What is the PCM HotSpot for anyway?

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I had the identical issue. My phone was automatically switching from GSM to the the Taycan's relatively stronger hotspot. I solved the problem by turning off the "Auto Reconnect" on the phone's Taycan Wi-Fi connection.
I'm wondering how many people are having this exact problem and then reporting:

- They can't get Internet Reception on their phone while inside the "thermally and acoustically insulated glass". Blaming the loss of reception on the glass...

- Inability to log onto Porsche Connect or Charging NA cause their phone has locked onto a "dead" hotspot. Its hard enough to get logged into the Porsche Connect App even when you DO have Internet access...
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yes - given that the hotspot isn't an internet connection - one must disable "auto-Join" in WiFi settings.
 
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yes - given that the hotspot isn't an internet connection - one must disable "auto-Join" in WiFi settings.
I think this is a big deal. You get the QR Code right in your face when you set up the PCM for the very first time. Many folks (just walking through the process presented to them) might not realize that they are setting up their phone to get hijacked by a dead hotspot!

Porsche should actually remove this from the setup process if they are not going to provide the back end connectivity. (I don't want/need it even if it did work, but that's a different story...)
 

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Porsche Taycan What is the PCM HotSpot for anyway? 2020-08-28_19.27.06

It's quite handy when the Porsche server can't connect to the car.
My phone connects to it when I want to send charge profiles/nav routes to the car when I'm at home.
It works most of the time.

PS Sometimes it says "no connection" but in reality it has.
Only if it connects to the Porsche server directly the symbol on the left upper corner turns green.
 
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2020-08-28_19.27.06.jpg

It's quite handy when the Porsche server can't connect to the car.
My phone connects to it when I want to send charge profiles/nav routes to the car when I'm at home.
It works most of the time.

PS Sometimes it says "no connection" but in reality it has.
Only if it connects to the Porsche server directly the symbol on the left upper corner turns green.
AFAIK, the WiFi Hotspot has NOTHING to do with the car contacting the server. For that, your car would need to connect to a hotspot in your phone. Clients connect to hotspots to get service (not the opposite). The hotspot is for your phone to get "something" from your car. ...Not for your car to get Internet Service from your phone.

I had issues with this as well, but connecting to the car's hotspot actually completely killed the connectivity between the car and the phone. (because my phone ultimately lost its internet connection to the Porsche servers).

When its working, the car talks to the servers via its LTE connection - and your phone talks to the servers via its LTE connection. Both the phone and the car talk to the servers, but they both use their own connections to meet in the middle. If you connect to the wifi hotspot, your phone loses its connection to the internet and the associated connection with the servers.

I've tested this when I was trying to see what the hotspot provided and when I connected to it the PCM app then indicated it could no longer connect to the servers (or the car). IOW: Connecting the the hotspot killed the Porsche Connect connectivity...

I could never "transfer" the location of a charging station to the PCM in my car (using the Porsche Connect App), when I was connected to the car's WiFi. This only worked when I wasn't.

Those very tests are why I started this thread... I was never able to do anything useful (PCM transfer or otherwise) when I was connected to the HotSpot.
 
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AFAIK, the WiFi Hotspot has NOTHING to do with the car contacting the server. For that, your car would need to connect to a hotspot in your phone. Clients connect to hotspots to get service (not the opposite). The hotspot is for your phone to get "something" from your car. ...Not for your car to get Internet Service from your phone.

I had issues with this as well, but connecting to the car's hotspot actually completely killed the connectivity between the car and the phone. (because my phone ultimately lost its internet connection to the Porsche servers).

When its working, the car talks to the servers via its LTE connection - and your phone talks to the servers via its LTE connection. Both the phone and the car talk to the servers, but they both use their own connections to meet in the middle. If you connect to the wifi hotspot, your phone loses its connection to the internet and the associated connection with the servers.

I've tested this when I was trying to see what the hotspot provided and when I connected to it the PCM app then indicated it could no longer connect to the servers (or the car). IOW: Connecting the the hotspot killed the Porsche Connect connectivity...

I could never "transfer" the location of a charging station to the PCM in my car (using the Porsche Connect App), when I was connected to the car's WiFi. This only worked when I wasn't.

Those very tests are why I started this thread...
AFAIK the car has an active internet connection.
It works the same as Bluetooth (about 10m) only stronger (up to 300m).
With WiFi, the car acts like a router.
With Bluetooth it's only a connection between two devices.
Anyway, I manage to send profiles to the car even if it doesn't have connection with the Porsche server.
How would you explain that?
 
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AFAIK the car has a internet connection.
It works the same as Bluetooth only stronger.
With WiFi, the car acts like a router.
With Bluetooth it's only a connection between two devices.
Anyway, I manage to send profiles to the car even if it doesn't have connection with the Porsche server.
How would you explain that?
Bluetooth and WiFi are two completely different technologies. Bluetooth is a fairly trivial protocol. Its not intended to move raw data bidirectionally. Great for music, not so good for data. Definitely a client-server, point-point relationship.

A WiFi hotspot is also intended to serve in a client-server relationship. You connect to a "HotSpot" (Server) to get internet service for your device (Client). You don't connect to a "HotSpot" to PROVIDE internet service. You connect to it to GET internet service. That's exactly why most modern cell phones have the ability to generate their own hotspot - so other devices can get access from them. Can you imagine if StarBucks started sucking internet service through your phone when you connected to THEIR HotSpot? WiFi has enough security issues...

WiFi doesn't work the same as Bluetooth. They are two completely different types of protocols. Bluetooth doesn't support routing.

To be clear... What "Profiles" are you sending to the car via the HotSpot? What App are you using? How do you know the car has no connection to the Internet (LTE)? Does your phone have a connection to the Internet while you do this?

The ONLY time I have had ANY success in transferring ANY data to the PCM was when I was NOT connected to the car's HotSpot. IOnce I connected to the cras HotSpot I specifically lost this capability. (My test was using the Porsche Connect App to send a charger address to the PCM Nav System).
 
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Bluetooth and WiFi are two completely different technologies. Bluetooth is a fairly trivial protocol. Its not intended to move raw data bidirectionally. Great for music, not so good for data. Definitely a client-server, point-point relationship.

A WiFi hotspot is also intended to serve in a client-server relationship. You connect to a "HotSpot" (Server) to get internet service for your device (Client). You don't connect to a "HotSpot" to PROVIDE internet service. You connect to it to GET internet service. That's exactly why most modern cell phones have the ability to generate their own hotspot - so other devices can get access from them. Can you imagine if StarBucks started sucking internet service through your phone when you connected to THEIR HotSpot? WiFi has enough security issues...

WiFi doesn't work the same as Bluetooth. They are two completely different types of protocols. Bluetooth doesn't support routing.

To be clear... What "Profiles" are you sending to the car via the HotSpot? What App are you using? How do you know the car has no connection to the Internet (LTE)? Does your phone have a connection to the Internet while you do this?
Clear story, thx.
1. Charge profiles.
2. Connect app (see previous pic)
3. Cuz the app says so (red line between Porsche server and car).
4. Yes cuz my phone also acts like a hotspot for my MiBox which is streaming IPTV.

But maybe you are on to something cuz I haven't managed to send profiles to the car at work (I can't connect to the car, either through the Porsche server nor the hotspot of the car).
I can follow my charging status though.
Well, not every minute but every 2 hours I guess.
Maybe you can do something with this info.
 


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Clear story, thx.
1. Charge profiles.
2. Connect app (see previous pic)
3. Cuz the app says so (red line between Porsche server and car).
4. Yes cuz my phone also acts like a hotspot for my MiBox which is streaming IPTV.

But maybe you are on to something cuz I haven't managed to send profiles to the car at work (I can't connect to the car, either through the Porsche server nor the hotspot of the car).
I can follow my charging status though.
Well, not every minute but every 2 hours I guess.
Maybe you can do something with this info.
Re #4: I expect your phone CAN provide a HotSpot, but not AT THE SAME TIME its connected to the car's Hotspot, right? You running the MiBox while you are in the car?

I have never found that connectivity graphic (Porsche Connect) to be particularly insightful. It only serves to confuse me and I'm not sure how accurate it is. It sort of begs the question about how it could possibly know what the connectivity state of the car is when it can't connect to the car (or the servers).

I would be willing to bet that you always need to have the Porsche Servers somewhere in the "middle". Your car needs to be connected to the internet via its LTE connection...and your phone needs to connect to the internet via its cellular connection. Your car talks to the servers via its connection and your phone talks to the servers via its connection. The servers then become responsible to move data back and forth between the phone and the car.

Its also possible that a phone could maintain LTE/GSM connectivity at the same time its connected to a WiFi hotspot which has no Internet Connectivity. I could see some real problems with this though and I don't think I've ever seen it implemented in that way.

But...

If you can absolutely demonstrate you are moving data over the HotSpot directly to the PCM (and not via the servers in the middle), then I would definitely be interested in how to verify that!
 

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But...

If you can absolutely demonstrate you are moving data over the HotSpot directly to the PCM (and not via the servers in the middle), then I would definitely be interested in how to verify that!
I do understand what you're saying about the traffic.
But it's kinda hard to prove cuz one way or another, there's always a connection to the car when I'm home.
So, let's say it works instead of how it works.
At least for me it works, it's kinda hard to prove though, other than writing down my experience so far.
Like you say and like I said earlier, the app sometimes says it has no connection but it clearly has...
Not a reliable picture to prove your or my point. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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I do understand what you're saying about the traffic.
But it's kinda hard to prove cuz one way or another, there's always a connection to the car when I'm home.
So, let's say it works instead of how it works.
At least for me it works, it's kinda hard to prove though, other than writing down my experience so far.
Like you say and like I said earlier, the app sometimes says it has no connection but it clearly has...
Not a reliable picture to prove your or my point. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It appears its just a hotspot like the hotspot in most other cars. Except it has no Internet Connectivity (in the USA). If that's the case, its currently of no use whatsoever (in the USA)...

We can't say "it Works" (PCM Connectivity via the HotSpot) unless we can prove your moving your data to the PCM over the HotSpot instead of through the internet. All you can say is you can transfer profiles to the PCM via Porsche Connect... That is just a comment on Porsche Connect - not specifically the HotSpot functionality.

Every time I connected to the car's hotspot, it broke my connectivity to the PCM.

I can't transfer anything (Nav Locations) to the PCM if I connect to the HotSpot, otherwise I could fire up a network analyzer (ala WireShark) to confirm how the data is moving. Otherwise, taking the car somewhere there is no GSM/LTE coverage at all could also confirm this...

So, we are not talking what you can do with Porsche Connect. This thread is specifically about whether the HotSpot is directly facilitating that connectivity.
 

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I have found one (ONE) thing you can do with the PCM hotspot. If you log in to the Taycan and you have an iphone, you will actually be able to see your calendar In the PCM! It looks like 1980 stuff but it gets there after a while. The car has Apple CarPlay and it works with Calendar through that but it does not synchronise your calendar (iCal) in any other way. You can not do much with it.

It may also be that in Europe you are able to connect to the internet via the Hotspot, IF you get the Data package. About 20 Euros for 7 GB per month. Absolutely totally useless. No idea what will be available to do and synchronize in such a case. I have not tried it and refuse to pay that.
 

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At a Taycan launch party, the head of the Taycan product for North America told me that the metal foil in the Panoramic Glass Roof and the optional Thermally & Noise Insulated Glass create significant interference for cellphone and other RF signals. For that reason, they have designed an antenna into the center armrest to provide a strong signal to the cellphone while it is the inductive charging cradle.
Clever antenna engineering...

Now if they only used that same clever engineer to help them make a center arm rest that stayed open and doesn't slam shut on it's own. It maxes out at a 75% angle that causes you to either hold it open with the other hand or awkwardly use your elbow while you reach for your phone or it slams shut on its own. Drives me nuts.
 
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I have found one (ONE) thing you can do with the PCM hotspot. If you log in to the Taycan and you have an iphone, you will actually be able to see your calendar In the PCM! It looks like 1980 stuff but it gets there after a while. The car has Apple CarPlay and it works with Calendar through that but it does not synchronise your calendar (iCal) in any other way. You can not do much with it.

It may also be that in Europe you are able to connect to the internet via the Hotspot, IF you get the Data package. About 20 Euros for 7 GB per month. Absolutely totally useless. No idea what will be available to do and synchronize in such a case. I have not tried it and refuse to pay that.

I'ld be willing to bet your calendar is coming in over Bluetooth. ...just like Phone Messages, Phone Audio, Contacts, etc...
 
 




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