Hacking the cell connection of Audi MMI (2013 model)
After buying an Audi Q5 in large part based on the quality of the MMI (navigation/Google maps/car control system), I became convinced it would be hard for me to live without once the promotional period for cell data (6 months on T-mobile) expired. The key things I wanted:
- Real time traffic: super useful for at a glance routing.
- Voice (Google) searches for destinations (online destinations in Audi terms).
It turns out that #1 isn't even served from cell data at all. The traffic data comes from the Sirius satellite service, which expired before the T-Mobile promo did. I was able to find out that Audi includes the traffic portion of the subscription, without any of the radio. This is perfect for a geek who can get any radio I want from my cell phone (Google Music/Pandora/TuneIn Radio).
For #2, I would need an activated SIM. I stumbled across a thread on an audi forum where other folks were discussing how to keep this functionality without paying T-Mobile 30 bucks a month (which seems unreasonable to me). Luckily, there's a super easy solution, which is also cheap! Truphone.com offers a prepaid SIM which is pay as you go (as opposed to pre-paid monthly). As it turns out, you can simply order a SIM, preload it with 15 bucks or whatever you decide, and you're good to go. All you need to do is set your APN to truphone.com, and leave username and password blank. Because Truphone is an MVNO on T-Mobile, the Audi has no issues using it for its cell connection.
The best part of all of this is after 3 months of using this sim, I have paid about .50 in usage (!!!). If you happen to have a modern Audi MMI, I highly recommend checking out truphone and saving a few bucks. The only catch is that you might not want to turn on wifi sharing on this SIM, as it would use a lot more than the voice queries. I've opted to simply use my phone as a wifi hotspot if it is ever needed (ironically, this is free on T-Mobile with my Nexus 4).
Cheers!
Comments
So I went ahead, bought a truphone SIM and thanks to your description I was able to get it up and running. 3G showed up pretty quickly but it took another 15-20 minutes until I was able to use it without error messages. Sort of weird but hey ... like this option of data plan much better.
Did you try lyca mobile ? I see in forums that this one is cheap too. can you send me the link to truphone ? I see I have to pay atleast $50 for truphone where as for lyca they are giving the sim for free but only charging for shipping.
Thanks in advance.
let me know.
which Country are you in? I'm in the US
Cheers!
Navigation including search burned through $15 in less then 2 weeks.
Here is my take away: Truephone is working but if you are using your MMI 4-5 times each week you are better off extending the t-mobile plan for $15/month which comes with unlimited data.
Sorry to hear it wasn't as awesome for you guys.
* Modem Update for C7 MY2012/2013:
For MY2012-2013 C7 Audis with Nav Plus Audi Connect: in a very few locales this year, T-Mobile is changing their 3G (the same 3G frequency as used by AT&T). If you live in one of those locales, you should receive letters from AoA and T-Mobile directing you to select Audi dealers which will retrofit your 5F MMI module to accommodate the new 3G frequency. Once updated, you can switch to AT&T 3G if desired. Note that this update will not accommodate LTE 4G.
Here is a list of locales affected so far:
Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston among major T-Mobile markets having their AWS 3G/4G networks shut down this summer » TmoNews
Sorry I can't be of more help, good luck!
[1] - https://support.truphone.com/s/article/How-To-Configure-Your-APN-Settings-Android?language=en_US