2017/18 e-golf - WiFi question

[cattlerepairman]

The topic giving me the most grief in my research is the issue of connectivity in the e-Golf. It is very difficult finding current, up-to-date info on this. Even the youtube videos are a couple of years old.

I know you can tether via the smart phone. I am more interested in an independent SIM card setup (Wifi Hotspot). For various reasons I do not want to use my smartphone to tether. I am looking to connect a regular tablet to the hotspot and tether the VW head unit to the tablet.

Does a SIM card dongle in the USB port give me the WiFi hotspot I need for this? Any dongle or does it have to be a VW specific part (such as the "car stick" that seems to be mentioned here and there but is elusive as a North American part number).

Any insights appreciated!

 

[spare]

Are you in the US or Canada?

In Canada, since there isn't Car-Net, tethering via a cell phone or hotspot doesn't do anything for those services. The only "value" I have found so far in connecting to a Wi-Fi network is to enable the Discover Pro (MIB3) to use this as a source to play music.

Interested if there are any other uses. Agreed the information is lacking

 

[miimura]

From what I've heard, the WiFi capabilities are only useful in European e-Golf configurations. Even then, it is of limited use.

 

[cattlerepairman]

Are you in the US or Canada?

In Canada, since there isn't Car-Net, tethering via a cell phone or hotspot doesn't do anything for those services.

Ah! I did not realise we don't get Car-Net in Canada. It is neat, but not essential...but it is yet another value-added piece that is missing. Thanks, VW.

So automatic pre-heating and charge timing are taken care of via the e-manager?

I am interested in being able to use android auto off the tablet (including navigation, waze etc.) and leaving my phone out of the equation for those purposes. To do that, I need the car to provide the tablet with a wifi connection via a mobile (phone) network.
A dongle with a SIM card would do this, even in Canada, but I have not seen any conclusive posts where someone says "yes, and here is my setup and here is what it does".

The spec sheet off the VW Canada web site lists for cars equipped with the Technology Package:

- Volkswagen Media Control (tablet and smartphone
integration via Wi-Fi)
- Wi-Fi hotspot (rolling internal-only WLAN; pairability to
mobile phone hotspots

So, they make a point of mentioning it, but I want to know if/how this actually works!!

 

[spare]

Yes, the pre-heating and timing is done in the car via the e-manager.

As for the 2 features you mentioned. The VW Media Control is an app (for phone or tablet) that allows passengers to control the infotainment system. I haven't tried it as it doesn't really pertain to me. The hotspot feature I also find has pretty limited use. Basically, you connect the VW Discover Pro to your phones hotspot (giving it Internet access) and then passengers can connect to VW Discover Pro and use the Internet. Essentially the car becomes a hub. None of this is mentioned within the infotainment manual which is Canadian specific in my case. The only WiFi feature it discusses is using the radio to connect to WiFi and play music.

Android Auto needs a Android phone with a data connection to work and be connected to the car via USB. If you are going to use a secondary device then it will need to have its own data connection and SIM. Typically, AA won't install on tablets that don't have phone functionality built-in afaik. I also don't think the system supports 1 device connected via AA and another via bluetooth at the same time. So you wouldn't be able to take phone calls in the car from your primary phone.

Car-Net is disabled within the Canadian cars firmware so I am skeptical that the CarStick (if you could get one from Europe) would even connect to the Discover Pro. Also, it would require the USB port that is for Android Auto so you wouldn't be able to run both.

 

[kennethbokor]

Hi if you can please clarify, is there smartphone app capability for Canadian cars so one can do pre-heating, conditioning remotely? See charge status, etc.?

 

[miimura]

Hi if you can please clarify, is there smartphone app capability for Canadian cars so one can do pre-heating, conditioning remotely? See charge status, etc.?

There is no connectivity at all for the Canadian cars. You cannot do anything remotely with those cars. Charging schedule and pre-conditioning must be programmed on the center screen in advance. I understand the reason is that VW Canada has not offered any connectivity on any model so far. Meanwhile, almost every VW model in USA has CarNet connectivity built-in.

 

[kennethbokor]

Hi if you can please clarify, is there smartphone app capability for Canadian cars so one can do pre-heating, conditioning remotely? See charge status, etc.?

There is no connectivity at all for the Canadian cars. You cannot do anything remotely with those cars. Charging schedule and pre-conditioning must be programmed on the center screen in advance. I understand the reason is that VW Canada has not offered any connectivity on any model so far. Meanwhile, almost every VW model in USA has CarNet connectivity built-in.

Much thanks for the clairity.

 

[bertdb]

I have an e-Golf in Europe, so I have Car-net. A couple of things get mixed up here.

1) Car-net uses a built-in SIM card, in one of the electronic modules under the hood. This has nothing to do with the infotainment system.

2) the infotainment system can be a wifi-client. It can use the network to e.g. look up addresses online, get real-time traffic density data, or download software updates (for the infotainment, not for the car). You can connect to your home wifi if you park close to (or in) your house, or you can connect to a mobile hotspot (wifi tether to your 3G/4G/lts smartphone's hotspot)

3) There is an optional rSAP/SIM-slot version of the infotainment system that can use your phone's SIM identity via bluetooth (remote SIM access profile), or a separate SIM in a SIM card slot in the glove compartment to get its own independent 4G connection to the internet.

4) the infotainment system can be a wifi-hotspot, sharing its own uplink with wifi-clients in the car. This would use the connectivity provided by (3).

An example of the separation between Car-net and the infotainment wifi functions: Car-net has bad reception when I'm parked at home. Connecting the infotainment to my home wifi works perfectly, but doesn't help the Car-net connectivity at all. Car-net doesn't use the wifi, ever.

 

[cattlerepairman]

Ok, so let me ask you this, then:

The built-in Nav is pretty useless without network access. I read that it (the Discovery head unit) uses the tether to the phone to provide updated information. Not sure if that includes traffic.
Would a WiFi hotspot in the car not allow the Nav to connect to it and do the same thing - access the net and provide current information?

 

[bertdb]

Ok, so let me ask you this, then:

The built-in Nav is pretty useless without network access. I read that it (the Discovery head unit) uses the tether to the phone to provide updated information. Not sure if that includes traffic.
Would a WiFi hotspot in the car not allow the Nav to connect to it and do the same thing - access the net and provide current information?

Sure, a wifi hotspot (like a 4g wifi router) would create a wifi network, you can let the Navigation unit join that network, and it will have internet access. Without internet access, it will get RDS traffic info from radio broadcasts (which is a lot less granular). I personally don't find the navi useless without network access, but your requirements and expectations may be different.

Side note: as I said above, having a 4g wifi router will not help the car-net connectivity at all. It uses its own separate SIM card for connectivity, and can not use nor provide wifi access.

 

[cattlerepairman]

Ok, so let me ask you this, then:

The built-in Nav is pretty useless without network access. I read that it (the Discovery head unit) uses the tether to the phone to provide updated information. Not sure if that includes traffic.
Would a WiFi hotspot in the car not allow the Nav to connect to it and do the same thing - access the net and provide current information?

Sure, a wifi hotspot (like a 4g wifi router) would create a wifi network, you can let the Navigation unit join that network, and it will have internet access. Without internet access, it will get RDS traffic info from radio broadcasts (which is a lot less granular). I personally don't find the navi useless without network access, but your requirements and expectations may be different.

Side note: as I said above, having a 4g wifi router will not help the car-net connectivity at all. It uses its own separate SIM card for connectivity, and can not use nor provide wifi access.

Thanks for this, appreciate the clarification. Unfortunately - no car-net functionality or associated hardware in the Canadian e-Golfs.