Navizon announced yesterday that you have to be running the premium version of their handheld software to continue receiving payments for the WiFi and cell tower data you collect.  Users of the “lite” version can only cash in their points once.

The premium version of the Navizon software now costs $9.99, which is a reduction from its previous price.  I usually find enough wireless APs to cash in my points once a month.  So basically it will cost me one month’s worth of AP collection to continue to receive payments from Navizon.  I think it will be worthwhile for me to buy the premium version of Navizon to continue to make a bit of money on the side.  I could care less about the features of the software because I just log data.  I have a nuvi, an eXplorist, and a Bluetooth GPSr; I don’t need the Navizon software for navigation.

I’m not pleased that I have to shell out $10 in order to continue to receive $10 somewhat monthly payments.  If Navizon drops the payment to less than $5 per 10,000 Navizon points, I think I’ll just quit collecting APs for them and instead build up a nice rich map of APs with WiFiFoFum and ArcGIS.

I think there are people like taxi and truck fleet owners abusing the Navizon points system.  I have read about some people who just stick their PDA or cell phone in a delivery truck and let it ride around with a different crew every day while they work in their office.  There are Navizon members who in 11 days so far this month have already earned over 30,000 Navizon points.  At this rate, they will make $90 this month.  In one month, they will score almost as many points as I will in a year.  These people are obviously contributing a lot of data, but they are also taking so much money out of the pot that us “normal” data collectors are having to put up with declining payments.  I’ve seen the payment drop from $20 per redemption to $10 per redemption.  Perhaps the high-volume data collectors should have their earnings capped at $50 a month.  I have to wonder if these people are going to declare the $90 a month on their income taxes.  I am reporting my $137.05 of Navizon income for this year on my taxes.