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

[ksnax]

On February 1st, I logged into ConnectedDrive portal.

AT&T has not shutdown the service yet. That happens on the 22nd. (Tomorrow.)

[tezarc]

Illustrating that even though I'm now on a 4G TCU it's really not AT&T that is preventing me from getting full service, it's BMW.

[3pete]

AT&T has not shutdown the service yet. That happens on the 22nd. (Tomorrow.)

I wonder about this date. It seems like AT&T specified Feb of 2022 and some media outlets took that to mean Feb 22, 2022. I can't find a credible source (AT&T or BMW) that has a specific day in the shutdown date.

Either way, my 2014 car still has connectivity today (Feb 23, 2022) but I know I'm on borrowed time, so I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts.

[crp]

The 3G connection to my i3 was working on Feb. 25th, but not now (the 28th). I've read that AT&T 3G service will be gradually ending at somewhat different times in different regions of the country.

[airman2482]

Well, here is an update on my 2017 i3 REX and the 4G TCU replaced under the original BMW factory warranty which expired on 12FEB2022…now my BMW 24 month extended warranty kicked in on my i3.

I extended my RTTI services for another year (until MAR2023) on the BMW website and connected drive still works fine which I’ll extend when it expires this fall.

I tried an old iPhone 4 (3G) driving up north (AT&T locked phone) and it didn't work, 3G is spotty in the metro area. (It is being shut down) The Tracfone service in my old Apple iPhone 4 backup phone is good until July 2022 at which time Tracfone claims it won’t work anymore unless I upgrade to at least an iPhone 7 with new sim…(Tracfone sent me a letter last year the 3G service would be discontinued and it may not work at all in many areas after Jan 2022)

…the 4G LTE TCU box the dealer replaced under original factory warranty a few months ago works fine everywhere I’ve driven…The old NBT running ID4 is a bit slow, I’d love to buy an NBT EVO running ID6 and adapt the 4G telematics box to deliver Ethernet to the EVO boxes OADR connector, but I don’t want to open the 4G TCU up and modify it with a USB to Ethernet adapter and try it.

I’ve asked the dealer if they would install, code and register an ATM box with connected drive, they said they would check, but told me the ATM/EVO combo is not listed as compatible with my 2017…

I guess I’m lucky my older 3G TCU was replaced under warranty with a 4G LTE TCU.

Some “know it all” guy was telling me on a different BMW forum the 4G LTE TCU I have now wouldn’t work. That was a bunch of garbage. As I mentioned, Connected drive services let me renew RTTI for another year.

I don’t know if someone who replaces the 3G TCU with a 4G TCU would be allowed to continue services or not.

This is my updated report.

[frictioncircle]

I wonder about this date. It seems like AT&T specified Feb of 2022 and some media outlets took that to mean Feb 22, 2022. I can't find a credible source (AT&T or BMW) that has a specific day in the shutdown date.

Either way, my 2014 car still has connectivity today (Feb 23, 2022) but I know I'm on borrowed time, so I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts.

I recently upgraded from at 2014 BEV (3G) to a 2021 i3s (4G) which allows connected services that should last for some years ahead but BMW is failing older i3 owners by not upgrading 3G telematics units for 4G. This is a repeat of the 2G sunset years ago: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/bmw- ... elematics/

AT&T may extend 3G service via T-Mobile roaming:
https://www.lightreading.com/4g3gwifi/a ... -id/775491

The above said, BMW should have upgraded all older i3 owners to a 4G telematics unit. With their new iX & i4 inbound, it's a bad look to degrade the legacy product while the replacement goods are still not available.

[eNate]

Well, here is an update on my 2017 i3 REX and the 4G TCU replaced under the original BMW factory warranty ...

Wait, yours is a 2017? What's your build date?

Are you sure your original box wasn't 4G? My July 11 2016 had a 4G box, despite the screen indicating 3G.

[EvanstonI3]

Wait, yours is a 2017? What's your build date?

This is a different owner than the OP responding.

[ronbot]

My 2015 finally stopped giving me updates on its condition (and stopped responding to my requests) on 3/10/2022... sad day.

[Barvelh]

So, I upgraded my i3 from 3G to a 4G telematics box myself this week.

Can you do it yourself? Yes, and no.

I used a used 4G box from a 2017 X3 (eBay, about $100). It plugged in in place of the 3G box under the rear seat. I thought it was worth trying a used box, since there's a significant cost savings. I just made sure the part number matched tezarc's part number

There is one extra antenna connection on the 4G box that my car didn't have a wire for. From my research it seems to be redundant and not needed on this car.

After installing the new box, when I turned the car on, it complained that the emergency call function was disabled.

I then used my Chinese knockoff ICOM Next box with a laptop with the presumably pirated ISTA software, and had ISTA do its thing - that consisted of updating basically every module on the car to the latest 2021 "i level", and coding any modules that didn't match (in this case the telematics box was automatically re-coded to match my car).

Was I successful? Well, it appears the box is working. I still receive notifications on my phone when charging starts and ends. What didn't work is that ISTA couldn't contact the ConnectedDrive Portal to register the new box, so I can't send commands from the app to the car. Apparently because my copy of ISTA isn't attached to a licensed dealership, it couldn't connect to that portal.

I had already coded my car so that the remote's panic alarm button now activates the climatize function, and climatize was the main thing I used the app for, so I've not done anything about it yet.

Could a BMW dealer service department do this with a new (or used) 4G box and make all the functions work properly? Absolutely, 100%.

I'm going to be charitable and say that the person at BMW who wrote the letter stating that there is no upgrade path from 3G to 4G for these cars was at least misinformed. The cynical part of me thinks that maybe BMW is on the hook to pay the wireless phone companies a tiny amount of money every time a packet of data gets sent to or from one of these cars, and they saw this as a way to slightly reduce their ongoing costs at the expense of customer goodwill.

How is your 4G install so far?

I am looking at a few on e-bay but little hesitant..

Thanks for your reply.