Optional ConnectedDrive services no longer available in store

[Lysander]

How can we tell what telematic unit is in the vehicle. My 2017 REX is early in the production year.

[MKH]

I don't read any suggestion that BMW will do anything to continue ConnectedDrive services for 3G i3's beyond February, 2022, which would require replacement of the 3G telematics module with the 4G model.

I agree with Art - BMW is basically saying they are looking at how to allow 'connected' renewals and service for 3g equipped cars up to, and only up to, the shutting down of 3g by ATT, with no upgrade path to 4g. Basically BMW is saying that if you have a 3g equipped car, after February 2022 your 'connected' car will no longer be connected to anything because BMW is not going to spend the money to put an upgrade program in place.

[rtanov]

Basically BMW is saying that if you have a 3g equipped car, after February 2022 your 'connected' car will no longer be connected to anything because BMW is not going to spend the money to put an upgrade program in place.

Can they do that? I've signed a contract to buy their car and certain services that come with it. I've paid them cash for that 6 years ago, I expect them to keep their end of the bargain.

They should at least change the welcome screen to read "Welcome back to the 20-th century!"

[RonR]

I don't read any suggestion that BMW will do anything to continue ConnectedDrive services for 3G i3's beyond February, 2022, which would require replacement of the 3G telematics module with the 4G model.

I agree with Art - BMW is basically saying they are looking at how to allow 'connected' renewals and service for 3g equipped cars up to, and only up to, the shutting down of 3g by ATT, with no upgrade path to 4g. Basically BMW is saying that if you have a 3g equipped car, after February 2022 your 'connected' car will no longer be connected to anything because BMW is not going to spend the money to put an upgrade program in place.

After re-reading this, unfortunately I think both you and Art are correct. More than upset about this. This capability is something I use very often and had a large influence on why I purchased the car in the first place. Will follow-up with BMW and let you know what I hear back (if anything).

IMO, the absolute minimum they should have done is provide a straightforward upgrade path for the telematics box to support 4G. From other things I've read, it sounds like even if I shell out big $$$ for the box used in the later i3's, it's not a simple drop-in replacement...

[MKH]

Can they do that? I've signed a contract to buy their car and certain services that come with it. I've paid them cash for that 6 years ago, I expect them to keep their end of the bargain.

Apparently they think they can - all of the 'new' connected service offerings come up as 'not available for your vehicle' in the BMW subscription store if you have 3g, and several people with 3g who had a connected service subscription just expire, were told it could not be renewed because renewing it for a year would extend the subscription past the ATT 3g sunset date. I'm wondering how they will address the 3g owners, like myself, who have connected service subscriptions that came new with the car, that don't expire until 2026.

[alohart]

Can they do that? I've signed a contract to buy their car and certain services that come with it. I've paid them cash for that 6 years ago, I expect them to keep their end of the bargain.

Somewhere in the sales agreement that we signed or maybe on the ConnectedServices Website could be weasel words that allow BMW to blame the premature ending of ConnectedServices subscriptions on the cell phone carrier being used (AT&T in the U.S.) and thus avoid their responsibility to do anything about the problem ("It's not our fault that AT&T discontinued 3G service.").

[Lysander]

Can they do that? I've signed a contract to buy their car and certain services that come with it. I've paid them cash for that 6 years ago, I expect them to keep their end of the bargain.

Apparently they think they can - all of the 'new' connected service offerings come up as 'not available for your vehicle' in the BMW subscription store if you have 3g, and several people with 3g who had a connected service subscription just expire, were told it could not be renewed because renewing it for a year would extend the subscription past the ATT 3g sunset date. I'm wondering how they will address the 3g owners, like myself, who have connected service subscriptions that came new with the car, that don't expire until 2026.

When I went to renew my eDrive subscription it had a grayed out link to renew even though there was a message stating it could be renewed within 30 days of the expiry date. I called "customer service" and was told that all I could get is "Connected Drive" which seems different in its feature set. Other than "Connected Drive" all other options were not available.

Does my ability to get Connected Drive for the next year indicate I have a 4g? If this is the case what happened to eDtive? Is it deprecated?

[MKH]

Does my ability to get Connected Drive for the next year indicate I have a 4g? If this is the case what happened to eDtive? Is it deprecated?

What year is your car? 4G telematics were installed starting mid-to-end 2017.

[EvanstonI3]

How can we tell what telematic unit is in the vehicle. My 2017 REX is early in the production year.

Do you know the Build Date? (Month/Year on label on the door)
Mine is 04/17 and I apparently have a 4G Telematics Control Unit in my vehicle (according to the sticker on the unit)

The only way I know of at this time to see if you may have a 3G or 4G is to physically access the Telematics Control Unit under the rear seat and look at the label.

Once you pop the seat, there are 2 groups of "boxes". Look on the Driver's Side if your car is Left Hand Drive.
The Telematics Control Unit is the box at the very FRONT of that group and the label is not visible because it is also facing the front and up against the rear seat support wall.

Remove the bracket holding that group in place (3 small bolts). Then you can tilt the group backwards a bit to see the label. If you want more access you have to remove the larger support bracket that is blocking everything.

This is what my label looks like, note the "4G" part of the TCB4G-01 T2-US-4G after Model:
Earlier labels do not have that.

[symonray]

UPDATE-- I am able to renew online the ConnectedDrive services for another 12 months for my 2017 i3 Rex. It looks like they have combined some of their service package offerings into a single ConnectedDrive package for my vehicle. One strange twist to the story is that I cannot renew the ConnectedDrive and RTTI traffic service packages at the same time in the same virtual store shopping cart but can renew them individually in separate transactions. I was thinking that maybe RTTI is already included in the combined ConnectedDrive package, but I don't think that is true based in the package descriptions on the ConnectedDrive website.