I am intrigued by the Hermes module which, I believe, is responsible for the SOS and Mobilo services. As I understand it, the Hermes module has an in-built SIM and so must connect to one of the Cellular Service Providers. Does anyone know which one ? Also, since it appears that the Internet Radio and Wifi are now predicated by the Hermes module and that apparently needs the user to purchase data from Mercedes (much like all pay-to-go providers), how much is the charge a GB ? I guess that it isn't really worth it if you don't use Mercedes to service the car since you don't get the benfit of the mobilo service or the 'corrosion' guarantee. I would imagine that most of the Mercedes Me services aren't worth the trouble or effort. Any comments would be appreciated.
Hermes - good or bad ?
- Thread starter bigredbus
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MB used to use the Vidafone network in the UK, no idea if this is still the case today.
Incidentally, from the technical perspective, GSM devices do not need a sim card to operate, in fact you can remove the sim card from your phone and still make GSM voice calls (albeit only to the emergency services). What the sim card does, is hold your account info for billing purposes - the mobile phone providers will not allow the device to make calls on their network unless they know who should be billed.
For this reason, the car does not need a sim card, instead the subscriber info is coded into the comms module and identified by the car's VIN. This is also the principle behind modern 'eSims', I.e. the subscriber info is held on the phone itself instead of on the sim card.
Regarding paying for services, you need to open an account online with Mervedes me, then register your car's VIN. You will then be able to see which services are available for purchase for your car. These will all be subscription based.
Incidentally, from the technical perspective, GSM devices do not need a sim card to operate, in fact you can remove the sim card from your phone and still make GSM voice calls (albeit only to the emergency services). What the sim card does, is hold your account info for billing purposes - the mobile phone providers will not allow the device to make calls on their network unless they know who should be billed.
For this reason, the car does not need a sim card, instead the subscriber info is coded into the comms module and identified by the car's VIN. This is also the principle behind modern 'eSims', I.e. the subscriber info is held on the phone itself instead of on the sim card.
Regarding paying for services, you need to open an account online with Mervedes me, then register your car's VIN. You will then be able to see which services are available for purchase for your car. These will all be subscription based.
Thanks for the info. I have opened an account with Mercedes me - although it seems a way to get even more money from us - I can see that some might benefit from the services - I can't see me doing so. However, I was curious how the cost of data from Mercedes compared with the normal data providers. It seems that Hermes has cobbled the WiFi capability that was available (unless you buy data from Mercedes). I may be being cynical here but perhaps the reason that WiFi is not available on the move is that Google maps or Waze could be used rather than the Navigation software provided or Apple Play etc?
regards
regards
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2008
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- 49,694
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- 2022 Hyundai IONIQ 5 RWD / 2016 Suzuki Vitara AWD
The Mercedes me account itself, and the mobile phone app, are free of course, i.e. you're not obliged to pay for any of the optional subscription-based services. Well, 'free' means that you pay for it with your personal data, but then the same applies to Facebook, X, LinkedIn, etc etc.
