for free :-) 

 

 

[BlueStar 323]

I like it and have decided to continue to keep using it. 

Now to just get my AI to work correctly.

blaustern

[hjsmuc 393]

I recently considered getting it when I noticed that the pricing had changed. While I don't want to argue whether the new pricing model is right or wrong, I think that the demo option is a bit scarce. 3 times 5 minutes is hardly enough to find out if you enjoy and need this product. Maybe you could offer a more extensive trial which in turn might bring more people to your customer base. 

[kiek 1,212]

1 hour ago, hjsmuc said:

I recently considered getting it when I noticed that the pricing had changed. While I don't want to argue whether the new pricing model is right or wrong, I think that the demo option is a bit scarce. 3 times 5 minutes is hardly enough to find out if you enjoy and need this product. Maybe you could offer a more extensive trial which in turn might bring more people to your customer base. 

Good idea Hans. Could you bring that to the attention of the developer of RealTraffic? His mailadress is at his web site.

[hjsmuc 393]

2 minutes ago, kiek said:

Good idea Hans. Could you bring that to the attention of the developer of RealTraffic? His mailadress is at his web site.

Will do right away. Just accidentally clicked on the program's icon and ruined one of my three five minute slots 

[kiek 1,212]

17 minutes ago, hjsmuc said:

Will do right away. Just accidentally clicked on the program's icon and ruined one of my three five minute slots 

On second thought:why don't you subscribe for 1 month? Costs you only 10 dollar and then you can test it extensively. One evening to a café or to the movies is more expensive ;-)

[hjsmuc 393]

Just now, kiek said:

On second thought:why don't you subscribe for 1 month? Costs you only 10 dollar and then you can test it extensively. One evening to a café or to the movies is more expensive ;-)

Just had the same idea. . Probably that's also what Balthasar thinks. It would still be nice if he offered a little more of a free trial. 

[BlueStar 323]

16 minutes ago, kiek said:

On second thought:why don't you subscribe for 1 month? Costs you only 10 dollar and then you can test it extensively. One evening to a café or to the movies is more expensive ;-)

That's what I did. Rolled the dice for a month, liked it, and have continued to use it. 

blaustern

[somiller 694]

10 hours ago, kiek said:

On second thought:why don't you subscribe for 1 month? Costs you only 10 dollar and then you can test it extensively. One evening to a café or to the movies is more expensive ;-)

Exactly what I did...and quickly realized I'd hate to be without it...but then again, that was before the price increase. I have thought about not renewing my current year subscription when it ends, but it will be quite some time before I have to decide. I have to say that I really enjoy the traffic. Another thing I've done with it is plane spotting...setup a view somewhere (like at the tower) on a large airport (KLAX for example), and just watch the aircraft land and take off. For added interest, open up an atc tower or approach channel at the airport where you're plane spotting, and listen to atc of the actual aircraft you're watching. It's free at https://www.liveatc.net/

[kiek 1,212]

7 hours ago, somiller said:

Exactly what I did...and quickly realized I'd hate to be without it.

Yes indeed, it's like smoking cigarettes, you'll become addicted ... ;-)

[Superluminal 15]

2 hours ago, kiek said:

Yes indeed, it's like smoking cigarettes, you'll become addicted ... ;-)

Thanks for the replies Nico - As OP, I just wanted to throw it out there.

I for one will be renewing my subscription when it expires (in 10 days ) for another year anyway,

as IMHO it's the best solution at this time.