Internet not connecting on Mercedes Command system W213

[ESGray]

I have a 1 yr old E400d estate and when I first got it I could connect it to the internet and use the mercedes me app to open and close it etc. For several months it has stopped connecting to the internet and I wonder if you might have any ideas? It has been in to the local main dealer who has ran diagnostics and cannot find an electronics fault. I contacted vodaphone who have noted that it is not properly connecting but simply sent it for a 'Level 2' opinion - they emailed me to say that they disconnected the car and then reconnected it but this does not work either. It sets up a hotspot with no problem at all and I have a data plan set up with vodaphone as is required. The sat nav still gets data ok. Has anyone come across this? I am fairly tech-savvy and have tried every different setting in the car, on the mercedes me portal, and on the vodaphone internet in your car website.
Ewan

 

[Diesel Benz]

The data plan for internet from Vodafone is not needed for Mercedes Me features but for internet browsing (or similar applications) from the car. Are you saying neither one is working?

I guess it still is Vodafone in the UK providing internet access for MB cars, at least in the US the service provider has been changing and has created a lot of trouble.

 

[ESGray]

The data plan for internet from Vodafone is not needed for Mercedes Me features but for internet browsing (or similar applications) from the car. Are you saying neither one is working?

I guess it still is Vodafone in the UK providing internet access for MB cars, at least in the US the service provider has been changing and has created a lot of trouble.

Sorry - I wasn't clear. Some of the mercedes me functions are working - eg car to car sat nav info but I cannot connect to internet radio, use any of the mercedes apps in the car or use the browser. When I connect my phone to the car's hotspot it cannot then connect to the internet as the car cannot connect to the Vodaphone 4G LTE network which Mercedes uses in the UK. - its a bit weird because it worked to start with and now it does not with nothing obviously being done to it. In addition the mercedes me phone app cannot connect to the car as the car will not communicate properly with the network. I suspect that ultimately I will not get this working since mercedes cannot find an electronic issue and Vodaphone seem to just give standardised replies with absolutely no real thought given to the problem. I realise that this is a really small issue but when you spend so much on a car its fairly irritating!

 

[Diesel Benz]

I'd split the problem to two different topics, internet browsing and Mercedes Me.

I guess this E400d is very similar to my wife's 2021 E 200d (regarding MBUX, quite a different car otherwise). I've never purchased any Vodafone services (or their local partner services) and Mercedes Me things work fine. The same with the previous car. On a US forum some members had some serious problems with Mercedes Me and their dealer needed help all the way from Germany to fix it. What ever it is, your dealer should fix it for a one year old car without any reference to Vodafone. Be it Vodafone or Daimler, they should solve it.

One can have the internet browsing service for free for a short test period. Perhaps your dealer had activated this for you?

I have to admit I've only driven a few times this E-class car and I'm not sure if it now offers an option to use the internal modem for internet connectivity or the driver's phone as an option. Neither sure if this is only for browsing or also for Mercedes Me. Might need the telephony option (899 option code). I'm not up-to-date with these as I'm still waiting for a more modern car to replace my 2014 222.

 

[MJJ]

I don't know the Mercedes system at all, but I used to engineer the Jaguar Land Rover version and I imagine the principles are similar.

The car will have an embedded SIM in a Telecommunications Connectivity Unit, somewhere in the car. It will support every feature that requires the car to connect to the internet, so Emergency Call, Breakdown Call, remote app, anything basically that requires data to be sent to the car, or retrieved from the car.

This is Mercedes' problem to solve, as your 'contract' is with them - not Vodafone. However, if you wanted to try and help diagnose this, start to think about two things:
- If no features requiring data transmission to/from the car work, it is possibly the SIM or the services provisioned on that SIM. eCall should work regardless of SIM feature provisioning by law, so see if there are any icons/logos on the dash that show eCall is available - this would discount the physical SIM as faulty.
- If some features work, but not others, it is likely to be the Mercedes feature provisioning on the car. Perhaps certain features were only free for 1 year from date of first registration? With JLR, it was 3 years but I don't know with Mercedes.

Finally, consider that many systems also allow car connectivity over WiFi. If the car is set-up to use WiFi, consider whether features work based on geography - i.e. the car works when on your drive and in range of your home WiFi, but not when reliant on the mobile phone network.

Martin.

 

[ESGray]

I don't know the Mercedes system at all, but I used to engineer the Jaguar Land Rover version and I imagine the principles are similar.

The car will have an embedded SIM in a Telecommunications Connectivity Unit, somewhere in the car. It will support every feature that requires the car to connect to the internet, so Emergency Call, Breakdown Call, remote app, anything basically that requires data to be sent to the car, or retrieved from the car.

This is Mercedes' problem to solve, as your 'contract' is with them - not Vodafone. However, if you wanted to try and help diagnose this, start to think about two things:
- If no features requiring data transmission to/from the car work, it is possibly the SIM or the services provisioned on that SIM. eCall should work regardless of SIM feature provisioning by law, so see if there are any icons/logos on the dash that show eCall is available - this would discount the physical SIM as faulty.
- If some features work, but not others, it is likely to be the Mercedes feature provisioning on the car. Perhaps certain features were only free for 1 year from date of first registration? With JLR, it was 3 years but I don't know with Mercedes.

Finally, consider that many systems also allow car connectivity over WiFi. If the car is set-up to use WiFi, consider whether features work based on geography - i.e. the car works when on your drive and in range of your home WiFi, but not when reliant on the mobile phone network.

Martin.

That’s great thanks Martin