[imfletcher]

So i'm in Austin, TX. When I'm on 360 and go over the 183 bridge, the phone entirely disconnects from the car. Every. Single. Time. Happens to my phone, happens to my wife's phone when she does it. Listening to podcast on CarPlay, or whatever, and it just disappears back to BMW Home Screen.. sometimes it will reconnect soon after. Sometimes you gotta brute force the reconnect.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Doesn't happen anywhere else, and always happens in that one spot. So bizarre!

[TSMC55]

Originally Posted by imfletcher

So i'm in Austin, TX. When I'm on 360 and go over the 183 bridge, the phone entirely disconnects from the car. Every. Single. Time. Happens to my phone, happens to my wife's phone when she does it. Listening to podcast on CarPlay, or whatever, and it just disappears back to BMW Home Screen.. sometimes it will reconnect soon after. Sometimes you gotta brute force the reconnect.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Doesn't happen anywhere else, and always happens in that one spot. So bizarre!

There is likely a powerful transmitter at that spot which is interfering with your connections.

[jad03060]

Are you putting your phone in the charging tray? That not only will charge a compatible phone, but couples its antennae to the one on the roof so you have a better signal.

I've had my remote not work when parked close to some TV/radio towers, but don't use my phone all that much, so may not have noticed if it lost connectivity. In that case, I had to use my key to open my door, but the car did start once I was in it!

I'll second the radio transmitter somewhere near that location. IF you can't see it, you might take a look at Google earth to scan the area. But, if you're not putting your phone in the tray, try that next time. BT isn't all that hard to jam.

[imfletcher]

Originally Posted by jad03060

Are you putting your phone in the charging tray? That not only will charge a compatible phone, but couples its antennae to the one on the roof so you have a better signal.

I've had my remote not work when parked close to some TV/radio towers, but don't use my phone all that much, so may not have noticed if it lost connectivity. In that case, I had to use my key to open my door, but the car did start once I was in it!

I'll second the radio transmitter somewhere near that location. IF you can't see it, you might take a look at Google earth to scan the area. But, if you're not putting your phone in the tray, try that next time. BT isn't all that hard to jam.

Not sure I know for sure but I'm guessing its been in the tray at least one of those. Whats odd is that really does kill CarPlay and BT will connect to normal iDrive, and often CarPlay won't reconnect. I wonder if its more of a wifi transmitter thing

[jad03060]

Try using the AM and FM radio while going through that area. Sometimes, you can notice noise or other disruptions that may be caused by external radiation levels that are high.

Is it near an airport or military base? Their radar may give you grief. Some of those can put out peak power over a million watts if you happen to be in the beam. They're not normally pointed at the ground, but the scatter if the beam hits something can still be high enough to mess with things. Luckily, modern electronics, especially in a vehicle, are usually protected from damage from those peaks, but could mess things up temporarily.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by imfletcher

Not sure I know for sure but I'm guessing its been in the tray at least one of those. Whats odd is that really does kill CarPlay and BT will connect to normal iDrive, and often CarPlay won't reconnect. I wonder if its more of a wifi transmitter thing

Likely something interfering with the X5's WiFi since CarPlay uses Bluetooth for the initial setup/connection but then uses WiFi for the connection.

[coolerbythelake]

I have the same exact problem. I've actually been meaning to post this for a few weeks now to get some feedback or advice.

I have two locations where this happens to my phone/car literally every single time: when I'm driving on 794 downtown Milwaukee and then again up closer to my home (a rural area). Doesn't matter if my phone is being charged or not; I usually just toss it in the center console and this makes no difference.

We've tested on my spouse's phone, same thing happens. We used to have a 2020 M340i which of course also uses iDrive 7 and the same thing happens in the same two areas on both phones. What's interesting is that we recently swapped the M340i with an X3M which has iDrive 6; that has no issues whatsoever.

I'll be servicing my car at the dealer some point this month and I'll ask what they think.

[coolerbythelake]

So about a week ago I was at the dealer for service and brought this up. According to my service advisor this is a known issue and it only affects iDrive 7 which is consistent with my experience between our two BMWs. He told me they actually had an engineer from Germany doing testing for this in the area a few months back. It sounds like the general consensus at this point is it's some sort of broadcast tower interference (he said he thinks he remembers it being certain AM towers). Apparently they're trying to figure out how to shield the unit.

I've since got the new iPhone 12 Pro (on Verizon) which replaced my iPhone 11 Pro and I'm not having any issues at all anymore. I'm connected to Verizon's 5G service in the areas that would cause problems and it all works flawlessly now. Go figure.