Im sure this has been asked so I apologize for any redundancy, I tried searching but Im sure my search skills are lacking. Has anyone else gotten a data plan for the Android screen on the W204? Ive tried a few major carriers and none support the device, and my phone hotspot is next to useless. Would really love to use this thing to its full potential! Heres a link to the one I purchased just for clarities sake Im in The US as well, Montana to be specific

 

I actually have the same question!
I bought a TMobile SIM card for data plan only and when I tried installing it on my Android screen it doesn't read it.


Has anyone solve this issue?

 

From what I have read, the SIM is only good for a Chinese mainland telecom...

I just tether mine to my iphone, but I only use it for traffic or waze on occasion so I am not pulling high data rates.

 

Hello!

I too have an aftermarket head unit/screen in my W204/C204. Mine being from DMP Car Design. Upon install, I too had the exact same problem as you, regarding SIM service and accessibility. I couldn't find a SIM card that would be recognized on my own, and my Hotspot via my iPhone lasted all of about 30 seconds before losing signal while driving down the road. To solve, I went to my local Verizon store and showed them my device/head-unit. They did state that the device model would not be recognized by them (Verizon) or any other major mobile carrier; as it is not a real-world Android model, only a rigged-up tablet to serve as a head-unit (put in simple terms). Their solution was to add a new phone line with a generated/fake Serial Number which is registered to a "dummy"/fake number to my Verizon account. This allowed the SIM card to be recognized by Verizon as being used in a real-world Android phone model, (it shows up on my account as a random Android phone model) even though in reality it is a head-unit style android device. From there I paid a one-time activation fee along with a $10/mo. charge for data usage by the head-units applications/navigation/etc. etc... (will vary based on usage) and the SIM is now able to be recognized as a "Verizon 4G plan" SIM card by my head-unit device because it is registered to a correctly formatted mobile serial number. It seems like a long process at first read, but it turned out to be quite straight-forward. I'm sure if you're mobile carrier isn't too strict and is willing to hear you out, they will understand what you are requesting and possibly help you out.

Also, as a reminder, if you do follow a process like I have described above; please make sure your head-unit device's mobile/carrier settings are not set to a restricted SIM/plan format within the Android settings menu on the device itself. This will cause the device to not allow any form of SIM to be detected as a usable plan/SIM device regardless of carrier/serial number, etc...

Best of luck as I know these aftermarket screens can be quite confusing, hopefully my troublesome experience will provide you with some direction on how to get it working!