noworriesinmd

Audi USA does not stand by their products.

I never thought I'd make that statement because, even though I've had multiple problems with my car, I still love it.

I have a 2012 Audi A6 prestige. I drive all around the DMV, including Baltimore. For years, I've gotten my car repaired at Audi dealerships, and for years I've complained about Mobile connection speeds. I was always told that I was just in a bad areas and nothing was wrong. I've purchase two 2-year Audi connect packages and it came up for renewal again last month. I decided to call Audi and complain again because I've gotten good connection speeds 1/2 out of the 4/5 years I've owned the car.

When I called Audi, I found out that my connection is at 1 or 2G speeds and there was nothing Audi would do to help me. Also, I learned they've had a fix for years (module upgrade), but I don't qualify because I live 1 mile away from Washington DC. I can't even pay to upgrade the module. I did more digging and realized that T Mobile upgraded the DC area to 4G years ago and that they've been phasing out supposed for slower speeds for years. What makes me even angrier is that I showed my dealer speed test from multiple places around DC and it would show sub 1k speeds.

What makes me so angry is the ONLY reason why I got the Audi was for Wifi and Google Earth. Now I can't use that. Audi does not stand by their product. Imagine if a tire or hmmm airbag (tata) was defective...would they not make it right?

Be careful dealing with Audi. They do not standby their products.

If anyone can offer a suggestion to get better/cheaper speeds on my car I'd greatly appreciate it.

dwboston

I'm in the same boat with my 2012 A6 Prestige. Service on T-Mobile around me is degrading to 2G connection speeds and Audi has yet to offer the modem upgrade that they offered to other owners in other parts of the country a year or two ago. Unfortunately, there's no real solution, as the cellular radio in the 2012 A6 doesn't support the 3G bands needed to work on AT&T's network.

I'm less than impressed with Audi Connect and Audi's customer service in this area. I just bought a 2015 A8, which absolutely has the right radio bands to work on AT&T. When I called Audi Connect after getting the SIM and sign-up package from the local Audi dealer, the Audi Connect rep claimed it wouldn't work on AT&T. When I pointed out (nicely) that it had the correct radio bands and does work, she changed to stating they wouldn't activate it and wouldn't support it. So I went to the AT&T store and got another SIM, and activated it using the IMEI of an LTE-capable tablet that we own and added it to my Mobile share plan for $10/month. It's cheaper than Audi Connect and it gets me 3G speeds on AT&T, which is fine for my purposes.

19hole

Let me ask you this; Do you have a 5 year old mobile phone? If so, I doubt it will connect a 4G LTE speeds. Do you expect your phone manufacturer to give you a new phone because our cellular carrier no longer supports the radio bands that your phone does?

dwboston

Actually LTE was rolled out in the US in 2010-2011, depending on the carrier, so a 5 year old phone could have LTE radios, but would at least have HSPA+ radios (for GSM). The HTC Thunderbolt was the first LTE phone in the US, and came out in March 2011.

I expect Audi to treat its customers equally by offering everyone with an Audi Connect subscription the upgrade to the new modem. It makes little sense to offer it to some customers and not others, unless your goal is to pinch pennies since you were caught cheating on emissions testing and have to pay billions of dollars in fines and car buybacks.

ZCD2.7T

Wow - the only reason that you bought a $50K car was for its data connection?? The ONLY reason??? I don't even know how to respond to that...

That said, my suggestion is to try a different dealer. One dealer declined to do the update, while the second dealer I tried did it no problem. Keep in mind though that at best you'll get 3G speeds, and though that's better than what you've been getting, it's a far cry from 4G/LTE.

I used an updated T-Mobile SIM in the car for a while, but eventually cancelled the service, because my phone's T-Mobile data plan offers tethering (wi-fi-hotspot) at no extra charge, and at LTE speeds. I don't get Google Maps on the car, but if I really want it, I simply use it on the phone.

Finally, if you really must have Google Maps shown on the MMI display, I'll sell you the parts I bought to mirror my iPhone's screen on that display. I tried it but decided it wasn't worth the hassle...

Vodka G

I got my 2G module upgraded to 3G a year ago. I called Audi USA and they told me to just take it into the dealership and they will do the upgrade for me (which they did with no issues)

I think Audi USA was doing this upgrade as long as you are under warranty (which I was under CPO warranty)

Vodka G

I think the OP probably meant that the Wifi was the Only reason why he pick the Audi instead of something else, the Audi MMI and the LED lights were the top reason why I pick the A6 instead of the F10 550xi as well (and yes the A6 Prestige is only about 2k less than the 550xi)

superswiss

It would be nice if Audi offered an upgrade program. Not expecting it to be free, but a way to upgrade the Infotainment technology over time. The 4th gen MMI is designed to be upgradable, but Audi has yet to offer upgrades. On the other hand, we are years away from 5G mass deployment.

Just to clarify, the updated modem does not add LTE. It adds additional bands and support for HSPA (3.5G) and HSPA+ (3.75G) on top of UMTS (3G), so it is faster than the old modem, but not LTE fast. To be frank, though, for anything other than the Wifi hotspot, HSPA+ is all you really need. I've spent some time in newer Audis doing Google searches etc. and LTE makes very little difference there. Barely noticeable compared to my car with upgraded modem and good HSPA+ coverage.

At the end of the day, though, any connectivity service highly depends on where you live and how good the network performance is in your area. That's all out of Audi's control.

Fahrer

I don't think you are missing much. I have a 2016 A6 and I really do not see the value in Audi Connect. The only feature I really need is the traffic info for the navigation. The google map feature is interesting but not important, the local weather, airport flight info, gas prices etc. have little value/are useless.

superswiss

In the 2016, traffic info is part of Audi connect and requires a data connection, so evidently you do see value. Google Earth (not Google Maps) is nice IMO and I actually prefer it over the standard map, but to each their own. The main feature you are leaving out, though, is Online Destinations, including the ability to do Google Local Voice searches directly from the MMI to input destinations and the integration with the MMI connect phone app and Google Maps on a computer to send destinations directly to the car. I haven't needed to enter a raw address directly into the MMI in a long time.