Phone Tethering (and Android Auto)

[Lexman8]

My first glitch. I've been successfully tethering for weeks using the phone's wifi hotspot. A day or two ago it got flaky and now I can't tether via wifi, Bluetooth or USB. It's definitely an issue with the car as I can't even get into the relevant menus on Sensus to modify any settings related to tethering. However, standard Bluetooth functionality for calls and texts is working fine.

It's a bit of a bummer as I've got a 300 mile drive up to Scotland on Thursday and it would be good to have RTTI, but...

As it happens, I installed Android Auto on my phone a few days ago (I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with the tethering problem, just a coincidence) and it's actually quite impressive. It changes the standard Android GUI to have big lettering and large action boxes. It's also quite 'clever'. The phone will automatically enter Android Auto mode when it detects the car's Bluetooth and put relevant selections on the phone's screen: for example, when I got in the car in town today it knew I was away from home so the first big on-screen action box was 'Drive Home'. Selecting that set the destination and it was confirmed by voice along with an estimate of the journey time based upon current traffic along the route.

Looks like I'll be using this instead of RTTI on Thursday. Oh well.

[familymangreg]

Originally Posted by Lexman8

My first glitch. I've been successfully tethering for weeks using the phone's wifi hotspot. A day or two ago it got flaky and now I can't tether via wifi, Bluetooth or USB. It's definitely an issue with the car as I can't even get into the relevant menus on Sensus to modify any settings related to tethering. However, standard Bluetooth functionality for calls and texts is working fine.

It's a bit of a bummer as I've got a 300 mile drive up to Scotland on Thursday and it would be good to have RTTI, but...

As it happens, I installed Android Auto on my phone a few days ago (I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with the tethering problem, just a coincidence) and it's actually quite impressive. It changes the standard Android GUI to have big lettering and large action boxes. It's also quite 'clever'. The phone will automatically enter Android Auto mode when it detects the car's Bluetooth and put relevant selections on the phone's screen: for example, when I got in the car in town today it knew I was away from home so the first big on-screen action box was 'Drive Home'. Selecting that set the destination and it was confirmed by voice along with an estimate of the journey time based upon current traffic along the route.

Looks like I'll be using this instead of RTTI on Thursday. Oh well.

I know you shouldn't have to resort to your own maintenance on a new car, but have you thought about a battery disconnect for 5 minutes to see if you can get things sorted before your trip to Scotland?

:wq

[Lexman8]

Actually, the car is at the dealer's tomorrow to have its winter wheels/tyres fitted so I'll ask if they can have a quick look at the tethering issue. Maybe they can reset something.

[tem]

Can you remove Android Auto for the phone and see if this sorts the problem?

tem.

[Lexman8]

I disabled Android Auto just in case but it made no difference.

Even before this problem, the current car wasn't as good at tethering as the previous car. This car would connect about 75% of the time whereas the previous car was virtually 100% so perhaps there's been a problem all along. It wasn't a major issue before so I was going to leave it until the car was in for its 3-month check. Now that the fault has gone 'hard' it needs addressing.

[tem]

We await an update, after your visit to the dealers.

tem.

[Lexman8]

Dealer said they need to re-install some software to solve the problem but they haven't been able to connect to Volvo's servers today so it's not fixed.

In any case, he said my car needs a "major" s/w update that could take 1 or 2 hours so I've booked it in for next Thu. He didn't know what was in the update but said I was 2 versions behind. That's hard to believe as the car is only a few weeks old!

Hopefully the update will bring further stability improvements even if there are no new major features.

[neon]

Originally Posted by Lexman8

Dealer said they need to re-install some software to solve the problem but they haven't been able to connect to Volvo's servers today so it's not fixed.

In any case, he said my car needs a "major" s/w update that could take 1 or 2 hours so I've booked it in for next Thu. He didn't know what was in the update but said I was 2 versions behind. That's hard to believe as the car is only a few weeks old!

Hopefully the update will bring further stability improvements even if there are no new major features.

I wish there was a way to check what version number is on the car. My car had an update and have noticed some difference so far unless I am imagining it, the rain sensing wipers do not seem as good at sensing when to work and the car does not feel as responsive in comfort mode. The auto parking is better.
When I am in next week I will try to find out what has changed.