T-Mobile Issues
 

It seems my T-Mobile has stopped working in the car and won't allow me to access wi-if in the car or even access Audi-Connect. Before I call T-Mobile is there anything anyone has experienced that I may be able to try before I call?
The 2-3G icon on the lower right of the screen is grayed out.

Thanks

Happened to me. Go, close the account and Re-open it. That did the trick. Changing the sim, nor their customer assistance over the phone worked. I had to shut the plan down and re start one.They can do it at the store. Takes a few mins

Thanks. Any cost to this as it was prepaid for 4 years? Any documention I need to have with me?

That im not sure as I didn't have q contract. Sorry! You may be better off getting ahold of them via phone. The store fellas know nothing about the Audi deal.

The connectivity aspect of Audi Connect is not directly managed by T-Mobile. You probably won't get far if you call T-Mobile or walk into one of their stores. You need to call RacoWireless on their dedicated Audi Connect phone number 1-877-AUDI (2834) Option #1 to get issues resolved properly. The T-Mobile and AT&T accounts used for Audi Connect are so called M2M (machine to machine) accounts. They fall outside the accounts that the main customer service and the stores deal with.

Not to be snarky - but have you tried the obvious? Remove the SIM, clean the contacts gently with a pencil eraser & reinsert the SIM.
I've had a similar problem on my Q7 & removing & reinserting the SIM always fixed it.

I did remove and air cleaned the SIM but did not employ the eraser trick. I will give that a try tonight but first will call the Audi Connect number to see how that does. Thanks

It may very well be a T-Mobile problem - good luck with that.
I'm looking forward to a new generation Q7 that uses AT&T for data service. That way I can just add it to my existing Family Share plan for $10/mo. AT&T 4G service in my area on my "i" devices runs anywhere from 15 to 35 mbs. With T-Mobile 3G I'm lucky to see 3 mbs anywhere.

You can use AT&T even now. If you have a 2013 you need a hardware exchange, but 2014+ work with AT&T out of the box. It's still 3G, up to HSPA+, though. I've had my RS5 on AT&T for about a year. I just activated a SIM from a spare tablet and stuck it into the MMI. T-Mo sucks around here. I've been much happier with it since I switched to AT&T.

Chipmakers all say that cleaning the contacts (and that would include SIM chips) with a PINK eraser will damage it. The pink erasers contain abrasives and they damage the extremely thin gold or tin electroplate on contacts, which allows more corrosion to form in the damages.

The trick is to use a WHITE vinyl eraser, they cost little more and all they do is roll the dirt off, they aren't abrasive at all. That's what the "refill" sticks in drafting erasers are. Some of the throwaway mechanical pencils also come with WHITE erasers instead of the pink ones.

A little plain isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol, plain rubbing alcohol) on a clean paper towel will clean them off equally well.

The OP has a 4 year $450 prepaid subscription with T-Mobile so even if he was in an area that qualified for updating the modem, AT&T wouldn't be a good financial move since there are no refunds from T-Mobile.

I was responding to Cadx6. He didn't say if he prepaid for his T-Mobile subscription. Anyway, I prepaid for my 30 months T-Mo subscription as well. It's still active actually, but that didn't stop me from switching. It's just money. Why suffer through a bad experience? If I had known that at some point I would be able to switch to AT&T, I wouldn't have prepaid for a whole 30 months, but hindsight is always 20/20. On the other hand $450 is the equivalent of about 2 months of fuel for me, so it doesn't put much of a dent in the TCO.

I'm now using US Mobile on the T-Mobile network and in my area it works fine. At $4.70 per month I'm satisfied and not wasting money which, for me, is a valuable, non-renewable resource.

Update: I called the Audi Connect 800 number and they said the dealer only set up a 6 month trial which expired. I looked at my contract and sure enough it was for just 6 months. My bad. So, long story short, the A6 I traded in for this beauty had a couple of months left on it (I forgot to transfer it) so I had them move the remaining time left to my SQ5. All good until the end of Jan at which point I have to decide about re-upping with T-Mobile or giving the AT&T version a try.

If by hardware exchange you mean the data modem replacement to accommodate T-Mobile's "upgrade" of their systems in certain areas, I have done that on my 2013. When you started using the AT&T SIM from a tablet, did you have to give AT&T a new IMEI number, or did you just "stick it in" and it worked with AT&T thinking it was a tablet?

If you want to use AT&T and already have AT&T as your phone provider then you need to get a new sim card and add it as "iPad" so you can use the mobile share plan. They will need the IMEI, which their system won't recognize it, but just make sure them add it as "iPad" and yes you're getting 3G service and better coverage than T-mobile for $10/month.

No, I didn't give AT&T a new IMEI number. As far as they are concerned, my MMI is a tablet. However, since you have done the hardware exchange, you can call 877-505-AUDI Option 1 and officially sign up for AT&T service. They will send you a new SIM matched to the IMEI of your MMI.

Thanks thanking & superswiss very much for the info.
I currently have an iPad on my AT&T Family plan. As a test, I think I'll try putting the SIM from that in the Audi (with an adapter, naturally) & if the performance is measurably better in this area I'll call the number you provided & have them send me a SIM & activate it on my account.
I still have 6 months left on my prepaid T-Mobile plan but if AT&T is faster with better coverage, it will be worth the sacrifice.