DR1

Hi guys, Im an existing AT&T customer and activated the Hotspot on my 2019 RDX. Took about 30 minutes in the car, on the phone and with an internet connected laptop in hand.

Do these thing in this order
1. Configure the hotspot connection from inside the vehicle,
Settings, Connectivity, Hotspot
2. Go to https://www.att.com/plans/connected-car/acura.html
Create an account (regardless if you already have an AT&T account (looks like this is an AT&T subsidiary)
Enter VIN etc.
Chose a plan or add to existing plan
if adding you will be prompted to login to your main AT&T account - this is where it failed for me but if you get this far the AT&T Mobile Hotspot team can take things from there.
3. Call the AT&T customer support and they will transfer you the the Car Hotspot team / company.

Other Stuff
Testing - Initial test from my car showed VERY slow connection speeds using speedtest.net in comparison to side by side test my iphone Max using speedtest.net. Rebooted phone, restarted car - which was the same or a little better.
I will continue to test this out but my concern is this is using a 3rd party cell service behind the scenes and just bridging into ATT's network when needed OR if the network is not the problem that the Accura using an outdated cellular radio.
BTW - During testing I had 4 bars on the iphone so the car in theory should have had much better reception using its antenna.

Danny

I'll check on this over the next week and update this thread.

Meto

I use my personal hotspot on my phone with Verizon connected to the system as I have unlimited data and have no connection issues. The in-car system with AT&T is not very good and if you exceed your data (which you will do quickly) they will charge more...

joeliu2003

Cancelled the in car service after testing it far to slow for my kids to even watch YouTube without buffering.

Direct iPhone tethering is about 20X faster (LTE).

DR1

Thank you. Based upon further testing and your feedback i'm cancelling the service after 1 whole day. ��

DR1

As an FYI - When you get through to a live person at AT&T to cancel they give you the number to ONSTAR and you have to call them in place of being transfered like i was yesterday when i setup the service.. When i did get on the phone it was extremely difficult to communicate with the representative at I it seemed they were in another country. Finally you have to provide a reason why you are canceling. When i was honest and said it was from the slow service the person indicated that was because i was sharing it with my 22Gb phone plan and that if i wanted faster service i would need to buy a second plan from them. Why i said no she then pitched me upgrading my Iphone Max.

Testing Stats
The side by side data rate testing was done between my iphone connecting to the car and then disconnecting and going direct using the speedtest.net app. ONSTAR ~ 6MB down and 6MB up. The Iphone was connected to LTE or 5G light with 18 - 100Mb down & 18 - 30 Up.
Makes me wonder if ONSTAR was connecting to a satellite service rather than a cell network.??

Madd Dog

I’m on Verizon and don’t see a real need to mess with ATT. I tried once to sign up for the trial, I got nowhere, so I dropped the whole thing.

securityguy

In my opinion, the only wireless company worth a **** is Verizon...AT&T and the others are worthless...especially if you travel for business. You may pay more but you do get what you pay for.

DR1

Yeah this experience has been tough to stomach from a 20+ year autopay AT&T customer.

While the info below isn't 100% related to the Car Connect issue i just wanted to put the information out there for others to understand what they are getting themselves into time & frustration to try this service.
.
1- I called AT&T proper, wait, wait to talk to someone about 3 items i want to change on my account (which has 4 devices). After about 15 minutes I figured out the person i was speaking with really didn't understand my questions about tethering verses dedicated MIFI options so after he informed me I needed to call Onstar to cancel my "Car Connect" I said thank you and dropped in to an AT&T store that I have worked with previously.
.
2- Go to the AT&T store and while waiting ~ 20 minutes saw MIWI device i was interested in no longer has the external antenna connections so that was good to know and off the table so when it was my turn i just wanted to remove an unused line of service from my account but - NOPE in store employees can no longer do that. You have to call customer retention. - It was a jaw drop moment - I just said WOW and headed out.
.
3a - Call 1 - ONSTAR to cancel the Car Connect. I'm not trying to be rude but i struggled to understand what the person was saying. She spoke very fast and I kept hearing references to EVNT. Prior to my cancelation I did some research online and found there are several white labeled service companies like ONSTAR that have been acquired so i was confused about who i was talking to,, ONSTAR or a 3rd party company so i had no idea why i was being asked about a EVNT number and telling me i had called EVNT. I said i dont know my EVNT number Im an AT&T customer. This went on and on a few times until i figured out she was trying to pronounce AT&T but through the accent i could not understand it. The next step to cancel - i had to declare and defend my disconnect reason - when I explained the reason was poor service I was told rather harshly it was because I was sharing my 22GB AT&T plan (for which i use abut 6GB) and if i wanted faster speed I needed to buy a direct plan from ONSTAR. Again i was like WOW, this was never mentioned in the mailed print material or the new Accura / AT&T Car Connect website or even ONSTAR rep I spent 45 minutes with getting the service activated. Again instead saying any of that i just said i want to cancel. Then a few minutes later she started into an upsell mode on my other lines of service to upgrade my IPhone Max, Iwatch etc. When i tried to jump in during the pitch to explain i wasn't interested she ignored me and then mocked me. I was totally shocked but being afraid she would not deactivate the account i just took the punishment.
.
3b - Call ATT Customer care - to cancel a backup line of service - was informed of a 10 minute hold time so i chose the call back option and ~ 30 minutes later I got a call back. Good news was this time there was not a language barrier and the person was polite but I still needed to declare / defend the reason I wanted to remove a line. She just didn't have a response, objection or redirection to me no longer needing a backup phone i was never using. She just sat there in silence and asked me to explain myself. Then I was placed on hold for 2 minutes to process the cancellation and when coming back on the line she also went into the upsell mode trying to upgrade my Iphone max and Apple watch.

Overall was just kinda in shock at how so much has changed over the years Ive done business with them. AT&T corporate put all these ways to make it difficult and confrontational to "retain" business with the call center customer service really declining as well.

I hope this might help others decide if they really want to try this Accura / AT&T Car Connect service in the future.

Danny

Padre Dave

I knew this looked like a bad idea.....I wonder why Honda/Acura contracted with this vendor when the experience of everyone here has been so negative. I honestly don’t know anyone using AT&T for cellular or anything else these days.

JB in AZ

I have a neighbor/friend who I called yesterday. The call sounded very bad, and I think I heard him say, "please call me back, we have a bad connection". I did, and it was better. First thing he did when we started the second phone conversation was defend AT&T! Saying that he often has issues inside his house, but he was with AT&T when they were the only ones that had iPhones. Our Realtor had to add a land-line to her home because her AT&T cell phone misses too many calls while she is home. WHAT? Why don't the folks just get Verizon? They are big, and cost more than the others, but IT ALWAYS works.

markm929

Sorry not true. I have Verizon, with 5 towers within a 3 mile radius around my home (in a suburb), and I average 1 bar of CELLULAR signal, calls would often drop. Now that I use Verizon Wi-Fi calling at the house, I never drop a call. I would guess the same would be said of AT&T and their Wi-Fi calling solution, but I do not know first hand. Cellular is a fickle mistress in some areas regardless of the provider.

JB in AZ

Fair enough! I should have said "It always works, for me"