superswiss

My understanding is that it is a fundamental design issue with the 3G+ main unit and affects all vehicles using this unit. That includes the 2014 A6. The core issue is the proximity of the MMI main unit to the A/C. From what I've been told, there is a piece of insulation that when the A/C is on gets pushed into the MMI main unit and compromises a chip that is responsible for managing the satellite signal. My SA couldn't tell me how exactly that is happening, but my educated guess as an engineer is that freezing air and moisture enters the MMI main unit. The issue manifest itself mostly in hotter regions. I didn't really have an issue for over a year and around 15k miles until one day in the middle of a journey it went bonkers on me and put me in the middle of the bay. I had to pull out my phone and use it to navigate for the rest of the journey. It didn't correct itself until I arrived at my destination and had the car parked for several hours.

hitchens97

Ha Ha your GPS is located at about 2 miles from where I live in Rockridge, Oakland

dnajar

What they should've done is allow the car to connect to a hotspot for those who have the option with our cell phones. That would need no hardware or software changes if designed properly as technology advances. I bet there is a way to make the MMI connect to a hotspot that is undocumented.

Barraged

I will be picking up my 2015 Q5 in about 2 weeks. How can I check the firmware version to make sure it is 0733, before I drive it off the lot?

superswiss

There is a very kludgy way that involves stuffing a router etc. into your glove compartment. I believe it's on AZ where somebody did a write up. I'm not sure why Audi is shying away from supporting a data connection through a Wifi hotspot or even Bluetooth tethering. In Europe they support rSAP. rSAP is a way to access the phone's SIM card over Bluetooth. With rSAP you use your regular data plan, but the phone is essential disabled while the car is using the SIM card, so not quite ideal.

You go to the main menu and then Setup MMI (top right corner). There you can pull up the version information. However, I still don't think firmware 0733 is confirmation that you have the newer hardware.

- B -

I bet it is because Audi gets a kick back every time someone signs up for Audi Connect via T-Mobile. Yet another example of Capitalism working in a way which doesn't make sense to the consumer.

djgainsbond

If the phone has a Hotspot, just tell the passengers your code and you're done.

superswiss

Frankly, using the phone's Wifi hotspot IMO isn't very practical. The Wifi hotspot is a battery drain when turned on and the phone itself can no longer use Wifi while the Hotspot is turned on. So do you really want to have to turn on the Hotspot every time you get into the car and turn it off when you get out? Bluetooth tethering on the other hand is going away in favor of the Wifi hotspot. My phone doesn't even support Bluetooth tethering anymore. I honestly think this is a dead horse. The future is what we see in the A3/S3 with AT&T. Just add the car as another device to your shared data plan for $10/month. Unofficially, you can do that with every car now as of 2014. The MMI modem appears to have been updated in 2014 to support HSPA+ (3.5G) and the AT&T frequencies. You can just tell AT&T that you want to add a tablet to your account. Get a SIM from them for your "tablet" and put it in the car instead.

dnajar

I want the MMI to use my phone for updating Google Maps.

hitchens97

The biggest issue here is that people typically update their phones/devices every 18-36 months, but people don't update their cars that often, and hardware upgrades are non-existent.

Couple this to the fact that I don't see Audi updating the firmware or Apps (e.g. why on earth is there not internet radio direct from the console, instead of going through some crumby app and using streaming bluetooth?).

The key future for me is

a) Open standards, e.g. some version of Android for Car, so we can download apps as necessary, and if Audi want to have a few specialist ones to access special audi features that's fine, but I don't need an Audi version of Pandora.
b) Component hardware technology, so I can upgrade memory, frequencies etc. - this really should not be more expensive than a high end phone by definition.

The trouble is, I don't think the car companies are convinced that's the way to go, so they'll hold on to their proprietary stuff.