[LexxM3]

Originally Posted by Marty in NY

My personal interest would only be to put the car on the same provider and plan I'm currently on, which is not AT&T.

Per mobilejo, for me (and I suspect most others) it was way easier to use my own LTE hotspot with no downsides — X5 then uses BMW cellular coin for its stock connected functions, I use mine for mine. The only real difficulty was finding/modifying the hotspot to power on/off with the car, which is a fault of hotspot designs, not X5.

I suppose signal strength might be better with integrated module in marginal areas, but that has not been an issue on my urban and well-enough-covered-rural travel routes.

The shark fin/telematics module area of X5 is prone to leaking through many reports, which is an additional risk of messing with that area. Just not worth it relative to alternatives.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by alexkvakin

Thank you-so the BMW Assistant and traffic info, for example, are still active?

As mentioned, the $20 a month to ATT is for the HotSpot and not any features in iDrive. It is only to be able to provide an internet connection for the occupants of the vehicle.

[phillydilles]

Check out page 43 of https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/at...6&d=1544379664. Seems to be an integrated P-SIM.

[jad03060]

I haven't looked (and I'm not sure you could see without removing), but this video shows at least one model BMW where the Connected Drive SIM card is...

There could be more than one...one for COnnected Drive, and another for the OTA updates and emergency use...

[ggalanis]

Originally Posted by LexxM3

You're quoting my post from June 2019 — many things have happened since :-).

I didn't notice the date of the message I quoted. I'll PM you to explain why I was asking.

GG

[LexxM3]

This thread revival reminded me, and for completeness, this is the device (ZTE MF275R) I ended up with and this is the power mod I did to make sure it powers on/off with the car. Just add 12V adapter/cable, search Amazon.

Original post: https://forums.redflagdeals.com/bell...893/#p31919630

If you want ZTE MF275R power on/off be managed without ever using the power switch and rather just the supplied external 12VDC power, you can remove the battery and then:

• jam the switch in pressed state with something, say a wedge of a wooden toothpick, or more permanently and more reliably
• permanently solder bridge the switch inside the unit

I chose the later (solder) and pictures are attached. It works great. Strictly speaking, if you want battery backup (I explicitly did not), you can leave the battery in and then you have a very nice battery-backed + external power-switched + power-switchless LTE router.

Pics below. Basic procedure is:

1. remove antennae, remove back cover, remove battery
2. unscrew 4 recessed screws in the 4 corners; they may strip, but work on them; you won't need them afterwards, there is no real reason for the screws
3. using first a thin guitar pick or equivalent, pry open an edge and slide the pick along the edge
4. once you get going, I like to switch to a thicker and stiffer pick; do this until the top cover is completely off, take your time, some force to slide the pick is needed
5. observe the switch pins; the pics below show before the solder bridge and then after the solder brige
6. test, reassemble (skip the screws if you want), and that's it

[mobilejo]

Originally Posted by jad03060

I haven't looked (and I'm not sure you could see without removing), but this video shows at least one model BMW where the Connected Drive SIM card is...

There could be more than one...one for COnnected Drive, and another for the OTA updates and emergency use...

This is not a BMW part - this is an aftermarket COIKA Android 10 system that you get on Alibaba/eBay. Its for retrofitting into older models, the OS has been designed to look like iDrive, but there is nothing 'BMW' about this.