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Car-Net Guide and Inform

JBR1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Gatley, Cheshire
We've had our new Golf SE Nav for a couple of weeks now and have managed to understand and access most of the entertainment and communication facilities, the most important to us being phone connection and the use of a smartphone connection to access traffic information for the Navigation unit.

The thing we cannot seem to get to work is Car-Net Guide and Inform. I have downloaded the app to my smartphone and registered it, but connecting it to the car electronics and the supplied DataPlug fails.

At one point, I am asked for the Bluetooth PIN, which I do not know. Can anyone suggest how I can obtain this and then, perhaps, I can try again?
 

southpawboston

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Somerville, MA
I don't know if it's any different in the UK, but in the US Car-Net is useless and not worth 1/10th of its annual subscription price of $200. All you get is the ability to lock and unlock your doors from the app, and it calls first responders in the event of a crash. You don't even get remote start. Most people opt not to subscribe.
 

dr_mat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Berkshire
Bluetooth pin will be in the manual!!


...if it creaks, it's probably made by VAG
 

JBR1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Gatley, Cheshire
Thanks all.

Yes, I'm told it costs about £190 to subscribe, but we have a 3-year subscription included free with the new car. It would be silly not to use it.

As for the Bluetooth PIN, yes, I looked in the manual but the PIN is not listed. I assumed that the PIN would be created for each new user. I thought it might be somewhere in the settings, but I can't find it there.
 

dr_mat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Berkshire
If it's not listed either ask the dealer or assume it's 0000 or 1234 like it always is.


...if it creaks, it's probably made by VAG
 

JBR1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Gatley, Cheshire
Thanks, I'll try that, but when I tried before it expected an 8-digit number.

EDIT:
I've just found an eight-digit number on the side of the box in which the Data Plug came. I'll try that when I next go out to the car.
 
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JBR1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Gatley, Cheshire
I just had another go at connecting to Car-Net this morning. On my mobile phone, I enabled Cellular Data, Bluetooth, Location and the phone's Hot Spot and the thing seems to have connected. For some reason, I was not asked to enter the Bluetooth PIN this time but the connection seemed to work.

I'm sure that most of the available functions I shall not need, but I hope to try out the parking location which, I'm led to believe, remembers where you've parked and can guide you to it using the mobile phone. At my age, I tend to forget things, so that could prove useful.

There's also something to do with automatically sending an emergency call in case of an accident, though I have no way to try this out without actually having an accident!
 

JBR1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Gatley, Cheshire
Very disappointed.

I have managed to pair my smartphone with Car-Net Guide and Inform, but cannot find any way to get the parking location to work.
When I try to use the facility to find where our car is parked, the message I get on my phone is "No parking space has been recorded yet."
I assumed that when we have parked our car, its location should have been recorded. If there is some way of entering the location manually, I have yet to find it.

I'm beginning to agree with Cestrian above: "Waste of time. Forget it."

The annoying thing is that we paid an additional £750 for an SE NAV above the standard SE, for very little benefit. We could have just connected our smartphones to the car and used Google Maps on the 8" screen, or so I'm told.

I have emailed VW with this question, but don't hold out much hope. If no response, I shall have to take it in to the local VW distributor, but I have a feeling that they won't be able to help either; they couldn't solve the problem of the nearside mirror not dipping when we use reverse.
 

Mikeyd1

Ready to race!
Location
Essex (uk)
Very disappointed.

I have managed to pair my smartphone with Car-Net Guide and Inform, but cannot find any way to get the parking location to work.
When I try to use the facility to find where our car is parked, the message I get on my phone is "No parking space has been recorded yet."
I assumed that when we have parked our car, its location should have been recorded. If there is some way of entering the location manually, I have yet to find it.

I'm beginning to agree with Cestrian above: "Waste of time. Forget it."

The annoying thing is that we paid an additional £750 for an SE NAV above the standard SE, for very little benefit. We could have just connected our smartphones to the car and used Google Maps on the 8" screen, or so I'm told.

I have emailed VW with this question, but don't hold out much hope. If no response, I shall have to take it in to the local VW distributor, but I have a feeling that they won't be able to help either; they couldn't solve the problem of the nearside mirror not dipping when we use reverse.

That's why I didn't get sat nav when buying se. I just use Google maps on android auto connected to the screen
 

JBR1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Gatley, Cheshire
The VW Connect app records your last parking space when connected to the Data Plug.

Well, I'm afraid mine didn't! All the indications are that my phone is connected to the Car-Net software in the car. Perhaps it's just a faulty installation.

I'll have to wait and see what VW, or their outlet, says. It is, after all, well within its five-year warranty.

EDIT:
I had a suspicion that it might have been my phone, although the VW Connect app seems to be installed and working correctly, so we tried the same thing with my wife's phone and found that she couldn't even connect with Car-Net. I'm determined to get this sorted out with VW, though.
 
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JBR1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Gatley, Cheshire
I have just received a response from VW. They assure me that whereas the car includes:
Car Net App Connect
Car Net Guide and Inform


it does not include:
Car Net Security and Service

To be honest, I was unaware that there are, in fact, THREE versions of Car Net, and I wonder how many other people were also unaware or have not had the matter fully explained.

Car Net Security and Service includes, among other things, the facility to show on your smartphone the location of where your vehicle was last parked, so I am now aware that I do not have this after all.

I suppose that at least I am now convinced that I have no need to continue the (rather pointless) Car Net Guide and Inform after the three year introductory period at a cost of £186!

As Cestrian said, it is a "waste of time" and to "Forget it". You were quite right! I don't think it can even do this when connected to the supplied Data Plug. I shall respond to the e-mail I received from VW and ask them about the Data Plug.

EDIT:

I did mention the Data Plug and received another response saying that, YES, with the Data Plug I DO have the ability to find where I parked my car.

It makes you wonder just who at VW is right!
 
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JBR1

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Gatley, Cheshire
After trying to figure out how to make this thing work, I have finally sorted it out.

The handbook purports to explain how to do it but, unfortunately, the wording is ever so slightly crap! In addition, the necessary procedures seem to be listed in a reverse order for some reason.

Setting up a WLAN client (p.50)
Setting up a WLAN connection (p.49)
Online traffic information (p.42)

Nevertheless I have, by trial and error, managed to interpret the instructions including making several changes where some of the textual details are, in fact, wrong. I have also printed out the 'abridged and corrected' version in case of future need.

In addition to this, there are several numbers that need locating and inserting: a password, a network key, the Data Plug PIN, SSID code and Car Net portal registration code.

I'm sure it could have been made less complicated!

Still, having finally gone through the rigmarole of setting it up, I now seem to be able to simply plug in the phone and enable various functions (cellular data, location and hotspot) on the phone and see full traffic flow information (red, orange, green) on the NAV map.

I have found it very useful also to be able to use the phone to make calls and to listen to music saved on the phone, all at the same time.

Admittedly, it was a long and complicated slog to get the thing working, but now it is I'd like to say that I think the results are excellent.
 
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