'25 hotspot carrier options?

[StuartV]

I searched. I didn't find any posts about this in the Uconnect 5 era.

I'm supposed to take delivery on a '25 Limited this afternoon.

Is the only option for the carrier for the truck's hotspot still AT&T?

I have an iPhone and an iPad, both with Unlimited data plans on AT&T.

Is there ANY reason I would want to pay for the hotspot in my truck to be "turned on"?

I could see paying for the truck hotspot if it was on a different carrier. If I'm somewhere that has no AT&T coverage, but has Verizon coverage, having the truck hotspot on Verizon could be very useful.

But, if the truck can only do 4G/LTE on AT&T and my phone and iPad both already do 5G on AT&T, when would the truck hotspot ever be of any use to me? If I have passengers that need Internet, I can turn on the hotspot on my phone or iPad and let them connect to that.

It seems like Stellantis has dropped the ball on this. The truck should at least have two options for the hotspot, so people like me who are already on AT&T can choose a non-AT&T option and actually get some benefit from the truck's hotspot.

 

[2025 Ram Limited]

Not sure why you would need a vehicle hotspot anyway, especially when you answered your own question, " If I have passengers that need Internet, I can turn on the hotspot on my phone or iPad and let them connect to that."
Our phones can do that for you without any extra charges. Maybe, if you were in construction or something and it was a work truck I could understand it.

 

[StuartV]

Not sure why you would need a vehicle hotspot anyway, especially when you answered your own question, " If I have passengers that need Internet, I can turn on the hotspot on my phone or iPad and let them connect to that."
Our phones can do that for you without any extra charges. Maybe, if you were in construction or something and it was a work truck I could understand it.

Umm...

I could see paying for the truck hotspot if it was on a different carrier. If I'm somewhere that has no AT&T coverage, but has Verizon coverage, having the truck hotspot on Verizon could be very useful.

 

[2025 Ram Limited]

Umm...

I get it. AT&T isn't the best coverage.

 

[brecatto]

I would like other options, I have Verizon and don’t really want to add another line from another provider. I’ve used the trial of the hotspot in the past and it worked but shuts off as soon as the truck is turned off, many times having to manually reconnect each device. Now I just use the hotspot on my phone or iPad when on roadtrips.

 

[vincentw56]

AT&T is the only option for Uconnect.

 

[StuartV]

I would like other options, I have Verizon and don’t really want to add another line from another provider. I’ve used the trial of the hotspot in the past and it worked but shuts off as soon as the truck is turned off, many times having to manually reconnect each device. Now I just use the hotspot on my phone or iPad when on roadtrips.

If it was the same carrier as what my iPhone and iPad are, I wouldn't get it. I already have hotspots and unlimited data on my phone and my iPad. What would be the point?

And... it looks like I won't. It IS the same carrier I already have.

I AM curious what it means to say that many times you have to manually reconnect each device.

Does the AP SSID change every time the truck restarts?

If the SSID is the same and the password for it is the same, then reconnecting automatically or not should be solely dependent on the device that is trying to connect.

E.g. my iPhone has the SSID and password of many WiFi access points stored in memory. Most of them are set to automatically reconnect. Some are set to manually reconnect. If my phone sees a SSID it recognizes and is set to Auto Reconnect, then it will. If the password hasn't changed, then the reconnection will work.

The only way I could see you having the issue you described is if you just weren't patient enough in waiting for your devices to detect the hotspot and then auto-reconnect. Sometimes, it CAN take a minute or two (or 3 or 4).

When I use my iPhone as a hotspot, it IS FLAKY AF. If I'm trying to work remotely and have my Windows laptop connected to the Internet via my iPhone's hotspot is just is ... flaky. But, that appears to be completely on the hotspot in the iPhone. It drops the connection (not just from my laptop, but from other things, too). When it decides to come back to life, I only have to "manually reconnect" if I am too impatient to just wait and let my laptop detect the hotspot again and reconnect automatically.

If the RAM hotspot is flaky like that, it would ROYALLY **** me off. My iPhone hotspot royally pisses me off every time I try to use it from my laptop. Same if I try to use the hotspot on my iPad instead. From what I've read, it sounds like it is well-known that Apple hotspots are like that and only really work "right" for Apple clients.

 

[Nekos1970]

Ram 2025 Limited - I had the wi-fi through the truck for 2 months. I thought - maybe I am wrong - but when I purchased the truck - it gave me an option using my phone as hotspot and I could connect the truck to the hotspot. But I don't see how - and I went back to the dealer and they could not figure it out. Please and thank you!

 

[qwerty43606]

I have Verizon as my cell phone carrier. While I do have the option to use my cell phone as a hotspot, the data usage is limited to around 20 or 50 mb with my plan (I forget exactly what the limit is). For my plan, I have unlimited data, but while using my phone as a hotspot, that data is limited. Normal data usage is difference then hotspot data (for some reason). While I was on vacation a few weeks ago, I activated the wifi in the truck (AT&T) for just one month for $15, this is unlimited data so the ROKU stick would have wifi to watch movies on the passenger screen as well as our tablets which do not have cellular abilities. This seemed like the better option as I would have have to worried about overages with my cell phone plan. $15 seemed worth it for my peace of mind.

- Yes, if you have the wifi turned on, it starts up every time with the truck
- AP and SSID remained the same - devices would automatically reconnect to the trucks hotspot
- performance was decent for our needs and was a reliable

I do not keep the wifi hotspot service on all year, only when on vacation, trying to keep everyone happy. On normal everyday trips, for me, I see no need for to the truck to have wifi.

 

[StuartV]

Ram 2025 Limited - I had the wi-fi through the truck for 2 months. I thought - maybe I am wrong - but when I purchased the truck - it gave me an option using my phone as hotspot and I could connect the truck to the hotspot. But I don't see how - and I went back to the dealer and they could not figure it out. Please and thank you!

To connect your truck to your hotspot, IIRC, you go into System Updates (or Software Updates?). Somewhere in there you can connect to whatever wireless access point you want and enter the password for the access point.

That will then allow your Uconnect to download software updates via WiFi, instead of using its normal cell signal.

 

[Nekos1970]

Thank you so much! That worked for me!