bruce_miranda

I think I've had practically every problem in the book and I had to work through each of them myself. So I figured I might as well document my findings.

I have attached a guide the dealer sent me in their attempt to help me set things up. Ofcourse none of this helped me because this wasn't my issue. But I thought it would be of use to someone else.

My car is a 2018 A5 in the UK, this comes with an internal SIM (eSIM). This is used for SOS functions, roadside assistance, Google Earth and Audi Connect. However the eSIM cannot be used for streaming or wifi hotspot.

If you need any of the streaming services you need to one of the following.
1. Sign up to a data plan with the eSIM provider.
2. Use a data SIM in the slot in the glovebox.
3. Or use a phone that support the rSAP Bluetooth protocol.

However if you use 2. or 3. ALL Audi Connect data will go through that SIM and the eSIM is not used.

Audi Connect comprises of broadly two functions.
A. Services that the car can connect to via your myAudi login.
B. Data that the car sends back to your myAudi profile.

A. Requires you to set-up a myAudi profile. Note this is different that the Audi profile you might have set up to track your order. Once you set this up, you can then login into your myAudi profile in the car using either the login name and password, or using the 6 digit pin that the myAudi site gives you. Think of it this way, now the car knows who you are and allows you to look at your data in the car. Like Destinations etc.

B. If you want the car to talk to you. You need to be set up as the Key User. This involves going through a user identification process that can be done at home. You send a code (mTAN) to your phone, you enter that code into the myAudi portal and that's it. Now you need to link the car to your myAudi profile. To do that you need the 10 digit scratch card from your key. You then choose the Connect User Management option to enter your myAudi login name and the 10 digit code. This will set you up as the Key User. Note : If the key user option does not show up, then shut down the data module, lock the car for 10 mins and then start it up again, from the Telephone menu! All being well you will set up as a Key User. This now allows the car to talk back to you. It sends details to the myAudi app about the status of the car and also allows remote locking and unlocking.

There is another app called MMI Connect. This allows you to use Apps designed for the MMI e.g. Amazon Music, Web radio etc. It also allows the MMI to play songs from your phone directly over WIFI as opposed to playing them on your phone over bluetooth.

The Amazon Music and Web Radio need a data streaming service.

If you prefer to just use the data from your phone's SIM then you need to use another roundabout method. Choose the Car phone in the Bluetooth profiles. This gives access to your phone's SIM to the car (rSAP). Then you connect your own phone to the car's WIFI hotspot, which is infact using your own SIM for data! The biggest drawback I now face using the rSAP method is that the car has complete control of my phone. I cannot even dial a number from the phone. I have to use the car for that too!

Also the car seems to force whichever phone it's using to be the Primary phone, even if it was set up as the Secondary phone.

It's been quite a rough ride for me, in some ways I wish I had asked the dealer to set this up for me. But if I did, I would have never figured out all to make this work.

Oh. And I had a bigger issue to begin with. My car came from the dealer with the eCall module sitting in Service Mode. Using a VCDS cable, I forced that out of Service Mode and that allowed my Audi Key User to connect in the car and also got rid of Emergency Call function unavailable error.

I read somewhere that once you set up the Data Connection to be via your phone then the eSIM is not used at all. While this might be true while you are in the car, it is certainly not true when you get out. You can still communicate with the car using the myAudi portal or app, which means the car reverts back to using the eSIM to talk to the outside world when your phone is not in range.
Also I am pretty sure that the SOS and Roadside assistance calls might still go via the eSIM, regardless of how the Data Connection is set up.

SO after all the trouble I went through to figure out the steps and got everything setup, I have decided that the pain just isn't worth it.

Needing two apps on the phone was just plain stupid. And the MMI Connect is 95% duplication of the myAudi App any way, with the additions of a few Apps. And also the MMI Connect App want to run a background process on my phone all the time even when the App is shut down. So bye bye MMI Connect.

Then the fact that the phone is rendered fairly useless when I use my own data from the phone using the rSAP profile is mad. Add to that you need to have WIFI running on your phone for data from the car which is getting it from your phone is just worse.

So now I have gone back to use the internal eSIM and normal Bluetooth profiles. Might as well squeeze every bit out of Audi for the 36 months of Audi Connect data included with the eSIM. I still have all the remote services running on myAUDI, Google Earth works and all the other basic Connect features are fine too. The only thing that doesn't is my car's WIFI hotspot and any WIFI based Apps. I can live with that.

Android has the ability to keep the data connection on along with the WIFI but because the car has an Internet connection using the eSIM, the phone doesn't switch to the Data connection even though the car's connection doesn't allow external teethered devices to use its data, unless you buy a data package. The Android phone needs to detect no Internet over WIFI (! Mark) for it to use its data connection.

If you wanted to play media from your phone, but didn't want to use the MMI Connect App, any DLNA server app will be fine. You simply publish your library from your phone, like you would on a NAS etc and the car uses its own DLNA client to access the media from your phone over WIFI. BUT again, the moment you switch the WIFI on your phone, you won't have data. But your phone is still usable. You could do this over Bluetooth too, but the compression is higher over Bluetooth.

Hope all this helps someone else.