sgroer

One thing I don't recall doing it "allowing data roaming"... Not sure if that helps or not. Maybe is confusing the MMI due to the different APN?

Thanks.

deanrose

JerryS4 and sgroer

I continued to play with the TruPhone SIM card - taking it out - reinserting. I think the issue that I was having was there were characters (blank) that were left in the User ID and PW field.
THe roaming option is NOT checked.

I have successfully searched via google for a destination AND downloaded NEW google maps to the A7. So all is working via the TruPhone alternative setup. This is a perfect option for me as I drive very little as I work from home (I have only 3100 miles on my A7 and I got it last April of 2011). So the Pay as you go option is a great option and will save me $$ compared to the OEM t-Mobile option at $30/mo.

JerryS4

I still have issues. How did you get the username and password to go back to blank? The OK option is grayed out on mine after I try to delete what I entered by mistake. Basically my data seems to be stuck to the online user and p/w that I entered in error and now it will not let me make the fields into blanks. How did you do it?

Thanks, Jerry

cassiusonline

Thanks for sharing and glad to hear you got it working.

Once you top up, how long do you have to use the data (is there an expiry date)?
Also - will you be using it primarily for Google Searches only? Also very useful will be the ability to read destinations from your MyAudi account (I use this all the time).

I could live without everything else.

deanrose

I also had the same problem as you whereby I could enter the "truphone.com" as the APN but when I blanked out the User Name and Password it would not let me hit ok to save settings. At this point getting frustrated (again) and I either just returned to the radio, NAV, or turned off the car. The next day when I went back into the Data setup screen (where you enter the APN) the user name and PW were blank. I attempted a Google destination search and it worked. Again, roaming was not selected. Good Luck!

deanrose

It's a pay as your go plan with no expiration date. I use it primarily for Google maps ONLY so I expect my data usage and top up requirements to hit sooner. But as per my previous post I work from home so there are sometimes days where I don't leave the house and drive the car.

JerryS4

Somehow I got the username blank and tried a Google search....and it now works! Located a local Quickiemart and the navigation directions were calculated quickly for about 100kb of data = two whole cents! Very fair price.
But, I also noticed that other Google data, perhaps map details, we're still streaming in afterwards so I popped-out the sim to stop data-flow at 735 kb of data.

Then I went online to see what it cost to do this and it was a grand total of 9 whole cents. Truphone advertises a fee of 17 cents per megabit of data so they are more than fair with what I was charged. At this rate, my $15 balance will get me 150 quick searches and likely dozens of detailed maps if on the road. Yep, this is a sweet deal. The balance does not expire and just needs a credit card authorization to replenish. Compared to the T-mobile plan of $30/ month, this is the way to go.

So final advice to those that will try truphone sim: APN = truphone.com. Leave username and p/w blank and do not select roaming and you should have no problems. Good luck to all. Thanks Sgroer and Deanrose for blazing the trail for us.

sgroer

Awesome! Glad you got it working JerryS4. I just got back to my car and looked this morning at the settings, but it seems you all figured it out in the meantime.

This is a great option. I just hope Audi doesn't somehow work with T-Mobile to block it. Good news is that when they do, I have another trick up my sleeve :-)

sgroer

The destinations from google work fine with the Tru SIM

Dave_A7

Ok, I can't find where the Tru SIM balance doesn't expire. Isn't the $15 a montly fee to get you the .17/mb, 88MB/mo? I did find on LifeHacker an article that talks about the fee structure and states "That include a $15 monthly membership fee — which you have to pay in any month where you want access to discounted rates".

Tru also charges data in chunks. From the Tru site, "Data is charged per session, rather than per day, in 100KB increments. The minimum charge for a session is for 100KB". This may effect how often you need to recharge.

AT&T has a data plan for $14.99/mo per 250 MB. Abit only at 2G. The WiFi hotspot I found was 340kbps where a AT&T 3g phone was 550kbps. I popped my AT&T SIM in and it looked to work fine.

Still trying to decide what to do...

...Dave