[cue003]

What has been everyone's experience with the outdated 3G connectivity the Pacifica offers? It really does baffle my mind sometimes when manufactures in any industry come out with what they call complete redesign or new from the ground up with industry leading blah blah blah and then they put in 2005 technology and hope no one notices.

3G is old and super slow. I wonder how the hotspot function actually works with today's data usage.

Any insight will be helpful.

Thanks.

 

[cue003]

Has no one played/used their connectivity yet with the Pacifica?

 

[Momzilla03]

When I tried to activate it in my van, it directed me to go to my UConnect to start a subscription service. The dealer gave me a 6 month complimentary subscription to SiriusXM and the UConnect in car help lines (Uconnect customer service/vehicle care/911), but it does not seem like the mobile wi-fi subscription was included in this promotion. I would be upset to pay for this service and have it be slow 3G connectivity.

May I ask how much the wi-fi hotspot subscription is per month? Can you "upgrade" to a 4G connection for a higher monthly rate? Now I'm curious about this. Traditionally,we have just used our phones as hotspots for the kids to use their ipads online in the car.

Curious to hear what others say!

 

[markinmad]

I activated it for the free week. It was ok for the passengers to update Facebook and the like, but videos were a no-go.

 

[Redltd]

No an issue here in Canada as the feature is only available in the US!!!


Tony

 

[cue003]

Ahhh.. Didn't know it was a US only feature. So you guys don't have apps/hotspots option outside the US in uConnect?

 

[generaltso]

Yeah, the choice to go with 3G instead of LTE makes no sense. All I can think of is that they already had a 3G Uconnect system that they could largely reuse in the Pacifica, and changing it to LTE would have taken more time or more expense than they were willing to devote to it. Keeping it at 3G and charging what they do for the service makes it a non-usable "feature" as far as I'm concerned.

 

[VoltNow]

I agree, 4G would be nice. But I'm surprised there is much demand for this. Pretty much everyone we know (including our whole family) has data plans. The only time this is not the case is when we have International visitors. In those rare instances, it is easy to just create a 4G hotspot from one of our phones. This way, you are not just limited to the car. Plus, other than using your normal data plan, there is no additional monthly fee like uConnect wifi which is $50/mo.

 

[gmo]

I just use my 4G hotspot from my phone, works very good.

 

[cue003]

$50 a month??? I didn't realize it was that expensive. Forget that noise!!! I will stick to the phone and wifi there or external hotspot.

 

[Briggsie]

I signed up for my free week yesterday. I was in a small town away from my suburban home location and had to drive out in the country to get home. I attempted to listen to aha, Pandora and Slacker radio over the wifi while driving home and couldn't keep a connection for beans. I had to keep hitting. Play over and over again. I finally just gave up. The wifi is a joke in my opinion. With Sirius and the other options for listening, I don't need wifi at that awful level. I'm not on computer while driving and if my husband is driving and I want to mess around on my iPad or something I'll just use its cellular function and use my data. How do they even sell this feature after a free trial?

 

[CMac]

I got my Pacifica yesterday and after reading this thread, not sure I want to even try it for a week for $20. I was looking forward to having wifi in the Pacifica for my kiddos, but maybe upgrading my data on my iphone and using it as a hotspot will work better and be less expensive. Right now they are charging $20 week or $50 month. :surprise:

 

[Bluesfox]

I got my Pacifica yesterday and after reading this thread, not sure I want to even try it for a week for $20. I was looking forward to having wifi in the Pacifica for my kiddos, but maybe upgrading my data on my iphone and using it as a hotspot will work better and be less expensive. Right now they are charging $20 week or $50 month. :surprise:

Yes, just shop around cell carriers for the best deal for hotspot included. We were long time Verizon, still use for business, but now T-Mobile for pleasure/family/travel. 6 phone lines, 10GB data with hotspot, including hotspot worldwide in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia etc. no extra charge. For reference, bill is about $125 base and $160 with taxes per month for the 6 lines. But there may be more economical options out there.

It is unlikely that vehicle wifi is ever going to compete with a regular latest and greatest phone hotspot features. And the phone is trivial to use/activate in the vehicle.

 

[CMac]

Yes, just shop around cell carriers for the best deal for hotspot included. We were long time Verizon, still use for business, but now T-Mobile for pleasure/family/travel. 6 phone lines, 10GB data with hotspot, including hotspot worldwide in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia etc. no extra charge. For reference, bill is about $125 base and $160 with taxes per month for the 6 lines. But there may be more economical options out there.

It is unlikely that vehicle wifi is ever going to compete with a regular latest and greatest phone hotspot features. And the phone is trivial to use/activate in the vehicle.

Thank you for this info. If the 3G actually worked great I was planning on coughing up the $50 month, but looks like updating my dadta and finding a carrier that will let you use unlimited wifi hotspot in the Pacifica is the way to go.

I was reading online that a lot of people upgraded to get unlimited data for wifi hotspot, but didn't read the fine print to see if they could use it in the car or not for other devices to use the phone's hotspot.

 

[Bluesfox]

Thank you for this info. If the 3G actually worked great I was planning on coughing up the $50 month, but looks like updating my dadta and finding a carrier that will let you use unlimited wifi hotspot in the Pacifica is the way to go.

I was reading online that a lot of people upgraded to get unlimited data for wifi hotspot, but didn't read the fine print to see if they could use it in the car or not for other devices to use the phone's hotspot.

And no need to search for unlimited data hotspot. Try a limited data plan and see how it goes. You might be surprised to see that having just say 2-4GB or so might be plenty for your family's needs. We have 10GB on each phone which is way overkill for our situation, and unlimited would be, dare I say, potentially unhealthy for family? Need to look out the window or get outside once in a while
Multiple phones, tablets, etc can connect to a single phone's hotspot and the range between devices is easily suitable within a vehicle. Just keep the main phone plugged into a USB port if using for extended periods as it typically consumes a little additional energy to power. Hope you arrive at a manageable solution.

 

[manoli]

I've got a 6GB hotspot plan from T-Mobile but with BingeOn it is practically unlimited (video & music streaming doesn't count towards the 6GB data bucket). Works great for our family.

 

[chrissbu]

I still haven't been able to wrap my ahead around why they put the previous gen uConnect system in the new Pacifica, while a couple of other FCA vehicles got the newer unit. I can't imagine that the hardware packaging is all that different...unless there are other integration issues. But still, to have launched the new Pacifica with hardware that would be considered cutting edge 5 years ago seems like a bit of a miss to me.

 

[RobbW]

Yep. Will use my phone's unlimited data plan in the van. There's no way I'd pay those ripoff prices for such antiquated wi-fi tech!!!

 

[vossman77]

My 2013 Cmax just got upgraded from 2G to 3G for free (via Ford vehicle recall) because the cell towers no longer support 2G.


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