Semi-hijack here, but is the Tunein bitrate better than satellite radio? If it is I may have to convert. I am no audiphile, but I just can't handle the hissing trebles on XM.

 

Since COMAND NTG 5*5 no bluetooth / USB tethering anymore........so you need a paid dataplan (ridicilous, but ok).

Depending on the station, you can choose the bit rate when playing. Normally it is 128 or 192 kbps, but it can go up to 320 kbps.

 

you can stream a radio app (or deezer/spotify) from phone to car (same as playing music from your phone)

 

Wait, how do I tell if i have COMAND NTG 5*5? Weird, it works with my wife's iPhone to connect. It just goes nowhere until TODAY when I went to the dealer and felt like a chump. I had their Sr Tech guy come into the car and watched me try to connect my Samsung S8 and failed. Then he plugged in his iPhone XS and this Mercedes Me popped up on the screen and voila, Tune-In worked! What the...

So his solution is for me to install Mercedes Me app on my phone and then try it. Unfortunately, I had problems trying to register and login and it was awkward being in the car quiet with him. So I said I'll give it a go on my own and try later.

 

If you have a W213 E Class or a facelifted S Class (MY 18 onwards) you have NTG 5*5. You can also look at your steering wheel: if it has 2 mini touch pads, you will have NTG 5*5 I think.

 

Oh... I know this is the E-Class subforum but I got a C300 Anyways, I definitely don't have the 2 mini touchpads.

I confirmed even with installing the Mercedes me didn't fix the issue for my S8. Sigh...

 

It did not last long............since a week or so TuneIN does not work at all................it does not start (other online functions like Weather, POI and Hotspot do work).
Anybody else can check if it is still working or not?

 

it’s working for me. I tried 538 Dance Department and Fox News Talk, both are working

 

It is getting weirder and weirder: the TuneIN app when started from the CONNECT / MB Apps menu (next to Weather, Local HERE and POI) only starts correctly once in ten times now.........favourites are totally messed up, UI looks wobling.....and sometimes, when you are lucky, it will play a certain TuneIN station (this all used to work normally few months ago, then it stopped working for several HTTPS stations, then, a month or so ago, that worked again, but now since a week or two, it has this crazy behaviour which makes it unusable.........).

Visiting my dealer and they were very willing to have a deep dive into this...........and then they came up with something surprising: if you start from the Radio menu, then Source and then TuneIN/Internetradio..............it all works like a charm! All stations play smoothly (also the HTTPS ones), favourites are there, etc.

Apparantly there are two TuneIN "apps" in the car. This was even more clear when I logged in using another TuneIN account via the Radio/Source route, and using another one via the Connect/MB Apps route (this play once in 10 times, but when it does, it was logged in in another TuneIN account!).

Seems a lot of chaos in the dev department of MB.........(the web browser is deleted, but interestingly can still be started using a workaround.............since it goes to a dead proxy in Stuttgart, not of much use, but still...............) let's hope they have cleaned up this mess in MBUX / NTG 7............but this NTG 5*5 is really the worst I have seen in a car (even the previous NTG 5*2 in my facelift car was much better and more reliable/predictable).

 

This is the only one that i've ever used, its much quicker and easier to use compared to the one under Mercedes Apps.

I think on the older Mercedes cars you always had to use it from the Apps menu, if I understand correctly? Like the W212 E-Class etc. - there was no TuneIn/Internet Radio option on the main radio screen?
(This is the first Mercedes that I've had with TuneIn internet radio, the last Mercedes that I had had COMAND NTG 3.5 which didn't have an Apps menu at all)

 

Same problem here in Australia.
In our A45, GLC43 and C63S, the MB COMAND Internet Radio app and the Internet Browser don't work anymore.
Please see the attached news report and letters from MBAuP (Australia Pacific) for reference.
https://autoexpert.com.au/posts/the-...p-in-australia

Mercedes Benz have quietly removed support for these applications and have sighted the Microsoft Corporation as the source of the problem due to the non renewal of an SSL Certificate.
This is inline with the report that HTTP is no longer supported for MB Apps and only HTTPS communications are possible.
If the COMAND Online system is unable to communicate over HTTPS, then this explains why the MB Apps and Internet Browser have stopped working.
This is completely unacceptable in premium vehicles that are less than 3 years old.

The customer in the letter was able to force Mercedes Benz to buy back his vehicle.
Mercedes Benz AuP have remained silent on the problem even though we have lodged technical cases with MBAuP head office in Melbourne on all three vehicles.
MB Brisbane have had our C63S for two weeks now and have not fixed the problem.

The dealership and MBAuP don't seem to be taking customers seriously in Australia.
A letter of demand and legal action seems to be the only way forward at present.
In Australia we have the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and in our state of Queensland the Office of Fair Trading who may be able to intercede on our behalf and force a resolution.
The ACCC has been taking car manufacturers to court in Australia for anti consumer behaviour.
Hopefully Mercedes Benz will be on their list soon enough.

 

I verified the same information with TuneIn Radio support.
The problem occurs because Mercedes Benz COMAND Online does not support HTTPS within the Internet Radio App.
This is completely unacceptable for a vehicle that is under 3 years of age.
__________________________________________________ ___
From: tunein support <support@tunein.mail.kustomerapp.com>
Sent: Saturday, 12 September 2020 12:12 AM
Subject: Re: User Contact Form Message

Hello Philip,

Thanks for the additional information!

We were able to check and confirm that these stations are failing in your car because their stream has a https format which is not supported by Mercedes.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Patrick

TuneInOn Fri, Sep 11, 2020 at 6:10 AM wrote:

Hi Patrick,

Some examples of radio stations that continually fail to stream through the Mercedes Benz COMAND online infotainment system with the error messages "playback stopped" are as follows;

102.9 FM Hot Tomato Gold Coast Australia
Nova Nation Australia
Gaydio UK
Costa Del Mar - Deep-House
Clubland Radio UK
Tomorrowland One World Radio

I tested all of these stations through the TuneIn Radio Android Application and all streams works fine through this app, which indicates some kind of problem with the Mercedes Benz TuneIn App.
Please advise.
________________________________
On Thu, Sep 10, 2020 at 7:13 PM <support@tunein.mail.kustomerapp.com> wrote:

Hello Philip,

We'd be glad to help.

Can you send us the stations you are referring to?

Regarding the HTTPS concern, this is something that should be addressed directly to Mercedes Benz support.

We look forward to hearing back from you!

On Wed, Sep 9, 2020 at 9:30 PM wrote:

Good Morning,

I have a Mercedes Benz A45 vehicle with the MB Comand Online infotainment system.
One of the Mercedes Benz Apps is Internet Radio - TuneIn.
Could you please advise why some station streams playback though the infotainment systems and others fail?
I read in Mercedes Benz forums that HTTPS streams don't work in these vehicles.
Could you please advise why this is a problem?

 

mercedes france c(through the european office based in the netherlands) just stopped replying to me altogether on this issue...
stop replying or just lie to the customer, that's what "the best or nothing" seems to mean.