Sometimes the car connects to the iphone hotspot automatically (not quickly though...usually takes 5 minutes / several miles of driving), but just as often I need to intervene (toggling the hotspot button off/on on the iphone).
For what it's worth, I never went in for the "2nd delivery" experience where the LR product specialist sits down with you for a couple hours (however long you need) to explain all of the options and features. I believe this is when they are supposed to setup "Live" and the LR phone apps, and enable the SIM card, etc...correct? Is this worth the visit...should I schedule this?
I've had the car for a month and a half now, but never enabled the SIM...is enabling it worthwhile?
What will enabling the SIM do for me that tethering the car to my iphone's hotspot won't do?

Separately, when connected to my iphone hotspot, I get news updates from CNN and Reuters, but they are all EU headlines.
Is there a setting that I can change to receive U.S. news?

 

I did that, but I had everything already setup. I scheduled the appointment was hoping there were some secret tips they could share, but it is really just general setup and the dealer had already setup all the connectivity and apps. The technician did hunt down an advance tow assist sticker for me and drove it back to my house, which I thought was great service.

I wonder if the auto-connect is dependent on there only being one hot-spot available? If I'm in my garage, I pick up a few different SSIDs and it only connects if I select my phone as the ID I want to connect to. If you're driving, you're likely going to hit a point where your phone is the only available SSID and it may connects at that point automatically. It can't be a delay in initializing the wireless since you can select it manually right away. I'll play around with it a bit more. I really only use it to sync driving destinations, which I'd rather have synced before I'm on the road.