Jardyn39

I’ve been using a Three Mobile Broadband Ready to Go 3GB Preloaded Data Standard Sim for 3G in a Huawei E5331 to provide an in-car WiFi hotspot. I have the Huawei permanently on charge from one of the USB outlets. The provided USB charging cable was too short, but the network coverage has been very good. So far my actual Lexus connected services data use is 1.09MB per hour (as reported by the Huawei). My average use is 1.85MB per day and 13.05MB per week, although sometimes I have forgotten to turn it on! This is my second preloaded SIM and although I definitely played with the services more before, I never managed to exceed the 3GB limit within the 3 months available "in car". We used the data allowance up with laptop/tablet use at the end. I used the connected services for 3 months and then had a three month break just to see if I missed anything by not being connected. During my first stint there were perhaps two days where the additional parking information came in handy, but otherwise I didn’t really make use of the facility. I activated the second SIM so I’d have the connected services for a particular trip. I would have preferred to use my mobile as a hotspot and use it selectively but this would have meant a new mobile contract. Although the SIMs (bought from Amazon.co.uk) keep going up in price, so far this has been much cheaper for me. Hope this helps.

The car can connect via WiFi or Bluetooth to a suitable hotspot. There is a dealer fitted Hotspot option (which presumably houses a SIM) but most will probably use mobile tethering as it should be considerably cheaper. I originally wanted to use my Nexus 4 mobile as a WiFi hotspot, but my service provider refused to allow tethering on my account unless I entered into a new contract agreement (at considerably greater cost than I’m currently paying). My Nexus 4 (Android 4.3) does not appear to be Bluetooth compatible for data, although hands free and audio works fine. The Nexus would have been WiFi compatible had tethering not been blocked, although the battery consumption was considerably high. In the end I went for a MiFi device (Huawei E5331) which can act as hotspot for up to 8 WiFi devices at the same time. A 3-month Prepaid SIM from Amazon.co.uk currently costs £15.49. The device stays in the centre storage (charged via USB) and the connection seems very reliable so far. This isn't ideal but it will give me time to compare alternate mobile providers and it has been useful to tether other tablet/pc devices on the go. Before committing to any additional cost I would strongly recommend connecting via home WiFi if available. I found I could get a good connection quite a few yards from the router and you can have a play to see if you think the extra cost is justified for you.

The Navigation identification number consists of 16 numeric digits. In the car it is displayed as four groups of four digits separated by three hyphens (ie 1234-1234-1234-1234) You can get the Vehicle ID from the car here Menu > Settings > Car > WiFi Look for the following message: "Visit LEXUS portal (www.my.lexus.eu) or contact your local dealer. Remember this Navigation identification: nnnn-nnnn-nnnn-nnnn" Confusingly, the actual online registration requires you to enter the 16 digit ID number with no spaces nor dashes and it would have been nice if the error messages had explained that. The Terms and Conditions of using the system are absurd but you will need to agree in order to proceed. They are subject to the laws of Belgium, which is nice. When all your details are entered, the Lexus site sends you an email with a link to activate your account. It took quite a while for mine to come through. As part of the registration process you will be asked to create a user name and password. Since you will need to enter these details in the car as well, you might want to consider using all caps and numbers. I soon wished Id used a more memorable (or easier to enter) password! I had to enter and re-enter my username and password details several times until I managed to log in via the car. It took me a while to get my mobile hotspot setup sorted, but the car remembers all your login credentials provided there are no connection errors. In use Ive found the mobile data demands of the system to be quite modest so far. This was something I was concerned about because of the cost, but Ive now removed all the in-car warnings about connection charges. The additional parking and traffic information is worthwhile, but the Streetview and Panoramio functions havent been used much. In time I hope that the Connected Services will improve.