odonnks

I'm new to the forum and new to MB.
Last evening I purchased a new C63 AMG 507. While the salesman was going over the system he said he does not recommend the cell based subscriber service for the multimedia system.

I'm fine with that and don't see the need to be surfing the net while driving but wondered..... can the car's system link to my phone's hot spot or Bluetooth and access the internet ?

Anxious but I can't pick it up for a week or so because the dealer's cargo elevator broke and they can't get any vehicles off the 1st or 2nd floor showroom.

Thank you

PkB2014

The cellular data system(MBrace Apps, i think it is called) for the car is 3G and slow and annoying as hell. You will get 3 months trial for free, so you can see for yourself. I let it expire after the trial and don't miss it. I did keep the basic MBrace for the safety features though.

Sadly it can't use your phone's data package. Maybe the new CarPlay coming in future models will though.

Congrats on the new Beast! It's amazing!

whoover

Just to be clear: the COMAND 4.5 is designed to work with the phone's internet capability over Bluetooth. That's how it works in the rest of the world. But MBUSA has this despicable exclusive with mBrace, so the ability to connect to the phone's DUN protocol has been turned off. Under the covers, that's how it's talking to the Verizon network if you are misguided enough to pay for mBrace.

I find this beneath MB's dignity.

unagi1

Congrats on the car!

As these guys stated, the dial-up is slow as hell and you can't tether the car (USB/Bluetooth) to your phone's data connection.

That said, I've found the send2Benz functionality in the MBrace app pretty handy, especially since you can't put in an address at speed using COMAND (at mercy of voice commands, which honestly don't always pan out). Also, Valet Protect and the ability to unlock the car remotely are pretty cool as well (even with Keyless-GO).

AMG893

That sux!

whoover

For those who use gmail/Android, an alternate to send2Benz is simple. I have an entry in my contact list "A A" so that it sorts to the top. I put an address that I wish to navigate to in that entry. When I get in the car I call up the address and navigate to it. It's just as simple.

I use this several times a week.

Any address that I'm going to want to navigate to regularly, I just make a named contact. You can navigate to a contact from your phone in motion, which makes them very convenient.

I assume iPhone users can do the same thing, but I don't have any experience with it.

jcfay

Congratulations to YOU! I 2nd what everyone else has said below, Embrace is cool while free, not sure if I want to pay the $$ to keep it after trial period (can't recall how much it costs...).

rage2

Wait till you see Car Play in action. If someone texts you their address while you're driving, you can navigate to it immediately. It can also pull up addresses from any contact, and Siri is damn good at listening correctly to a spoken address. Spiffy stuff.

The only downside is that it uses Apple Maps, which is terrible in Canada, and barely acceptable in the US. We have a major highway that's still not on the map after 6 months. Google had the road updated the afternoon it opened.

whoover

COMAND is pretty primitive in some ways. It will sometimes find a phone contact by voice search, but if the spelling is at all odd it chokes. And it's nuts that a phone contact must have "St. and not "Street" for it to be able to navigate. It would be great to be talking to the phone and have it tell COMAND what to do. That's where we're moving.

m a x i m u s

would be nice, if the 2009's were able to sync the address book off of the phone. this is one of the few serious complaints I have with my car. I have friends with older regular benzes that do this, and obviously the newer ones do, seems like they JUST SKIPPED 2009. wtf!

unagi1

If this works for you (since you use consistent addresses), then more power to you. I use send2Benz normally when in an unfamiliar area and haven't pre-planned where to go...YMMV...

whoover

Yeah, that's what I used send2Benz for. But when I canceled mBrace I started using gmail/phone. It's just as easy.

When I got the car I went through my contact list changing all addresses to make them COMAND-safe. Spell out state names, change all Street to St etc, remove apartment numbers to a second address entry, etc. My wife thought I was nuts but it's amazing how many times I've navigated to phone contacts since. Plus, it kept me out of trouble for a couple of hours.

It also turn out that if you have a zip code in your address it has to be correct. A couple of zips were wrong but google maps showed the correct zip when I clicked the "Map" icon from gmail. So the process really cleaned up my contact list. Now it's just force of habit to enter addresses in COMAND format. I don't even think about it. All of my contacts are navigable, including temp addresses I enter just for navigation.