What the WiFi and Carplay ?

[bfastr]

So maybe somebody can tell me if I am doing this wrong. I set up the onboard WiFi. but it linked to my existing cell plan it seems. so the car icon stays red, but its broadcasting Wifi and I can join it and connect to the internet thru it, even seems to me the streamed music from my iphone sounds better.
I know its working as Wifi. However, if I then decide to use Carplay, my phone disconnects from the truck wifi and reverts to cellular. it even tells me its doing so.
I try carplay wired and it still disconnects from the truck wifi.

That defeats the purpose of the wifi in my opinion. so unless I am doing this wrong I dont see the point of the wifi. I dont have kids or anyone that needs internet in the truck.

@Snakebitten , looking at you!! you are the connectivity guru!! I know you arent an apple guy, but maybe you have some insight? I hope!

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[Skier167]

Make sure you have CarPlay turned off in your phone settings and that disables wireless CarPlay. Even though you are still plugging it in if it’s enabled in the settings it will still connect. CarPlay uses the WiFi antenna to connect to wireless CarPlay which is why your phone won’t stay connected to WiFi. When CarPlay is enabled in the settings that is the default connection.

 

[Snakebitten]

Uhoh.
Me?

Honestly, although I have messed around with Android's version of Carplay , I really haven't found that I prefer it over just plain old Sync4 and it's native features.
And when I do mess with Android Auto, I find the wireless approach a bit fussy. Not to mention that if I do have wireless Android enabled, then I am stuck with the fact that the truck and phone think they can team up and assume that I always want them to engage. Maybe I don't?

I think if I was dedicated to Android Auto, it would definitely be the hardwired method. May as well leverage the potential better audio that affords?

But I'm still not really addressing your specific questions. I could be wrong, but if you have a SIM in your phone and you are using wireless Carplay or Android Auto, I don't think you can leverage the onboard AT&T LTE gateway for streaming. Will the phone even allow that?

I do stream content from a phone that doesn't even have a SIM, on occasion. I KNOW it's leveraging the onboard Sync AT&T LTE over WiFi because there's no alternative route for the data stream. And although that Sim-less phone is connected to the truck 2 ways, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, it works fine.

Maybe I could answer your questions more specifically if I go sit in the truck, connect the Sim-less phone up as Android Auto, and verify if it can stream Spotify in that circumstance.

I would need to test this in both wireless Android Auto and wired, to make sure all the variables are in play. Not having a Sim is a really cool tool.

I'll grab the truck out of the barn and let you know what I find.

 

[nitrobass24]

Iphones dont have concurrent wifi antenas. So you have to disable wireless carplay. delete the phone/car pairing and start over with with a wired only carplay connection.

 

[Snakebitten]

Confirmed:

Cheap Android phone. It is 5G, but without a SIM in it.

If I go to "Phone List" in Sync, it shows both my cheap Sim-less phone and my Samsung S21 with a Sim.

I chose the Sim-less phone and clicked the Android Auto icon.
Since the phone was NOT connected to the truck with a USB cable, it immediately triggered Wireless Android Auto. When this happens, the phone is immediately disconnected from the truck's Wifi SSID that I setup, and instead connects to another SSID that is dedicated to Wireless Android Auto.

Because of that, I can't stream.

Note that message in AA Spotify
(I could play "downloaded content" obviously)

Next, I connected the same Sim-less phone to Sync with a USB-C cable. Relaunched Android Auto from the Sync phone list section.

This time Android Auto launched but the Sim-less phone did NOT connect to the truck's AA SSID. That allowed me to manually connect the Sim-less phone to the onboard AT&T LTE Wifi SSID. Immediately Android Auto became fully functional using the truck's LTE gateway.

I don't know exactly how an IPhone would behave, especially if it has a SIM in it. But you definitely can't use Wireless Carplay and be connected to the onboard LTE gateway simultaneously. Or I wouldn't think so.

But maybe, just maybe you could use USB Carplay and Sync Wifi simultaneously? But even so, depending on the routing tables that IOS builds when you have 2 potential gateways (IPhone Cellular & WiFi), I can't verify which one your IPhone will leverage natively.

It'd be cool if there were revealed settings or an app on the phone that let you decide. I bet there are apps that let you SEE which gateway it is using. A traceroute utility would immediately show you.

 

[bfastr]

AHH !! thanks all, some great pointers here. first off, the mere fact by nitrobass about non concurrent antennas makes sense, sadly. I will try disabling the wireless carplay and just plugging in.
my phone is a sim-less ATT iphone but it seems to have a mind of its own.
99% of the time I dont use carplay, it just seems to get in the way, like you Snakebitten, I wish it allowed me the decision to use it and not take over.

But on long trips I like to use google maps or Waze, so I was hoping to avoid burning up cell time, but seems I am going to be better of increasing my cell plan and deleting the vehicle wifi.

I dont have kids streaming movies in the backseat or anyone working from the front seat.

but, I still think the streaming itunes over the truck wifi and back into the bluetooth sync sounds better than it did using the iphone cell service, but not at the cost of an additional cell plan.

I am going to try as Skier167 suggests and turn it off on the iphone and plug in with a cable.

 

[Snakebitten]

So you ARE leveraging a Sim-less phone too? You nerd! Lol

Do you show both of your phones in the "Phone List" in Sync?

If you do, I think you will find that "Phone List" feature a really easy way to control what you want both phones to do, especially the Sim-less phone, each time you get in the truck.

Admittedly, if you desire the truck to just pick up where it left off, then you don't have to do anything. (except plug the phone in, if necessary)

So if you can live with giving up on Wireless Carplay, and instead be happy with USB Carplay, you can use the Sync Phone List utility to turn Carplay on/off.

Try it here:
Next to each phone are 3 roles that each phone can be designated to provide. Obviously the Android Auto role can only be assigned to one phone at a time.
You just touch the button and that phone will launch Carplay. Touch the button again and it will kill Carplay.

Far easier than fussing with the phones themselves.

 

[bfastr]

OK,, so @Skier167 nailed it ! I turned off carplay on the phone itself, in settings/general/carplay.
now if I plug in to the USB the wifi remains connected to the car, and truth be told the sound is much better in itunes/carplay than connected as bluetooth to sync4. The downside is the car doesnt pick up and leave off as before. or so it seems, when I yank the USB the stereo is confused, it went to FM rather than try to sync via bluetooth back to the phone.

that could be the setting in phone list as you mention Snakebitten, I will have to go take another look. previously thats where I would enable/disable carplay.

also I need to double check my settings in Itunes and make sure I am using lossless and whatever else could be jacked.

I dunno.. I have a love/hate relationship with all this tech in my truck. somedays I wish they just left me a CD or even a cassette tape deck. Sync4 now wont let me search my phone library while driving. I guess they felt its safer for me to reach for my phone and shuffle on that little screen instead of the dashboard closer to keeping my eyes on the road.

I miss a good old EJECT button when I am tired of whatever is playing

 

[bfastr]

Oh , and I am glad to see @Snakebitten has the same red Wifi icon I do even tho its on.

 

[Snakebitten]

Oh , and I am glad to see @Snakebitten has the same red Wifi icon I do even tho its on.

That turns green when the truck is connected to Wi-Fi. Mine is green every morning until I am about 300' from the RV.

I can keep it green forever if I connect it to my main smartphone as a Hotspot. But even I don't see the point in that except for testing things.

 

[bfastr]

That turns green when the truck is connected to Wi-Fi. Mine is green every morning until I am about 300' from the RV.

I can keep it green forever if I connect it to my main smartphone as a Hotspot. But even I don't see the point in that except for testing things.

OOOOH... I thought was the wifi transmitter. makes sense now.

 

[powerboatr]

a side note..sync has been acting WEIRD all day
it shades out the find mobile apps
but highlights find mobile app android etc via the usb cord
plug in usb cord and it says NOT available


pandora went crazy all day it would play a song and never change the name on sync
so we had to guess the song on the doobie brothers channel


got home and played with phone for a bit in driveway and got to change song titles but ti still refuses to display CONNECTED phone info

i am thinking its trying to download the new update and is saving resources for the down load while still being able to run.

my WAG as it is
my WIFI icon is fully shaded as in i think full strength as its phone cell tower thing

 

[Babbage]

now if I plug in to the USB the wifi remains connected to the car, and truth be told the sound is much better in itunes/carplay than connected as bluetooth to sync4.

Yes the hard line use the B&O built in DAC (Digital to audio converter)


I miss a good old EJECT button when I am tired of whatever is playing

Use long press on the steering wheel to bring up siri - "play random rock and roll" or say "stop playing music" or any other verbal Siri command.....

I have a 6" Lighting to USB cable so the iphone connects via hard line (good DAC) phone gets charged too.

You really do not need Wi-Fi for the truck. Just a good data plan for the phone. I have 200-300 songs inside my phones memory - so it does not need cellular data to play it! Something else to consider.

Edit: I never let the truck connect to Wifi - there is no reason to. Unless you want updates faster - I do not.

 

[2021F150LIMITED]

The most beneficial thing for me about hardwiring and staying connected to the truck’s WiFi is that my phone is Verizon and truck internet is ATT. I use WiFi calling and that lets me utilize both networks for basically no dead spots.

 

[Spiffers]

I have 200-300 songs inside my phones memory - so it does not need cellular data to play it! Something else to consider.

I got 4,258 songs currently on my iPhone play list. You got to pump up those numbers!!

I went with the iPhone back in the day because I couldn't figure out who to store and play mp3 on my Droid.

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