KevinB656

Just curious whether Audi ever offers discounts on Audi Connect subscriptions. At half the current pricing it would be a no-brainer. At the current pricing it may not be worth it for me.

f_399

Its more on the internet/mobile phone carrier after your trial period ends.

Some carriers offer discounts for multiple devices, Tmobile is $10 for an extra data line.

Q5 Bob

I think the cars come with AT&T service. The rates they currently show on the Audi Connect site are:

Monthly $10, 30GB 30 months $499, 5GB 6 months $99 and 1GB 30 days $20.

KevinB656

Below is what is shown on the AudiConnect site. It also says one must have a Connect Services plan to get a Hotspot plan.

I have no idea what this means. Two questions come to mind: (1) Are the separate Hotspot plans just additional data over the basic data permitted under the applicable Connect Services plan?, and (2) For the Connect Services plans are the data limits cumulative, meaning that one would get a total of 6GB for six months for $199 and a total of 6GB for 30 months for the $750 plan?

Connect Services Plans
Connect Services - 6 Mo + Wi-Fi™ hotspot - 6GB - $199
Connect Services - 30 Mo + Wi-Fi™ hotspot - 6GB - $750

Wi-Fi™ hotspot for Audi connect® Plans
Wi-Fi™ hotspot - 5GB - 6 Months - $99
Wi-Fi™ hotspot - 30GB - 30 Months - $499
Wi-Fi™ hotspot - 1GB Monthly - Auto Renew - $20
Wi-Fi™ hotspot - 3GB Monthly - Auto Renew - $30
Wi-Fi™ hotspot - 5GB Monthly - Auto Renew - $50

superswiss

No, they don't offer discounts. They may come out with additional plans in the future that lower the effective per month cost. They did that with the original T-Mobile plan. At first the only plan was $30/month and then they came out with additional prepaid plans. The highest plan for $450/30 months effectively cut the monthly cost to $15.

However, starting with the 2017 A4 and Q7, Audi connect is a whole new game as far as pricing is concerned. There no longer is an external SIM card, although there is still a slot that supposedly can be activated with vagcom, but the primary operation is via a built-in eSIM. You now pay for a license to use the Audi connect services and not strictly for the data anymore. So, to use the Audi connect service you must pay for the Connect PRIME subscription. W/o it, you don't have a license and even if you were to manage to somehow get the system to use an external SIM, the service wouldn't work as it would detect that you don't have a valid license. Connect PRIME also comes with 6GB (I believe) of Wifi hotspot data. Once you used up the 6GB and wish to continue to use the Wifi hotspot, you also need to pay for a Connect PLUS subscription, in addition to Connect PRIME. Connect PLUS has several options including adding it to your existing AT&T Shared Data plan for $10/month.

KevinB656

Thanks for that explanation, Superswiss. So the data limit then only applies to use of the wifi hotspot? If I never connect to the hotspot (I have a Verizon Mifi I can use) I will never have to worry about data at all? (It does seem odd, though, that they would apply the same 6 GB cumulative hotspot data limit to a 30 month plan as they do a 6 month plan.)

snagitseven

As I understand it, the first plan group above (Audi Connect Prime?) would include Audi Connect services such as Google Earth, online destination search, traffic and the other AC services plus the 6GB of WiFi hotspot as noted (there is no data limit listed for non WiFi hotspot use). The second group is only for WiFi hotspot and wouldn't include the Audi Connect services in the first group. I don't believe they are combinable since you would pay for any wifi hotspot use above 6GB in the Prime plan group.
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

KevinB656

Thanks, Snagit, I think I understand now. In light of how easy it is to use cell phones as hotspots nowadays, I can't imagine why anyone using a provider other than AT&T would purchase a Hotspot plan.

DirkM

KevinB656 is correct based on the information currently available. An AudiConnect subscription is the minimum requirement for WiFi data, either the 6 months for $199 plan or the 30 months for $750, both plans include 6GB of data for WiFi clients. If more data is required then one can subscribe to additional Hotspot plans, each Hotspot plan adds data for WiFi clients.

And if an external SIM is enabled via VCDS, all Connect services will use that SIM for data which means one is paying twice for the data. A good reason for using a t-mobile SIM is the free use of Netflix and other streaming services that don't count against the data plan. While Google Earth may use some of the for example 1GB of LTE data on an external t-mobile SIM, the kids watching Netflix on their iPad during a 5 hours road trip won't.

superswiss

Yes, they are combinable. Connect PRIME covers all the Audi connect services as listed and the first 6GB of Wifi hotspot use. Once you exhaust the 6GB, you have to add a Connect PLUS subscription with an appropriate data plan to continue usage of the Wifi hotspot. Google Earth and all the Audi connect services do not count towards the data limit, only hotspot usage counts towards the data limit. The Monroney sticker for a 2017 A4 lists a trial subscription for Connect PRIME and another trial subscription for Connect PLUS. I don't remember the exact terms, but I believe they are both 6 months and the Connect PLUS trial is unlimited data for the duration of the trial period.