Mmr1

Mbrace on 3g is being shut down this year.
Is there an alternative? Will MB refund the unused portion of my subscription? I don’t think so. It was a nice security and safety feature.

CincyMBGuy

3G services will end on 12/01/22. Verizon will offer the Hum OBDII plug-in alternative which will provide similar features.

andreigbs

BMW lost a similar feature earlier this year. It seems with the rollout of 5G, services that had been provided via 3G are being retired since much of the hardware is not compatible.

I agree though, it stinks to lose features that were paid for as a premium when purchasing the car, only to have them fade into obsolence a few years later...

John CC

Having spent almost 20 years in the mobile communications industry as a systems engineer, I can't see any reason a plug and play replacement module that supports the 5G protocols couldn't be developed. The only question is whether it is commercially viable or not.

andreigbs

Oh I'm sure it could be developed, the question is what would be the cost to do so and then the cost to retrofit said module(s) into various vehicles? It wouldn't be as part of a safety recall, I don't think, but I can't imagine it being a cheap undertaking. Not sure auto mfr's would be inclined to spend unless they absolutely had to.

John CC

I was thinking more that it would be something the owner would pay for. Problem is, unless there was a big buy-in, it wouldn't be commercially viable. OTOH, if the buy-in was 100% it would probably be quite affordable. The network interface portion of a mobile phone is probably a $5.00 chip by now.

[edit]I suppose whoever operates mbrace could offer it as an incentive to retain the service, much like the wireless providers offer phone upgrades.