bothfly

Has anyone done a speed test with the T-Mobile SIM and this P Tel SIM?
I just got a Q7 and I'm about to order the 3 years at 50% off, but not if this is a better deal.
Thanks

weth

Here is what I get in my driveway - all done at same spot, but different times (didn't have connection to all of them at the same time)


Audi SIM using m2m.t-mobile.com APN
Ping - 630 msec average
DL - 0.29 Mbps UL 0.07 Mbps

T-mobile data SIM using epc.tmobile.com
Ping 177 msec
DL 1.02 Mbps UL 0.10 Mbps

ptel.com SIM using wholesale APN
Ping 113 msec
DL - 0.36 Mbps UL 0.10 Mbps

The Audi SIM speed is was overall disappointing. The ping was always huge, and the speed barely enough for web page browsing and some music streaming. Video streaming was painful. With the Audi supplied PIN, there also appeared to be some throttling - Initially it was in the 1 Mbps range, but after somewhere in the 300 to 500 MB range, the speed decreased to the above. The ping was always high.

The only reason to go for the $15 unlimited Audi SIM is if you plan on using WiFi. Once you go pay per use, you will not want to use WiFi, and just use the data on your phone. You will find the Wifi speed is much less than great and not as useful as hoped. $15/month is not bad, but this ptel option that just came up looks promising for keeping monthly costs below that $15/month range and can go as low as $5/month.

I also tried using an AT&T SIM signed up for the tablet plan ($15 for 250 MB). This was also very usable (again not for Hotspot wifi connection), but definitely slower.

Having tried: Audi SIM, T-Mobile pay per use SIM, AT&T SIM with tablet plan, and now ptel SIM pay per use I would say all are functional possibilities, and the ptel SIM has the potential for lowest cost.

bothfly

Thanks for the info on speeds.
I did a FaceTime call over the T-Mobile WiFi connection in the car today, seemed to stream OK.
Yesterday my daughter was streaming Netfix on the iPad as well even though I have the LTE working on it, it also seemed to stream without any skipping or dropouts.
What I don't get is why the speeds are so slow?
T-Mobile has 4G here in the Dallas area, so why would they be near or below 1mbps.
And if you use a ATT SIM, and config it with a correct APN, like the one in my iPAD, why not get faster speeds.
Now nothing in the car needs to have LTE speeds, all the simple Google services seem to run fine at the current speeds, but why have a WiFi hot spot that is this slow.

weth

Audi only used a 3G speed HSPA modem, so max speeds are not T-Mobile 4G HSPA+. Also watched what happens to video streaming after you used a certain amount. I had the same experience with my daughter streaming on an iPad but once throttle kicked in streaming was pausing all the time.

AT&T network uses different frequencies than T-mobile for 3G and 4G HSPA+, so you can only get 2G with AT&T connection.

bothfly

Mmm, so I called Audi Connect the other day and was told it was Unlimited Data, which I guess it is but how much throttling could they do if it is already this slow.
But I really have no need for WiFi in the car, my iPads have ATT LTE and I have unlimited data with them anyway. I still can't FaceTime over LTE with ATT since my account hasn't received the update yet, so it was nice to FT today in the car.
I also think WiFi uses less battery then LTE so driving around in the Q7 with WiFi and BT on my iPhone should give me a little better battery.
Thanks for the info BTW

pcbrew

Has anyone tried the Audi sim in a T-Mobile hot-spot like ZTE MF61 and how easy is it to pop the sim in/out?

Wondering if it's throttled in this device or even locked to the car. If it's not throttled outside the car, I would consider getting the $15/mo plan and pop the sim out to the hotspot of we needed to do a lot of WiFi (long road trips).

Fithian

With the 2015 A3 using LTE for Audi Connect, I wonder if T-Mobile will still be used. It would be nice if Audi offered a SIM for driving in Europe on European Delivery. You would probably need a different SIM for each country. And then the navigation only has USA data. When I picked up my S5 last summer in Ingolstadt, they gave me a Garmin portable which failed in Belgium. I used Google Maps on my iPad with local data SIM to travel from that point on. It was actually cheaper and faster than the T-Mobile SIM in the US.

Clenz

Do you need the Audi Connect for traffic info on the GPS?

weth

No. Traffic info is from SiriusXM traffic subscription.

I started this thread and thought I would update my status:

I used ptel for several months, and my cost never got down to $5, but did range between $7 and $15. When Audi offered the $15/ month pre-paid deal for 30 month $450, I decided that was an excellent value for me. Since then I have been streaming music with Wifi back on for the kid and wife passengers using between 1.2 and 1.7 GB per month.

With ptel, it was nice I could control costs, but I always hated the constant decision for each data use was it with 10 cents per megabyte. A 1 hour drive to unfamiliar territory would be about $3 to $5 if you used Google earth and Google voice POI search. Now with the $15/month, I am back to leaving Google earth on all the time, having wifi on all the time, and just enjoying life a bit more for the cost of $15/month. To me it is worth it.

Q7pgh1

Thanks for posting the update. I was curious about your experience and if you kept the ptel plan.