2015 RS5 - Audi Connect - Options?

[Agilis]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to subscribe to Audi Connect and I'm wondering what the best options are as of right now.

First, I'm not sure if my MMI is ATT or T-Mobile. If I recall correctly, there was T-Mobile service when the car had it's trial service of Audi Connect.

Second, I no longer have the SIM card. I'm not sure what happened to it but I know for a fact the SIM card went missing long after my Audi Connect trial expired.

Third, I currently subscribe to ATT for my phone, which is an iPhone.

I understand from a few minutes of reading here on others threads that my MMI may require an update in order to switch from T-Mobile to ATT. Is this correct?

My car goes into service tomorrow for a transmission update as well as some scheduled service, I'd like to have the update mentioned above done as well.

Thanks,

[namvar]

The car is delivered with t-mobile service. However, you do not need an MMI upgrade for AT&T compatibility. The MMI upgrade was for older systems to allow for compatibility with T-Mobile's network updates. You would have received a note in the mail if your MMI needed an update. But seeing that I have one of the first 2015 production RS5s which did not require the update, I think you are good.

T-Mobile service for Audi is unlimited data which allows for worry free streaming (Especially if you have a child). I switched to AT&T a while back to save $5/month and have regretted it since; my daughter can't stream anymore because of my 7 Gig limit for the whole family. I will be switching back to t-mobile very soon. Even if you switch to the unlimited data plan on AT&T the monthly fee for that one line will be much more than $15/mo for T-Mobile.

Anyway, my recommendation is to look at the different available plans and decide on what works for you best. In my area AT&T and T-mobile service is pretty much the same.

[Agilis]

Thanks Namvar for that information. The information your provided is more than enough to help me with my decision and any doubts I had.

I will stick with T-Mobile. Tomorrow, I'm going to talk to my dealership tomorrow and see what they can do for me.

[glycerine]

I added a pocket router in the glovebox to the AMI cable, now tethering off my cell phone service for MMI connectivity. Getting LTE speeds now, much happier. I can find the thread with the details on the setup, bout $50 in parts needed.


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[superswiss]

A couple of clarifications. The cellular modem in your MMI technically supports the AT&T frequency bands, however, you can't officially sign up for AT&T through Audi connect. You have to get AT&T to activate a SIM for the car through other means. One option is to activate a tablet and then simply use the SIM in the car instead of said tablet. Others have had success at an AT&T store. The basic issue is that the IMEIs for all MYs prior to 2016 are locked to T-Mobile and AT&T can't activate the device in their system using the actually IMEI. So, the way around it is to use the IMEI from another supported device such as an iPad.

For most using alternate ways to get AT&T service is sufficient and if you already have a myAudi account, it should continue to work. To use Google Maps Send-To-Car and the MMI connect app, you need a functioning myAudi account, though. People have had issues activating a new myAudi account with an unofficial SIM. It apparently verifies now if you have an official Audi connect subscription, otherwise it won't let you create a myAudi account. There is also the possibility that one day Audi will start limiting the Audi connect services to official subscriptions only. Starting with the 2017 A4 and Q7, the Audi connect services require a license, so no more third-party SIMs. I have a feeling that they may eventually start restricting the Audi connect services on older models to official subscriptions only and at that point things like Google Earth etc. may stop working. At the moment, that's just a suspicion on my part based on seeing what's happening with the pricing plans for Audi connect on the next gen models.

The mentioned hardware upgrade is for MY2013 technically. T-Mobile is refarming their network in all US markets to free up bandwidth for their LTE network. As a consequence in markets where the refarming took place, a MY2013 MMI will only receive 2G service. The hardware upgrade restores 3G service and also adds official support for AT&T. Once the hardware is upgraded (they replace the telephone module), one can officially sign up for AT&T.

Technically, the hardware upgrade can be done on a 2015 unit. I've done it. I have a 2013 RS5 and my entire MMI was replaced with a 2015 unit in late 2014. After that I was using one of those alternate ways to get AT&T service. However, a few months ago I approached my service department to do the hardware upgrade in order to get official AT&T service and they gladly obliged. I now have a 2015 MMI unit with updated hardware and an official AT&T Audi connect subscription part of my AT&T Shared Data plan. I wanted to get this done before the warranty expires, in case Audi does decide to start restricting the Audi connect services. Overall I've made better experience with AT&T here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Maybe their coverage and service is better now after refarming their network, but before I barely had reception in my neighborhood and overall coverage was very poor in the areas where I drove. T-Mobile also had terrible network latency that made it sluggish. Again, maybe that's improved now, but I have no interest in going back to T-Mobile. They still don't come close to AT&T's coverage.

[Agilis]

I added a pocket router in the glovebox to the AMI cable, now tethering off my cell phone service for MMI connectivity. Getting LTE speeds now, much happier. I can find the thread with the details on the setup, bout $50 in parts needed.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thank you for that suggestion. I've seen that method & it's a bit involved for what I would like to use Audi Connect for - A hotspot for my Dash Camera as well as Google Maps & search.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[glycerine]

Here is the thread anyways, if others are interested and come across this thread...

Audi 3GP MMI Onlineservices via Tethering

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url...9&share_type=t


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[JamesRS5]

Grrrrr, Audi connect is one of my gripes with Audi Middle East, the car was sold with the package available and the promise it would be active soon, 2 years on and still nothing. I tend to use the iPhone for navigation, I did look at one of those mirroring devices but it was North of $400 for the unit and I'm not willing to pay that just to mirror a phone display.

[Agilis]

Thank you Superswiss for that wealth of information. Tomorrow I will determine my options from my dealership and see what they recommend.

Grrrrr, Audi connect is one of my gripes with Audi Middle East, the car was sold with the package available and the promise it would be active soon, 2 years on and still nothing. I tend to use the iPhone for navigation, I did look at one of those mirroring devices but it was North of $400 for the unit and I'm not willing to pay that just to mirror a phone display.

Audi Connect is not available there James? Wow. You might want to look into the tethering the MMI off your cellphone's service via a mobile router which glycerine mentioned.

[JamesRS5]

It's the MMI which doesn't have the Audi connect activated so when it's selected I just have a blue blank page, I still have google maps but not the traffic updates on there.


http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/product.ph...=369&cat=4

That's the device I was looking at, looks great but far too much just for a mirroring device.

[Agilis]

James, the Audi Connect is for Google Maps, searches, weather, etc. The traffic updates in my vehicle are provided by Sirius Radio.

[JamesRS5]

Hmmm, an odd one, I have google maps but no searches, weather, etc. I assumed the traffic would be updated on the MMI google maps as it is on the iPhone so it will be real time and change the route if it sees traffic ahead?

We don't have digital radio either, for an ultra modern city it sometimes feels like I'm living in 1980 again but apparently we will have electrical lighting available in our own homes by next year..... Progress.

[superswiss]

James, the Audi Connect is for Google Maps, searches, weather, etc. The traffic updates in my vehicle are provided by Sirius Radio.

The traffic feed is different in other countries. SiriusXM traffic is only for North America. In Europe and other countries, traffic feed is through terrestrial radio or online. In Europe for example, you get basic traffic incident reports through a digital feed over terrestrial radio. Once you activate Audi connect, you get traffic flow and richer incident reporting through an online traffic feed. In Dubai, where James is, they appear to install the European firmware, so in order to get traffic feed he needs Audi connect. I don't know if Dubai has a basic traffic feed over terrestrial radio, but probably not.

Hmmm, an odd one, I have google maps but no searches, weather, etc. I assumed the traffic would be updated on the MMI google maps as it is on the iPhone so it will be real time and change the route if it sees traffic ahead?

We don't have digital radio either, for an ultra modern city it sometimes feels like I'm living in 1980 again but apparently we will have electrical lighting available in our own homes by next year..... Progress.

The MMI doesn't have Google Maps. It has locally stored HERE maps (formerly NavTeq). With Audi connect you get Google Earth, which are 2D satellite images overlaid on top of the HERE maps. Traffic is also overlaid on the map and comes from a country specific source. In North America that's via SiriusXM over satellite.

[Agilis]

The traffic feed is different in other countries. ... In North America that's via SiriusXM over satellite.

Superswiss, that was fantastic information provided! I was not aware of any of that!

James, I was way off on my intel and thinking it worked like it does in North America. Sorry about that.