vdb94089

Hello All,

Thanks to the "2017 A4 coding tweaks" post, I made coding tweaks to use an external SIM in 2017 A4 and am now successfully using project Fi in the car.

However, the license to all audi connect services (including Google Earth) expired when my 6-months trial license that came with the car expired.

Having network connectivity through Fi, I would really like to avoid taking a very expensive AT&T subscription that would effectively not be of use outside of enabling service licenses

Has anyone figured out a way to enable those services without requiring the AT&T subscription?

thanks

DirkM

AudiConnect does not require any AT&T service and you cannot use any of the AudiConnect services without an active subscription (at least until someone figures out how). If you subscribe to AudiConnect Prime you get the AudiConnect services and 6GB of data for WiFi hotspot clients. If you need more you can subscribe to an AT&T data plan, add you car to your existing AT&T plan or (after the hack) use your personal SIM for WiFi hotspot clients. When using a personal SIM, all data used by AudiConnect will go though the personal SIM also. When not using a personal SIM all AudiConnect data will use the internal eSIM.

jjcook

For external SIM do I use a tablet SIM or phone SIM?

DirkM

Depends on what your provider supports, and how. t-mobile locks some SIM to a specific IMEI (the free tablet SIM for example), so those don't work. My t-mobile and Verizon phone SIMs did work. Didn't try an AT&T SIM.

jjcook

Thanks.

T-Mobile has a promotion thru tomorrow where you can add 2 lines of service (voice line or data line) for free -- the data line would be the otherwise $35/mo 6GB + BingeOn so I'm hoping that SIM will work as I initially just want to do two tablets for the kids.

Jared Gedlaman

So, when I renewed my AudiConnect, it used up my 6GB of data in like 2 weeks, with limited driving and only myself and my iPhone (which uses about 2GB a month typically) connecting to the WiFi hotspot. Now, the car is using about 75% of my ATT shared data plan each month - more than my iPhone, my wife's iPhone and my iPad put together!

When I call AudiConnect, they say that Google Earth overlays and other AudiConnect services don't count against the data plan. But, I read on here, all that data goes through the plan. Confusing. Why would I have a plan that gives me Google Earth (AudiConnect Prime), but burns my personal shared data??? Can't I get a separate SIM for the hotspot data and put it in the slot in the glove box of my 2017 A4 Premium w/Tech Package?

This AudiConnect is pissing me off. AudiConnect people don't know, the dealership just wants me to bring the car in, and ATT certainly doesn't know anything!

DirkM

If you use AudiConnect with the internal eSIM then only the data used by WiFi clients connected to the hotspot will count against the included 6GB data limit. Data used by Google Earth and other AudiConnect services will not count against the 6GB data that comes with AudiConnect Prime.

If you add the MMI to your AT&T plan via AudiConnect ($10/month) without inserting an AT&T data SIM in the MMI head unit then only the data used by WiFi hotspot clients should show up on your AT&T bill. With no WiFi clients connected to the car but heavy Google Earth usage or even downloading a map update online on the MMI you should not see any data usage on your AT&T bill.

If you change the MMI coding and use an external SIM in the slot in the MMI head unit then all data will go through the external SIM and use your personal data plan. In this case only you will see Google Earth data usage and well as WiFi hotspot client data usage on your AT&T bill.

So, as a test I would disconnect an wifi client (phone, tablet, refrigerator, etc.) and only use Google Earth for a week or two. Then check you AT&T bill for the IMEI/phone number of the MMI and see if any data was charged against your AT&T account. If so go to the dealer and complain (I doubt that they could fix that though without a software update that does not exist yet)

Jared Gedlaman

Thanks for the quick reply!

That's exactly what I did - added the MMI client to my ATT account. No external SIM card. I'm a light driver, work from home. Probably shouldn't even pay for the damn thing, but I love the experience I guess. Sigh...

OK... First, I look at data usage.

1. The A4 used 6GB of data in < 2 weeks of light driving
2. On 1/1/17, according to ATT records, it used 1 GB of data in 4 minutes!
3. Since 12/14/16, when ATT cycled the bill, they show 5.7GB used. My Data Usage counter shows 256.85MB received/79.33MB sent. Took a picture of it.

It just doesn't make any sense. Are you thinking a trip to the dealership is needed? When I called them and talked to the service advisor, he had no clue what I was talking about or even if there was a SIM card in the car. Called AudiConnect and they had no answers either.

Thanks.

DirkM

The data counter on the MMI is useless because it will not differentiate between hotspot data and overall data usage. Who knows what Audi is downloading in the background but it should not matter if you have no clients connected and no SIM in the slot. You can even turn of WiFi clients in the Connection Manager to make sure that nothing is using hotspot data.

Until the next cycle I would turn off WiFi clients, reset the data counter and take a picture of your AT&T bill showing today's data total. Then check again on the 14th and see how things have changed.

Jared Gedlaman

Based on what you say about the MMI data counter, funny it's only about 355MB total when my ATT bill shows 5.7GB. Anyway...

With several devices in the family paired - but not frequently in the car - can I just shut off the WiFi hotspot as a way to make sure nothing is using the hotspot?

Will do that and reset data counter and track bill @ ATT from here on out. Will keep group posted.

As an aside, I did get the ODBelevenPRO for some of the other tweaks. I think I can enable the ACC on my model...