[okayr]

Hi All,
I'm sure most people aren't concerned about losing connectivity or will have retrofitting available to them. I am a part of the smallish group that was not offered a retrofit but still has ConnectedDrive services (for another 2 years). I use navigation a lot so I decided it was worth it to get the Navituning live Traffic Information retrofit.
Navituning's activation was ~$100 USD and is a 'lifetime' product so it's much cheaper than BMW RTTI subscription. Essentially, it will Bluetooth tether to your phone to grab any online information as necessary. When I first received my activation files they did not work. I thought I just threw 100 bucks in the trash. But their team is super persistent and after going through an exhausting list of troubleshooting steps they found a small error in the file. They sent me a new file and boom, perfect.
It works well and doesn't suck down data from my hotspot. It connects once every 5-10 minutes very briefly. Dynamic Guidance works and IMO it's nicer to use than keeping maps on my phone running. I would do a carplay retrofit but I don't imagine keeping the car long enough so plugging in a usb once (in my case twice) and moving on was a much better option.
website: https://navituning.azurewebsites.net/

[Opie55]

Ok, I do not understand the first part of your post. You say you are part of a smallish group not offered a retrofit. What is the definition of that group? Who with a 2014 BMW was offered a retrofit? Then you say you still have Connected Drive for two more years. How? Are you not on AT&T 3G? And if you have the service for two more years, why do you need Navituning?

[okayr]

Originally Posted by Opie55

Ok, I do not understand the first part of your post. You say you are part of a smallish group not offered a retrofit. What is the definition of that group? Who with a 2014 BMW was offered a retrofit? Then you say you still have Connected Drive for two more years. How? Are you not on AT&T 3G? And if you have the service for two more years, why do you need Navituning?

Sorry, it's definitely my rambling that makes it confusing LOL.

I am saying I am part of the small-ish group that still has ConnectedDrive but doesn't get offered a retrofit. Not saying it's specific to any year of car. I don't think any 2014s were offered a retrofit unless maybe F01 but I don't know.
I have subscription services for another two years based on the vehicle's contract.
How? I don't know, I'd have to ask the original purchaser of the car. I was just pleasantly surprised to see services were good until the end of 2023 when I signed up for CD in 2018 when I got it.
It's definitely on ATT since it's a US spec car.
The reason I have navituning is because my RTTI subscription (different than CD sub) is expired and unavail to renew since ATT dropped support of 3G on 2.22. ATT doesn't magically flip a switch and all the 3G towers turn off it's more of a phase-out. I still have all remote services at least where i live. I know some lost it a couple weeks ago even. I know I'll lose the remote services which are still good under contract but I at least will still have the CD features as they'll run off my phone's data after I lose 3G service in my area.

[najnad]

My 2011 with CIC and 2G still gets traffic updates...

[kevink1]

Some features were supposed to be free for 10 years, like I believe emergency support. Others, after a few years, you had to pay for and renew if you wanted them. We didn't get the full 10 years since some models didn't have LTE support, and no option to upgrade the units.

Mine stopped working 2 weeks ago. I was still paying for RTTI and connected data (i.e. Digital clock with weather and the other online widgets).

[okayr]

Originally Posted by najnad

My 2011 with CIC and 2G still gets traffic updates...

That would be TMC. TMC is different than RTTI. That's actually through the radio. 2G has been gone since 2017.

Originally Posted by kevink1

Some features were supposed to be free for 10 years, like I believe emergency support. Others, after a few years, you had to pay for and renew if you wanted them. We didn't get the full 10 years since some models didn't have LTE support, and no option to upgrade the units.

Mine stopped working 2 weeks ago. I was still paying for RTTI and connected data (i.e. Digital clock with weather and the other online widgets).

Ah, the first owner got it in 2013 so that would be 10 years.
I only got the RTTI from navituning but they do offer the browser and data for like an additional $25.

[kevink1]

But I got my 2015 in 2014, so not quite 8 years.

[DementedJay]

The website still loads, but I see no links to any software, or to a VIN checker / lookup.

I'd love to see tethering work; that would solve a lot of my issues.