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BMW X7 (G07) Forums General BMW X7 Forum Hotspot Service worth Renewing?!

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      04-03-2019, 11:56 PM   #1
FreddyBMW
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Hotspot Service worth Renewing?!

I see that my Hotspot service has already eaten up some bandwidth out of 3GB allowed in the trial.

Once the service trial expires will the iDrive connectivity also expire? I mean would we still be able to remote start/lock/unlock the car using the App? If so, how long will that service last?

Is it worth renewing the car's hotspot wifi service or instead to have tethering over your existing phone for the passengers?

If the remote controlling is possible even after the WiFi Hotspot subscription is over, does that mean the car uses two different SIM cards (connections)? One for the remote services and one for the Hotspot WiFi?

I am just getting used to the trials and connectivity functions.

Last edited by FreddyBMW; 04-04-2019 at 09:38 AM..
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      04-04-2019, 01:00 AM   #2
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I used up the trial data in a few days on my G12. Never renewed it or added it to my cell plan. I just used my iPhone as the hotspot and let my boys tether their iPads. I just make sure to keep my phone charging while tethered.

As far as using the BMW remote app...you don't need a data plan for that.

The main advantage I see to having the vehicle subscribed to a data plan is possibly a stronger cell signal. I'm assuming the shark fin has the antenna versus your phone in the center console.
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      04-04-2019, 05:04 AM   #3
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How much is the monthly renewal fee? Is it just another unlimited data ATT nano SIM card? Will it have international coverage?
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      04-04-2019, 06:56 AM   #4
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This does raise a good question. Without the hotspot subscription, do you lose ANY other car connectivity functions, beyond just in-car driver/passenger Wi-Fi?
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      04-04-2019, 12:28 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Blue View Post
This does raise a good question. Without the hotspot subscription, do you lose ANY other car connectivity functions, beyond just in-car driver/passenger Wi-Fi?
From what I've experienced over the past 3 years...No. You just lose the hot spot. As far as adding it to a wireless plan, I think AT&T was charging $10/month when I last checked. Each vehicle has its own cell phone number.

I use the BMW Connected app to un/lock, ventilate, send directions to the car....all without a vehicle data plan.
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      04-04-2019, 02:22 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tattooed View Post
From what I've experienced over the past 3 years...No. You just lose the hot spot. As far as adding it to a wireless plan, I think AT&T was charging $10/month when I last checked. Each vehicle has its own cell phone number.

I use the BMW Connected app to un/lock, ventilate, send directions to the car....all without a vehicle data plan.
Sounds great! Looks like it's going to go hand in hand like this for a long time!

Thanks for sharing.
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      04-04-2019, 08:58 PM   #7
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Here's a list of all the connected services of my X7 and how long they last for free. I have no idea what the cost is after. The in car WiFi does not effect any of the connected services. I did sign up for att unlimited data for in car WiFi at $20/mth. The $10/mth is a shared plan that uses your existing data plan with att . My wife will work from her laptop a lot in car doing errands through out the day and my kids use a ton of data with there iPads. I just did not want mess with my phone every time we got into car to turn hot spot on, etc..
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      04-05-2019, 08:48 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PIPE_DR View Post
Here's a list of all the connected services of my X7 and how long they last for free. I have no idea what the cost is after. The in car WiFi does not effect any of the connected services. I did sign up for att unlimited data for in car WiFi at $20/mth. The $10/mth is a shared plan that uses your existing data plan with att . My wife will work from her laptop a lot in car doing errands through out the day and my kids use a ton of data with there iPads. I just did not want mess with my phone every time we got into car to turn hot spot on, etc..
Thanks for posting the details of the connected services. Feels like many services are going to expire in the first year of the car. I can't believe the Digital Key is also one of them. While I do not see a great benefit for it except if my car is parked at home and I forgot to hand over the keys to the home members and they wanted to use the car.

And look at this Apple CarPlay Compatibility service?! which will also expire in a year! What is BMW doing for this? I thought CarPlay is just related to the Phone and the head unit connectivity only?!

Wondering how much would be the renewal fee of each of those.
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      04-05-2019, 09:07 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FreddyBMW View Post
Thanks for posting the details of the connected services. Feels like many services are going to expire in the first year of the car. I can't believe the Digital Key is also one of them. While I do not see a great benefit for it except if my car is parked at home and I forgot to hand over the keys to the home members and they wanted to use the car.

And look at this Apple CarPlay Compatibility service?! which will also expire in a year! What is BMW doing for this? I thought CarPlay is just related to the Phone and the head unit connectivity only?!

Wondering how much would be the renewal fee of each of those.
Forgot to mention one thing here......I am not going to pay anything to BMW for the renewal of some of the first year renewal services because first and the foremost thing they failed to deliver is the OTA Software updates from day 1. it never worked for me regardless of what I did to get the OTA updates.
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      04-05-2019, 10:16 AM   #10
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Total crap that you have to subscribe to Apple CarPlay. Other cars, even cheap Fords, have it for free.

FWIW, Apple released an update to the BMW Connected app today. Does some new cool stuff for the G05 like Remote Start. Hoping it does new stuff for the X7 too.
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      04-05-2019, 01:03 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Blue View Post
Total crap that you have to subscribe to Apple CarPlay. Other cars, even cheap Fords, have it for free.

FWIW, Apple released an update to the BMW Connected app today. Does some new cool stuff for the G05 like Remote Start. Hoping it does new stuff for the X7 too.
If BMW were to offer it free, that's one thing. It used to be a 300 to 400 option. I think what they did was just take that lump sum and break it out over 4 years. That's the renewal fee. Their logic, which I partially agree with, was if you buy Apple Carplay and you switch to Android ... what do you do? You just wasted the money on an option you won't be using.
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