Entertainment-niche team owner-operators Nick and Kim Holley had some use of electronic logging devices in their past when their current leasing carrier dropped Omnitracs’ XRS ELD setup on them late last year in advance of the ELD mandate’s Dec. 18 deadline. Their XRS unit is of the BYOD (“bring your own device”) type, paired with a dedicated tablet that is the user interface.
SOLVING THE BLUETOOTH CONNECTION ISSUE
Based on Overdrive polling, drivers’ most common problem with ELDs is dropped connections between a BYOD (“bring your own device,” typically a phone or tablet) and the device’s ECM plugin portion.
Given wide pre-mandate use of smartphone-based logging programs by owner-operators, many have migrated to ELDs with BYOD systems that often connect an ECM plug-in device to the user interface on a phone or tablet program via Bluetooth, but occasionally the connection could be made through the cloud via a cellular connection or locally over Wi-Fi.
A year ago, Overdrive reported on the experience of small fleet DC Transport’s owner-operators during their beginning run with the J.J. Keller Encompass system ELD, where dropped Bluetooth connections were an issue from time to time.
In some systems, dropped connections can cause unassigned-driving events to mount for system operators responsible for reconciling multiple driver accounts, not to mention presenting issues of log currency for drivers during roadside inspections.
