Confused: Porsche Connect, Connect Plus, PCM Connect, Online services ....
 

I'm looking at purchasing a 2014 CS and am trying to understand what these offerings are and how to tell if a car is enabled. Can anyone shed some light?

The geek-tech is all nice to have and not a deal breaker. I just want to know what I'm buying.

Thanks in advance.

I got a trial period for pcm and car connect. PCM is great as it gives you google maps and traffic. You can get traffic from waza. The car connect for me is ok. Just give location, car fence. Close car doors . But I can do that by swiping the door handle as the car has keykeyless installed already. But also the car can't be started or doors opened for some reason under car direct. So I don't think the pcc is worth it.

Out of the blue I got an email to set up Car Connect this morning with an activation code. Kind of confusing as I bought the car last May. Maybe I used up my free data? Anyway, I set it up again. Seems to have more apps now.

Got the same email, and set mine up (again) with the activation code. I discovered that there are two iPhone apps to interface with the device.

1) There's "Car Connect" that lets you lock / unlock doors, see gas gauge, tire pressure, where's my car function, and a few others.

2) And there's "PCM Connect" that links your iPhone with the PCM and enables navigation to your Contacts, as well as entering Navigation destination on your phone and it appears on your PCM. The activation code was required to link them.

Mine is a 2017 Turbo (delivery last Nov), so some of these services are free for a year. Also, I activated my ATT SIM card and added it to my ATT account -- I think it's needed for the traffic, and likely some of the APPs in the PCM -- just discovered those Apps BTW.

It takes an effort to figure this stuff out, and while I've become fairly proficient with these features, the pricing and packages are very confusing. For instance, one document I saw indicated that traffic was included in one of the packages -- the free one for a year. I'm unsure whether my Google Maps traffic will work after this free year plan expires -- even though I have a ATT SIM contract.

Another thing I noticed is that you can download map updates -- but haven't tried that yet -- not sure if the car needs to be running for that, or how long it would take. Some good documentation would be appreciated.

In the vast absence of a great deal of documentation, I always call Customer Care (1-800-Porsche, Option 3) and stay with them kindly until you are satisfied.

The thread starter is looking at 2014, i'm aware of the "online services" for 14's which uses the aha app. I had thought connect & connect plus were only for 2017 991.2? thank you all for helping clarify for me as well.

After getting a car and reading a bit more what I can gather is none of the options are worth it to me.

If the car didn't come with online services then neither the car connect nor PCM connect work. (2014 C2S). Suncoast sells an upgrade for $200

991.1 is only compatible with online services and Aha App. Connect/Connect Plus, Apple Car Play, PCM Connect are 991.2 interfaces only and NOT compatible with 991.1.

991.1-Online services can be added by dealer if you didn't get it with the car. When you connect your smartphone via the glove box USB, it connects the app to your PCM without any action on your part. You only have to open Aha once and create an account. Once you connect your smartphone, Aha runs in the background, you don't have to select in on your phone. Once you do that, you will see "Aha" as a Source in your PCM just like Tuner, CD, iPod, etc. You can then browse hundreds of channels of music, talks, books, etc. You can also search for hotels and restaurants linked to Yelp. Aha will provide audio descriptions of restaurants and hotels and present them on your PCM with an option to "Set as Destination" and seamlessly start navigation via your PCM. It's a nice option if you don't want to pay for Sirius/XM radio, traffic, or weather. It does use your cell phone data plan so keep an eye on that to determine data usage. I have my iPhone mounted via a center vent mount and USB connected to the glove box with Waze running for traffic and the PCM for greater situational awareness and range/fuel management.

When I return to the US this summer, I'll try Sirius/ XM traffic/weather and radio as we used it in years past and liked it. However, the prices have gone up. In Europe, traffic comes in two modes. Without Online Services, you got FM traffic updates with blue triangles to indicate jams. it is similar to Garmin GPS units with FM traffic in that it mostly tells you about traffic too late. When I got online services added, I started receiving real time traffic for free with green, yellow, and red traffic indications like Google. It receives traffic information via data from INRIX, another real time traffic provider like Waze. However, I have found Waze to be better than INRIX in Europe.

i bought my '17 Targa 4S last May, and have been using PCM Connect since that time;rather than using the ATT sim card I get data through a hotspot link on my Verizon iPhone. I activated car connect when I got the car and find it worthless. What is the advantage of again activating this? I'm fairly certain PCM Connect isn't a pay service, but Car Connect is. Am I mistaken?

I find all of these hugely confusing and not in the slightest well documented. I pride myself as a technologist who can understand anything, and remember way back, when I would scoff at people unable to set the time on their VCRs. I feel like one of those now with these services! I put an AT&T SIM card into my '17 Macan, enabled it for data, and still can't discern any difference!

^+1

I was just emailed the Connect offer for my 991.2. I don't see any benefit to pay for most of the things I get for free with CarPlay. Is there something I'm missing? Btw, my Verizon data doesn't include the option for hotspot, so I don't get traffic data for the Porsche nav, but I do receive it from Apple maps through my cell connection.

Who cares about a hotspot anyway, as your phone can provide that service directly to your iPad or whatever? I use ATT for my phone service so added the SIM service ($10 add on to my cell bill) for my 991.2 Turbo, so I get the on line traffic. But I'm not sure if that will continue after the 1 year free connect service, because one of the features of this service was traffic. Very confusing.

I can always use the CarPlay, but would have to connect my phone every time I get in the car.

What Porsche needs to do is to detail these services in one document, as right now, there are bits and pieces in the main 991.2 Manual and on line, but some contradict what's written else where.

It's also very confusing regarding the PCM Connect and the other connect -- and the two different apps.

You may need to turn the Traffic on the PCM. There's a layered icon, I think on the right side, you touch it and several options appear on the right -- you need to highlight the ones you want, and one of them is traffic. Wasn't obvious to me -- was running w/o traffic for a month until I figured it out.

What's really frustrating to me, is my 2.5 year old i3 has always had traffic data for free on its nav, AND I can send destinations to it from my iPhone! Porsche is still way behind in user convenience.