Why you don’t need cellular with the SpotOn System

August 20, 2023 0 comments

Understanding Our GPS Dog Fence

We’ve packed a lot of technology into the SpotOn collar, so here’s how it all works together. The collar uses GPS alone to create, activate and maintain fences - and relies on Bluetooth and cellular to communicate with your smartphone.

While Bluetooth & cellular are communication technologies that allow your collar and smartphone to talk to each other, GPS is strictly a location technology.

How it all works

GPS

GPS controls containment—allowing you to create, activate, maintain, and deactivate GPS dog fences. SpotOn is a GPS-based system, so there’s no need for buried wires, base stations, or professional installation. Once your SpotOn collar has its GPS fix, you can create a custom fence. You do not need to have cell service to use SpotOn’s GPS fence to contain your pup. Learn more.

Cellular

Cellular allows for communication between your SpotOn collar and the SpotOn app on your smartphone. Cellular is needed for long range communications for when your dog is running around.

Though you do not need cellular to create and maintain fences - you do need cellular service for the collar to:

See your dog's location at any time, which is useful if your fence is large.
Receive notifications if your collar battery is low or your dog escapes his boundaries.
Track your dog if he escapes so you can be reunited as soon as possible.

Think of your SpotOn collar as a phone for your dog and the fee as his cell phone plan. If your dog escapes, you need a cell connection so your collar can tell your phone where he is. As long as your smartphone has cell service and the collar has cell service, you can track your dog. Cell service is optional, and we offer a free 90-day trial with the 1-year or 2-year subscriptions.

Bluetooth®

Bluetooth is a short range communication tool for when your collar is right next to your phone, providing a short range link from your phone to the collar. Use Bluetooth to set and adjust static correction and cue tones when training your pup.

Connecting to Bluetooth is a little different than connecting to a mobile speaker, smartwatch, or your car. Bluetooth will automatically disconnect after a few minutes of inactivity, so you will need to reconnect each time you need the Bluetooth connection active. Just make sure your collar is within a few feet of your phone when you connect.

Be sure to deactivate any active fences before connecting to Bluetooth. Keep in mind that the collar can only use one communication protocol at a time. So if you are connected via Bluetooth while training, the fences cannot be activated. And if you are on Bluetooth, the collar cannot use cellular for tracking (and vice versa).

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