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I hope to buy a new iPhone 5.0 in October or whenever…

One of the features I am most interested in is GPS navigation. But how does one (avoid) deal with what I presume to be costly connect fees when traveling though remote or no wifi areas?

Or, can one merely get the software that "sees" the GPS constellation?

Tips, suggestions, & musings most welcome.

The GPS connection itself is absolutely free. However, if you want maps or turn by turn by turn directions to go with the GPS location then you will need a data connection. The lowest level AT&T data connection runs $15 for a month or download limit whichever comes first. That is on a month to month basis and can be cancelled or changed at any time. $25 gets unlimited data and there again it is on a month to month basis. I allow my $15 plan to automatically renew and only once have I exceeded the limit and that was on a 3,000 mile cross country trip. When that happened I was offered the opportunity to buy the unlimited data for a month or simply renew the $15 plan early.

I have give my dedicated GPS units away and rely entirely on my iPhone or iPad for turn by turn navigation. There are places in the far reaches of West Texas, the New Mexico desert, and Colorado mountains where I have not had either 3G or Edge connectivity, but if I started my navigation where I had connectivity I still get map guidance but without the terrain details and turn by turn voice directions. My personal favorite navigation app is GPS Drive by MotionX which is available for either the iPhone or iPad. There is an additional subscription for the voice guidance of I believe $25 a year. The cost of the annual subscription paid for itself when we got lost on a recent trip to Ottawa Canada. It found us and got us to our destination in spite of three people in the car telling me the wrong way to go.

That is very helpful information, Joe. And it is greatly appreciated.

Re "...three people in the car telling me the wrong way to go." Ah, yes, been there, done that. An experience that well justifies the additional costs.

There actually aren't any additional costs, since you are required to have a data plan with the iPhone anyway.

But not with the iPad.

GPS has nothing to do with wifi or cellular service. it's receiving a free signal broadcast from a ring of satellites. Calculating the timing of the signal can determine your position on the earth. It requires a separate receiver though since it's unrelated to the other two technologies.

As others mentioned, knowing where you are isn't too useful unless you know what's around you and how to get where you'd rather be, so the maps can be costly. some are bought outright, many are specialized (like waterways), and some are yearly subscription based. some are purchased and claim free updates for life, so read the fine print to see what you're getting. And remember the updates stop if the company disappears.

And--at least in California--there is no more unlimited data plan for new customers. $25 per month gets you 2 GB of downloads. Older unlimited data plans are grandparented.

For this reason, a low cost, voice enhanced GPS unit might still be useful.

While I don't like the theory of customers getting switched from unlimited to limited, there are really very few people that will go over their caps. 2GB is a lot of data to send to a phone in a month, and if you are one of the few that wants or needs it, it's not surprising to be asked to pay more. As long as they still offer an unlimited plan at a higher cost, and don't totally rape you on overage charges or cripple your phone when you hit your cap as the only alternative, I see it as fair.

There is no unlimited plan for new customers. The 2 GB is the top tier plan. There is a lower one for $15 and about one-fourth the data.

You are correct in that 2 GB should suffice for most people.