Online connectivity options- without Sim

[Clan]

Originally Posted by spudmaster

Hello all- hoping you can help.

I have had my ex-demo V90CC for a few weeks now and absolutely loving it. However, the car does not have On Call, and therefore no SIM option. As such, I am having to use the Sensus Connectivity capability by tethering through my I-phone using Personal Hotspot.

I now leave hotspot permanently switched on with the phone. However, I still need to tether it manually each time I restart the car by going into the hotspot menu of my phone until it flashes up as connected. Whilst a bit of a first world problem, it is a pain. Normally I forget to do it, and it is only when I need it (i.e. traffic updates on long journey); that it is too late / dangerous to do whilst moving.

So- a couple of things:-
Is there a simple way to set up so that the car will auto-tether with my hotspot?
Is there a way to get it tethering via USB, as 9 times out of 10, I plug in my phone for Apple Car Play?
Is it possible to have a SIM retro-fitted?
Any other options to consider?

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks

Spud

On Call has a built in SIM which you cannot access , The SIM holder in the boot on the Right Hand side is the general Wi-Fi SIM which connects your car to the outside world .. You can also connect to a home Wi-Fi router if in range .

[adambsmith]

My XC60 seems to have stopped automatically connecting to the internet via my iPhone which is paired to the car via Bluetooth. Same method as mentioned earlier in the thread.

The car does not want to seem to display text messages received on the iPhone either.

Any ideas?

[MCV60]

This, my V90 has stopped auto connecting the way mentioned previously. Pity as it worked well for all of 2days.

[s3t0Kaiba]

I note the last post on this was January 2018, since then is anybody using bluetooth internet tethering consistently? I have an MY19 XC90, and an iPhone X using iOS 11.

I find internet works fine for day or so, then at some point when I go to use the car the phone will reconnect but there will be no internet connection. The phone shows the car is connected, phone calls and music streaming from phone will work etc but there is no internet so can't use the car apps or RTTI. The only way to fix it is to restart the phone.

It doesn't matter if I'm using the WiFi or Bluetooth hotspot, same result - all fine for a day or so and then nothing. My preferred connection method is bluetooth - I want to just get in the car and drive and not be messing with plugging in USB or turning on hotspots.

Has anyone experienced similar behaviour and what did you do to resolve it?

[Clan]

Originally Posted by s3t0Kaiba

I note the last post on this was January 2018, since then is anybody using bluetooth internet tethering consistently? I have an MY19 XC90, and an iPhone X using iOS 11.

I find internet works fine for day or so, then at some point when I go to use the car the phone will reconnect but there will be no internet connection. The phone shows the car is connected, phone calls and music streaming from phone will work etc but there is no internet so can't use the car apps or RTTI. The only way to fix it is to restart the phone.

It doesn't matter if I'm using the WiFi or Bluetooth hotspot, same result - all fine for a day or so and then nothing. My preferred connection method is bluetooth - I want to just get in the car and drive and not be messing with plugging in USB or turning on hotspots.

Has anyone experienced similar behaviour and what did you do to resolve it?

first step is try a different phone …

[s3t0Kaiba]

Sure, but that's a little awkward since it takes a day or two before the problem occurs and I don't have another iPhone to try with.

Before I do that I'm wondering if anything thinks this is unusual behaviour in the first place, I'd like to know if any of you guys are using an iPhone for internet tethering consistently without issue?

Because if I look through this forum it seems most people just seem to give up on tethering after a while and go with installing a cheap data PAYG SIM in the car.

[Nerdy Norm]

Any phone I've had (both iOS and Android) always drops tethering connections after a period of time, perhaps to save battery power.

For that reason, I've never found it useful for anything other than a short-term connection.

Although my 2018 V90 has a built-in SIM, it's been flaky since new. When the car needs its first service, I'll get the dealer to investigate. But in the meantime, I use one of these, plugged into the power socket in the boot. I never touch it, it just works perfectly, switching on and off automatically with the car's ignition.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HUAWEI-E837...keywords=E8372

[familymangreg]

Originally Posted by Nerdy Norm

Any phone I've had (both iOS and Android) always drops tethering connections after a period of time, perhaps to save battery power.

For that reason, I've never found it useful for anything other than a short-term connection.

Although my 2018 V90 has a built-in SIM, it's been flaky since new. When the car needs its first service, I'll get the dealer to investigate. But in the meantime, I use one of these, plugged into the power socket in the boot. I never touch it, it just works perfectly, switching on and off automatically with the car's ignition.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HUAWEI-E837...keywords=E8372

This is true I believe for WiFi hotspot sharing from an iPhone, but I don't believe is shuts off internet sharing via bluetooth after a certain period of time.

In my experience my wife and I both share our internet connection over bluetooth from our iPhones to the car. One is a 6S and one is a 6S Plus. As soon as our phone connects, the internet connection is up and running. We can even change from one phone to another when we are both in the car and the internet connection is immediately picked up again. This has been working consistently for many months. iPhones are always updated to latest iOS version, car was last updated during service at the end of May.

:wq

[sdrennan]

I find the connectivity works well. Any time it fails it is Phone related (I use a works phone which is Windows based)

Tethered via Bluetooth

Only item which bugs me is that when I use the weather app I then have to enable Access for that app to get it to work. RTTI ,sw downloads and other apps seem to work without this

[s3t0Kaiba]

Ok thanks guys, it's good to know that bluetooth sharing should work over the long term with iPhones, so I can now presume the problem is with the phone and will try the various levels of resetting. On an iPhone you can do

1. Reset Network Settings (I've done this, no improvement)
2. Reset All Settings (Done last night, see if this makes a difference)
3. Erase Content and All Settings (Nuclear option)

I'll post back in a few days