drgek

I don't think he lied. My SA told me the same thing. My '17 Targa 4S came with a SIM card; it was activated by my dealer but I pulled it out after the trial ATT period of 1 GB was over and used the hot spot on my phone for a data connection (you had to remove the SIM card to do that.) My '18 Targa 4 GTS did not come with a SIM card but would not use my phone's hotspot because (as the PCM informed me) of the embedded SIM card. The Connect service (the one that uses the apps such as Google search, weather, etc.) relies on the embedded SIM and is the one for which Porsche offers a one year free trial. Car Connect, the service through Vodafone, is the one offering car telematics. As I opted not to activate that, I don't know if it requires the second external SIM or not.

Gary JR

Fo me it offered nothing useful that I can not do with my smartphone.

wkearney99

I don't want to come across as argumentative about this. I put a lot of effort into getting down to the facts on this. Lots of salespeople misunderstand, mis-state or are otherwise dead-wrong on a lot of this. Even the first-line reps on the Porsche support line are "under informed" about how it all actually works.

The literature on this for the salesmen is confusing, at best. I wouldn't call it deliberately deceptive, but calling everything "connect"-something with a lot of overlap, does not make it clear what's-what.

Using the nav mapping. google earth, 3d, wifi hotspot and apps do not require the AT&T sim to be installed or any AT&T account active. NONE. Mine has those services working just fine with my Verizon SIM. My AT&T trial period expired (and the free 3gb of data vaporized in 2 days time due to Netflix tablet viewing on the drive home from PEC Atlanta). When the 3 month trial ended... nothing changed on my PCM. Nor did anything change when I re-upped through Porsche after the 1st year ended.

You will need to separately subscribe through Porsche to at least one of the services that handles the PCM connecting via your own SIM to whatever databases they have online. Vodaphone handles this for them. But this has nothing to do with the underlying data services you use to make the connection. If you have AT&T already, then just add a data SIM. Some providers may require programming be entered into the PCM to make the connection, or configuration on their end to allow for the IMEI in the PCM to be associated with the SIM. Verizon required neither (but often used to in the past).

I can also confirm that not having a SIM in the PCM will absolutely NOT affect the security and remote services. Mine work fine without the SIM being present (nor any other PCM-to-Wifi connection). There's a separate radio for this and you don't get to see or otherwise program this. I'm sure there's a module in the vehicle somewhere (not on the PCM) that handles this. But I know it's NOT on the PCM.

Likewise, without the PCM SIM card inserted you WILL NOT get wifi hotspot functionality. The embedded SIM is NOT used for this. What you may require, however, is that your provider has to allow for a SIM to be used for hotspot purposes. Some don't, Verizon used to limit this, but does not currently (at least not with my current account and SIM).

Clearly, the direct route is sign up for a whole separate AT&T account through Porsche. If you had no existing cell or data services that might be the simplest route to getting connecting. You'll pay a stupidly dumb premium for this and get nothing extra or special for it. Or you can add another SIM to whatever data plan you've already got, plug it in and then subscribe (through Porsche) to whatever services you want to add.

The one caveat is understanding that the radio in the PCM has support for only 4G LTE and GSM frequencies. If you use a cell data service that supports those you're set. If, like me, you use Verizon (which has no support for GSM data fall-back) then you'd only be able to use the PCM data services when you're in an area that has LTE coverage. For everywhere I've traveled it has worked fine.

Scottykenneth

Hurricane

OMG could this be any more confusing. I mean you have laid it out really well but holy cow it sure would be nicer if Porsche simplified it! And it would be nice to have this pre-baked into the price and not worry about subscriptions, etc.

Scottykenneth

wkearney99

Oh, absolutely, calling 1-800-Porsche definitely WILL get you answers. I've had great luck speaking with them for several things.

I agree that Porsche has made this unnecessarily confusing. Two different cell radios in the vehicle, three different software packages and overlapping naming. Yes, it's confusing, and stupid.

Somewhere, someone in Porsche management decided it was 'better' to make this mess rather than absorb the cost of running it transparently for customers. But remember, it's a different company that makes the head unit (the PCM) and it's another company that's running the online database service (vodaphone). And it's yet a 3rd company handling the security systems (cobra-something iirc). So they'd have to juggle those things internally at Porsche and present just one option to the customers. "Buy it for the life of the car" would pretty much be a no-brainer for most folks at this price point. Trouble is, manglement folks along the way have decided to try and make this a profit center. Doing that isn't bad, per se. But doing so freakin' poorly IS bad. And here we are.

Hurricane

How easy is it to switch to a Verizon sim card? Do you have to change any settings in the PCM?

wkearney99

From what I remember it was just a matter of taking the known-working card out of my tablet and putting it into the PCM.

I don't recall that I had to change any of the APN settings at all. They key lies in knowing that the card already handles being used in a data device. Mine was an Asus Nexus 7 2013 tablet with Verizon radios. The same card had been used in a USB modem dongle before that.

A lot of what I've learned has been hashed out in the Cayenne subforum and over on the separate macanforum.com website. As they had the PCM4 radio at least a year before the 958, and thus had some discussions going already. Likewise, some of this carries over from various Audi implementations as it's basically the same core radio underneath.

drgek

Is your car a 2017 or 2018? Because the system was changed for 2018 cars with the new embedding of a SIM card into the PCM. Whether it changed with the start of 2018 production, or sometime after that, I don't know.

I am not saying you are wrong; what you describe is exactly the way my system behaved in my 2017 car. What I am saying is:

For my 2017 Targa 4S, I could take out the ATT SIM card supplied at the time of delivery (and in fact I did) and I had no problem hooking up to my cell phone hotspot; I cancelled the ATT service and continued to use all services, as you state, as I previously had done. In my 2018 Targa 4 GTS, the ONLY SIM card in there is the embedded one and the car refused to connect to my iPhone hot spot (which continued to work fine in my 2017 Cayenne, at least until I totaled it.) The PCM even displayed a message that to connect to a hot spot for a data connection I had to remove the embedded SIM card When hooked up to my hotspot in the 2017, I had full functionality of the PCM including real-time traffic.

In the 2018 Targa 4 GTS, I opted not to activate the Vodafone Telematics because I really didn't need remote access to my fuel level. However, I wanted to use Google Search and real-time traffic so I signed up for the year's free trial of Porsche Connect. This did NOT require the addition of an ATT SIM card; just activation by signing up for the trial. I presume these data come through the embedded SIM card. I cannot get the PCM to connect to my Verizon iPhone WiFi hot spot on my 2018 GTS as it did on my 2017 Targa 4S.

I guess my question for you is this: With the 2018 Targa GTS, what exactly would I need the ATT SIM card for? I don't need it for Porsche Connect. Do you need it for the Vodafone Car Connect? Do you need it for the Porsche Connect Plus additional services (which I didn't order)? IF I get an ATT SIM card, are you saying that I could get Porsche Connect services WITHOUT subscribing via Porsche Connect? I agree this is all very confusing but I'm presently at a loss to understand what I would need the ATT SIM card for; put another way, if I have to pay for Porsche Connect Services even with a WiFi hot spot, why do I need to activate the hot spot every time I get in the car when I can just use the embedded SIM card? Feel free to PM me if you're willing to continue this conversation off line, as I'm quite curious about this.

wkearney99

Well, ok then. Given how unique Porsche models can be from one production run to another, I suppose it's entirely possible that something changed with the PCM. One way to know at least part of the answer would be for someone that has this specific one to yank the radio and grab the model numbers off it. There will be an IMEI on one of the labels also.

So I think you may have something new and/or there's more to the story. Seems odd, but there we are.

jnolan

eecsdude

I haven't tried this yet myself (will try this weekend), but the user manual states that you can disable the embedded sim by clicking Phone -> Opt -> Set Phone -> disable Phone. Then the Data Connect menu should be re-enabled to let you try to connect to your cell phone's hotspot just as you did in your pre 2018 car.

6sigma

I'm very confused by this PCM data connection mess.

My 18 Carrera T did NOT come with a removable SIM and the dealer said it uses an embedded SIM (even though it does have the SIM card slot). The embedded SIM is active, according to the Device Management menu. However, Google Earth and online traffic are NOT available - I receive an error stating data connection is not available when I try to select Google Earth, Online Traffic, or Weather in the map.

I disabled the PCM phone in the Opt menu, and then enabled the wi-fi data connection to my Verizon cell hotspot. PCM connected to my cell wi-fi hotspot successfully. Then, in the map, I clicked Google Earth and Online Traffic and did not receive any error message about missing data connection (great, I thought). But there is no Google Earth data and I don't see any live traffic or weather info on the map. I appears to have accepted the data connection but does not appear to actually use it.

I have not signed up for anything through Porsche. Does Porsche need to activate something in order for PCM to work, even though it does have a data connection through my wi-fi hotspot? Does the wi-fi hotspot through a cell actually work? If not, why is it there/ what does it do and am I required to install a removable SIM for data connectivity?

Should I just call 800-PORSCHE and ask how to make this work? I just want real-time traffic and Google Earth in the nav - this should not be so difficult.

wkearney99

From what little I've pieced together on my 17, there are two different cell radios in the vehicles. One is for the security system and has it's own configuration without any driver-accessible SIM slot. The other is in the PCM and uses a SIM. It's this one, with the SIM, that handles getting the Nav traffic, Earth (which gobbles a HUGE amount of data, skip it) and allows for acting as a hotspot through the PCM.

To use the first one, you'd have to subscribe to one of the Porsche services that handles remote, location info and security. This is separate from the Nav/traffic type of service.

I'm unclear if you have to be subscribed to anything if you're using your own SIM to act as a hotspot (for other devices people might have in the car).

Be warned, however, that a lot of devices will treat a WiFi link as 'free bandwidth' and that can result in a LOT of bandwidth being used. Some devices, like Android phones, will give you options (on them) to control whether a connection is 'metered' or not. That and if you have the option to stream movies at lower resolutions or quality that will use a lot less bandwidth. As in, don't let the kids use large tablets with high resolution screens watch streamed movies in HD. Pick the SD version instead.