When test driving my recent purchase of a 2016 V60, the sales guy was mentioning WiFi. I asked, "so you mean if I am near WiFi like Lowes or Starbucks, etc. I can connect to WiFi?" He said yes.

Well that isn't exactly true. The WiFi will not connect to an open network and all hot spots I know of are open networks. How often are you privy to the password of a wifi spot? So it is almost darn worthless.

Ok so then I was told that I could use my phones connection. Not so fast. This isn't the problem of Volvo. Today I tried and saw a message that my phone doesn't allow tethering. So I guess my provider doesn't allow blue tooth tethering?

So all this WiFi stuff is just fluff and stuff or just another way to extract money from my wallet.

Well I've lived 66 years without WiFi in the car and I can keep on liv'in without it.

 

You really have two choices with your WiFi feature: 1) you can use your phone as a mobile hotspot and set up its tether feature and then you'd set up the SSID and pw in your car to connect to the phone - useful if you stream Spotify etc and have the controls in the car not the phone. 2) You should be able to set up a national hot spot providers such as a cable company like Comcast - this is similar to what you'd do with your phone if you want to use a WiFi hotspot vs 4G. That's useful if you tend to park near a store or a mall, but if you want to be mobile, then tethering to the phone is the only practical option short of simply using the phone to play your music or podcasts and use the car like a bluetooth speaker.

 

Thanks.

I can connect my phone to xfinity hotspots. I'll see if the car can handshake with one of the hotspots.
My phone is a Samsung and there is no tether available. Weird because my wifes is one OS newer Samsung and it has tether.

 

Not certain what is happening - my screen (2015.5 V60) usually shows a few bars for 3G - my phone, Motorola X4, has the cellular internet connection turned off. Occasionally, when using the Nav function, the system will announce a traffic problem on the route and offer an alternate. The information must be coming from somewhere.

 

Hm? How can that be happening? Do you have a subscription with the ATT car mobile?

https://m.att.com/shopmobile/wireles...s-connect.html

 

P, Is the phone paired via bluetooth? You may be seeing the phone's signal meter projected via the car (my VW does this - I can see my phone's signal via the car's display)

 

Hm? That could be true and I'll check mine today. I'll turn off my phones blue tooth and see if the 3g shows up on the screen. Oh wait, I still have my trial period of ATT WiFi in the car. So I might get a false report.

 

When you say ATT WiFi are you talking about hot spot access or do you have an ATT wireless (ie LTE) service for the car?

 

Yes.

"The car does have an in-car communication system with Wifi hotspot capability. To stream music and connect devices to the car, it does require an AT&T subscription (att.com/Volvo). They do offer a free 6-month trial. You will have access to apps and web browsing for free."

 

Tried this today:

Normal operation: Screen shows both phone signal strength and 3G signal (full bars)
Turn off phone - phone signal disappears, 3G signal remains so it is not a tethered link

Internet menu identifies ATT as carrier - I do not have an ATT contract and, after a year+ of ownership, I believe any "introductory" phase is over.
I have, in the past, pulled up one of my web sites but do not recall how recently - that will be the next experiment (may need a code or SIM card ID to log on)