Cadx6

Anyone else in the Chicago area (or anywhere) receive a letter from T-Mobile advising of a network "upgrade" on June 18 that will result in a decrease in data speed in our cars? Supposedly it may reduce it a point that Audi Connect (navigation, search, & hotspot) may not function.
In January of 2014 I signed up for the 30 month program T-Mobile offered for my 2013 & now have over a year left. It kind of irks me that I signed up & paid money for what wasn't great, but adequate service & now they tell me I'm out of luck with no offer of compensation.
Class action time??????????

superswiss

It looks like there is a free hardware fix available from Audi for 2013 models. Audi upgraded the cellular radio starting with 2014 models across their lineup. This new radio also supports 3G on AT&Ts network. I would contact AoA or your dealer and tell them you got this letter.

This is not gonna help you much at the moment, but in my RS5 I got my MMI main unit replaced last fall with a new 2015 unit and shortly after that I switched to AT&T. Works much better and faster. Many others on this forum with later MY cars have switched to AT&T as well. You have to jump through some hoops, because the IMEI of the cellular modem is tied to T-Mobile. The easiest way is if you have a tablet sitting around with an inactive SIM. Then you can just activate the tablet and put the SIM into the MMI. That's what I did. My MMI is now part of my AT&T Shared Data plan for $10/month.

If this supposed hardware fix updates the cellular modem to the same level, which I think is pretty much what this is, you will also get the option to switch to AT&T if you wish. I still have 15 months left on my 30 months subscription, but I just wrote that off, because it works so much better on AT&Ts network around here.

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a7-...oming-2879633/

Cadx6

Thanks much for the info. I already have a large family plan with AT&T & by coincidence have an iPad Mini that has an unactivated AT&T SIM (bought it for the GPS capability). That might be a way to go except for losing a year's worth of T-Mobile that I've already paid for. Maybe time to demand a refund.

superswiss

The T-Mobile prepaid subscriptions are unfortunately non-refundable. If you switch, you'll have to eat the unused part of your subscription. Unfortunately, the iPads as far as I know use a micro SIM, otherwise you could just put your T-Mobile SIM into the iPad and use it on the go for the remaining months. You can use a SIM adapter for the micro SIM in your iPad, so that it fits into the MMI, but you have to be careful that it doesn't pop out of the adapter and get stuck in the MMI's SIM slot. If you are skilled with a box cutter, you can cut your MMI T-Mobile SIM into a micro SIM and then use it in your iPad Mini.

EDIT: Just to be clear, though. Before you are even considering switching to AT&T, you need to look into this supposed hardware upgrade from Audi, otherwise all you gonna get on AT&T is 2G service with your current MMI. However, I believe you will be downgraded to 2G anyway once T-Mobile completes this network "upgrade" in your market. I believe what T-Mobile is doing is moving their 3G network to a different frequency band, which is not supported by your current MMI, so you'll be stuck with T-Mobile's 2G service if you can't upgrade the modem in the MMI.

Cadx6

Thanks again for the additional info.
I was aware of the difference in SIMs, in that if I used the iPad one in the car I'd have to use an adapter to make it bigger.
I knew the 30 month T-Mobile plan was "non-refundable" which I was fine with as long as the level of service was acceptable (it ain't real great but it gets the job done). I just have a real problem with T-Mobile taking a fairly substantial amount of money to provide a service for a set period of time & then reneging & making that service potentially unusable with no compensation.
Guess I'll get on the phone with my dealer / T-Mobile / AOA & see what I can find out.
With my luck the whole mess will drag out until second half 2016 when my subscription expires & hopefully the new generation Q7 should be out. The new 4G AT&T in that system, added to my family plan should cure everything