weth

I am going to sign up for a new T-mobile based pay as you go plan with ptel.com that could bring monthly cost of Audi Connect down to $5/month.

The pay as you go plan has per megabyte cost of 10 cents. A $10 card is good for 60 days. So that is 100 megabytes for $10. Without using Wifi, and only using google earth data, google voice search, and the occasional look up of weather, news, or gas prices I have used right around 50 megabytes a month. So with this, I may be able to get monthly cost to $5/month or close to it.

I have already sent in for the SIM card. I'll report back my findings, but thought I would give a heads up.

dbg_dbg

Sounds interesting. Can you send info on how/what to order?

Taktix1

Interested in your findings as well. Let us know!

weth

This is what I ordered:
ptel.com
click on PLANS
click on Buy Now under REAL PAYGO
Added ptel SIM card to cart
put in my zip code
Click on ptel SIM card in Please select a SIM box (only one choice)
Selected Real Paygo GSM
Selected $10 ptel top-up card
Went to checkout.

I'll report back how it works.

Q7pgh1

Definitely interested in hearing how it works out.

weth

I received my ptel SIM today, and had the service up and running in about 10 minutes. Confirmed I am back to 3G network on T-Mobile through the MVNO ptel. So far everything looks good for $5/month Audi Connect.

Received SIM and activation information in mail 1 week after ordering.

On my computer I:
went to ptel.com/activation
Entered SIM number
Entered Activation number
Received confirmation

In my Q7:
took out the old SIM
turned on the ignition
waiting for MMI to fully boot
put in new ptel SIM
Went to Telephone - Settings
Click on Connections
Click on Data Connection
Click on Connection Settings.
APN was set to the factory T-Mobile settings.
I changed the APN to wholesale
kept everything else blank

Within a few seconds I was able to check on gas prices, use Google voice search, and view Google maps.

So far so good.

mckinnonw

Thanks. This is a great discovery. Kudos.

Can you explain one thing a little further - what do you mean by setting your carrier to "wholesale". Is that a choice that I will see when I do this? And if so, cold I buy, for example, a Verizon sim card and use it?

weth

wholesale is the APN - it identifies the proper network provider. Wholesale is the APN for ptel.

I did leave out a step in my directions, sorry.
After Selecting Telephone and clicking on Settings
Click on Connections
Click on Data Connection
Click on Connection Settings.

The first item is APN - this is where you put wholesale - make sure it is all lowercase.

I did some testing today on usage.
I checked the weather, couple news stories, and local gas prices. Later in the day, I used Google Voice search to get a point of interest and used Google Earth maps to get there. For the entire first day I used 40 cents. Most days I do not need to use any of these features, so I don't think I will have a problem getting down to the $5/month mark. Even if I do everyday 40 cents, that is still only $12/month, better than what I can get from T-Mobile or Audi.

weth

Sorry, forgot to answer your Verizon question. The cellular radio in our Audi is not compatible with Verizon or Sprint, so a Verizon SIM card will not work. You can use an AT&T SIM card however. I have tried that and it works, albeit at 2G speed instead of 3G speed.

mckinnonw

Confirmed. I ordered and just installed mine. This works great. I use it primarily for online destinations. Tested it about 2 hours ago. The online destination used 14kb (8 down 6 up) so one should be able to do about 50 per MB and 500/gb.