BMW and M Power Owners

Soldato
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So with all the people posting counter points to the people replying to the person above. Are you saying 3g is gone next month?

No....the Feb 2022 date is for the USA only. Europe will depend on when networks start to shut things down but 2023 seems the earliest date so far.

As for potential upgrades, so far in the USA, BMW have created a 4G TCB module but it's only applicable to certain cars - frustratingly the F10 wasn't included so far :( There's a link to what is covered here: https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2664669&d=1628076062
 
Man of Honour
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But 2g is remaining for much longer, and I don't imagine RTTI is that data intensive given it was offered on 2g only cars when it first came out.
 
Soldato
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But 2g is remaining for much longer, and I don't imagine RTTI is that data intensive given it was offered on 2g only cars when it first came out.
2G isn't sufficient for call and data simultaneously, and not enough to stream audio adequately.

3G equipped cars need upgrading by 2023 to ensure the current service continues to be delivered (coverage, speed, simultaneous call and data).

It isn't an argument you are making.
 
Soldato
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2G isn't sufficient for call and data simultaneously, and not enough to stream audio adequately.

3G equipped cars need upgrading by 2023 to ensure the current service continues to be delivered (coverage, speed, simultaneous call and data).

It isn't an argument you are making.
In car calls don't use the car's 2G/3G do they? I always thought they used the phone's network and communicated with the head unit using bluetooth...

Likewise with music streaming. The phone's bandwidth is used
 
Soldato
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In car calls don't use the car's 2G/3G do they? I always thought they used the phone's network and communicated with the head unit using bluetooth...

Likewise with music streaming. The phone's bandwidth is used
Services such as map updates, internet radio, Spotify connect streams directly from the cars head unit (data). Updates for remote services often use SMS/call.
 
Man of Honour
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2G isn't sufficient for call and data simultaneously, and not enough to stream audio adequately.

3G equipped cars need upgrading by 2023 to ensure the current service continues to be delivered (coverage, speed, simultaneous call and data).

It isn't an argument you are making.

I wasn't making an argument, just speculating about the continued use of the services.

The functionality on the affected cars is mostly real time traffic information. The only calls you can make using the cars inbuilt SIM are to BMW Concierge or BMW Emergency Service and only a handful of people still use the music streaming functionality (It requires BMW Online entertainment, is expensive and doesn't support spotify).

So, really, the only big deal is RTTI - which can be provisioned over 2g as well because it is in cars with CIC iDrive.
 
Man of Honour
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Services such as map updates, internet radio, Spotify connect streams directly from the cars head unit (data). Updates for remote services often use SMS/call.

Cars that do this don't have the 3G only head unit, though. Newer models have things like properly integrated spotify and remote map updates, but they are also 4G as well so not a problem.

We're specifically talking about cars with NBT iDrive 4.0 produced between 2012 and 2016. The Spotify integration on these cars, through BMW Apps Interface, uses the mobile phone data and not the car SIM card.
 
Soldato
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Man of Honour
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This is literally a link to a USA related document on the BMW USA website. A totally different market.

In the USA, 2g networks have been switched off as well, hence the issue above. This is not the case in the UK, 2g will continue after the end of the 3g because, among other reasons, the smart meter network uses 2g extensively. By the time we lose 2g in the same way that the USA already has nobody will care if they can get traffic on their 19 year old BMW.

You can further see this because the entire problem happened over there a few years back as well, when 2g first got switched off. This meant cars pre NBT lost all online services. In the UK, cars pre NBT still have all available online services...
 
Man of Honour
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In car calls don't use the car's 2G/3G do they? I always thought they used the phone's network and communicated with the head unit using bluetooth...

Likewise with music streaming. The phone's bandwidth is used

For iDrive 4 fitted cars you are mostly right - though the BMW Online Entertainment option does stream music over the cars data connection. I don't think I've ever met anyone who actually uses it though, it was BMWs first attempt at this and nothing like as good as the system you get now in iDrive 7.
 
Man of Honour
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So there is an impact to service... but you've just decided it doesn't matter. Gotcha.

No, not at all. Why do you have to be so confrontational about it? We're just having a discussion about potential impacts!

As a user of these services, I was just speculating as to the effect potentially offered by the continuation of 2g, thats all. (My earlier posts, which are entirely correct, relate to the fact that the February 2022 date is not a UK thing and until further notice, full functionality will continue as advertised. I acknowledge that one day our time will come).

I have one of the affected cars and a BMW Connected Drive subscription. I have the following online services:

BMW RTTI <-- this is the really important one, the reason for which I maintain the subscription. As I said above, this service is also offered on CIC fitted cars which are 2g only. So, clearly it can be provisioned over 2g so potentially can continue.
BMW Online <-- This comes included in the package. I rarely use it, but it does display weather on the map. Again, this also works over 2g, but not very well. But it's of limited value anyway.
BMW Remote Services <-- I had these on my CIC fitted car too and they worked over 2g.

This is different to the situation in the USA because they no longer have 2g to fall back on.

The other options you mention are data intensive and won't function on a slow connection, but these cars don't really do them, so it's of limited impact. I'd love if it I could stream Spotify over my cars data connection but I cannot.

And we're assuming 3G cars will fail back to 2G, gotcha.

We are assuming this, yes. Given that the car sometimes displays a 3g logo and sometimes does not when using BMW online, I have made the assumption that it can use both (Otherwise what is it doing when it isn't displaying the 3g icon).

So, my opinion is that the bottom line is:

a) There is nothing to worry about yet. No date for discontinuation of BMW Connected Drive exists for iDrive 4 cars in the UK
b) When the day does arrive that 3g gets turned off, there is every chance that the most useful services will continue to function, albeit perhaps not quite as quickly as they do now.
 
Soldato
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No....the Feb 2022 date is for the USA only. Europe will depend on when networks start to shut things down but 2023 seems the earliest date so far.

As for potential upgrades, so far in the USA, BMW have created a 4G TCB module but it's only applicable to certain cars - frustratingly the F10 wasn't included so far :( There's a link to what is covered here: https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2664669&d=1628076062

Thanks, that is a helpful post.

My post was more intended for the stream of people who haven't even read the post I and others are replying to.

BUT 3G IS GOING IN 2023, so you are wrong. :rolleyes:
 
Soldato
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Thanks, that is a helpful post.

My post was more intended for the stream of people who haven't even read the post I and others are replying to.

BUT 3G IS GOING IN 2023, so you are wrong. :rolleyes:
Two 3g networks potentially going in 2023...

It's flat wrong to say all 3g will be gone in 2023
 
Soldato
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Did anyone say all 3g gone by 2023? I don't think so. The main thing is who will be gone. If it's Vodafone there are a lot of early IOT implementations on their network. EE, less interesting.
 
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