I have an appointment on June 27th. The dealer called and said they have worked it out with Volvo and will have a remote call to fix it. They also asked about reversing the credit charge I did with Discover. I said sure, as soon as I know they have fixed it. I had my appointment on May 13th for the upgrade so they will need to adjust the 2 year Volvo on call. What a mess, and the poorest performance I have ever received from a car company!

 

A dealer just completed the modem upgrade on my wife's XC70. The GPS is now not quite as good as the 90's Garmin Nuvi I carry in my 1953 MG. No traffic info and some turn directions on a trip from Boston to Philly were nuts and obsolete right after a map upgrade. The dealer claims the new modem doesn't have a sim card. That was news to Volvo and to AT&T so the dealer and Volvo are fighting that out today. Volvo says the Sensus GPS comes with free lifetime traffic info through Sirius with or without a subscription through the car's internet. Of course the car doesn't have internet without the sim card. If anyone is thinking of an upgrade I would wait until the dealers have done a lot of upgrades. The price is outrageous an so far I was better off using the 3g. Any suggestions would be welcome!

I should say I am new to the forum so just saying hello to the group and venting.

 

My car is going on day three at the dealer. Modem installed on May 13, car cannot connect and it still displays 3G in the internet settings. This I my second appointment to fix this and they said they are working directly with Volvo. I’ll be taking my car back tomorrow if they can’t fix it and putting another hold on the credit card bill.

 

Wow, you have internet, crappy but internet! Best of luck to everyone needing this upgrade!

 

For someone who asked the SIM is usually located in the box. It used for car WiFi, OnCall an all the app features.
The Navigation system does not use the SIM it uses the GPS.
Also there are map updates online to fix the US exit number changes. The download is large, you will need a 64GB USB drive and it can take a few hours to install in your car. The process can be interrupted, it will pick up where you left off.

 

Volvo told me that the Sensus traffic updates come from Sirius only over the internet if you don't have a full Sirius subscription. Without a sim card there isn't any internet per Volvo and AT&T. The car now has a GPS that is much worse than the GPS was before the modem change and map update. As I said my 90's Garmin is vastly better than our Volvo has right now. I don't if the GPS update gets all the blame for that but I am putting it all on Volvo.

I would not recomend updating the modem umtil dealers have way more experience with it. i wish there was an undo key.

 

New Member here - Your question is months old and I am not sure if it is the same as on the 2016 XC90, but I inadvertently found a modem under the floor cover to the right side behind the third row seats. It was a black box about 3 by 4 by 1 inch that is labeled "top" and can be slid up and then pulled toward the front of the car to remove. It contained a SIM card. It is possible this is the modem used for the emergency systems. I do not know for sure.

EDIT: I located the (XC90, at least) parts to which I am referring. The new one is PN 31494702 and appears to have a memory card slot as well? Or, at least, the name of the part changed from "Carrier" (PN 31450931) to "Memory Card. CARRIER" per Volvopartswebstore.com.

 

Hello, I am looking for some support and hopefully some Volvo corporate assistance regarding the need for switching out the 3G modem which is no longer supported to the 4G modem solution. I have been tracking this modem “issue”. Issue because it was working until something beyond my control caused it to no longer work after only 3 years. An “upgrade” is an enhancement to something that is already performing to its normal requirements. Which this is not!!

I found out two weeks after the tech release October 2022 that this issue had been fixed, after just speaking with the dealership telling me it had not. For 3 of the 6 years having owned my xc90 the modem has not worked, it being a main part of my vehicles initial driving functions. So after spending time with the dealership to inform them this had come to fruition they told me my price was going to be $1,550 in parts and labor. I was completely shocked by not only the price but also that it was not covered under a technology design issue “FIX”.

This is not in my budget so I’m still without the fix until they realize that this is not an upgrade and take care of this. hope this gets to someone who can fix this for me. Thank you.

Ps my 2016 XC90 T6 runs like a champ! This is the only issue.

Mike Wicht - Omaha, Nebraska USA

 

I upgraded the modem in the last month and a half and have had the worst experience. It was about $700 and the dealership has been lovely but this upgrade and the update have lead to some serious issues with my previously perfect 2017 xc60. I was right away unable to connect to the app after the upgrade. Finally got it connected then a week later it stopped letting me start my vehicle from the app and it shows my car window is open when it is not. Also a nice added touch, my car is not starting at least once a day now. Plus sometimes it’s while at a stop light when it’s in the autostop engine idle. I’ve been stuck with a dead car in the middle of the road, at gas pumps, and in parking lots. I have never had an issue with my vehicle until this was done to it.

 

My MODEM in my 2015.5 S-60 was replaced last week. Dealer instructions were to leave it running for 20 minutes outside so the MODEM had a strong signal. After 20 minutes, I was supposed to be able to pair the phone to the car. It failed. I called Volvo OnCall, one agent sadi bring it back to the dealer. Called the dealer to make an appointment, the dealer was unsure they could do anything more than they already have done. Called Volvo OnCall back and the (different) agent said the MODEM was sleeping.
Please Note: The pictures below show the after, I didn't think to take befores.
I decided to tinker with the "MyCar" Settings on the console.


I scrolled down to the Internet Settings


and noticed the "Car modem" text, under the "Connect through" menu item was red and "Bluetooth" was selected as the device to use.


I pressed "OK" on "Connect through" and selected "Car modem".


After a few seconds, the "Car modem" text turned white.
Then I exited back up to settings and scrolled down to "Volvo On Call".


The "SOS" text was also read and there was an option to "Enable Volvo On Call".

(Again, This is the after so you don't see the Enable option here)
I scrolled to that option and pressed "OK".
Again, after a few seconds, maybe closer to a minute, the SOS text turned white and the "Enable Volvo On Call" option disappeared.
After that, I was able to pair up the Volvo app on my phone in seconds and have been happy ever since.