Quote:
Originally Posted by GlynH
Hi Mark(r),
Friends of mine have 2013 and 2016 S8's and they both have 3G working fine as well.
Could be that mine is an older car with an earlier 5F unit but when I spoke to the previous owner he told me that he used to get 3G with a GifGaf SIM prior to the MMI being updated by Audi.
The Master Tech has his own GifGaf SIM for that very purpose and he definitely can get 3G/4G in a car parked outside the showroom but in my car it still only shows 2G.
They had mine in all day yesterday and went through the update procedure again in case something didn't take properly the first time round but to no avail. They now have a technical query outstanding with Audi Germany for a resolution.
Mind you I compared a friends S8 with 3G to my A8 with 2G and the speed was abysmal with his 3G showing 1.35/0.05Mbps with a ping of 142ms vs. my 2G showing 0.13/0.03Mbps with a ping of 263ms according to SpeedTest by Ookla.
Pathetic really...pity there isn't a 4G upgrade option available for the '8
I put an O2 4G SIM in the car from an older iPhone 5S that I no longer use and when in the car use this for calls also as it has much better performance than the EE SIM in my iPhone 6S using the external antennas.
In fact if I remember I divert my phone to the car when on a journey but then I have to remember to take divert off when I step out of the car which is not as easy as it sounds...for me anyway! 
-=Glyn=- |
Okay, I dug back through my emails and notes.....
The early versions of the 5f unit were fitted with a Telit UC864-E-AUTO radio interface. It is a UTMS (3g) interface, but only at a single band 2100Mhz.
2g, 3g, 4g and even 5g can all operate at different frequency bands, most mobiles support a wide range of bands for each technology. This means that the network operators can turn bands on and off without affecting the service, due to local licencing regulations, to avoid interference or as has happened more recently to allow for newer technologies to be used on certain bands.
GiffGaff don't have their own network, the are a MVNO using O2's network. My suspicion is that O2 have turned off 3g at 2100Mhz and now use that band for 4g, which is of course fine for devices that can switch bands but useless for us!
Later 5f units were fitted with an alternative chipset which supports multiple bands at 3g - hence they work fine.
Outside of the US (where I suspect they needed to fix for legal reasons) Audi won't admit that the mobile radio interface can be changed, "no serviceable parts in the 5f unit".
However it is possible to change the mobile radio interface, but finding one with the correct connections and form factor (80 pin molex, single antenna) is difficult and you will probably need to be good with a soldering iron or rely on adaptor boards if you go this route. HazzyDays quoted me about £250 +VAT to do this (to 3g).
I also found reference to some other possible options which could even achieve LTE speeds, but to be honest I stopped looking when Audi finally caved in to the logic of "no serviceable parts in the 5f unit" means you need to replace the 5f unit under warranty then - or I will reject the car, which only worked as I had bought it as approved used.
Good luck
