Yet Another Connect+ Alternative

[fxstein]

Wouldn't the car just default to the free data connection for this?

Wouldn't the car just default to the free data connection for this?

Good point. I came at it from my out of region thinking. Outside the US (and maybe CANADA) there is no free service.

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[HaveBlue]

There are a few owners in Europe and Mexico. I bet they are happy for the tethering options.

 

[Jonger1150]

$14.99 is a bargin for what we get.

 

[KBabione]

$14.99 is a bargain for what we get.

I agree - and we prepaid it so it dropped the cost to $12.49/month. It's worth it, to me, to get into the car and not have to think about what's going to work or what do I need to do. It just always works. Furthermore, as I noted above, the Rivian does a better job picking up cell signals than my phone does which means the Rivian hotspot works better (and faster) much of the time.

 

[ElectronRunner]

I like the creativity, but I'm going to put in a plug for Connect+...

We have AT&T for our cell phones and that's what Rivian uses for Connect+. At first I was bummed that the Rivian used AT&T as well because I've been on enough backpacking trips to know that having multiple service providers increases the likelihood that someone will have coverage, but then I noticed something interesting: When the signal drops below 4 bars, the Rivian consistently has a better connection than our cell phones do! It's one or two bars better, but that makes a big difference when you're trying to work or take Teams calls from the road. We now all connect to the Rivian hotspot and have much better success - especially with Teams calls.

I'm not an engineer, but I'm guessing the Rivian has a much larger cellular antenna than our cell phones and that's making the difference as we get further from towers. Could also be a power thing - It doesn't really matter to me because it works.

Thanks for posting this, I was wondering about car antenna whole thread until I reached your post

 

[KBabione]

Thanks for posting this, I was wondering about car antenna whole thread until I reached your post

I'd love to hear that others have seen this as well. My wife takes a lot of Teams calls while we're traveling (we both work from home) and we were pulled over at a rest area so she could take one with her boss. She was tethered to her phone and kept getting the dreaded "slow network speeds are affecting your call" message. I told her to switch to Rosey's hotspot and she reluctantly agreed (they're both AT&T - it won't matter). It did make a difference and she was able to complete her call without any further interruptions and the car didn't move an inch.

The next time you're driving and notice the bars on the Rivian are less than 4, ask your passenger to check their phone to see what their coverage is. If you have AT&T you'll probably learn that the phone is 1-2 bars less than the Rivian.

 

[risingphoenix]

I have Connect+ but have noticed intermittently that I have no internet service despite multiple bars on LTE. Yesterday was driving for 2 hours in the mountains and had zero service the entire time. Rebooting solved the problem. Is anyone else having this issue or do I need to get a service ticket for 3 months down the road?

 

[djsider2]

OP, I don't think your Hotspot and Chromecast/Video abilities will work after the free trial period is over, even if the car is connected to wifi.

 

[dfacto]

OP, I don't think your Hotspot and Chromecast/Video abilities will work after the free trial period is over, even if the car is connected to wifi.

Why do you say that?

 

[dfacto]

I've confirmed Aliexpress version works too! (Note: it takes a microsim not nanosim so you'll need an adaptor.) Unlike the aliexpress variant, the Amazon one seemed to have a snappier interface (running a busybox linux!) and had what appeared to be surface-mount antenna connectors (nice!). Nevertheless I'll probably keep only the Aliexpress one because (a) I can't really return it and (b) its half the price. Im guessing the aliexpress version is running some version of Android.

Regarding bands, I can now break it down since I have both devices in front of me.

amazon = {2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 17}​

aliexpress = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 66, 38, 40, 41}​

so,

aliexpress - amazon = {1, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41, 66}​

amazon - aliexpress = {12, 13, 17}​

On GoogleFi the speed seemed similar; its backed by T-mobile which uses bands,

​

tmobile = {2, 4, 5, 12, 66, 71}​

meaning the unsupported bands of each are,

tmobile - amazon = {66, 71}​

tmobile - aliexpress = {12, 71}​

You can determine the same for your carrier using this cheat sheet.

As a bonus, I also verified that I can use the 4g modem as an Internet backup for my Asus router running AsusMerlin.

 

[djsider2]

Why do you say that?

There are certain features that are behind the paywall whether or not the car is getting internet access through wifi. There's currently a free trial for the hotspot and video features since it recently came out. I believe that will end shortly and those features will be back behind the connect+ paywall.

 

[dfacto]

There are certain features that are behind the paywall whether or not the car is getting internet access through wifi. There's currently a free trial for the hotspot and video features since it recently came out. I believe that will end shortly and those features will be back behind the connect+ paywall.

That's disappointing. I assumed you could cast if you brought your own Internet.

 

[HaveBlue]

I've confirmed Aliexpress version works too! (Note: it takes a microsim not nanosim so you'll need an adaptor.) Unlike the aliexpress variant, the Amazon one seemed to have a snappier interface (running a busybox linux!) and had what appeared to be surface-mount antenna connectors (nice!). Nevertheless I'll probably keep only the Aliexpress one because (a) I can't really return it and (b) its half the price. Im guessing the aliexpress version is running some version of Android.

Regarding bands, I can now break it down since I have both devices in front of me.

amazon = {2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 17}​

aliexpress = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 66, 38, 40, 41}​

so,

aliexpress - amazon = {1, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41, 66}​

amazon - aliexpress = {12, 13, 17}​

On GoogleFi the speed seemed similar; its backed by T-mobile which uses bands,

​

tmobile = {2, 4, 5, 12, 66, 71}​

meaning the unsupported bands of each are,

tmobile - amazon = {66, 71}​

tmobile - aliexpress = {12, 71}​

You can determine the same for your carrier using this cheat sheet.

As a bonus, I also verified that I can use the 4g modem as an Internet backup for my Asus router running AsusMerlin.

T-Mobile uses band n41 for 5g. Does the ali Express do 5g? It's a 8x jump in speed over band 66 from about 60mbps to 500mbps?

 

[dfacto]

T-Mobile uses band n41 for 5g. Does the ali Express do 5g? It's a 8x jump in speed over band 66 from about 60mbps to 500mbps?

No cheap modem does 5g, including this one. I'm building a 5g modem but expect to pay 60-90 for 5g pcie modem and another 30 to make it support USB and another 30 for enclosure or raspi hat. In other words a diy 5g is about 150 and retail is minimum 300 to 450.

 

[HaveBlue]

No cheap modem does 5g, including this one. I'm building a 5g modem but expect to pay 60-90 for 5g pcie modem and another 30 to make it support USB and another 30 for enclosure or raspi hat. In other words a diy 5g is about 150 and retail is minimum 300 to 450.

It'll make your Rivian go faster.

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