[Solved] Can not send messages to my i3

[gps1539]

Hi

I used to be able to send messages (map destinations) via the android connectedDrive app (and bimmer_connected on my PC), but it has not worked correctly for a few weeks. I can check charging and location so the car had connectivity and the ConnectedDrive web page show I have remote services, eCall and eDrive until 2025.

Wondering if this is happening to other folks or if some other service expired for my 2015 REX.

 

[robthebold]

Remote services have at least the appearance of being less reliable than the simple status reports, since the BMW server has to poll the car which then must respond to the request to set a destination, lock/unlock doors, sound the horn, climatize, etc. OTOH, when you check charge status, door lock state and what-not, you're just requesting the BMW server to report the last info it got from the car. And it always has some last info. Don't know where you're using service, but right now -- in the US, using US server -- I'm not having an outage, but we did have an extended problem in the spring and occasional short issues at other times. If your remote services aren't expired, it's not you, it's BMW's problem.

 

[vreihen]

Assuming that you are in the USA, my guess would be that your 3-year Connected Drive Services has expired:

https://connecteddrive.bmwusa.com/app/index.html#/portal/store/Base_ConnectedDriveServices

BMW is extremely vague about what many of these services do for you, but the above was required to use their enhanced Pandora and other iPhone app interfaces when plugged into the car by USB on my 2015. You can log into the portal and see if it expired around the time that you first noticed the problem.....

 

[alohart]

Assuming that you are in the USA, my guess would be that your 3-year Connected Drive Services has expired:

I chose not to renew Connected Drive Services to see whether I missed anything that it provides (as you stated, the descriptions of the various services are quite vague). I haven't missed anything. I am still able to communicate remotely without our i3 via the BMW Connected app including sending commands, so Connected Drive Services isn't necessary for app communications.

 

[vreihen]

Yes, but that service shuts off third-party iOS app support...and who knows what else?

Can you send a map destination from either the Android or iOS phone app (OP's problem) without that subscription?????

 

[alohart]

Yes, but that service shuts off third-party iOS app support...and who knows what else?

True. However, I never used the iOS apps under iDrive, so that wasn't important to me. The only functionality that I occasionally used was an Internet search for a nav destination. However, many of these destinations are accessible via nav category searches which work without a Connected Drive Services subscription.

Can you send a map destination from either the Android or iOS phone app (OP's problem) without that subscription?????

A workaround for not being able to search for nav destinations on the Internet while out and about is to send destinations from the BMW Connected app to our car which I can still do without a Connected Drive Services subscription.

Unless BMW offers a steep Black Friday discount on Real-Time Traffic Information, I probably won't renew that subscription because it is usually worthless Past-Time Traffic Information in Honolulu.

 

[gps1539]

I logged a support ticket with ConnectDrive as their website shows I have service until 2025, they responded but seem completely clueless on the issue. I certainly do not intend to pay for these 'services' when they finally expire.

 

[vreihen]

These "services" may not even work at all beyond 2021, with all of the major cellular carriers sunsetting their 3G infrastructure. When the 2G system was phased out, BMW gave owners a couple hundred bucks on a gift card and left them with paperweights.....

 

[jfran2]

I feel like an evangelist, since I've now written this several times, but try pulling fuse #115 in the fuse panel under the glove box, waiting a bit, then putting it back in. It will reset the cellular system, and has fixed the problem for many of us!

 

[gps1539]

@jfran2, thanks for evangelizing, that did indeed fix the issue for me.

I found a nice photo of the fuse location here.
https://preview.redd.it/w3cdhn09w8a41.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=e8610a1c73e8a0b5418919abfd31aca681e829c0