E Class (W213) uses 3G in UK while 4G in Europe..?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

MercA

Active Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2015
Messages
109
Car
Merc
I am told one key reason for many Mercedes Me and communication issues in E class in UK is because in UK it uses 3G comm while in Europe 4G comm..!

Anyone heard this before..? Any details..?
 
I can't believe that ANY system in anything mobile would be operating on only 4G, as the availability is so patchy. Availability in the rest of Europe (certainly Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium and France, as I tried this week on my 'phone) is better, though not complete.

I'm guessing that Mercedes use systems that are capable of 4G, but demote themselves to using 3G when only that is available. "Hunting" for weak or none-existent 4G signal could cause problems, so perhaps UK units are limited to 3G?
 
I can't believe that ANY system in anything mobile would be operating on only 4G, as the availability is so patchy. Availability in the rest of Europe (certainly Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium and France, as I tried this week on my 'phone) is better, though not complete.

I'm guessing that Mercedes use systems that are capable of 4G, but demote themselves to using 3G when only that is available. "Hunting" for weak or none-existent 4G signal could cause problems, so perhaps UK units are limited to 3G?

Not sure this module itself is 3G capable only or just Vodafone service is limited to 3G. If the module is 3G outdated then scr**'d!!
 
I believe the connection is UMTS only. That is to say 3G max. That would make senses as the inbuilt modem this uses will be using bandwidth we don't pay for - they send updates via this so it keeps their costs low, different model to how end users use it who would expect the bandwidth to be much higher / faster. I would also like to bet the reason why when you go for internet in the command system itself, it can only be Vodafone - they probably did a deal, we do updates via low cost legacy UMTS network, and we will only allow Vodafone contracts on Comand 4G.I haven't had any issues as such but aside from map updates the message length for the Mercedes me commands would be tiny - likely less than an SMS in many cases (hence 3G suits the need well)
 
I believe they opted for 3G only due to availability and relieability of service. I find it works fine for streaming internet radio stations from all corners of the world and is mostly uninterrupted. I coughed up the annual Vodafone £100 subscription fee.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom