[Cthulhu]

The imminent (June 2024) retirement of the 3G network has caused an odd reaction from BMW Australia

instead of, you know, telling anyone or anything, they just quietly removed some services from the ConnectedDrive site.

I went to add Navigation to get a map update, no option available.

Confused, I contacted BMW, and received this email by way of reply:

Thank you for your e-mail dated 30.10.2023.

To enable map updates, a Feature Set Code (FSC) is required, as is a stable internet connection in the vehicle. Unfortunately, your vehicle will be affected by the imminent 3G network shutdown, resulting in the unavailability of the USB Map Update Service in the store.

These are the services currently "booked" in your vehicle:
Intelligent Emergency Call
Remote Services - (remote door lock, remote horn blow)
Teleservices
At this time, we regret to inform you that there are no hardware or software retrofit options available to upgrade your vehicle's telematics.

Please accept our heartfelt apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We truly appreciate your understanding in this situation.

The satisfaction of our customers with ConnectedDrive is of great importance to us; therefore, we kindly ask you to complete the survey:

I rang them and asked why the service was unavailable NOW, when the 3G network has over 6 months left. They have already restricted some services like RTTI to 6 months.

I received no reply, just an apology.

I then contacted my dealer, who DID NOT KNOW about this!

They are investigating options, she was surprised that the ConnectedDrive team indicated that the system had no upgrade path, as she was confident it does.

My suggestion to anyone affected, is to contact BMW, and let them know this is a very poor showing, yes, there is nothing BMW can do about the 3G network sunset, but the TOTAL lack of any form of communication, or to allow people to get one last update in before the 3G service ends is piss poor IMHO.

[Drv4fun]

My car had an upgrade which was to 4G, it worked a bit then stopped. Turned out they disabled it during the 3G shutdown.
Seems to be BMW using cellular as an excuse to dump the older cars from their servers. It’s not like it was free I was paying $200 a year for a service that hardly worked.

[Cthulhu]

Originally Posted by Drv4fun

My car had an upgrade which was to 4G, it worked a bit then stopped. Turned out they disabled it during the 3G shutdown.
Seems to be BMW using cellular as an excuse to dump the older cars from their servers. It’s not like it was free I was paying $200 a year for a service that hardly worked.

I can't seewhy BMW would want to stop earning 'free' money for these services, it'd be quite the cash cow.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

The imminent (June 2024) retirement of the 3G network has caused an odd reaction from BMW Australia

instead of, you know, telling anyone or anything, they just quietly removed some services from the ConnectedDrive site.

I went to add Navigation to get a map update, no option available.

Confused, I contacted BMW, and received this email by way of reply:

Thank you for your e-mail dated 30.10.2023.

To enable map updates, a Feature Set Code (FSC) is required, as is a stable internet connection in the vehicle. Unfortunately, your vehicle will be affected by the imminent 3G network shutdown, resulting in the unavailability of the USB Map Update Service in the store.

These are the services currently "booked" in your vehicle:
Intelligent Emergency Call
Remote Services - (remote door lock, remote horn blow)
Teleservices
At this time, we regret to inform you that there are no hardware or software retrofit options available to upgrade your vehicle's telematics.

Please accept our heartfelt apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We truly appreciate your understanding in this situation.

The satisfaction of our customers with ConnectedDrive is of great importance to us; therefore, we kindly ask you to complete the survey:

I rang them and asked why the service was unavailable NOW, when the 3G network has over 6 months left. They have already restricted some services like RTTI to 6 months.

I received no reply, just an apology.

I then contacted my dealer, who DID NOT KNOW about this!

They are investigating options, she was surprised that the [...]

Similar thing happened in the US. I didn't know until RTTS disappeared. BMWNA sent out a notice we'll after the fact.

[BMWbiker]

Originally Posted by x5j83jn

The default responses of BMW representatives regarding hardware and software solutions for 3G sunset are fundamentally wrong, since BMW does offer compatible 4G telematics units for most of impacted vehicles.

Replacing the 3G telematics unit by a compatible 4G telematics unit is possible and executed with success in US. See this post

My previous U.S. F31 car had 3G. It was incompatible with the 4G telematics unit.

I discovered all of this when I went to turn on the online services that I had allowed to lapse during the COVID lockdown. (I put only a few hundred miles on my car in 2020.)

I was annoyed, needless to say.

My current car has 4G. I hope that history does not repeat itself when 4G goes the way of the dodo. BMW will be derelict if current cars don’t have some sort of upgrade path.

[ak_on_bmw]

I contacted BMW Australia with a similar reply of no help. I am thinking of lobbying them with Fair trading complain as my car's tech features are completely useless. Anyone has complained to Fair trading or taken a legal action yet?

[Garth2079]

Originally Posted by ak_on_bmw

I contacted BMW Australia with a similar reply of no help. I am thinking of lobbying them with Fair trading complain as my car's tech features are completely useless. Anyone has complained to Fair trading or taken a legal action yet?

I logged a complaint with the ACCC (consumer report number: accc-report:754146). My scenario is my 2016 car has a telematics module using 4G for data and 3G for voice, and BMW advised I would lose voice services, but all services went offline at 3G shutdown. I compared the Australian situation ("nothing can be done") with the US response ("bring in your car for a free replacement").

I also have a case open with BMW support and they send me an email every 14 days saying they are still working on it. I'm fully expecting a "bad luck, no fix" response at some point.

Fair Trading deal with a specific complaint. The ACCC handle issues that affect a large number of customers (i.e. Fair Trading might handle a failed component that BMW refuse to fix on your car, whereas the ACCC handle a design flaw causing a problem across lots of cars).

Feel free to contact the ACCC and quote the report number. The more complaints they receive, the more chance of them doing something.

[MJBO]

Originally Posted by Garth2079

I logged a complaint with the ACCC (consumer report number: accc-report:754146). My scenario is my 2016 car has a telematics module using 4G for data and 3G for voice, and BMW advised I would lose voice services, but all services went offline at 3G shutdown. I compared the Australian situation ("nothing can be done") with the US response ("bring in your car for a free replacement").

I also have a case open with BMW support and they send me an email every 14 days saying they are still working on it. I'm fully expecting a "bad luck, no fix" response at some point.

Fair Trading deal with a specific complaint. The ACCC handle issues that affect a large number of customers (i.e. Fair Trading might handle a failed component that BMW refuse to fix on your car, whereas the ACCC handle a design flaw causing a problem across lots of cars).

Feel free to contact the ACCC and quote the report number. The more complaints they receive, the more chance of them doing something.

Just curious, what resolution or result are you expecting?

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

The imminent (June 2024) retirement of the 3G network has caused an odd reaction from BMW Australia

Something similar happened in the US many years ago.
What surprised the hack out of me was that 4G/LTE had been out for 5+ year by 2015 when my ///M3 was built. Yet, BMW was still using 3G-only chipsets and "shocked to find out" that 3G was shutting down by 2020.

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

instead of, you know, telling anyone or anything, they just quietly removed some services from the ConnectedDrive site.

In some ways, that actually makes sense.
BMW Austrilia is likely in charge of selling those services but has little to no control over the 3G shutdown timing or the chipsets that go into the BMW cars. Once they found out, they stopped selling the services to cars with 3G-only wireless hardware, and moved on.

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

I rang them and asked why the service was unavailable NOW, when the 3G network has over 6 months left. They have already restricted some services like RTTI to 6 months.

I received no reply, just an apology.

That also makes sense.
In addition to the above (they can't really do much about this), 3G shutdown date is when the last 3G cell tower gets removed from service. Long before that, the 3G service becomes functionally unavailable for much of the country, and thus companies relying on it will pull the plug ahead of the last 3G-tower-in-service date.

Originally Posted by Garth2079

II compared the Australian situation ("nothing can be done") with the US response ("bring in your car for a free replacement").

There was no "free replacement" in the US.
My car's Telematics services went dark with 3G shutdown around 2020.
End of story.

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

They are investigating options, she was surprised that the ConnectedDrive team indicated that the system had no upgrade path, as she was confident it does.

In the US, there was no 3G->4/5G device upgrade path.
I would be shocked if there will be one for Australia.

I don't think BMW USA or Australia, or BMW AG, make enough money from Telematics services to bother.
So they don't.

a

[BlkGS]

Similar stuff in the US. My Chevy vehicles had OnStar on 3G networks. They went dead, and the best that GM came up with was "pay for a smartphone app for these services". Nevermind that most phones have automatic emergency calls now, and if I have a smartphone I don't need to call OnStar for directions, lol.

[phyco1991]

Originally Posted by Garth2079

I logged a complaint with the ACCC (consumer report number: accc-report:754146). My scenario is my 2016 car has a telematics module using 4G for data and 3G for voice, and BMW advised I would lose voice services, but all services went offline at 3G shutdown. I compared the Australian situation ("nothing can be done") with the US response ("bring in your car for a free replacement").

I also have a case open with BMW support and they send me an email every 14 days saying they are still working on it. I'm fully expecting a "bad luck, no fix" response at some point.

Thanks for this. Similarly I have a case open with BMW support however they haven't updated me on it since before Christmas. I'll make sure to call the ACCC and add myself to your report.

Originally Posted by afadeev

There was no "free replacement" in the US.
My car's Telematics services went dark with 3G shutdown around 2020.
End of story.

I believe this is what Garth is referring to - https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...00489-9999.pdf