Internet - Option 614

sramsay · Post by **sramsay** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:58 am

I've been trying to enable tethering with my iPhone without any luck. It seems that the browser uses the internal SIM by default which can only be using GPRS as it is painfully slow. It actually renders this option completely useless e.g. it takes over a minute to load the google page!

I have purchased the correct iPhone 4 dock, downloaded the BMW Connected app and paired the phone via Bluetooth and enabled the personal hotspot on the phone itself but it still seems to be using the cars SIM and not the 3G on the iPhone.

Has anyone here managed to get it to work?

squeaky2 · Post by **squeaky2** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:55 am

have u got an additional data package with your phone?

sramsay · Post by **sramsay** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:24 am

Yes, got the 1GB data with o2. I can tether the iPad or laptop to it no problem. You can see quite clearly on the phone when it's being used for tethering but can't seem to find anywhere on the car to request it to use the phone as opposed to internal SIM.

I will try BMW and see if they have an answer.

squeaky2 · Post by **squeaky2** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:37 am

Friends are coming over with their 40d tomorrow and i know they had been playing too so will ask them and see how they got on

sramsay · Post by **sramsay** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 5:15 pm

Thanks! Still waiting for a response from dealer. Asked if they had any internal configuration docs they could share as nothing in the manual about tethering. I would still expect it to be faster on EDGE than mine is.

sramsay · Post by **sramsay** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:41 pm

Was having another look at this today and I don't seem to be able to tether the iPhone using 'personal hotspot' as I can't enable data as one of the Bluetooth options. I'm sure I've seen this before but may have been on an old blackberry.

Has anyone had any joy getting the Internet option to use your phones 3G rather than the cars SIM? I've still got a iPhone 4 so possible it's the phone not the car.

Searching the web today suggests different countries have different configs just to add to the confusion!

Steve

huck · Post by **huck** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:58 pm

Steve, this caused me no end of hassle and bother when I got the car. The BMW customer service 'experts' were both useless and patronising in equal measure.

Here's what I found:
When I got the car, and before my BMW online/assist thingy account was activated, I could see an option to use my phone for data. I'm not sure what functionality I had in idrive - I suspect not much as nothing had been activated.

Then, the option just disappeared! Only by going through the timeline did I work out afterwards (after many frustrating hours) that this must have happened when my account was activated and the car defaulted to its pathetically slow EDGE connection.

As I said, the tech support was awful and basically blamed Apple, iOS etc etc without actually listening to, or understanding, my question. I had also seen the 'use phone for data' option when I had paired an Android phone to the car. This too disappeared so it wasn't an Apple thing. Bloody useless idiots.
But I think my explanation is what makes sense, for me at least.

The Internet function is basically not fit for purpose at the moment due to the crap speeds.

Edited to add: I think it's a huge gimmick anyway. I won't use Internet when I'm driving and I've got a perfectly good smartphone with a really fast 3G connection for the occasions I do want Internet when I'm in the car(and stationary).

sramsay · Post by **sramsay** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 9:40 pm

It sounds like I should give up! Just found this discussion which seems to suggest you're bang on - as soon as BMW assist kicks in, your data option drops out

http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=686767

It is so frustrating how poor the documentation is on the idrive. The geeks who create this stuff obviously don't talk to the goons who write the manuals or support it.

According to the website, I can't get emails and SMS messages on the idrive yet I now can...

sramsay · Post by **sramsay** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 9:45 pm

Agree, at the time I ordered the car I had a blackberry which was almost as bad for browsing the web!

There are times where it could be handy to check on the sport when I'm parked up etc.

I think I'll have to work round it by using some custom RSS feeds through the BMW online portal. Given its text based it should be reasonable!

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 10:17 pm

I certainly have the tethering option on my iPhone 4, but not to the car. I can tether an iPad though it, or a laptop, but the car works via whatever data system BMW uses, and I think that's just EDGE, no 3G. 3G and 4G/LTE may come on the next gen one.

You can get a personal hotspot unit for the car which replaces the phone cradle. No idea how it works or it's price, but that may be an option. We have the 'Internet' option on the Mini and have yet to use it.

Richard

sramsay · Post by **sramsay** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:23 pm

I suppose it works better than that fake Bomb Detector. Just watched Newsnight in disbelief as to a) how someone could do that and b) how people could fall for it. Absolutely shocking...

snipez999 · Post by **snipez999** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:38 pm

Don't you need to be hard wired to the car via USB interface to use bmw connected though? I get texts coming up fine via Bluetooth but to use full suite I have to have it docked.

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

huck · Post by **huck** » Tue Apr 23, 2013 11:57 pm

The whole thing is so bloody unintuitive.

To use the whole suite (BMW apps such as Facebook, Internet radio etc) you need the phone plugged in because that *does* use the phone's data....

...I think.

It's really not executed logically or intuitively at all.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:37 pm

Indeed it does use your monthly data allowance, and no it's not intuitive at all which is why we haven't bothered.

Richard

PeterL · Post by **PeterL** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 3:58 pm

I have mine working but only through the cable as Snippez points out and not Bluetooth. The only thing on it I like is internet radio and that's only good for the odd to time my mum is in the car so she can listen to Hong Kong based radio stations. Waste of money in my opinion, have you tried googling g something using the I drive job.

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