WiFi Hotspot
Rock Crawling
Joined: Apr 2021
Posts: 497
Likes: 234
From: DFW
InControl - contact
@Mechano2020 - How do you open a case with "InControl"? Is there a #, e-mail, app, website? Don't need one right now, but it seems like something I should be ready for. Thanks.
Contact Us - Land Rover Customer Service | Land Rover USA
go to PHONE contact section, and enter option 9.
From here on is a crap shoot ... you either get some one that knows or understands, or some one that only check boxes. I had a case with my Velar previously, still unsolved after 8 months (!). I sold the car, case still unsolved, but not my problem anymore....
Now, on the DEFENDER I got some one that really understood, and followed up with my issue. Sometimes however, these things have to go all the way to UK, or God knows where to get solved.
Once you talk to the rep on the phone, absolutely ask for a case number. Don't fall for the ".... will call you back" ... they never do, well except for one or 2 individuals at customer support, and that if you are lucky.
If you got a case number and if it can't be solved by an OTA update, get the case number, and go to the dealership. Ask for a shop foreman. They have to follow up on that. They do. Keep up the pressure with JLR and the dealership. You have to understand that the dealership is most of the times kept in the dark too, on a lot of issues. Don't be mad at them, try to find a tech that is willing to work with you or is worth its weight is salt.
It is not an easy process by any means, or you can read a manual how to get one's case solved. It is convoluted, and it takes time and nerves of steel to get through this, but it is what it is ...
So far my rate of solving cases on my current and previous JLR vehicles is about 75 %. Not too good, but not too many alternatives.
Mudding
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 135
Likes: 78
From: Southern California
Went on our first road trip since taking delivery, brought my sons 18 &19 to Howe Caverns. My parents took me there when I was about seven so 45 years later I'm finally keeping the tradition alive. Anyway the hotspot worked on the way there for my youngest with his ipad but by the next day it stopped working completely. I went into the settings and it toggled itself to the off position, I toggled it back on but he still couldn't see it, exited out and went back in and it toggled itself off again. Hmm. Odd behavior. Anyone have any ideas? I emailed the dealer last night for guidance, maybe we'll hear back on Monday. The subscription is good for a year at 20GB monthly, I don't think he could've burned through that much already.
Aside from that I was delighted with the vehicle on this trip. Definitely made the right decision buying one when I did. One of the employees at Adirondack Animal Land was very complimentary of it while he was herding Camels, Zebra and Buffalo on his four wheeler. This was the perfect vehicle to crawl through the forest trails with feeding the Alpacas, deer and Emu while they're surrounding the Defender looking for a handout of kibble. The camera system was golden through there, wow, I was really glad to NOT be trying this in the CX5 ahead of us. lol I'd sure hate to run over any of those animals by mistake. The off-road camera was worth its weight in gold through there.
Scenery in the Mohawk valley region was beautiful especially the route the GPS took us from our hotel drive in Amsterdam out to Howe Caverns. The GPS was questionable at times though. It would show the fastest route on top and the other two routes offered were exactly the same. Fastest route often took us through some real back roads and avoided the main roads quite a bit, I'm not so sure how accurate it was as far as the 'fastest' goes when it's taking us down a one lane road with occasional two-way traffic by the rivers edge, but we got there anyway. Caverns were a good time, really cool. On the negative side I do think I have some mild a-pillar crackle on the passenger-side once we hit about 70mph on the thruway but it's not terrible. Unless it gets worse with time I can probably live with it.
Aside from that I was delighted with the vehicle on this trip. Definitely made the right decision buying one when I did. One of the employees at Adirondack Animal Land was very complimentary of it while he was herding Camels, Zebra and Buffalo on his four wheeler. This was the perfect vehicle to crawl through the forest trails with feeding the Alpacas, deer and Emu while they're surrounding the Defender looking for a handout of kibble. The camera system was golden through there, wow, I was really glad to NOT be trying this in the CX5 ahead of us. lol I'd sure hate to run over any of those animals by mistake. The off-road camera was worth its weight in gold through there.
Scenery in the Mohawk valley region was beautiful especially the route the GPS took us from our hotel drive in Amsterdam out to Howe Caverns. The GPS was questionable at times though. It would show the fastest route on top and the other two routes offered were exactly the same. Fastest route often took us through some real back roads and avoided the main roads quite a bit, I'm not so sure how accurate it was as far as the 'fastest' goes when it's taking us down a one lane road with occasional two-way traffic by the rivers edge, but we got there anyway. Caverns were a good time, really cool. On the negative side I do think I have some mild a-pillar crackle on the passenger-side once we hit about 70mph on the thruway but it's not terrible. Unless it gets worse with time I can probably live with it.
My GPS was way off, sometimes ten miles or more, Dealer re-flashed everything and it still was wonky for a day, but then settled down and seems to be accurate now. As for the hotspot, ours has never worked in either 2021 Defender and even though at one time the hotspot actually showed up on one screen, it quickly disappeared and never showed up again.My thoughts are it would be nice to have, but think with the current state of JLR chips and tech glitches I can wait until the vehicles have to go in for something else. Otherwise it's $360 X 2 wasted...
TReK
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 2,086
Likes: 1,401
From: Hill Country, Tx
Winching
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 549
Likes: 275
From: Western NY
Wanted to use the hotspot with my laptop today, no go. Went into settings it was toggled off again. WTF. This is the one thing so far that's trash, they need to fix this or not offer it as an option. One or the other. It's a SIM card right? An AT&T SIM card that doesn't work reliably, I don't know how that's possible. I toggled on the hotspot and I was able to connect but no internet access.
Anyway I called Land Rover support line today about this and they said there's a known issue right now, it's a system wide outage. They don't know when it will be fixed. If I had it to do over again I'd probably leave this off the build and just get a Jetpack hotspot like Mechano suggested. This on-board hotspot seems like it will be nothing but headaches until I give up on it. Son wants to use the ipad going to and from home we have a 35 min drive each way, nothing.
Plus I'm on call for work in two weeks and that was another reason why I optioned it on here so if I get called on the road I can pull over into the nearest lot, jump on the laptop and provide remote support. I bought the 'click and work' for it, I haven't even unboxed that thing yet because I can't even count on the hotspot to work. Ugh.
Anyway I called Land Rover support line today about this and they said there's a known issue right now, it's a system wide outage. They don't know when it will be fixed. If I had it to do over again I'd probably leave this off the build and just get a Jetpack hotspot like Mechano suggested. This on-board hotspot seems like it will be nothing but headaches until I give up on it. Son wants to use the ipad going to and from home we have a 35 min drive each way, nothing.
Plus I'm on call for work in two weeks and that was another reason why I optioned it on here so if I get called on the road I can pull over into the nearest lot, jump on the laptop and provide remote support. I bought the 'click and work' for it, I haven't even unboxed that thing yet because I can't even count on the hotspot to work. Ugh.
Last edited by Chief65; Jul 30, 2021 at 06:49 PM.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2020
Posts: 41
Likes: 7
From: East/West USA
GPS was way off, sometimes ten miles or more, Dealer re-flashed everything and it still was wonky for a day, but then settled down and seems to be accurate now. As for the hotspot, ours has never worked in either 2021 Defender and even though at one time the hotspot actually showed up on one screen, it quickly disappeared and never showed up again.My thoughts are it would be nice to have, but think with the current state of JLR chips and tech glitches I can wait until the vehicles have to go in for something else. Otherwise it's $360 X 2 wasted...
Today I also lost the weather app, though it still shows on the web when I log in to InControl...
...and no audio apps are working...
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2020
Posts: 41
Likes: 7
From: East/West USA
Well, here is where I started:
Contact Us - Land Rover Customer Service | Land Rover USA
go to PHONE contact section, and enter option 9.
From here on is a crap shoot ... you either get some one that knows or understands, or some one that only check boxes. I had a case with my Velar previously, still unsolved after 8 months (!). I sold the car, case still unsolved, but not my problem anymore....
Now, on the DEFENDER I got some one that really understood, and followed up with my issue. Sometimes however, these things have to go all the way to UK, or God knows where to get solved.
Once you talk to the rep on the phone, absolutely ask for a case number. Don't fall for the ".... will call you back" ... they never do, well except for one or 2 individuals at customer support, and that if you are lucky.
If you got a case number and if it can't be solved by an OTA update, get the case number, and go to the dealership. Ask for a shop foreman. They have to follow up on that. They do. Keep up the pressure with JLR and the dealership. You have to understand that the dealership is most of the times kept in the dark too, on a lot of issues. Don't be mad at them, try to find a tech that is willing to work with you or is worth its weight is salt.
It is not an easy process by any means, or you can read a manual how to get one's case solved. It is convoluted, and it takes time and nerves of steel to get through this, but it is what it is ...
So far my rate of solving cases on my current and previous JLR vehicles is about 75 %. Not too good, but not too many alternatives.
Contact Us - Land Rover Customer Service | Land Rover USA
go to PHONE contact section, and enter option 9.
From here on is a crap shoot ... you either get some one that knows or understands, or some one that only check boxes. I had a case with my Velar previously, still unsolved after 8 months (!). I sold the car, case still unsolved, but not my problem anymore....
Now, on the DEFENDER I got some one that really understood, and followed up with my issue. Sometimes however, these things have to go all the way to UK, or God knows where to get solved.
Once you talk to the rep on the phone, absolutely ask for a case number. Don't fall for the ".... will call you back" ... they never do, well except for one or 2 individuals at customer support, and that if you are lucky.
If you got a case number and if it can't be solved by an OTA update, get the case number, and go to the dealership. Ask for a shop foreman. They have to follow up on that. They do. Keep up the pressure with JLR and the dealership. You have to understand that the dealership is most of the times kept in the dark too, on a lot of issues. Don't be mad at them, try to find a tech that is willing to work with you or is worth its weight is salt.
It is not an easy process by any means, or you can read a manual how to get one's case solved. It is convoluted, and it takes time and nerves of steel to get through this, but it is what it is ...
So far my rate of solving cases on my current and previous JLR vehicles is about 75 %. Not too good, but not too many alternatives.
Rock Crawling
Joined: Apr 2021
Posts: 497
Likes: 234
From: DFW
Dealership time
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2020
Posts: 41
Likes: 7
From: East/West USA
Optimism has nothing to do with it. Be prepared to go one step further. Go to the dealership now, with that ticket and get them to solve it. They do need to get in contact with JLR. If that does not work, try to escalate ... JLR corporate, media relations, and so on. Eventually, it will get fixed. If you want to go one step further, you can play the lemon law. Not sure in which state you are, but 3 times the same issue... they either have to pay or fix it. May not get you too far, but they do not like to hear about the lemon law.
Rock Crawling
Joined: Apr 2021
Posts: 497
Likes: 234
From: DFW
...not equipped ?
My life is covid complicated so I'm working with both the dealership where I purchased and a now local dealership where it's serviced. I was an early build so the online pack is listed as standard equipment in the build sheet and on the window sticker but LRNA says my vehicle isn't equipped, even though the service has been working intermittently. Ugh...
So it does show in the build order, and is not in the vehicle ?
Odd - very odd. However, they need to make it right. You bought it, they need to provide it.
The unit can be changed with one that is equipped with. Now on JLR NA ... don't know how much they know. Find a dealer that is worth its weight in slat, and ask the tech to see if the actual unit is there indeed, or not.
Do you know how to look for a carrier ( e.g. ATT ) a MAC address ... etc ? it should be in the settings.
If not ... yeah, you will need a new unit.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2020
Posts: 41
Likes: 7
From: East/West USA
Wait, what ?!
So it does show in the build order, and is not in the vehicle ?
Odd - very odd. However, they need to make it right. You bought it, they need to provide it.
The unit can be changed with one that is equipped with. Now on JLR NA ... don't know how much they know. Find a dealer that is worth its weight in slat, and ask the tech to see if the actual unit is there indeed, or not.
Do you know how to look for a carrier ( e.g. ATT ) a MAC address ... etc ? it should be in the settings.
If not ... yeah, you will need a new unit.
So it does show in the build order, and is not in the vehicle ?
Odd - very odd. However, they need to make it right. You bought it, they need to provide it.
The unit can be changed with one that is equipped with. Now on JLR NA ... don't know how much they know. Find a dealer that is worth its weight in slat, and ask the tech to see if the actual unit is there indeed, or not.
Do you know how to look for a carrier ( e.g. ATT ) a MAC address ... etc ? it should be in the settings.
If not ... yeah, you will need a new unit.
You're right that I should hunt for a dealer that's competent to figure this all out. I'm two down and still looking...