Hi,

 

Audi S5 2014.

i have ordered a 4G Three Sim card to put in my car. i have the entertainment package High and it has a Sim slot and 2 x SD card slots.

the sim has 12Gb of data on it lasting 12 months.

I have two questions:

1) Will this sim be ok to use? (i.e. will it work?)

2) Do you think the Google Earth sat nav map will use up the data quickly? Or isn't it as draining as a streaming video for instance?

Many thanks

Gary 

 

Hi Gary

I have always found Google Earth to be quite high on data consumption so would always cache the memory on WiFi for the trip by enlarging the route to high detail and zooming back in again....wouldn't then take up as much data. Obviously different for the Sim in the Audi, can't really hook into WiFi there.

Let us know what you find, but I think 1Gb a month may just cover it

Cheers,  Trevor

7 minutes ago, Trevor said:

Hi Gary

I have always found Google Earth to be quite high on data consumption so would always cache the memory on WiFi for the trip by enlarging the route to high detail and zooming back in again....wouldn't then take up as much data. Obviously different for the Sim in the Audi, can't really hook into WiFi there.

Let us know what you find, but I think 1Gb a month may just cover it

Cheers,  Trevor

Hi Trevor,

I have heard that the sim conflicts with the bluetooth phone function (i.e you cannot make or receive calls while the sim is in use)?

Sorry Gary, not sure about that one...hopefully someone with more knowledge of the system can help?

4 minutes ago, Trevor said:

Sorry Gary, not sure about that one...hopefully someone with more knowledge of the system can help?

No problem, Trevor, thanks for your input on the data usage

I have a 2GB SIM (Virgin) and normally Rollover about 1GB / Month. 

I have the Wifi Hotspot enabled and on long journeys with kids this is a blessing using it to browse with Tablets. Also stops Daughter from using up her megre Data allowance on her Phone. 

I have my iPhone paired with Car for general calls and there is no conflict (you have to define what phone to make calls on)

I also use the SIM for testing at work so remove it periodically - this is where I found a flaw - If you are not careful reinserting you can miss the slot and lose the SIM into the console. 

Google earth is my default satnav view - I have it zoomed to street view sometimes (nice feature with touch pad to pan around). 

Note you can have a rationale alert enabled each time the MMi tries to utilise a data connection. 

More pro's than con's with SIM for me.

 

8 minutes ago, Envy said:

I have a 2GB SIM (Virgin) and normally Rollover about 1GB / Month. 

I have the Wifi Hotspot enabled and on long journeys with kids this is a blessing using it to browse with Tablets. Also stops Daughter from using up her megre Data allowance on her Phone. 

I have my iPhone paired with Car for general calls and there is no conflict (you have to define what phone to make calls on)

I also use the SIM for testing at work so remove it periodically - this is where I found a flaw - If you are not careful reinserting you can miss the slot and lose the SIM into the console. 

Google earth is my default satnav view - I have it zoomed to street view sometimes (nice feature with touch pad to pan around). 

Note you can have a rationale alert enabled each time the MMi tries to utilise a data connection. 

More pro's than con's with SIM for me.

 

 

2 minutes ago, Lethalw said:

 

Thanks Tom. i will order a 1GB 3g sim to try out first.

 

thanks for the feedback!

No worries Gary. I have my SIM on a 1 month rolling contract. 1GB data but Virgin double it up on deal. It is £9/Month but that offers flexi option regarding upping or lowering allowances. The SMS and Airtime seem a waste but this was a better deal than going for a Data only SIM package. Enjoy the MMi - a cracking package. With both SD slots used, phone music  and the Jukebox full you will have more music than you will ever need and DVD player to boot. 

Hi Gary,

recently went through a similar thought process and used an existing O2 SIM but I couldn't  actually monitor the data without taking out and putting in a phone. Just got a SIM from ID for £10 monthly contract giving me 5 GB with rollover and I can monitor useage on an App. I had Google maps enabled and and iPod connected via the WiFi and I used 400k in 1st month, rolling 4.6 GB.

i suppose it will depend how much you use the car and any passengers connected to WiFi etc. 

i later found that you can monitor data used within the MMI itself.

David

A little update on my last post - enabled Audi Online and had a play while on Holiday. Sucked 7GB of data in a week or so! 

Virgin did not send an SMS warning of going past data limit either... so £2 excess usage fee until I called them - fees dropped due to SMS error... 

Beware Audi online - tis greedy! 

16 minutes ago, Envy said:

A little update on my last post - enabled Audi Online and had a play while on Holiday. Sucked 7GB of data in a week or so! 

Virgin did not send an SMS warning of going past data limit either... so £2 excess usage fee until I called them - fees dropped due to SMS error... 

Beware Audi online - tis greedy! 

Well that has thrown a cat amongst the pigeons, especially reading Davis post before your's!  What exactly was draining your data? Streaming?

Interested to know what was causing this usage? I'm having the opposite experience in trying to find the Maximum possible usage. I did 700 miles last week with Google Maps turned on and traffic data enabled. i did some online searches, loaded pages on local points of interest and accessed street views?

I streamed  one half of a football match and my wife was streaming iPlayer on the journey, i used 1.4GB. i just can't understand how you'd use 7 GB unless your passengers were streaming movies?

11 minutes ago, David073 said:

Interested to know what was causing this usage? I'm having the opposite experience in trying to find the Maximum possible usage. I did 700 miles last week with Google Maps turned on and traffic data enabled. i did some online searches, loaded pages on local points of interest and accessed street views?

I streamed  one half of a football match and my wife was streaming iPlayer on the journey, i used 1.4GB. i just can't understand how you'd use 7 GB unless your passengers were streaming movies?

Interesting. this is all good feedback for me. i will know once i top up the card O2 have given me. i will then trial it with 5GB.