woter324
Member
As a bit of a geek, I'm ashamed to admit I had to turn to the internet to try and work out how to hook up my COMAND NTG5 to the web via my mobile phone. Alas, there's not a lot of information on it, so I'll attempt to rectify it, mainly because someone was reporting how easy BMW's system works and how complicated MB's solution is. Actually, once you know how, it's easy and it's more of a feature on the phone than COMAND's shortcomings.
Firstly, let me clarify a few bits (Go to the bit in red, to skip my mumblings):
Bluetooth
COMAND connects to your phone via Bluetooth (BT) - a wireless technology design for transmitting data over short distances. Any BT device has one or more "Profiles" available, depending on what the device does. For example, a BT computer mouse or keyboard would have the Human Interface Device (HID) profile.
COMAND makes use of the following BT profiles:
1. Telephony
Make and receive calls: Hands-Free Profile (HFP).
Access telephone phone book: Phone Book Access Profile (PBA)
2. Audio (Media)
Play music stored on phone: Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
Navigate music tracks stored on your phone, using COMAND: Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)
3. Internet
Use your phone's data connection (tether) to browse the internet on the COMAND: Dial-Up Networking (DUN).
Most modern smart phones will have 1 & 2. Strangely, modern phones seem not to bother with DUN so much.
WiFi
WiFi is what most of us have in the home or use in a Starbucks to connect our "wireless" devices to the Internet. If you've ever had to call up your Internet Service Provider, they have probably referred to it as a Wireless Router, or you may have seen the BT adverts for their Home Hub. This is all most need to know, but the fact is that "WiFi", or to give it its proper name, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is a fully fledged computer network. We need a router to connect our devices to the Internet, but the Internet and WiFi routers are separate entities. We can have a WiFi network without the Internet. Any device on the same WiFi network (negating security for a moment) can "talk" to each other.
Sometime you see the term WiFi Hotspot. An interchangeable term, but often it denotes that the network is public, as in anyone can connect to it - unlike your home WiFi (I hope).
How does this relate to COMAND? By default, the COMAND creates a WiFi network a wireless hotspot for your passenger's devices. It acts like your router at home. If you scan for WiFi networks in your car, you'll probably see something like MB-nnnnn-n. Although I haven't tried it, if you connected two devices to the car's WiFi network, the two devices should be able to communicate. If you look at the advanced settings of the WiFi connection, they will have a similar IP address, such as 192.168.1.n. If you had two sprogs, each with their own tablet, they could play a game together, the same as they might at home.
Internet Connectivity
So where does the Internet come in to all of this. Your phone can browse the Internet, but how does the COMAND? We let the COMAND share your phone's Internet connection in a similar way you may do this with a tablet, by enabling the "Personal Hotspot" feature on your phone. Your tablet then picks up a WiFi network created by your phone. This is known as "Tethering".
Ok, so now I have clarified a few bits (I hope), how do we hook up the Internet to the COMAND. To simplify things, put the WiFi connection part to one side for a moment. At this point we are only interested in connecting the phone to the COMAND via Bluetooth. We mentioned BT profiles earlier and the one that allows the COMAND to browse the Internet is the DUN BT profile, therefore your phone needs to support DUN.
So you've already "paired" your phone with COMAND, you know it supports DUN, but when you try and browse the Internet from COMAND, it shows as offline. The trick is to allow your phone to share its Internet Connection over Bluetooth. On an Android, this is done by:
1. Settings (Gear wheel)
2. More...
3. Bluetooth tethering = ON
(These settings may be slightly different for different versions of Android, but the key is to turn on Bluetooth tethering. Having never owned one of the white devices, I can't tell you if it will be similar or not).
Going back to WiFi, if you connect a device to the car's WiFi hotspot, it should have Internet Access too.
There is one caveat to all of this, your mobile phone provider has to allow tethering. I know EE does, and GiffGaff does (or at least, did) on all tariffs, apart from the unlimited data one. I can't speak for the others.
Connection flow:
Phase 1: COMAND ---(BT DUN)---> phone ----(3G/4G)---> Internet
Phase 2: Tablet ---(WiFi)--->COMAND
Bluetooth isn't the fastest of technologies any more, and your connection will be slow. If you have sprogs that whant internet access from their tablets, I'd omit the COMAND from the equation and just turn on your Personal Hotspot.
Hope this helps.
W.
Firstly, let me clarify a few bits (Go to the bit in red, to skip my mumblings):
Bluetooth
COMAND connects to your phone via Bluetooth (BT) - a wireless technology design for transmitting data over short distances. Any BT device has one or more "Profiles" available, depending on what the device does. For example, a BT computer mouse or keyboard would have the Human Interface Device (HID) profile.
COMAND makes use of the following BT profiles:
1. Telephony
Make and receive calls: Hands-Free Profile (HFP).
Access telephone phone book: Phone Book Access Profile (PBA)
2. Audio (Media)
Play music stored on phone: Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
Navigate music tracks stored on your phone, using COMAND: Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)
3. Internet
Use your phone's data connection (tether) to browse the internet on the COMAND: Dial-Up Networking (DUN).
Most modern smart phones will have 1 & 2. Strangely, modern phones seem not to bother with DUN so much.
WiFi
WiFi is what most of us have in the home or use in a Starbucks to connect our "wireless" devices to the Internet. If you've ever had to call up your Internet Service Provider, they have probably referred to it as a Wireless Router, or you may have seen the BT adverts for their Home Hub. This is all most need to know, but the fact is that "WiFi", or to give it its proper name, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is a fully fledged computer network. We need a router to connect our devices to the Internet, but the Internet and WiFi routers are separate entities. We can have a WiFi network without the Internet. Any device on the same WiFi network (negating security for a moment) can "talk" to each other.
Sometime you see the term WiFi Hotspot. An interchangeable term, but often it denotes that the network is public, as in anyone can connect to it - unlike your home WiFi (I hope).
How does this relate to COMAND? By default, the COMAND creates a WiFi network a wireless hotspot for your passenger's devices. It acts like your router at home. If you scan for WiFi networks in your car, you'll probably see something like MB-nnnnn-n. Although I haven't tried it, if you connected two devices to the car's WiFi network, the two devices should be able to communicate. If you look at the advanced settings of the WiFi connection, they will have a similar IP address, such as 192.168.1.n. If you had two sprogs, each with their own tablet, they could play a game together, the same as they might at home.
Internet Connectivity
So where does the Internet come in to all of this. Your phone can browse the Internet, but how does the COMAND? We let the COMAND share your phone's Internet connection in a similar way you may do this with a tablet, by enabling the "Personal Hotspot" feature on your phone. Your tablet then picks up a WiFi network created by your phone. This is known as "Tethering".
Ok, so now I have clarified a few bits (I hope), how do we hook up the Internet to the COMAND. To simplify things, put the WiFi connection part to one side for a moment. At this point we are only interested in connecting the phone to the COMAND via Bluetooth. We mentioned BT profiles earlier and the one that allows the COMAND to browse the Internet is the DUN BT profile, therefore your phone needs to support DUN.
So you've already "paired" your phone with COMAND, you know it supports DUN, but when you try and browse the Internet from COMAND, it shows as offline. The trick is to allow your phone to share its Internet Connection over Bluetooth. On an Android, this is done by:
1. Settings (Gear wheel)
2. More...
3. Bluetooth tethering = ON
(These settings may be slightly different for different versions of Android, but the key is to turn on Bluetooth tethering. Having never owned one of the white devices, I can't tell you if it will be similar or not).
Going back to WiFi, if you connect a device to the car's WiFi hotspot, it should have Internet Access too.
There is one caveat to all of this, your mobile phone provider has to allow tethering. I know EE does, and GiffGaff does (or at least, did) on all tariffs, apart from the unlimited data one. I can't speak for the others.
Connection flow:
Phase 1: COMAND ---(BT DUN)---> phone ----(3G/4G)---> Internet
Phase 2: Tablet ---(WiFi)--->COMAND
Bluetooth isn't the fastest of technologies any more, and your connection will be slow. If you have sprogs that whant internet access from their tablets, I'd omit the COMAND from the equation and just turn on your Personal Hotspot.
Hope this helps.
W.
so I guess I won't be sending emails from the car any time soon.
