So just got my email from Mercedes saying mbrace would be discontinued in the US due to the 3G shutdown. Way to go MB for not supporting your customers who keep their cars for the long haul. Their "alternative" is to use a 3rd party solution via Verizon that is not part of the mbrace ecosystem. Very disappointed - should I be? My car is 7 years old at this point. I still think MB should come up with a way to upgrade the cellular card in the system - my home security system was upgraded by a tech in 5 minutes - and they sent the tech for free!

Sorry if this has been discussed already - I could not find a thread that confirmed the discontinuation.

 

I got the same email... So annoying.... My car is 8 years old...

 

This is unfortunately par for the course. Technology moves on and becomes no longer commercially available. Several other brands already went through this earlier this year when AT&T shut theirs down end of February. Audi for example also offers a third-party ODBII dongle by Mojio to restore some of the telematics features. You can also buy these types of dongles on Amazon etc. Mbrace was MB's first foray into the connected car field and as such was not really designed for longevity being a new technology and market. They already replaced mbrace with Mercedes me connect in 2019 as a more future proofed platform with OTA updates etc. This is typically what happens with new technologies. The first go is generally a proof of concept and a throw-away. Nowadays there's also Apple CarPlay and Android Auto that bases the connectivity around one's smartphone, so as cellular technology moves on you can just replace your phone. The newer COMAND and MBUX can technically also be tethered to a smartphone, but some of this is held back by outdated consumer unfriendly business models in countries like the USA where carriers force providers into exclusive agreements and forbid tethering.

 

after they got your money, screw you !
i have a 2016, on 2019+ models, you can check your car status like door locked, engine on/off, fuel level on your cellphone. why cant i get these status on my 2016 ?

 

Because new models have new features to entice customers to buy them. Every business needs new and repeat customers buying their products to stay in business. So how do they do it? By coming out with new/updated products with new features and planned obsolescence. It's fundamentally how business works. They need to continue to make money by selling their products. I'm guessing you don't own a business, but as a salaried employee you should have an interest in your employer to continue to sell what they sell so they can pay your salary.

 

Ah, the evolution of technology. I understand the frustration and aggravation, but the advancement of technology cannot be, and should not be, restricted by the need and desire for backward compatibility. Yes, it sucks for us that spent money on the technology of the time and it can be frustrating... but what's the alternative? We all freeze in place with what we have and things never get better? Not good.

As much as it sucks, I don't think it's fair to place the anger and frustration upon the manufacturers. I know this is an extreme example, but it's similar to currently owning a 1984 Chevrolet Cavalier and being mad at Chevrolet because it only has a cassette deck.

Just my point of view.

 

you know Mercedes is not the only car manufacturer, right?
when you pissed your customers enough, they will just buy the competitor next time.
can you imagine buying a Windows 10 computer and unable to upgrade to Win 11 ?
or that iPhone unable upgrade the OS, they just want you to buy a new iPhone.

 

That is a very shortsighted view. First off, not every computer running Windows 10 can be upgraded to Windows 11. Not all hardware is supported. Often you can't get the necessary drivers. Windows 11 for example requires TPM 2.0. Apple used to cut off older hardware quickly for newer versions of iOS. That has changed quite a bit yes, and they still support devices back to the iPhone 6S, but you don't get many of the features of iOS on those older phones, because the hardware support isn't there.

But most importantly, Microsoft and Apple make most of their money from services now. They are incentivized to not cut anybody off and make sure the devices get upgraded so they don't lose their user base. MB so far makes practically no money with mBrace/Mercedes me connect. They want to. They are investing in their digital platforms and exploring things like features on demand, so they can continue to sell digital services to existing customers. Once the digital platform becomes a significant revenue stream for them you can bet, they'll make sure that existing cars get upgraded so that they can sell services to you. But for now, mBrace/Mercedes me connect was complimentary for 3 years and I don't even know what the percentage is of customers that renew after that. A lot of customers lease, so by the time the initial subscription expires, their lease also expires and they get a new model. MB has now reduced the complimentary subscription to 1 year, but I still don't have seen any statistics or revenue numbers from these services.

As for other car manufacturers, they are all doing the same thing. Audi for example cut off owners of cars as new as 2019, because even though they advertised LTE, the connected car features were still using 3G behind the scenes and now no longer work after AT&T turned off their 3G network end of February. Even before that some models lost the Google Earth satellite overlays, because Google had sunset the API Audi was using and they were unwilling to provide a software update for older cars. Until the car manufacturers have significant revenue from their software and digital service offerings the business model is just not there to justify spending money on upgrades for older models.

They do have to be worried about Tesla, Lucid and others that ship cars with OTA update capabilities and have demonstrated that they'll keep their cars fresh. At least for now, but even Tesla has started to cut off some of the early model years, because the hardware no longer supports certain things. They have offered hardware upgrades as well for some models, but let's be honest, the volume of Teslas out there is far lower than other brands. This will change over time, but the global market of EVs is still at only around 3%. It's not like Tesla has the capacity to build enough cars for everyone if they'd all defect from MB, Audi etc. And Lucid can't even build enough cars for those who want them now.

 

So does this mean features like remote start, remote lock/unlock and locate vehicle are going away? It seems MB just threw up their collective hands and walked away.

I'm with you wondering why the wifi/cellular cant be upgraded to a supported technology.

 

Yes.

They could theoretically upgrade it. Their architecture uses a gateway module called the HERMES communications module. It's effectively a mobile broadband router and could theoretically be swapped out with one that supports LTE. They've actually done this in Europe for the W213. In the USA the W213 had LTE from the beginning, but in Europe the first model years had 3G and then MB offered an upgrade to LTE. However, the ongoing chip shortage has caused shortages for the HERMES module as it is. Over the last year many cars came from the factory with the module missing. They are now finally getting retrofitted, but it took over a year if I remember correctly. So they barely have enough modules going around as it is for all the new cars and to retrofit the cars that are missing it. Maybe once the chip shortage eases off and the HERMES modules have plenty of supply, they may offer an upgrade. However, the mBrace platform as a whole is end of life as I said. It was replaced as such in 2019 with the new Mercedes me connect platform. New phone app, new everything. They are likely only going to invest the bare minimum in the old platform. There are still some cars with LTE that use mBrace, for example the W213 up to MY2018. Maybe they'll migrate those eventually to Mercedes me connect and shut down the mBrace platform altogether. Mercedes me connect only runs on COMAND NTG 5.5 and MBUX, so the COMAND system on the W205 2018 and older is not supporting it and NTG 5.5 would need new hardware.

 

Is this just a 2015 and 2016 issue?
I think my 2017 has 4G LTE.

 

I received the same email as well. I have a 2016 S550 4 Matic, and I frequently use the remote start, lock, and unlock features. I found this company that makes remote starters specifically for the S-class year. Still, it's unclear what dependencies it has with the existing wireless connections. I'll reach out to them and see if this could be a replacement for the Mbrace service.

https://www.midcityengineering.com/p...22-sksng222d4/

 

They also have a module for the W205, I came across this thread on the installation from a forum member on a C 450 that doesn't have remote start using Mid City Engineering's system:
https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ml#post8436163

 

i miss the email, so i do a search.
why is no one mention this on the email?

"The telematics communication module which operates the mbrace service in your vehicle will become obsolete; however, we have teamed up with Verizon Wireless, our mbrace partner, to offer an OBD (On-board diagnostics) dongle as an alternative solution. The Hum by Verizon device plugs into your vehicle's OBD diagnostic port to offer similar services as mbrace"
i really dont care about remote start but can this device remote unlock the doors ?

 

No, it's diagnostics and location information. No remote control. The OBD port doesn't do much if the ignition is off, so these devices collect data while the car is running and upload it to the cloud.

https://www.hum.com/

 

I can still do those things on my 2017 Cab via the Mercedes Me app.

 

My wife has a BMW 2016 435i. BMW also discontinued the outdated connection service. HOWEVER, BMW replaced the module for free and it was done by our local BMW dealer. MB just said ? to its customers. This is my third E Class.

 

FAQs regarding the matter on mbusa.com. https://www.mbusa.com/en/owners/3g-network-sunset

 

My older laptop can not support W-11 and works just fine on W-10.
Technology is moving so rapidly these days...

 

We out of luck in the US. However, the UK gets this Mercedes Me Adapter:

⁣Experience Connectivity (mercedes-benz.co.uk)