It's been a little over a year since I got my car and a bunch of MercedesMe Connect services were up for renewal. I was able to take care of renewing most of the safety and remote vehicle services, but there are no Infotainment options available anymore. I called MercedesMe support and according to the person I spoke to, they said the car "never had that capability" in the first place on their online portal. I can still see all of the options I previously had on the MercedesMe app, but the "buy" option links me to a portal where Infotainment isn't even an option. The support submitted an IT request to escalate the matter but I haven't heard back since then. Has anyone had similar difficulties?

I had a similar experience with my '18 E300. Services such as internet & browser services expired and were not renewable. It made me reconsider another MB purchase. When the E300 is sold, I'm done with Mercedes-Benz.

l


Finally heard back and they can't do ****. How is Mercedes this chaotic? Giving you a product and then telling you it's gone without any solutions whatsoever. What's the point of my unlimited in-car wifi without online music access? Doubt I'll be buying another Mercedes EV at this rate.

I keep saying, MB does not know how to be a tech company. You have to approach connected services the same way a top-end phone manufacturer does. Actually, inexpensive phones made in India have a better connected experience than MBUSA.

I may not be up to date on all the services you desire. I have had my car over 12 months. I renewed Sirius/XM through their website, and renewed the other services MB offers on line, although it did take a phone call to get it all done. I listen to internet radio via bluetooth from my phone, as i have in all my other cars. May not be what you are looking for, but it works very well. YMMV.

Gonna poach your red signature!

Not quite what I'm looking for. I meant how you can have Apple Music or Spotify stream directly to the infotainment system. The audio is way higher quality than CarPlay or Bluetooth. Pretty frustrating since Apple Music sounded amazing through the car.

I understand. I looked on the app this morning, and the services were available to buy. I didn't click on the "buy" tab, as I don't need them, but they seem to be available to buy.

That's the frustrating part. The buy button appears for me as well, except when you click it you get redirected to the web purchase portal where the options for any of those infotainment services don't exist.

Gotcha......and now completely understand your frustration.

Just had the same happen to me after expiration of 1 year of service. I guess we all have to wait for the “Entertainment Package” to be made available to us in the US. Irritating but I will just continue to use my iPhone as the conduit since I can’t get the in-car WiFi data plan to work anyway.

Expired for me too. I called mercedesMe support before renewing services and was told directly by Carlos the MercedesMe rep that "Online Music Streaming" is not affected and is not a service you can purchase for renewal. I even mentioned this forum thread to him. Then once the complimentary year of mercedesMe connected services lapsed, my online music functionality disappeared. So frustrating to spend 6 figures on a car and have to use carplay. MBUX is such a clean UI and the sound quality is much better through native streaming app on MBUX than apple carplay.

The main advantage of native app is the Dolby Atmos.
But as far as audio quality, CarPlay should be just as good.
First, make sure you change your phone's settings (Settings->Music->Audio Quality->Cellular Streaming) to High Quality for Cellular Streaming (default is low quality). You can even select higher quality if you enable lossless for 5G network, but it probably won't work very well with cellular.
CarPlay streams music through WiFi at up to CD quality, and I doubt native app uses any higher bitrate as it would consume huge amount of data.

CarPlay is absolutely not just as good, even without Dolby Atmos. If you compare the two it is a noticeable increase in quality with the built-in app. Wired CarPlay makes zero difference. We shouldn't have to be making compromises like this on 1-year old vehicles. Also, it absolutely consumes a high amount of data, which is why there is an unlimited plan... I tried the limited plan first and ran out of data very quickly.

I'm not sure this will be helpful. But as a new EQS SUV owner, the way I had to activate streaming data was by logging into https://www.daimlerna.hotspotdrive.com using the MBUX browser. I created an account and for $240/year I get unlimited data.

You manage your in-car wifi data plan's billing via that link. This is about what happens when your one year of free Mercedes Me Connect services runs out since the data plan and internet music streaming are separate packages. If it's anything like our 2022 vehicles, you will be able to keep your data plan but completely lose access to your music streaming options outside of CarPlay or satellite radio after 1 year.

Quick update - I sent another follow-up email on Thursday, I don't know if it was luck or if someone internally investigated but it appears the services are back:

How much are they charging for the annual subscription for continuing to have this service? Is it à la carte, or one price for everything?
The main thing I need is online music and App communication/control of the car.

I wish I knew. The entertainment package or whatever it's officially called still doesn't exist in the store, and doesn't appear under my account. If I had to guess, this was a stopgap measure until they add it back officially.

I'll be curious to hear if anyone else has suddenly recovered their online music. I thought the Mercedes Me App had an error when it showed all the infotainment services as active again but Apple Music and Spotify really do work in my vehicle.

my issue was fixed today. The service has been enabled and online Music is back. No need to purchase it as an extra . Also not that I played the mini games , but they came back as well.

I received a telephone call a few minutes ago in response to my escalated case (I wasn't aware I even had one anymore) saying they received my email to the executive office. There's been an indefinite extension on the infotainment services. I heard nothing more than that.

All in all, this is probably the best resolution we could ask for. Maybe it's proof that emailing the CEO wasn't useless after all.

thank you my friend for making the EQS community better for all.

Same here. I wrote an email to MBUSA and my services and mini games reappeared yesterday without cost. They should probably leave them as free items since they don’t appear to have a better solution.
Yay!

@njtransit215 can you please tell me to which mail address did you email?

I want to send an email asking to reconsider charging 1200$/year to open up the 0-60 acceleration limit on EQS450 4Matic. Owners of 450 paid the $$$ to get dual motor but MB has locked the full potential of the hardware and is charging 100$/month to get an extra second for 0-60!

I noticed that you have Tetris. Is that an EQS Sedan only thing? I have an EQS SUV 580. I do have the Minigames, but not Tetris.