Mike5215

I think Mercedes wanted the feature to be cool enough to demo, and way too cheap and slow to actually use.

tivoboy

The wifi is fast, the back end 3G cellular radio is pathetic, and the routes the traffic takes make it even worse. It's useless in today's world.

relmerator

I'm also in a 2017 AMG GLS, which they tell me has a 4G (not to be confused with LTE) connection which is provided by Verizon. More often than not, the connection simply does not work at all. Either the "Establishing Internet Connection..." dialog spins forever, or there's some error that comes up. On the occasions where it's actually able to connect, it's insufferably slow. Through wifi to a iPhone, using the Ookla Speedtest app, the very best speed I've ever been able to measure is 1Mbps downstream. This is, of course, utterly unusable and trying to use Apple Music, Pandora, or Spotify is just an exercise in frustration. Sometimes it's able to play a few songs, but more often it'll just play a few seconds, buffer for 30+ seconds, play another few seconds, repeat.

Multiple calls to support often result in them sending a reprovisioning which sometimes solves the immediate issue, but it always recurs a day or two later. The dealer says everything's great and there's no problem. Right.

I had time today to call support again, and this time actually made it through to a tech support agent who says these speeds are not normal. I'm told engineering will investigate... update on Monday. I'm not holding my breath or anything, but it does offer a faint glimmer of hope....

Mike5215

I've found that the "wifi" in most cars when it relies on a manufacturer sponsored cellular data connection is basically a novelty item. The exception seems to be in GM cars. Go figure. MB buys the data plan from Verizon but at a very low download speed. Should be enough to download headlines, weather etc. but streaming 256kb AAC (Apple Music) forget it. 128kbs MP3 (Pandora) possibly. Pandora offers a 64kbs mono stream that would probably be ok but who wants to listen to that? Doesn't everybody just buy unlimited data on their phone and use that to stream?

Mr. J

My experience with both my C450 and my GLC43 has been the same as yours. I will not be subscribing once the trial runs out.

Mr. J

The low bit rate Pandora stream will not function either. The annoying part is that I have mine and my wife's phones both set to transition to mobile data whenever WIFI is not present. The bogus "4G" hot spots in the vehicle provide just enough connectivity to fool our phones into thinking it's a usable hot spot. It is not. I set an IFTT applet on my phone to just turn the WIFI off when I leave home and back on when I return.

Mr. J

I was very impressed with the command traffic routing when using it in LA. OTOH, the phone connectivity is garbage.

relmerator

I'd happily do that, but that doesn't solve all of my problems. It's annoying to have to plug the phone into USB every time I get in the car, so I keep last year's iPhone plugged in in the center console all the time, and use that for nav/music. Unfortunately, that means that my real phone can't connect over Bluetooth, so I can't easily/legally respond to calls or texts. With a working WiFi network, those would simply be transferred seamlessly to the iPhone in the center console.

I could just add the car phone to my cell plan again, but then it's another number that shows up when I call or text someone, and a number that I'm only occasionally near enough to respond to.

Technology, simplifying our lives.

martinidm

This thread is disheartening to say the least.
Waiting on my 2017 AMG E43 (ETD July 11th) and I insisted on the wifi hotspot bc my wife's 2017 BMW X5's wifi hotspot is damn near perfect. As fast as my wifi at home.

When I think back on the dealer's explanation for the E43 hotspot it was kind of confusing. Should known better.

I'll write a post if mine comes in any better.

tivoboy

in my quote above, I was referring to the HTTP traffic, not the actual road traffic. ;-)...

the routes is takes are ridiculous, back to kansas city, for each http call, then back to wherever, THEN back to KC, then back to the CAR, etc..

it's one of the reasons that the remote start and other features take so dang long to trigger.

vehicular traffic is provided by Sirius/XM in the USA.. not sure about Canada or elsewhere.

martinidm

1 question --

Does the hotspot give an iPhone better connectivity that LTE?

benzdude

Can anyone with a 2018, 2019 and 2020 W205 tell me if the WIFI speed in the vehicle has improved?

Does it at least get over 1Mbps in 2020??

Also, is there an aftermarket way to upgrade the WiFi in a 2015 W205 to get better speeds??

martinidm

2019 AMG E43, and the answer is a resounding NO.
I wound up buying a separate Netgear router (the strongest one available, I don't remember the name), adding a separate wifi carrier and leaving it in my console.

This is after Mbrace, the dealer, et al, rebooted, re-signaled the wifi etc ad nauseam.

I really have no idea why MB doesn't have it together on this.

Good luck

benzdude

Thanks, I am shopping for a cheap Android phone right now to use as an in car hotspot.

It's 2020 MB!