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      11-29-2021, 05:52 PM   #1
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3G, CarPlay, maps, etc. and 2015 328i xdrive wagon

Hello, everyone, this is my first post.

First, questions:

What do I need to do to update the car for 4G?

What are recommended ways to upgrade, so that I can use CarPlay with an iPhone?

Is updating the nav maps just as simple as buying the maps from BMWUSA? The website lists maps from 2019, which seems a bit out of date.

Now, background info.

I'm the second owner of a CPO 2015 328i xDrive wagon. It's an M Sport with Nav System Professional and ConnectedDrive, Harmon-Kardon, and various other options. It was built in March 2015. It is stock, and I plan to leave the engine and its electronics stock.

I've read up a bit on the 3G issue. I have not received a letter from BMW about it. I let my ConnectDrive subscriptions lapse during COVID, other than the ten-year ones. (I put something like 500 miles on the car from March 2020 to January 2021.)

I was about to turn traffic, etc. back on, when I learned about the 3G issue.

What do I need to do to update the car for 4G? If/when I do so, how do I go about turning those features back on?

I did read through the 3G Discontinuation Notice thread, but a lot of it had to do with mods that don't apply to me.

Also, the car does not have CarPlay. I read on this site about several possible options to retrofit it. What do people recommend? I do not plan to do it by myself if it involves disassembling the dash.

Finally, how about maps?

Thank you in advance, everyone.
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      11-29-2021, 06:13 PM   #2
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If you plan to retrofit CarPlay, why not use Waze/Google Maps/etc. and have the traffic functionality built into those apps and not worry about the BMW navigation specific stuff?
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      11-29-2021, 09:34 PM   #3
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AFAIK, your model is not eligible for the 4G upgrade. I believe 2016 models with NBT EVO ID4 are the oldest models that qualify. My 2016 was upgraded with both software + hardware.
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      11-30-2021, 01:31 PM   #4
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Thank you for the responses.

I hope that BMW decides to offer retrofits for additional cars, such as mine. After all, my car is only six years old. They are good in many ways at supporting legacy products--just look at the motorrad side of things.

If I can retrofit CarPlay, then the iPhone can take on some of those duties. But I find that the built-in nav works better in areas with little or no cell service--which is ironic, since cell service is the heart of the issue. Often the nav works when phone maps do not.

Plus, there is more that the phone is not set up to do that the inboard electronics are. I bought the car in part to use them. (I almost didn't buy it because it didn't have CarPlay.)

Any other help, anyone? Are there other options?
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      12-01-2021, 01:35 PM   #5
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Your 2015 doesn’t have CarPlay nor 4g ability. What you can do is retrofit a later model nav unit like I’d 5 or 6 but again, I don’t think you can sub to connected services on those because they are not original to your car. So you are stuck using CarPlay anyway.


Me, I might consider one of those Mimi boxes to do CarPlay on the factory screen and leave the rest alone on my 2015. Or nothing.


Maps. You can download the maps them selves and need to generate. The correct 1 time or lifetime code. Last year I did the lifetime code when I went to 2021, then this year was able to jsut upgrade to 2022 no issue amd no fuss.
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      12-02-2021, 12:31 AM   #6
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As I have posted previously, BMW knows exactly how many 2014 and 2015 vehicles are currently using a 3G TCB and have renewed their annual Connected Drive Service now that the initial free period has expired. Like any other business, I feel confident BMW looked at the cost to design and manufacture a 4G unit for these vehicles and how many they would need to sell to make this a profitable retrofit from their standpoint. As the 4G ATMs have a MSRP of about $700, with several hours of labor this was clearly a retrofit that would run around $1100 or so from a customer’s pocket.

I also feel confident they also looked at the 2G to 3G conversion rate 4 years ago where $300 or a free retrofit was offered. Most owners took the $300. One wonders how few that took the retrofit are still subbing to Connected Drive in 2021?

Bottom line, given the small number of subs and the high cost of a retrofit, it obviously did not seem worth the trouble or the expense for BMW.

Again, there is only 1 proven way to retrofit to 4G and with your 2015 NBT HU it would run around $2k equipment costs of a NBT EVO HU, working donor ATM and active account, a proper retrofit wiring harness from England and a transformer for your 2015 Screen. There would also be some minor FSC license and coding costs depending on which vendor you chose to obtain those from.

Considering the $1100 costs at retrofit for your TCU and then $500 for an aftermarket Android CarPlay unit would have cost roughly $1600, $2k with a better OEM NBT EVO is probably right in line imo. You even get the better sounding SiriusXM chips, better nav and remote services, not to mention CarPlay

In fact I see an appropriate NBT EVO for sale in the Classified currently.

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1877667

That’s the only way to retrofit successfully for the long term as several who have currently switched their eSim will find out in 6 months when those 3G accounts are disconnected from service.

Last edited by TheShadow; 12-02-2021 at 12:45 AM..
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      12-02-2021, 05:01 AM   #7
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As far as I can tell… my 2016 isn't eligible for the upgrade either?

Wondering if they will literally "flip the switch" in February or if services will continue longer than that for 3G vehicles.
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      12-02-2021, 09:48 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sspade View Post
As far as I can tell… my 2016 isn't eligible for the upgrade either?

Wondering if they will literally "flip the switch" in February or if services will continue longer than that for 3G vehicles.
Are you wondering if they shut it down Feb 1 rather than let it die later in the month? There's no way it goes beyond February unless ATT extends 3G service.

Fingers crossed someone finds a way to make them maintain it lol
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      12-03-2021, 05:10 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tardboi View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by sspade View Post
As far as I can tell… my 2016 isn't eligible for the upgrade either?

Wondering if they will literally "flip the switch" in February or if services will continue longer than that for 3G vehicles.
Are you wondering if they shut it down Feb 1 rather than let it die later in the month? There's no way it goes beyond February unless ATT extends 3G service.

Fingers crossed someone finds a way to make them maintain it lol
Exactly… wondering if it be a soft fade out or just literally "works on January 31st and does not on February 1st."
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      12-03-2021, 12:58 PM   #10
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Hard stop nationwide on BMW side, even if att decides to delay to end of 2022 like Vzw did.
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Last edited by Onizukachan; 12-03-2021 at 01:49 PM..
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      12-03-2021, 10:21 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Onizukachan View Post
Hard stop nationwide on BMW side, even if att decides to delay to end of 2022 like Vzw did.
That would be so dumb


Does anyone know - is there any way to send addresses to the car navigation after 3g shutdown? Like via bluetooth? (From the mybmw app for example)
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      12-04-2021, 01:39 PM   #12
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No. Just type em in on I drive. Now’s the time to start getting used to it.
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      12-05-2021, 10:24 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tardboi View Post
Does anyone know - is there any way to send addresses to the car navigation after 3g shutdown? Like via bluetooth? (From the mybmw app for example)
It's a shame that it doesn't seem to work even via USB cable.
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      12-06-2021, 07:46 AM   #14
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I was able to use Bimmer-remote to add CarPlay to my 2016 428i. Even though my car was eligible for the 4G programming, which I had done regardless. I figured a one time fee to add CarPlay made more sense. I prefer to use apple maps with live traffic and so far it's worked out great.
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