[krypttic]

I was just updated to the latest iDrive software 2023/11-525 and I have a question mark icon next to my cellular signal level. This wasn't the case with the July software.

Do I need to enable the phone option on the mobile device menu, even though I am using CarPlay for the phone too? The CarPlay menu shows the correct signal strength when I use it.

I have tried deleting and re-adding the phone (iPhone 15 Pro Max with the latest iOS) from the Mobile Devices section. I have also rebooted the phone.

My phone did have two eSIMS activated for some reason earlier this week due to an AT&T screwup on my account, but I deleted that and paired again to the BMW from scratch, so I don't think that's causing the issues.

[krypttic]

Well, I figured out what was going on. When AT&T was mucking around with my account, they disabled IMEI and activated IMEI2 instead. From reading other threads, BMW will only display the cellular signal for IMEI (#1) on the iDrive screen, even if IMEI2 is the one activated and working.

I called AT&T and have them switch the eSIM to IMEI and the cellular bars are showing on the screen now.

If you want to check and see with IMEI is activated, go to Settings--->General---> About and see if IMEI is listed under ESIM. IMEI2 will be listed under "Available SIM" underneath, since you can activate it as a separate line. If IMEI2 is listed under ESIM as activated, then your bars won't show up on the iDrive screen. You'll just get the question mark instead.

[jmatero]

OMG this is happening on my new iX and was driving me NUTS! I'm in your debt, sir!

[krypttic]

Originally Posted by jmatero

OMG this is happening on my new iX and was driving me NUTS! I'm in your debt, sir!

lol, yeah it was super annoying. I’m glad you got it sorted.

[PhantomCypher]

This is literally my problem right now with my 2024 Bmw M8 competition Gran Coupe.

Thanks for providing the IMEI soolution on the ESIM

[krypttic]

Originally Posted by PhantomCypher

This is literally my problem right now with my 2024 Bmw M8 competition Gran Coupe.

Thanks for providing the IMEI soolution on the ESIM

Sure thing!

[Wsheys]

Question for OP. I’m having same problem with question mark showing in strength meter (iPhone 16 running iOS 18.1). However, I can’t get Consumer Cellular customer support to understand and thus implement the solution….or at least try it. Is there any documentation stating BMW only displays from IMEI even if IMEI2 is active? Thank you.

[krypttic]

Originally Posted by Wsheys

Question for OP. I’m having same problem with question mark showing in strength meter (iPhone 16 running iOS 18.1). However, I can’t get Consumer Cellular customer support to understand and thus implement the solution….or at least try it. Is there any documentation stating BMW only displays from IMEI even if IMEI2 is active? Thank you.

No documentation, but multiple people have reported it so that is definitely the issue.

[Wsheys]

Yay! After 3 eSIM installs finally got Consumer Cellular to understand the issue. Very nice people but as always it’s connecting with the right tech support person. Thank you for the help. 🤞🤞

[krypttic]

Originally Posted by Wsheys

Yay! After 3 eSIM installs finally got Consumer Cellular to understand the issue. Very nice people but as always it’s connecting with the right tech support person. Thank you for the help. 🤞🤞

Great!

[mushy_musashi]

I will give this a try. The question mark has been bothering me but i thought it was because i never finisn setting up the car's esim. I. Hecked my phome after seeing this thread and my esim is attached to imei2. Now to find a competent person to help me on their customer service side to switch it to imei1.

[craigng]

So - thanks again for this information. It has been bugging me for so long! Now I understand how this works!

Also - I live in Australia and it was a struggle to explain to the network technical support team that I wanted to switch my network connection from IMEI 2 to IMEI 1.

I found that the easiest way to achieve this is to simply request a new eSIM, but crucially, install the new eSIM while making sure there is NOTHING connected to IMEI 1 (or, just simply IMEI) on the iPhone. That is, if you go to "Settings > General > About" and scroll down to the bottom, you need to make sure that the "Available SIM" shows "IMEI" rather than "IMEI2". If there is anything connected to IMEI, you'll need to turn them off so it is available to receive the new eSIM.

Hope this helps someone else!

Craig