"Hack" Google Maps data connection?
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From: Philly
"Hack" Google Maps data connection?
Has anyone explored the possibility of some VAG mod to enable the use of your cell phone's mobile hot spot capability to get Google Maps updates for the car vs. having to subscribe to the in car T-Mobile service for another $30/mo?
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In terms of the price of the Tmobile service they apparently just reduced it; it's now $450 for, I think, 30 months if you sign on during your free six months...if there are no better options I'm probably just going to do that as I wouldn't want to lose the Google connectivity.
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So, while we are stuck with T-Mobile, there are alternatives to a T-Mobile subscription i.e. PTel and TruSim. These are pay as you go services that use the T-Mobile network so are compatible in 3G and can be less expensive. However, if you frequently use Google Earth (a data hog) or in car wifi, the current T-Mobile 30 month offer at an effective $15 per month is still the better deal.
Finally, you can use an AT&T sim from your iPhone or iPad with an adapter, but you will only be getting 2G as the two 3G systems are different.
Last edited by snagitseven; May 1, 2013 at 07:27 AM.
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This is a repost from Matt Ruhstaller in a different forum. It actually worked for me.
M3din@
After buying an Audi Q5 in large part based on the quality of the MMI (navigation/Google maps/car control system), I became convinced it would be hard for me to live without once the promotional period for cell data (6 months on T-mobile) expired. The key things I wanted:
1.Real time traffic: super useful for at a glance routing.
2.Voice (Google) searches for destinations (online destinations in audi terms).
It turns out that #1 isn't even served from cell data at all. The traffic data comes from the Sirius satellite service, which expired before the T-Mobile promo did. I was able to find out that Audi includes the traffic portion of the subscription, without any of the radio. This is perfect for a geek who can get any radio I want from my cell phone (Google Music/Pandora/TuneIn Radio).
For #2, I would need an activated SIM. I stumbled across a thread on an audi forum where other folks were discussing how to keep this functionality without paying T-Mobile 30 bucks a month (which seems unreasonable to me). Luckily, theres a super easy solution, which is also cheap! Truphone.com offers a prepaid SIM which is pay as you go (as opposed to pre-paid monthly). As it turns out, you can simply order a SIM, preload it with 15 bucks or whatever you decide, and you're good to go. All you need to do is set your APN to truphone.com, and leave username and password blank. Because Truphone is an MVNO on T-Mobile, the Audi has no issues using it for its cell connection.
The best part of all of this is after 3 months of using this sim, I have paid about .50 in usage (!!!). If you happen to have a modern Audi MMI, I highly recommend checking out truphone and saving a few bucks. The only catch is that you might not want to turn on wifi sharing on this SIM, as it would use a lot more than the voice queries. I've opted to simply use my phone as a wifi hotspot if it is ever needed (ironically, this is free on T-Mobile with my Nexus 4).
M3din@
After buying an Audi Q5 in large part based on the quality of the MMI (navigation/Google maps/car control system), I became convinced it would be hard for me to live without once the promotional period for cell data (6 months on T-mobile) expired. The key things I wanted:
1.Real time traffic: super useful for at a glance routing.
2.Voice (Google) searches for destinations (online destinations in audi terms).
It turns out that #1 isn't even served from cell data at all. The traffic data comes from the Sirius satellite service, which expired before the T-Mobile promo did. I was able to find out that Audi includes the traffic portion of the subscription, without any of the radio. This is perfect for a geek who can get any radio I want from my cell phone (Google Music/Pandora/TuneIn Radio).
For #2, I would need an activated SIM. I stumbled across a thread on an audi forum where other folks were discussing how to keep this functionality without paying T-Mobile 30 bucks a month (which seems unreasonable to me). Luckily, theres a super easy solution, which is also cheap! Truphone.com offers a prepaid SIM which is pay as you go (as opposed to pre-paid monthly). As it turns out, you can simply order a SIM, preload it with 15 bucks or whatever you decide, and you're good to go. All you need to do is set your APN to truphone.com, and leave username and password blank. Because Truphone is an MVNO on T-Mobile, the Audi has no issues using it for its cell connection.
The best part of all of this is after 3 months of using this sim, I have paid about .50 in usage (!!!). If you happen to have a modern Audi MMI, I highly recommend checking out truphone and saving a few bucks. The only catch is that you might not want to turn on wifi sharing on this SIM, as it would use a lot more than the voice queries. I've opted to simply use my phone as a wifi hotspot if it is ever needed (ironically, this is free on T-Mobile with my Nexus 4).
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There are actually several alternative, pay-for-use providers available to Audi Connect users since 2012 that use the T-Mobile network for data, i.e., P-Tel, Truphone and others. If all you do is the occasional online destination search these alternatives will be less expensive than the prepaid 30 month T-Mobile/Audi connect plan. If you use the data hog Google Earth map overlay regularly outside of your cached local area, the pay as you go plans can add up fast and easily exceed the T-Mobile $15 @ month. Same would be true if using the Audi Connect as an internet wifi hot spot. It all comes down to on how you use Audi Connect and the amount of data consumed.
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From: Philly
Really unfortunate/silly IMHO that these cars didn't ship with LTE capability from the start give it's been around for a while for mobiles. Being able to pop any carrier SIM in regardless of location (having both 3G CDMA/GSM and 4G LTE radios in the car) would provide a higher degree of standardization, capability, and flexibility so end customers have a CHOICE...
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I don't believe they are "ditching" T-Mobile; they've announced they will use AT&T for the upcoming new A3 w/LTE. Even if in the future they decide to switch carriers for other new models, the T-Mobile users will not be orphaned for a long, long time. No different than a phone manf. supporting different carriers for the same model device.
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Just musing.
