[XieJin]

Hi, Anyone know why the HK unit in my car has a WiFi certification?

[Sleslie]

Originally Posted by XieJin

Hi, Anyone know why the HK unit in my car has a WiFi certification?

My guess would be WiFi audio streaming: "6NW Wireless Charging w/Extended Bluetooth and USB includes: Wireless charging, WiFi audio streaming, 2 USB ports, ability to connect 2 phones via bluetooth, passenger bluetooth microphone."

[XieJin]

Do i need to code something to enable this? I don't see my car having any kind of wifi network nor is it available for "WiFi Direct"

[BEM-S4]

My complete wild guess would be so they could either push software updates or the more cynical side of me would think they could ping for your listening habits and sell the data to Sirius for example.

There is also a growing industry that anonymously tracks your movements for a variety of things. You pass through a million wifi hotspots every day they could theoretically sell the data to one of those companies.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by XieJin

Hi, Anyone know why the HK unit in my car has a WiFi certification?

Gentlemen, let's look at the label, shall we?:

- This is from a '15 M235i in Europe, so it's an NBT HU, not the current EVO HU. WiFi was not advertised a part of that HU's feature set.
- This is a globally licensed product not specific to the EU. It has an FCC ID number (U.S.-specific) and a Canada-specific licensing exclusion -- and believe it or not, the NTC Type Approval box (similar to CE approval in the EU) is specific to the Philippines.

My guess is that the unit has, and has been approved to operate with, limited WiFi capability that is not active in the 2 Series. But, IIRC, this unit is used in models as high as the 5 Series, and its WiFi capability may be operational in higher-line 2013-2015 models.

[zenmaster]

IIRC, BMW uses Wifi for 3 different purposes in the new iDrive units:

1) As a substitute for USB for applications ("BMW APPS") to connect to iDrive
2) For screen mirroring (Miracast)
3) As a "hotspot" router to their LTE cell service

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by zenmaster

IIRC, BMW uses Wifi for 3 different purposes in the new iDrive units:

1) As a substitute for USB for applications ("BMW APPS") to connect to iDrive
2) For screen mirroring (Miracast)
3) As a "hotspot" router to their LTE cell service

With due respect ... Again: THIS IS NOT A NEW UNIT. The current units are model EVO HU. This is an NBT HU, which were phased out of 2 Series cars worldwide in early 2015.

iDrive 5.0 is NOT compatible with this unit; that has been established. NBT simply doesn't have fast enough hardware to run it. What that tells me is that the WiFi hinted at on the label is likely there for one of two (and possibly three) reasons:
1). It's only use-able on cars with other functionality that the 2 Series never had
2). It was certified but never included in the feature set by the manufacturer
3). It is only for diagnostic purposes (i.e., the dealer, the manufacturer, or BMW AG)

That said, it IS possible that the WiFi in the NBT HU is used for 3G routing, like iDrive 5.0 uses WiFi for LTE routing (as noted above). But that's the only WiFi functionality I could potentially see working on an NBT, particularly since all visible wireless functionality in 2015 cars is completely dependent on the Bluetooth 4.x retroactive standard.

[zenmaster]

Yeah I know it's not the latest. The speculation on usage was more what I was wondering. For example , you mentioned that the 2015 5-series used wifi. For what?

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by zenmaster

Yeah I know it's not the latest. The speculation on usage was more what I was wondering. For example , you mentioned that the 2015 5-series used wifi. For what?

That's not what I meant. My quote:
<<But, IIRC, this unit is used in models as high as the 5 Series, and its WiFi capability may be operational in higher-line 2013-2015 models.>>

Rewrite:
But, IIRC, the NBT HU is used in models as high as the 5 Series, and the NBT HU's WiFi capability may be operational in higher-line 2013-2015 models.

I have no idea if any 2013-2015 5 Series model has WiFi capability. I only mention it because if any of those models do, that would explain the WiFi certification on the NBT HU.

[Gabrola]

NBT headunits have WiFi capability but was disabled in the firmware due to some kind of security implications I believe.

[dsramme]

Just out of curiosty, why did you take out the head unit in the first place?

[Maynard]

And can you replace it with a better aftermarket unit, or is it so enmeshed that it would throw error codes?

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by Maynard

And can you replace it with a better aftermarket unit, or is it so enmeshed that it would throw error codes?

Question 1: No. There is no aftermarket replacement for this. See that BMW logo on the label? That basically signifies that the unit was developed in collaboration with -- and likely partially by -- BMW.

Question 2: Almost certainly. This unit is where a significant portion of iDrive functions. The car would probably run without it, but not well.

[Maynard]

Thanks, I figured it was a no go (since you can't even change out the amp apparently) but there are ongoing suspicions that the head unit down samples everything to mp3, so I'm starting to wonder about other options.