[firecat]

Hey y'all. I just got a 2025 M3 Comp ~ 1 month ago and since then I'm trying to install an eSIM in the car with no luck.

The car has the eSIM option from the factory (I do have a "add eSIM option" available in the car menu), the dealer went through the setup phase on delivery but I don't have the 3rd party services section My BMW app hence I can't continue the setup.

I contacted BMW Genius in the UK (even though I'm based in Eastern Europe, they tried to help me) and they weren't able to help me but they said the ConnectedDrive folks might be. I sent an email to the CD team around 3 weeks ago but still no response.

I tried everything:
- created a separate BMW ID
- restored car to factory settings
- reset the iDrive system
- reinstalled the app
- tried the app on other devices

Do you have any ideas on how to fix this?

PS: I was able to add a separate SIM card through the SIM reader but that's very hack-ish as I need a separate SIM card with a separate phone number instead of having my own phone number to use for phone calls etc.

[TontonBimmer]

Bump

[Otto712]

From my experience with a 2024 X5 with I drive 8 and eSIM.
The eSIM is only used for high speed internet connection and does not work for phone calls. You still have to connect your mobile wirelessly to make calls - via carplay(Apple) or the regular phone in the idrive, if you don’t use CarPlay, or android auto.
At least as far as I know and based of functionality here in the US.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by Otto712

From my experience with a 2024 X5 with I drive 8 and eSIM.
The eSIM is only used for high speed internet connection and does not work for phone calls. You still have to connect your mobile wirelessly to make calls - via carplay(Apple) or the regular phone in the idrive, if you don’t use CarPlay, or android auto.
At least as far as I know and based of functionality here in the US.

eSIM option in the USA is for mobile phone number share - acts as as your phone in your car, without your phone.

[Otto712]

Originally Posted by Technic

eSIM option in the USA is for mobile phone number share - acts as as your phone in your car, without your phone.

So you can basically call the car with the eSIM? That didn’t work in my X5 lets see how it goes once my G80 is here…

[firecat]

So supposedly by adding an eSIM to your car, you can use your car as a “phone”. I’m looking into this as the network reception is way better vs the phone.

But yeah, it’s been a couple of months and I couldn’t find a fix for this. The dealership doesn’t know how to fix it, UK geniuses can’t help since I’m not in UK and the local BMW office tells me to contact the dealership.

[Mica_G81]

Regarding the eSIM option, will it help with the SPOTIFY connection, for example? I’ve been struggling to get it working correctly, with frequent cutoffs and periods of silence when playing music.

[firecat]

@Mica_81: Yes, I’ve seen people saying Spotify is working better for them after activating eSIM.

[Mica_G81]

Originally Posted by firecat

@Mica_81: Yes, I’ve seen people saying Spotify is working better for them after activating eSIM.

Great news! thanks for your answer.

[stbm5]

1. esim does not necessarily have better reception, when working mine would drop connection fairly regularly. though if you stream a lot of music thats not downloaded to phone already its generally good for that.
2. my esim stopped working. no amount of resetting, redoing, calling BMW, or calling AT&T would fix it. went to the dealer today and their genius person says esim dysfunction is a known issue and that there is a software fix for this. i am skeptical this is true but they have me scheduled for saturday for software update. im pretty sure theres not new idrive software available, we shall see.
3. the esim was handy for both radar detector and phone. without esim my escort redline max constantly gives a disconnected alert.
4. esim on my previous BMW was pretty flawless and good experience.

[firecat]

stbm5

Can you please post an update after the update?

I’m on 07/24.35 software and supposedly there is a 11/24.XY which is not an OTA update yet.

[chris3g]

11/24 software release does have new software versions for the telecom module (wave) which handles the eSIM function.

[stbm5]

I will definitely post an update!

[stbm5]

got the software update this morning, eSim still not working.

[firecat]

At this point I lost all hopes tbh.

BMW UK can’t help.
BMW DE didn’t respond.
BMW RO redirected me back to the dealer.
My dealer can’t help.
Another official dealer has no idea about what’s happening.

[SwankPeRFection]

It’s probably not going to work in Romania dude. There are some things that are region locked. Recently there’s a guy who bought a US spec car in Germany and doesn’t have CarPlay. Not surprising considering a few years ago BMW was trying to nickel and dime everyone on subscription based software enabling of some features. Who knows at this point, but you being in the EU is most likely playing a role in this.

[firecat]

Myeah, that's a possibility as well but...

The options that are not available here have a clear "This setting is not supported in this region" or "This setting is not supported in this country" while for eSIM I get "No online connection." which is weird as the car actually has online connection working fine (I can control the car via My BMW).

Also it's a little weird that it works fine via normal SIM (tested w/ the SIM reader) however not with eSIM.

[firecat]

I MANAGED TO FIX IT!

Sort of.

I went on the bmw.de website instead of bmw.ro. I logged in w/ the same account that I already have and then navigated to Profile > eSIM (this is not available on the .ro website). Romania was not in the list of supported countries but I selected Germany “Other provider”. This combination redirected me to the Ubigi website. I created an account there and contracted “Ubigi for BMW” which is 100GB (at full speed, unlimited otherwise) / month / 0.5EUR. It then redirected me back to bmw.de website which stated “personal esim activated”.

Once I logged back in the car, the profile loaded the eSIM as well. I tried disconnecting the phone from the car and I could still use apps like news and weather without any issues.

The caveat is that I still can’t use my own phone number for calls and messages but I do get a data plan on both the car as well as the car’s wifi network.

I think it is a good tradeoff for the time being given the 0.5EUR price as well.

[SwankPeRFection]

You get phone calls on your phone with is bound to the car via Bluetooth, so I don’t really see the problem. When’s the last time you actually left and drove your car WITHOUT your phone with you. Maybe it’s a “you” problem, but not a lot of people go anywhere without their cellphone nowadays. Seems like a waste to pay for that feature when not needed. Even data alone plan seems like a waste to me, but maybe you guys don’t have unlimited data on your phone plans in Romania…

[stbm5]

It’s helpful if you have radar that connects to WiFi and if you are streaming music from phone or downloading music to phone. I love the feature tho mine is currently not working despite two trips to BMW for it.

[SwankPeRFection]

Huh? I have no issues with both voice and data happening at the same time… maybe it’s a cellular carrier issue in your country or something or I don’t understand what you mean. I will sometimes too use an app with my V1, but that doesn’t interrupt my ability to stream music or take phone calls on my iPhone.

[stbm5]

Originally Posted by stbm5

It’s helpful if you have radar that connects to WiFi and if you are streaming music from phone or downloading music to phone. I love the feature tho mine is currently not working despite two trips to BMW for it.

The issue is my phone tries to connect to the nonfunctional eSIM which then stalls out streaming music from phone to car. Now if I am not in CarPlay and I connect phone via Bluetooth it’s fine but I prefer CarPlay and Waze as my navigation. Radar detector logs locations etc and if not connected to eSIM I get constant alert of connection dropping.