Can anyone explain how the wi-fi part works on DB11? Is there a place to insert a sim card? There seems to be nothing in the owners guide.

USB SIM converter perhaps?

 

This is purely a guess ----- American cars its a subscription to OnStar* or with MB its their service etc..... Some allow for your PHONE to be used to supply the Internet signal also.

I would guess like you there is a sim slot somewhere on it. However, as was seen in early models that limits usage around the world and down the road. Its either a paid subscription which should have been explained when purchased, or its a Router type device where you use a ISP puck to give the signal to the car, then the car distributes it to your devices. IN my MB, I think I connected to my phone hot spot then the car took it from there.


To me, when I see all the commercials advertising Wi-Fi for the car, I laugh. Everyone has this on their phone now, or tablet which can create their own hot spot. The cars can connect to those for Sync or Apple CarPlay etc... But the Car manufacturers were/are just trying to get into the money with this gimmick. Like GM< just to keep OnStar afloat. So not sure why its needed.


You likely can go through menus on the radio and connect to your phone for service which then the car apps can use.


Brainstorming here, hope it helped some

 

Thanks for your input - tried connecting to the wi-fi but nothing seems to happen (can use the internet on the phone so SIM is not present or not activated if there is one).

Not sure why the car would need internet - are the maps or anything else updated OTA?

So as you say - probably just for the car to work as a hotspot - but who would need it?

Could not find any info online about it.

 

Manufacturers are seeing the benefits of having the car connected to wi-fi or via modem as it allows both update of software without mail a USB or SIM update or traipsing to a dealer (i.e. much much lower warranty costs.) It also enables the manufacturer to receive service (and other!) data from your car. Note all the Tesla Autopilot "accidents" where Tesla has been able to prove from the car logs that Autopilot was infact not the culprit - Caveat emptor.

Overall this is of great benefit to owners too though, as you can potentially have your car diagnosed without having to physically go to a service dept., and once the manufacturers set up the car for this with a built in modem it probably is minimal extra effort to add a wi-fi hot spot for passengers. I must say though, having an actual wifi hot spot in the car is vastly becoming redundant in First World scenarios - especially as I don't really want the car manufacturer trolling through my internet hits...ugh!

 

DB11 is just a hotspot, which is really useless because most modern phones that can connect to wifi, can broadcast a hotspot. I guess it's really for ppl that want a usb wifi data card/dongle, and want to use that as a the main internet to cast from versus using the phone data(more data on usb plan versus cell plan). I know here in Canada we have the usb stick from Rogers Telecom, sure you have the same things from your local carrier.

 

Sorry I'm two years too late with this but just in case someone else finds the thread:

It's basically a WiFi repeater hub. You can pair your mobile phone with the car via Bluetooth, then if you turn on the HotSpot function on the phone, the car will allow other users to share your phone data connection by connecting to the car's Wifi just by joining it like they would any other wifi connection. Could be useful if you have two kids in the back with tablets or gaming devices that need a WiFi internet connection, but it's mostly a useless function as you could just turn on the hotspot function on your phone and let others connect direct to it. The only advantage being that if you connect via the car, the car also gets an Internet connection for its online services. I expect almost no one ever uses it though...