[TurtleBoy]

As I mentioned in some other threads, for the last few weeks I had been trying to get my WiFi HotSPot working but never was successful. I was hoping to have it available in case my wife wanted to use her laptop during our four week road trip. I have had a case open with AT&T and they said everything looked good from their end but would continue to look into it.

On Sunday afternoon I figured I should verify the X5’s phone number in case I got the wrong one the first time. When I originally got it, I called BMW Assist from my cell phone and the guy mentioned it would have been easier for him to find if I called from the vehicle. Thinking about that I decided to call through iDrive. When I tried that it just said Calling…Transferring Data…Ending Call and nothing happened. I tried all of the options, Roadside Assistance, Accident Assistance, etc. and none of them worked.

I called Connected Drive and ended up getting the most helpful person I ever talked to there. He looked through a couple of systems and said that it was odd because their system showed that there were no subscriptions available for my car and no services subscribed to. He said it seemed like my dealer didn’t process the Electronic Services Agreement and should contact them. As background, since January I have been using CD for remote commands, 3D view, sending addresses to the vehicle, etc. without any problems.

I sent an email to my CA explaining the situation and then told my wife what I found. That is when she said: “You shouldn’t even have them screw around with it. We are leaving for vacation on Wednesday and it will end up nothing will work”. Of course I replied that that won’t happen and all will be well.

Monday morning I got a reply that he had asked the Genius there to process my ESA and he apologized and said it should have been done when I picked up my car. About 15 minutes later I got an email from the Genius saying it was completed and all should be good now.

The first thing I did was log onto ConnectedDrive and in red letters it told me that the mobile network was not active and it didn’t show any subscribed services like it had before. There was an option under Manage to activate the mobile network and the Genius said I should do it. After I did, all my subscriptions came back and it now said that remote services were active.

I was excited as I headed out to the garage to test things figuring all my problems were behind me, little did I realize they were only beginning. The first thing I did was test calling Roadside Assistance and as soon as I click on it a message came up that said “Network not available, try again later.”. I then tried “Hey BMW” and a message came up that said “No speech recognition of points of interest.” My last test was to try and Update Apps and when trying that the “Update Apps and Services” was grayed out.

The Genius wasn’t sure what to do and besides wasting time, the only other thing that calls to CD did was raise my blood pressure. Off to the dealer where the Genius looked at it and could do nothing other than wipe out all of my settings and music. We even drove to another dealer to see a former Genius but no luck. My CA was doing a good job of trying to get service and other folks involved so I have to give him credit.

They decided that they needed to create a case with BMW but couldn’t get that done until the next day (Tuesday). I was not a happy camper but was dealing with the Service Director and he said they were telling him we had to wait 24 hours because ESA activation could take that long. I told him I didn’t think that was true based on what I knew but couldn’t argue since he had the experience with it. He said I should come back the next morning and ask for him.

Tuesday morning at 9:45, 24 hours after ESA activation, I was back down there and met with him. He went out to the X5 with me and took notes while I explained all of the problems I was having and gave him the background. When we got back in he told me he wouldn’t make we wait there while the work order was being written, he’ll just get me a loaner so he didn’t waste my time. I had never driven a BMW sedan before so I asked if I could have one. He said he was going give me an X5 but of course I could have a sedan, how about a 5 series. I said sure and he got some keys and we walked out to get it. What a beautiful car, a loaded 540i xDrive. Putting that thing in Sport Plus is fun, which I had some nice curvy roads close by.

Anyways, yesterday afternoon they were able to get a BMW engineer involved as well as someone from ConnectedDrive, which is evidently an outsourced service. He called me later in the afternoon and said they were able to prove to CD that it was something with their system and their people are going to look at things. He also told me that during the testing they hit the SOS button but since the car couldn’t communicate with BMW Assist it called 911 and the police came to the dealership to make sure everything was fine. That actually is a nice feature.

Since we were scheduled to leave this morning and that wouldn’t be possible I cancelled the reservation and did some route shifting and made a new reservation in hopes it would be done by this afternoon. I was running some errands this morning and checking my BMW app every so often to see if the location of my X5 had changed since it was still showing in my garage and last updated on Sunday. When I got home I checked it once more and the location was updated, it showed the location now being at the dealer. Needless to say a big smile came upon my face as I told my wife.

A few minutes later, the SD called me and said they have made some progress but things aren't fully working yet as they are waiting on people in NJ, that is where CD is located evidently, to finish things up. I asked if I should head on down and just wait there but he said it would be best to just wait at home. That of course wiped the smile off my face. It probably goes without saying but a number of times over the last few days my wife has reminded me about her warning about letting things be. LOL. I guess I should also add that during one of the times I was explaining the problem to her and mentioned the WiFi HotSPot, she says “Oh, I wouldn’t want to use a laptop while we are driving”.

Received another call around 2:30 but the first sentence out of his mouth was “bad news, you are going to have to cancel your reservation for tonight”. He said everything looks good on both ends but they cannot get the car and CD to talk to one another. They are going to run a process that resets the telemetry unit and another to reset the head unit and hopefully after those and a “sleep reset” things will start communicating tomorrow morning.

Just got done cancelling reservations and making a new route and more reservations. Luckily so far it is just affecting the number of days we have for driving to our first destination. Hopefully tomorrow we get to go.

I should have listened to my wife.

[LexxM3]

Cancel your reservations? What? Take the X5 loaner and drive the crap out of it for the 4 weeks. Let BMW absorb their own costs of their dumbass incompetence. Cancel reservations? Seriously?

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by LexxM3

Cancel your reservations? What? Take the X5 loaner and drive the crap out of it for the 4 weeks. Let BMW absorb their own costs of their dumbass incompetence. Cancel reservations? Seriously?

Actually I did ask if I could take a loaner but they said they couldn't do that. Thought maybe I would get lucky but no dice. Oh well, a learning experience.

[LexxM3]

[natahoa]

Wow, what an awful story. I wonder how many other cars have the same issue that no one knows about! I’m so sorry this happened to you.

We all have little voices in our heads that warn of impending doom or bad decisions. Your wife just happens to be able to hear them better than you.

I bought my BMW based pretty much on a whim. After researching all other competing cars, I’m glad I did.

Always trust your gut. But first, you have to go to connectedDrive and turn on the “follow your instincts” setting.

[Delta5]

BMW should be ashamed of themselves for this CD crap. I'm having the same issues since day 1 with my one-month-old '20 M340i.

Glad you're getting help. I've talked to CD & Genius about 5 times. Only one of those calls involved people trying to help (to no effect). The other 4 were useless; after asking me to reinstall the app (lol), just say to wait a few days. I've basically given up.

Amazing car, incompetent IT.

[LexxM3]

Originally Posted by Delta5

BMW should be ashamed of themselves for this CD crap. I'm having the same issues since day 1 with my one-month-old '20 M340i.

Glad you're getting help. I've talked to CD & Genius about 5 times. Only one of those calls involved people trying to help (to no effect). The other 4 were useless; after asking me to reinstall the app (lol), just say to wait a few days. I've basically given up.

Amazing car, incompetent IT.

Actually, reinstalling the app can definitely help. The act clears all data off the phone, so for any bugs that corrupt that data or are triggered by the stuck form of that data, a reinstall will help. Certainly not a fix and not an excuse for bugs, but a valid temporary workaround technique. So is logging out of the app.

[Delta5]

Originally Posted by LexxM3

Actually, reinstalling the app can definitely help. The act clears all data off the phone, so for any bugs that corrupt that data or are triggered by the stuck form of that data, a reinstall will help. Certainly not a fix and not an excuse for bugs, but a valid temporary workaround technique. So is logging out of the app.

I agree. But I have login and install-cycled the app literally dozens of times on 3 different devices in the past month, both at CD/Genius advice and on my own. My '18 X3 works flawlessly from the same app, device, and account. Yet each time they insist I do it. And each time it fails to solve anything.

The problem is BMW's incompetent IT and/or developer group that screwed up something with how some "iDrive 7" cars interact with their back end systems.

[wrickem]

That's a terrible story, I hope it works out for you.

FWIW, my wifi hotspot is crap too. When my phone is connected to it using the phone for Googling or apps just gets hung up and never loads even though it says it's "connected" to Direct - BMWXXXX. Same thing when I connect my iPad - 1/2 loads. Oddly though, my park mobile app works through the car automatically which it didn't during the free trial period, it started working after I signed up for the monthly plan.

I figure I'll just get it sorted when I have to take my car in for service, but it's been a long while of smooth sailing after a rocky start.


Good luck!

[Ilyam5]

What happened to all our early builds - November through December - we all got wrong number from BMW. Took several weeks but finally ATT/BMW assigned us a new number. My number on connected drive totally changed.
With the new number i was able to set up hot spot on ATT site and it works like a charm.

pretty good speed too - 8 devices connected between 3 passengers and all working great on long trips.

[wrickem]

Originally Posted by Ilyam5

What happened to all our early builds - November through December - we all got wrong number from BMW. Took several weeks but finally ATT/BMW assigned us a new number. My number on connected drive totally changed.
With the new number i was able to set up hot spot on ATT site and it works like a charm.

pretty good speed too - 8 devices connected between 3 passengers and all working great on long trips.

thank you. Good to know, I'll let them sort mine out (early build here too) when it goes in for servicing next time. We have an April build X7 and that one works like a charm, so it's good to know it may be as simple as a wrong number.

[MotoWPK]

Welcome to CD hell. Here's my thread -
https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1626301

As I speak I'm on hold with ConnectedDrive. Rep was going to make a change they thought would correct the issue, but couldn't, so was going to create a ticket that would take 48 hours to correct. While on hold, line dropped. Before calling back, logged back into CD and now it doesn't show any vehicles!

Fear things are going from bad to worse. This is an atrocity.

[TurtleBoy]

Just got back from the dealer and am in the process of cancelling our vacation. After two days of working on it everything is still as it was Monday morning.

I tried again to get an X5 loaner but was turned down at every level. It even went up to the owner but she said no, evidently they are concerned about the distance I will be driving.

They did offer to pay for a rental car but there is nothing decent left at this time. I could have gone down to the Denver airport but didn't want to have to go though that hassle and besides, I wanted to drive my X5.

I do have to say that on the drive back from the dealer I just about decided to get rid of it and get something else but my wife is really against it. She loves the X5 (first vehicle she ever said that about) so I guess I should follow the title of this post and listen to her.

What a disappointment.

[Tenac]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

Just got back from the dealer and am in the process of cancelling our vacation. After two days of working on it everything is still as it was Monday morning.

I tried again to get an X5 loaner but was turned down at every level. It even went up to the owner but she said no, evidently they are concerned about the distance I will be driving.

They did offer to pay for a rental car but there is nothing decent left at this time. I could have gone down to the Denver airport but didn't want to have to go though that hassle and besides, I wanted to drive my X5.

I do have to say that on the drive back from the dealer I just about decided to get rid of it and get something else but my wife is really against it. She loves the X5 (first vehicle she ever said that about) so I guess I should follow the title of this post and listen to her.

What a disappointment.

Are you far from the Denver airport? If not its easy to get in and out of the rental area and I have seen BMW's at National there. I mean nothing probably spec'd like you X5 but it might mean not cancelling if you are dead set on going....

Is there no way to still drive your X5?

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by Tenac

Are you far from the Denver airport? If not its easy to get in and out of the rental area and I have seen BMW's at National there. I mean nothing probably spec'd like you X5 but it might mean not cancelling if you are dead set on going....

Is there no way to still drive your X5?

Thanks. It is only about 1.5 hours away. I just don't want to deal with the hassle of trying to get down there and then returning it. I have already notified the family back East that we will not be coming out at this time. I kept our reservations in Bar Harbor for the middle of July so will probably do that as the initial destination rather than towards to the end. Was looking forward to visit our brethren up north in Canada but that probably won't happen on this new trip.

I could still drive it but there is no communication to it. No traffic info, apps, SOS button, Roadside, etc. Obviously the driving would be okay but the extras that should be there aren't. Since they are in the middle of working with BMW and ConnectedDrive they would rather not have me take it at this point.

[Tenac]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

Thanks. It is only about 1.5 hours away. I just don't want to deal with the hassle of trying to get down there and then returning it. I have already notified the family back East that we will not be coming out at this time. I kept our reservations in Bar Harbor for the middle of July so will probably do that as the initial destination rather than towards to the end. Was looking forward to visit our brethren up north in Canada but that probably won't happen on this new trip.

I could still drive it but there is no communication to it. No traffic info, apps, SOS button, Roadside, etc. Obviously the driving would be okay but the extras that should be there aren't. Since they are in the middle of working with BMW and ConnectedDrive they would rather not have me take it at this point.

Gotcha, well that is a bummer.... Hope once resolved your lessons learned will help many others on the site!!

[nosnoop]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

I could still drive it but there is no communication to it. No traffic info, apps, SOS button, Roadside, etc. Obviously the driving would be okay but the extras that should be there aren't. Since they are in the middle of working with BMW and ConnectedDrive they would rather not have me take it at this point.

If they won't give you a loaner, they should at least give you back your car. Forcing you to cancel your trip just because they are "working on it" is unacceptable. Without ConnectedDrive is an inconvenience, but not really critical as you have your phones.

[TurtleBoy]

I’m sure I could have taken it if I really wanted to but didn’t like the idea of doing it.

The service director called and said BMW wants them to put in a new TCU so that is being sent and we will see if that does it.

[TXSchnee]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

Just got back from the dealer and am in the process of cancelling our vacation. After two days of working on it everything is still as it was Monday morning.

I tried again to get an X5 loaner but was turned down at every level. It even went up to the owner but she said no, evidently they are concerned about the distance I will be driving.

They did offer to pay for a rental car but there is nothing decent left at this time. I could have gone down to the Denver airport but didn't want to have to go though that hassle and besides, I wanted to drive my X5.

I do have to say that on the drive back from the dealer I just about decided to get rid of it and get something else but my wife is really against it. She loves the X5 (first vehicle she ever said that about) so I guess I should follow the title of this post and listen to her.

What a disappointment.

Shocked they wouldn't let you take the loaner for your trip. My G01 was out of commission last year, a week before I was to leave on a trip. My Service Advisor told me that it would be fine to take the loaner, they knew it was a 3000+ mile round trip, and if I needed a bigger loaner (had an X3) he would get me one. I guess different dealers really do handle this situation differently, but wow that is pretty poor on your Service Advisor for not stepping up to the plate.

[natahoa]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

Thanks. It is only about 1.5 hours away. I just don't want to deal with the hassle of trying to get down there and then returning it. I have already notified the family back East that we will not be coming out at this time. I kept our reservations in Bar Harbor for the middle of July so will probably do that as the initial destination rather than towards to the end. Was looking forward to visit our brethren up north in Canada but that probably won't happen on this new trip.

I could still drive it but there is no communication to it. No traffic info, apps, SOS button, Roadside, etc. Obviously the driving would be okay but the extras that should be there aren't. Since they are in the middle of working with BMW and ConnectedDrive they would rather not have me take it at this point.

Yikes. I have a road trip planned from July 20-28. No cancelling because it is my daughter’s wedding. I have a perfectly good Highlander we could drive there, but not doing that.

I’m driving my new car.
I plan to keep my mitts off connected drive until after that trip.
Things are working well enuf...

I’m so sorry this has happened to you and others.
Thanks to all for the heads up.

[natahoa]

Originally Posted by Ilyam5

What happened to all our early builds - November through December - we all got wrong number from BMW. Took several weeks but finally ATT/BMW assigned us a new number. My number on connected drive totally changed.
With the new number i was able to set up hot spot on ATT site and it works like a charm.

pretty good speed too - 8 devices connected between 3 passengers and all working great on long trips.

How do you find that number? In the app or in the car?

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by natahoa

How do you find that number? In the app or in the car?

You shouldn't have to worry about it since the problem was with builds from last year. You can call BMW Assist from iDrive (something I can't do LOL) and they will be able to give you your phone number. Unless you are activating the HotSpot there is really nothing you can do with it.

The reason you aren't getting updates is because they were just released so the overwhelming majority of folks probably won't get them for awhile. I would guess they will give them out according to the version of iDrive a person is running, the older it is, the sooner they would get the update.