I had a 3G to 4G TCU upgrade to prove a point.

[airman2482]

No, I haven’t read the battery warranty. I’ll take your word for it.
—-
At this point I wonder if BMW will offer an option to upgrade BMW vehicles to change the 3G telematics module to a 4G unit for those folks who are paying or have paid for remotes like your 10 year internet access, without a “legal scuffle”.

I think your situation merits a 4G module upgrade and I would certainly inquire in writing about it.
—-
IMHO, the remote services are worth it, especially in the upper Midwest or any other cold climate where (for example) it’s below zero (F) for several days or more during a couple months. Sure is nice on a freezing morning!
—-

 

[Anonymous]

At this point I wonder if BMW will offer an option to upgrade BMW vehicles to change the 3G telematics module to a 4G unit for those folks who are paying or have paid for remotes like your 10 year internet access, without a “legal scuffle”.

The short answer (from BMW) is no.

Likely reason is that the path to 4G involves not only changing out the 3G telematics box, but also the Head Unit, and possibly the LCD panel as well.

4G Telematics - $500
ID6/7Headunit - $1400
LCD Screen - $1200
Plus labor - $700

BMW isn't about to spend almost $4 grand per upgrade for several hundred thousand aging BMWs, most bought used and under a 2nd or 3rd owner.

Take them to court, and five or six years later (if the owners win) will be a settlement where the lawyers make out like bandits, and 300K (former) BMW owners get a $40 gift card.

 

[airman2482]

Are you sure it will be a gift card one can use anywhere…or only a gift card one can use for their overpriced stuff in their catalog or stores..?

 

[Anonymous]

Are you sure it will be a gift card one can use anywhere…or only a gift card one can use for their overpriced stuff in their catalog or stores..?

LOL, likely just one for their catalog.

In the 2G to 3G upgrade, BMW offered those who didn't want the upgrade a $200 gift card for the BMW catalog, if I remember the amount right. I suspect this go-round, that those with existing years left on their no longer accessible Connected Drive subscriptions will get a similar pro-rated gift card.

 

[alohart]

I talked with a software developer in my company, and his take is that BMW has upgraded and added to their subscription offerings, and they were written or re-writen for the newest OS running on the MGU (Media Graphics Unit) circa 2018, and possibly NBT Evo ID 6, but won't run or won't run properly on previous head-unit OS, like NBT-Evo ID4-5, or 4, or NBT. Which would mean that BMW would not only have to upgrade the Com box, but the head-unit as well (and possibly even the LCD screens). This ups the per-unit upgrade cost to BMW significantly.

The O.P. of this thread was apparently successful in having a BMW dealer perform the 4G update for $1,400 which didn't include an updated head unit, LCD's, or any other hardware than the telematics module. I've read at least one other report of this update being performed successfully without requiring addition hardware or software.

 

[Anonymous]

The O.P. of this thread was apparently successful in having a BMW dealer perform the 4G update for $1,400 which didn't include an updated head unit, LCD's, or any other hardware than the telematics module. I've read at least one other report of this update being performed successfully without requiring addition hardware or software.

Yes - and he said he was able to do preconditioning etc. - but no mention of any of the subscription based services. There is another thread I read, where an owner did the same thing, had the telecom box updated, and was able to precondition, honk the horn etc., but none of his paid subscription services connected or worked. After his Dealer said they couldn't do anything with it, BMW Connected Services was called, given all the info for the new telecom box update, and he was told the subscriptions could not be activated to his hardware - which leads to the question of if the 'new' release BMW just did recently of all their subscription based services - if ID 6 or ID 7 head-units are required? And if you add both a new telecom box AND a new head-unit to a pre- 2017 i3, will the new head-units work with the old LCD screens? The new head-units support a higher video resolution, and touch screen functions - will they still drive an older LCD with lower resolution and no touch-screen capabilities, or is the video signal totally different?

Wish BMW would just give a straight answer - like: "Sorry, we aren't paying for any 4G upgrades, but if you want to do it yourself, here are the part numbers of what you will need to order through your local BMW Dealer for the upgrade and how you go about activating services for your particular car model."

 

[stumbledotcom]

In the 2G to 3G upgrade, BMW offered those who didn't want the upgrade a $200 gift card for the BMW catalog, if I remember the amount right. I suspect this go-round, that those with existing years left on their no longer accessible Connected Drive subscriptions will get a similar pro-rated gift card.

That $200 sounds about right. My 2009 E90 went dark in 2016 as a result of the 2G discontinuation. I had a subscription that BMW wouldn’t let me renew but they extended it by several months for free. Similar attitude: your vehicle will not be supported going forward. Period. End of discussion.

When the service actually terminated, they offered owners with an active subscription included as standard equipment the $200 payment or a discounted hardware update. Since my original plan had lapsed and I was paying yearly, I was offered the full price update. I think the cost was close to $2,500. Didn’t seem worth it at the time and I still don’t regret passing on it. Yes, we’re still using that car.

 

[alohart]

Yes - and he said he was able to do preconditioning etc. - but no mention of any of the subscription based services..

One of the subscription services is merely Internet connectivity which obviously works. That subscription was for 10 years when we bought our 2014 i3. I assume that this subscription service, the one that enables Internet connectivity, would require a paid subscription renewal after 10 years. I don't know whether the subscription renewal mechanism would work with an updated telematics module, but I would be surprised if it didn't.

There are definitely some new subscription services that I was unable to subscribe to because my head unit or iDrive version was too old. I wouldn't expect to be able to subscribe to them even with an updated telematics module.

I would think that one would be able to subscribe to real-time traffic information with an updated telematics module unless that service is now bundled with other services that require newer hardware or iDrive.

 

[Anonymous]

One work-around is to just use the key-fob set to turn on precondition, and add an after-market CarPlay/Android box ($400 ish), which would use your own personal cell phone/service instead of the car's telecom box for traffic updates and such. I installed a CarPlay box in my 2015, easy to do, and it worked great.

I know the keyfob idea doesn't quite do it with any distance to the car involved - there are signal repeaters out there that can be used to extend the key fob range, but they are primarily used by thieves to steal cars, so having one might get you in hot-water

 

[stumbledotcom]

I would think that one would be able to subscribe to real-time traffic information with an updated telematics module unless that service is now bundled with other services that require newer hardware or iDrive.

Basic traffic information is transmitted via FM. My 2009 E90 still shows traffic alerts in the nav system even though all telematics functions went dark five years ago. Not sure how the basic info differs from Advanced Real Time Traffic Information that BMW promotes as a paid subscription.

 

[djbrh]

What we really need is someone to do the CAN bus hacking necessary to be able to lock/unlock and acclimatize from a 3rd party device. Then there’d be nothing stopping someone from creating a fairly cheap box that could do this with a 3rd party app and a device to talk to it. That could be an MMI Prime box with some kind of USB or wifi hotspot, potentially.


—Donnie

 

[eNate]

Traffic days has been communicated by a variety of different modes.

Initially it was transmitted over the pager network. That early mode probably transitioned to the pre 2G cell network, and in that space FM and XM/Sirius were also providers.

I think with the current state of high capacity cellular data networks and our cars all with the capability to be always connected, that's the preferred method that most everything has transitioned to.

Of course here is the perfect example of when that system falls to pieces.

 

[alohart]

Basic traffic information is transmitted via FM. My 2009 E90 still shows traffic alerts in the nav system even though all telematics functions went dark five years ago.

Since I chose not to renew RTTI due to its being too outdated where I live to be of any value, the nav system hasn't displayed any traffic information. So a U.S. i3 must not get any traffic info via FM, or maybe it's not broadcast in Honolulu.

 

[djbrh]

Well, I don’t think it’s been posted here, but AgentMi, the guy who has posted here in the past about a potential battery upgrade solution for us, is working on a TCU. Says hardware goes to production in a week or two that would give us wifi and cell connectivity in a new piggyback TCU (so you don’t even remove your old one). Claims to have already hacked the CAN bus and can control everything we care about, just needs to move from prototype hardware to manufactured hardware. Will also be doing a new mobile app that will link through the cloud. Cost should be very reasonable.

Will be interesting to see if/when this happens. It may not be trivial to install, however, as it sounds like it’s gonna require a new cell antenna be retrofitted somewhere, but otherwise shouldn’t be too bad.


—Donnie

 

[Anonymous]

Will be interesting to see if/when this happens. It may not be trivial to install, however, as it sounds like it’s gonna require a new cell antenna be retrofitted somewhere, but otherwise shouldn’t be too bad.

Well, that would take care of remote preconditioning, etc. Wonder the cost, though. The hardware is only 1/3 of the equation. BMW gets a deal from ATT for cell/data service. Individually that would run $10 to $30 a month, depending on the data plan. If you add some form of crash detection/emergency services notification, another $15 a month, and that still doesn't connect you to BMW for any of the BMW Connected Drive services. Might end up being price-prohibitive for value provided..

 

[djbrh]

Will be interesting to see if/when this happens. It may not be trivial to install, however, as it sounds like it’s gonna require a new cell antenna be retrofitted somewhere, but otherwise shouldn’t be too bad.

Well, that would take care of remote preconditioning, etc. Wonder the cost, though. The hardware is only 1/3 of the equation. BMW gets a deal from ATT for cell/data service. Individually that would run $10 to $30 a month, depending on the data plan. If you add some form of crash detection/emergency services notification, another $15 a month, and that still doesn't connect you to BMW for any of the BMW Connected Drive services. Might end up being price-prohibitive for value provided..

Nah, trust me, it can be done cheaply enough. There are IoT applications like this already that don’t take much monthly data so the cost for the SIM is really low. Covering the cloud services charge is also low, and it SEEMS like AgentMi isn’t trying to make money on this side of it, either. We’ll see, but I think it’ll be a handful of bucks per month at most. AgentMi is also working on letting this stuff work ONLY via wifi for folks who don’t want/need the cloud side, too, so some folks can get the features they need for nothing per month.


—Donnie

 

[airman2482]

The BMW dealer replaced the 3G Telematics unit in my 2017 Rex (under BMW warranty until end of Feb 2022) with a new 4G telematics unit. Remote services work great. More reliable.

It works more reliably in remote areas where 3G is spotty.

Now if I could install an NBT-EVO / ATM telematics module pair and get the dealer to get BMW to switch the ICC/IMEI in their database from this new 4G telematics unit to an ATM.

I called customer service and renewed for another year.

 

[3pete]

The BMW dealer replaced the 3G Telematics unit in my 2017 Rex (under BMW warranty until end of Feb 2022) with a new 4G telematics unit.

Did they do the replacement out of goodwill or did you pay for the upgrade? If you don't mind sharing, were your prices similar to the OP's, about $900 for the TCU and $500 for install + ISTA programming?

Was there any hesitation from the dealer on doing this work?

 

[djbrh]

The BMW dealer replaced the 3G Telematics unit in my 2017 Rex (under BMW warranty until end of Feb 2022) with a new 4G telematics unit.

Did they do the replacement out of goodwill or did you pay for the upgrade? If you don't mind sharing, were your prices similar to the OP's, about $900 for the TCU and $500 for install + ISTA programming?

Was there any hesitation from the dealer on doing this work?

I don’t mean to put words in someone else’s mouth, but he does say “under BMW warranty”, so I think it’s safe to assume he didn’t pay for it and doesn’t know what they would have charged, either. Sounds like he has a 2017 with an extended or CPO warranty, so they had no choice but to do it for him.

But as near as I can tell, that’s probably the ONLY way any dealer is going to do it. They’ve been told not to. They probably stand to get in trouble for trying to activate 4G boxes on the cars that are blackballed now, probably because they don’t have many left and want to save the boxes they have for the cars that need it under warranty. The have washed their hands of the rest of us.


—Donnie

 

[eNate]

The telematics box has commonality with a number of vehicles in the BMW lineup, so it's not as if they're facing a limited inventory of spare i3 parts sitting on a shelf in a warehouse. This box remains in production so the only supply shortage could be the temporary log jams felt by all in the automotive sector at the moment, and the unknown factor of exactly how many owners would pony up the necessary cash to make this conversion.