Telematics Update
11-08-2016, 12:11 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Telematics Update
I'm in San Diego, CA. There are several MB dealerships to choose from for service. I normally go to MB of SD, however I'm looking to get the telematics update for my 2011 W212 and wanted to know how much can I expect to pay for the service OTD. Does anyone have any idea? I know form my experience with BMW that different dealerships charge different prices for some services. I want to re-enable my M-Brace feature on my car after having it off for about a yr.
12-06-2016, 02:50 PM
#2
Junior Member
Thread Starter
I got the update from an MB dealer in El Cajon, CA. Cost was labor only. About $150. My issue is, MB uses a new provider (Verizon) for its MBrace service. When I used it for the first time, it seemed no different than contacting your cellular service provider. Not really professional, not very articulate in their speech, and particularly not very helpful. When I used the service for the first time when I bough my car 2 yrs ago, the rep was very articulate, very professional, demeanor appeared to be very cheerful and bright. It was the kind of voice you'd expect to hear from MB. When used the service this time, I asked to have directions to a mall that I normally don't visit, sent to my GPS in the car, and the rep said he could not find the mall. It would've been easier/faster for me to look up the location on my iPhone and manually enter the info into my GPS, or better yet, just use my iPhone. I don't think its necessary and I will not be renewing my subscription in February.
12-19-2016, 02:06 PM
#3
Senior Member
I was just today doing research about reactivating mine in my '05 E320CDI. What I found was a little disheartening.
ATX, a.k.a "Connected Vehicle Services", the firm that ran Tele-Aid (and litigated with MB at some point after the switchover to mBrace) has always been a little mysterious in their quest to try to invisibly white-label themselves for their OEM customers. Basically, that company was sold to "Cross Country", merged into Agero, then just the connected vehicle services part of Agero has since been resold to SiriusXM. They're currently providing service for quite a few OEMS if the press releases are any indication.
mBrace was Hughes and then was resold to Verizon.
I held off on the mBrace firmware update, as I wanted to see how things would go.
During the term of my Tele-Aid service, I found them to generally be quite helpful. They are, however, somewhat merciless when it comes to things like credits and refunds.
There is an iOS app called "iRoute" that should talk (at least it used to) to a Tele-Aid provisioned telematics unit. I have not been able to find an Android equivalent to date, though SiriusXM has flavors for all manner of other manufacturers' new models. Especially Chrysler/Jeep.
I tested the mBrace iOS app early in its life cycle, without service and was rather underwhelmed.
Where all of this gets interesting is if you go to the Better Business Bureau (assuming United States, here), and look up these companies.
Connected Vehicle Services has a "B-" rating, and almost every complaint is about automatic rebilling for people who turned in leased cars.
mBrace has an "F" rating. There are reports of completely unaddressed complaints, and at least one where the owner claims to have been in an accident with airbag deployment and nothing happened with the telematics service. That could be due to a lot of factors, like radio propagation, but it got my attention.
Glassdoor.com has a number of reviews by people working at ATX who seem to think they're just holding on and phoning it in, but I don't know how many of those were before or after the SiriusXM acquisition.
I don't think there's any dramatically clear choice here. The one single data point that I had previously noted that was important to me involves some deduction, so I can't speak to it with certainty. Some years ago, an unnamed U.S. telematics service received a warrant from the FBI demanding that they engage the cabin microphone on a car with their service.
The service litigated, on the grounds that if the driver had an accident, all that would happen is that some FBI Special Agent would get an earful of data and emergency service wouldn't be dispatched in accordance with the service's contract with the customer. After some research, it seemed that the only company that could have been was ATX, though I believe the case records were sealed.
It seems hit or miss. If you look at the app rating comments for the mBrace app, a lot of it seems to be from people who got their car to unlock once, and could never repeat the feat.
ATX, a.k.a "Connected Vehicle Services", the firm that ran Tele-Aid (and litigated with MB at some point after the switchover to mBrace) has always been a little mysterious in their quest to try to invisibly white-label themselves for their OEM customers. Basically, that company was sold to "Cross Country", merged into Agero, then just the connected vehicle services part of Agero has since been resold to SiriusXM. They're currently providing service for quite a few OEMS if the press releases are any indication.
mBrace was Hughes and then was resold to Verizon.
I held off on the mBrace firmware update, as I wanted to see how things would go.
During the term of my Tele-Aid service, I found them to generally be quite helpful. They are, however, somewhat merciless when it comes to things like credits and refunds.
There is an iOS app called "iRoute" that should talk (at least it used to) to a Tele-Aid provisioned telematics unit. I have not been able to find an Android equivalent to date, though SiriusXM has flavors for all manner of other manufacturers' new models. Especially Chrysler/Jeep.
I tested the mBrace iOS app early in its life cycle, without service and was rather underwhelmed.
Where all of this gets interesting is if you go to the Better Business Bureau (assuming United States, here), and look up these companies.
Connected Vehicle Services has a "B-" rating, and almost every complaint is about automatic rebilling for people who turned in leased cars.
mBrace has an "F" rating. There are reports of completely unaddressed complaints, and at least one where the owner claims to have been in an accident with airbag deployment and nothing happened with the telematics service. That could be due to a lot of factors, like radio propagation, but it got my attention.
Glassdoor.com has a number of reviews by people working at ATX who seem to think they're just holding on and phoning it in, but I don't know how many of those were before or after the SiriusXM acquisition.
I don't think there's any dramatically clear choice here. The one single data point that I had previously noted that was important to me involves some deduction, so I can't speak to it with certainty. Some years ago, an unnamed U.S. telematics service received a warrant from the FBI demanding that they engage the cabin microphone on a car with their service.
The service litigated, on the grounds that if the driver had an accident, all that would happen is that some FBI Special Agent would get an earful of data and emergency service wouldn't be dispatched in accordance with the service's contract with the customer. After some research, it seemed that the only company that could have been was ATX, though I believe the case records were sealed.
It seems hit or miss. If you look at the app rating comments for the mBrace app, a lot of it seems to be from people who got their car to unlock once, and could never repeat the feat.
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