What is the PCM HotSpot for anyway?

[Dee]

Once a WiFi connection is established it is like a network cable is plugged in. Anyone connected can now act as a server or a client or both. So the car could open a connection to your running app on the phone. The phone would act as a server and deliver data to the car or relay information from Porsche Server.

That is my experience too.
I'm sending info to the car and I'm receiving info about the car, no matter if the car is connected to the Porsche server or not.
I guess one green connection is enough to establish both-ways traffic.
Anyway, it works (most of the time).

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[evanevery]

Once a WiFi connection is established it is like a network cable is plugged in. Anyone connected can now act as a server or a client or both. So the car could open a connection to your running app on the phone. The phone would act as a server and deliver data to the car or relay information from Porsche Server.

Although this is possible, this is NOT typically the way a HotSpot works. When your phone connects to the HotSpot, it is the client. The server is what offers the HotSpot. Yes, data can flow in both directions, but this is not typically the way it works. Maybe that is why there are so many people reporting problems...

 

[feye]

You can't connect to a home WiFi, it's the WiFi spot of the car.
It says "geen verbinding" which means "no connection" but in reality it's sleeping and doesn't show the name of the hotspot (which is "mothership" btw).
Still, there is a connection.

Ah, how did I miss the "Keine Verbindung"! Funny, green lines around the WiFi symbol but reports no connection.

As far as I understand, the WiFi shown on the phone is the WiFi the phone is connected, not the WiFi hotspot in the car, unless you are at the car and have your phone connected to the car WiFi hotspot. Correct?

 

[feye]

Although this is possible, this is NOT typically the way a HotSpot works. When your phone connects to the HotSpot, it is the client. The server is what offers the HotSpot. Yes, data can flow in both directions, but this is not typically the way it works. Maybe that is why there are so many people reporting problems...

Yes, for making the connection to the WiFi hotspot, the phone is the client, but once the connection is established nothing more happens on that layer. One layer up, new connections have to be established and they can go both ways. That's the beauty of the internet.

It might actually slightly increases the likelyhood that things work.

 

[Tay Tay]

As a computer scientist, I think this thread is confusing some things:

1. The term hotspot specifically refers to a Wireless Access Point used to connect to the Internet. Some of the discussion here revolves around the car having wifi, not whether you're using it to connect to the internet. For example, the OP mentioning wireless Apple Carplay - that does use wifi, but is unrelated to the hotspot functionality.
2. Both wifi and bluetooth are bidirectional communication protocols. Wifi has greater bandwidth so is required for things that are more data intensive (like wireless Apple Carplay).
3. In theory if cost were no object, using a car's hotspot is better because it should be able to get a better signal (a cellphone is very compromised to package everything in such a small space) and saves battery life on your mobile devices (because cellular uses more battery than wifi). In practice, smartphones are a very competitive space and it's easier to upgrade your phone than your car, so car hotspots usually don't work as well/fall behind.

 

[Scandinavian]

As a computer scientist, I think this thread is confusing some things:

1. The term hotspot specifically refers to a Wireless Access Point used to connect to the Internet. Some of the discussion here revolves around the car having wifi, not whether you're using it to connect to the internet. For example, the OP mentioning wireless Apple Carplay - that does use wifi, but is unrelated to the hotspot functionality.
2. Both wifi and bluetooth are bidirectional communication protocols. Wifi has greater bandwidth so is required for things that are more data intensive (like wireless Apple Carplay).
3. In theory if cost were no object, using a car's hotspot is better because it should be able to get a better signal (a cellphone is very compromised to package everything in such a small space) and saves battery life on your mobile devices (because cellular uses more battery than wifi). In practice, smartphones are a very competitive space and it's easier to upgrade your phone than your car, so car hotspots usually don't work as well/fall behind.

I agree with all you say here, and the car probably has a better antenna with proper grounding as well. That will improve the cellular reception. But it would be nice if you could arrange your own SIM card for this purpose in the car and not the quite limited amount of Porsche offering via connect store. 7 GB per month for 19 Euros and then extra per GB for additional consumption. My grand kids will go through the 7 GB in a few days in the car!

I also do not understand why the Apple Calendar needs to be synced via WiFi. That is minimal amount of data, but it could be an Apple issue, that will not allow this to happen in any other way??? If you do not subscribe to the extra 7GB package, Calendar is the only thing I have found that needs the WiFi in the car?

 

[evanevery]

I think everyone agrees that the PCM HotSpot is designed to provide Internet Access for devices inside the vehicle. However, that functionality is NOT enabled on US Vehicles. In fact, some US owners are hooking up to the "dead end" HotSpot and then effectively loose their internet connectivity!

So the question remains, other than Internet Access (outside the USA), does it provide any additional functionality between the client devices (cell phones) and the PCM itself?

I'm not paying for another data plan regardless. My cell phone works fine on its own. So why would I even consider hooking up the the HotSpot?

 

[Tay Tay]

So the question remains, other than Internet Access (outside the USA), does it provide any additional functionality between the client devices (cell phones) and the PCM itself?

I'm not paying for another data plan regardless. My cell phone works fine on its own. So why would I even consider hooking up the the HotSpot?

Your question doesn't make sense because a HotSpot is only for providing internet access. If you don't want to use it for internet access, then by definition you have no use for it. A WAP without internet connectivity is not a HotSpot. You can still connect to it without turning off mobile data. Set it up as a WAP with no internet. The settings are phone dependent so you'll have to google for how to do it on your phone. That may solve @Scandinavian's problem and enable calendar syncing without losing internet access, although I haven't really been following the details of their problem.

 

[evanevery]

Your question doesn't make sense because a HotSpot is only for providing internet access. If you don't want to use it for internet access, then by definition you have no use for it. A WAP without internet connectivity is not a HotSpot. You can still connect to it without turning off mobile data. Set it up as a WAP with no internet. The settings are phone dependent so you'll have to google for how to do it on your phone. That may solve @Scandinavian's problem and enable calendar syncing without losing internet access, although I haven't really been following the details of their problem.

The question "doesn't make sense" only if you know all the answers.

A HotSpot doesn't ONLY have to be for Internet Access. It could also be used to directly access functions in the PCM. We do not need definitial description of what a HotSpot is. We need to try and determine if this one is doing anything else...

That is EXACTLY why I asked this question in the first place! There are some questions as to whether this HotSpot (by any definition) is providing enhanced functionality with the PCM.

There are other folks on this forum reporting otherwise. @Scandinavian is reporting that he might be getting calendar updates to his PCM via the HotSpot.

 

[daveo4EV]

in the US the WiFi access point in the vehicle provides access to the vehicles on baord data (PCM) and can provide data to the vehicle - connecting your mobile device to the vehicles WiFi allows Porsche Apps to talk directly the vehicle…

the problem is most mobile devices can only be connected to one WiFi at a time - so by connecting to the Vehicles WiFi you also disconnect from any other WiFi - and since the Vehicle’s WiFi is _NOT_ connected to the internet - you disconnect your mobile device from the internet - being disconnected from the internet but connected to WiFi is not a useful configuratoin 99.999999% of the time.

as currently provisioned/configured in the US the WiFi provided by the Taycan is not all that useful - although it does enable some limited functionality such as calendar sync’ing - I actually played with the calendar sync’ing via WiFi the other day - after I fell asleep waiting for it to sync (it’s super super slow) - the calendar was promptly out of date because while it was sync’ing it was disconnected from the internet - and by the time it had finished sync’ing a couple of the events had changed time and location and therefore was was sync’d to the vehicle was now wrong…

providing WiFi in the vehicle and not also providing internet connectivity is a questionable choice by Porsche - and as this discussion proves leads to customer confusion.

as it stands now the WiFi access point provided by the Taycan boarders on useless and if your phone pairs with it automatically (which most phones will do once they know a name/password for a given WiFi network) what ever minimal functionalty provided by phone to PCM communcation enabled is dramatically overwhelmed by effectively putting your phone into airplane mode…I persaonlly do not want to drive around in the Taycan with my phone disconnected from the internet.

the wifi access point in the US vehicles is USELESS!

 

[evanevery]

If its killing folks Internet Connectivity (in the US), then its worse than useless - its actually a major problem.

They never should have enabled the configuration of the HotSpot in the US. I expect a lot of folks are configuring this on their phones for autoconnect and losing internet connectivity as a result.

IMHO: If Porsche hasn't yet enabled Internet Access in the US, then they never should have made this a part of the initial PCM user config. At least wait until its enabled, or post a very explicit warning about potential loss of connectivity...

 

[Dee]

If its killing folks Internet Connectivity (in the US), then its worse than useless - its actually a major problem.

They never should have enabled the configuration of the HotSpot in the US. I expect a lot of folks are configuring this on their phones for autoconnect and losing internet connectivity as a result.

IMHO: If Porsche hasn't yet enabled Internet Access in the US, then they never should have made this a part of the initial PCM user config. At least wait until its enabled, or post a very explicit warning about potential loss of connectivity...

Isn't it a solution to activate the hotspot on your phone?
That way the PCM can connect but your phone doesn't loose it's connection to the internet.

 

[evanevery]

Isn't it a solution to activate the hotspot on your phone?
That way the PCM can connect but your phone doesn't loose it's connection to the internet.

No.

The car will not connect to the HotSpot on your phone. There is no way to configure the car to do this. It can only SUPPLY a HotSpot. There is no way to configure it to USE to some other HotSpot (like one on the phone).

 

[Dee]

I'm still referring to this pic (solid green line) as I can read out the car and send profiles to it although the car doesn't have connection with the Porsche server, like I said earlier.

It works.

 

[evanevery]

I'm still referring to this pic (solid green line) as I can read out the car and send profiles to it although the car doesn't have connection with the Porsche server, like I said earlier.

It works.

According to your diagram, it looks like your phone only has a connection to the HotSpot and not the PCM (car)

I certainly can't send profiles (or anything else - like nav locations) to the PCM if I am connected to the HotSpot). In fact, I can't do ANYTHING when connected to the HotSpot. Its simply a dead end...