Just had an email from LR to say my online pack is due to expire in 2 months. Renewal is £420 for 12 months. Can anyone see a reason for renewing? What does this do for me that my phone doesn’t already do, for a lot less?

I had the same recently. It is essentially the same price as the cost option from new! I had wrongly assumed this was for hardware and a year's subscription...but it would appear that you're just paying an exorbitant amount for data.

I can’t imagine they get many takers for this.

Isn't this required for the remote app to work?

No. You still get the remote app.

What's the purpose of the online pack then, just streaming?

From the LR website:



More about this subscription:

The Online Pack is designed to enhance your in-car experience, ensuring you and your passengers enjoy the journey while remaining connected to the world. It gives you unlimited data via an integrated SIM card, unlimited streaming for Online Media (Spotify for example), and weather forecasting for your favourite locations up to five days in advance.


A calendar for you to navigate to your next appointment is also included, as well as Cloud POI so you can search for key locations such as restaurants.
Online Pack services will evolve over time via the over-the-air updates.

Wi-Fi Enabled with data plan provides 4G hotspot with up to 20GB a month. You’ll be able to keep in touch with friends and family, and keep everyone entertained with video streaming, even when you are on the road less travelled. Wi-FI uses the external antenna for the best possible connection.


Now I am sure I read somewhere that when your phone is connected to the car, it uses to roof antenna to boost the signal, so I don’t think this is an added benefit. Can anyone clarify?

As my phone is 5G anyway and seems to work perfectly well inside the car I don’t see the benefit of having a separate slower data connection. The calendar and restaurant bit is of no interest to me either.

Ok, so basically, if you want to use Pivi Pro and Spotify, Deezer, etc. to stream music, you need the pack. Otherwise, you just use the same apps in Carplay / AA.

Gotcha.

You can stream Spotify etc on your phone and still operate it via Pivi Pro when your phone is connected to the car. Carplay would work as well of course. So I don’t think you need the pack.

I have a doubt about that part, to be honest. Have you successfully tried it?

I know the car can connect to and use an external Wifi signal (mine does when it's parked at home), but I never saw anything about using a cellular phone for Pivi Pro services - aside from using the phone via personal hotspot.

What I was meaning is that if you play Spotify through the app on your phone you can control it through Pivi by selecting your phone as the audio source.

I think this is a very expensive renewal for something you can do with your phone. Providing an always on hotspot for the passengers for that price is ridiculous. I can use streaming services on my phone with my unlimited data plan at a fraction of that cost. Heck if I used man maths that saving is almost half the cost of my next IPhone so if I upgrade my phone every two years its free  MY23 PHEV HSE
MY19 Disco 5 HSE - gone
My16 Disco 4 HSE LUXURY - gone
My12 Disco 4 HSE - gone
MY05 Disco 3 S - gone but not forgotten

The only spec we get in Norway is with "025SF LESS Wi-Fi" and "025RA LESS Online Pack", but still PiviPro and Apple Car Play work as expected. There is no Nano-SIM slot between the USB-C and USB connector either. No possibility to create a wifi hotspot in the cabin. Just need to use our own phone subscription for Spotify etc. L460 P550e AB SWB MY24
Sold: L322 TDV8 Vogue MY07
Mini Cooper S Convertible

The absence of a SIM slot is normal. The L460 uses an e-SIM system.

As to the rest, the feature set obviously varies country-by-country.

My car is French but is registered in Luxembourg and I live (and drive it) in Spain. I'm going to have to look into this...

Reg SiM card - why does the iGuide explain how you can insert a SIM card yourself then?