VEHICLE HOTSPOT - WiFi

[donkeylarry]

About a week ago, I recently started the Trial Plan for the vehicle hotspot/wifi which comes with a 3GB data plan. I received a notification today that I have almost reached my limit and have used 2.93 GB. I have had WiFi turned OFF within settings on the vehicle yet have noticed that when I get into my car, my phone shows that it is connected to WiFi. How is this possible?!? I only set it up so my kids could use when we are on the road, but I don't need it going to work and back every day and certainly haven't used 2.93 GB of data.

Why is my phone connected to the WiFi hotspot when I have WiFi turned off on the vehicle itself?

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[Tom_C]

About a week ago, I recently started the Trial Plan for the vehicle hotspot/wifi which comes with a 3GB data plan. I received a notification today that I have almost reached my limit and have used 2.93 GB. I have had WiFi turned OFF within settings on the vehicle yet have noticed that when I get into my car, my phone shows that it is connected to WiFi. How is this possible?!? I only set it up so my kids could use when we are on the road, but I don't need it going to work and back every day and certainly haven't used 2.93 GB of data.

Why is my phone connected to the WiFi hotspot when I have WiFi turned off on the vehicle itself?

Here is my WAG. The wifi setting in the truck may be to allow the truck to connect to wifi, not the other way around. Turn wifi on and see if the truck finds the hotspot as a new SSID.

Or, just see if your phone can see the hotspot when the truck wifi is off.

 

[mtbikernate]

Yes, the wifi setting in the truck is DIFFERENT from the hotspot settings.

Entirely possible the truck used the hotspot to download an update, or your phone did something similarly (especially if you have it set up to only update over wifi).

I ended up just springing for the unlimited sub after starting the trial. Turns out, I was using it a lot more than I had anticipated around town. I thought it would primarily be a road trip thing, too, but my wife uses it a LOT when she's a passenger just driving around town, and I use it extensively for nav/map data and the occasional spotify streaming.

And considering how much data my wife uses on our regular phone plan when she's at work, it's a good thing. And also, our phone plan (with data limits) plus the truck's unlimited hotspot costs less than it would cost to put our phones on unlimited data.

 

[donkeylarry]

Makes sense or explains what I kinda thought. Thanks to you both above!

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Mine did something really similar and burned through the trial data in about 2 hours. On a side note, you can typically add unlimited data plan for the truck through AT&T for $15-20/mo. The 4G connectivity is fairly stable even when out in rural areas.

 

[JesseS]

Don't get the monthly plan, at $20 a month that's $240, the 1 year plan is $200 a year, somewhat better, $40 is 2 cases of beer!

 

[VegasRanger]

Yup like others have stated, the SYNC system has its own WiFI setting which enables it to be connected to wifi for updates, etc. Then there's a seperate setting for the hotspot. I think you're probably disabling the SYNC wifi and not the hotspot wifi.

 

[Scottlane1171]

Curious though. Can the truck Wi-Fi connect to the hotspot? If so how? The WiFi won’t find my hotspot. Thanks

 

[Jason B]

Why would you want the truck WiFi to connect to the truck hot spot?
Both have to go thru the truck's modem.
The truck's WiFi hot spot is useless, unless you have kids or devices that don't have their own 4G/5G internet connection, such as tablets or video players.

 

[Murphie]

Why would you want the truck WiFi to connect to the truck hot spot?
Both have to go thru the truck's modem.
The truck's WiFi hot spot is useless, unless you have kids or devices that don't have their own 4G/5G internet connection, such as tablets or video players.

Have to agee with that. I subscribed to the WiFi Hotspot for a year or so because I had pickup duty for my granddaughter. She liked to use my iPad which doesn't have a modem. When those pickup duties ceased, I cancelled my plan.

 

[ControlNode]

If I have a month where I'll be on the road for most of the month I'll activate the Wi-Fi since it is on AT&T and my phone plan (Google Fi) is supported by T-Mobile. Having the hotspot active the phone will default to it and fall back on it's own service when the truck loses internet. Also, allows my wife and son to watch those channels you get for free while connected to the truck's hotspot.

 

[Msfitoy]

Why not get unlimited plan for your personal phone and use that as hotspot? Your basically paying for the same thing but its tied to only your truck...

 

[Dgc333]

My wife and I have T-Mobile plans that give you unlimited data for $35 each per month. We will use the phones hot spot when camping so we can watch tv otherwise I never turn it on. Can't imagine ever needing the truck to have it's own hot spot.

 

[ControlNode]

As an MVNO T-Mo user in Eastern NC, it's not bad, but when I drive to VA or SC I find areas off the highway that I have no coverage, having the AT&T service in the truck normally fills those gaps. When I go to the mountains it doesn't really matter which service I have, neither will work there, so I switch from Waze to Google for navigation and download/update the offline maps for the area before each trip.

T-Mo coverage:

Vs. AT&T:

 

[mtbikernate]

As an MVNO T-Mo user in Eastern NC, it's not bad, but when I drive to VA or SC I find areas off the highway that I have no coverage, having the AT&T service in the truck normally fills those gaps. When I go to the mountains it doesn't really matter which service I have, neither will work there, so I switch from Waze to Google for navigation and download/update the offline maps for the area before each trip.

T-Mo coverage:


Vs. AT&T:

where'd you get those maps? curious how Verizon shows up in comparison for the same area, as that's what I use. Verizon is accepted as having the best coverage in the NC mountains, though I'm not sure I'd call it a large margin. At any rate, when I had the truck's hotspot enabled (because at the time, that was cheaper than upgrading to unlimited data), it definitely didn't gain me any extra coverage over what I already got. at best, it let me offload some of my data usage and kept me under my monthly limits (I would regularly overage on road trips because of maps usage and passenger internet use).

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