I am totally new to Android Head units. Mine will be delivered on Monday. As I research them I can see that I will need a full-time internet connection to the head unit to get all I can out of it. Being totally upfront, I really don't understand how that happens. I read about Bluetooth connections to my phone, 3G dongles, wifi hotspots. I know this is so rudimentary. It must be because I cannot find it explained anywhere. Can someone explain this please?
Related
Hey guys.
I bought my XdaIIs almost a year ago, but have had no need to use the WiFi until quite recently. I'm with O2 on the 200 Plan (light user) and everything works fine with the phone, including the GRPS: apart from the WiFi. When the phone was sold to me I was told very clearly, and on multiple occasions, that if I can pick up a WiFi signal, and that it's free, then I can connect and browse for free. I don't have a WiFi connection at home, so it's only when out and about that I need to connect. However, when I tried this at a Coffee House that had free access I could only connect via one of two of O2's "Gateway Partners" and they wanted to charge me for this, which I find outrageous! Can someone confirm to me whether this is correct, as O2 told me that I have to be a "Business User" on a Business Plan to get free WiFi, and that the fact that the phone has WiFi doees not mean that they support it!
If the above is the case, is there anyway around this, such as unlocking the phone, or connecting via a completely different network? I just find it galling that O2 can mis-sell me the phone on the basis that I can connect via WiFi "anywhere and anytime for free" and then to be told that this isn't the case.
Thanks in advance.
Tron
Tron,
WiFi isn't free. It's usually provided by some operator (e.g. BT, The Cloud, T-Mobile, etc), and these guys want money for providing a service.
Generally you can create an account with them whilst you are in a WiFi Hotspot - and their charges vary. It's nowhere near as prevalent as GSM, so you'll find that not all of these operators have agreements between themselves; basically this means that you can use an operators account only with it's partners.
As for if "if you can see a wifi signal it's free" - it's not true. Not wishing to condone anything illegal, you can generally get away with it if there's no encryption on the access point; but it is illegal to use a signal that is not meant for you. The idea of unlocking your phone doesn't really apply in this case either - it's nothing to do with the network lock but the way the people who run the equipment choose to charge; remember the equipment for WiFi is completely separate from the Mobile GSM network you use when you call someone on your mobile.
As for the O2 WiFi network/partners, I've no idea about the pricing. But it does make sense that they would have a different tariff for those subscribing to their wifi service, like their Business Plan.
No doubt the salesperson over-played this a bit when selling it to you!
Hey Bal, thanks for the reply.
So, if I'm sitting in a Library, for arguements sake, and they have a completely free and open WiFi connection, how am I meant to connect? Surely O2 via "The Cloud" cannot charge me to use someone's network who are letting me use it for free: can they? Likewise, if I pop around your house and you let me use your connection, do I have to connect via one of O2's partners? That's what I'm trying to get at, I guess.
Thanks once again.
wifi is just like a normal network between computers you set up at home
you can let people from the outside hop on if you want
but you are to blame if they abuse your network connection though i guess
some places offer free wifi too some plane companys offer it in their planes
some trains offer it
7-11 offer it and so does mcdonals i believe
Rudegar is right of course, if it's free and you open your wireless lan manager you should see the network and be able to connect without a password.
This has nothing to do with the mobile operator you have a contract with.
It's the same as you bringing your laptop over to my place and plugging it into the wired lan - only difference being that there are no wires involved.
If you think of your wifi as just a way of "plugging into" a network rather than as part of your mobile it makes more sense.
I would suggest that you find somewhere with wifi access and have a play - you'll learn much more that way
well if the mobile operators wanted to they could offer it
and charge people for it of cause it would require them
to set up MANY hotspots and repeaters to service all their customers
Okay, cool. Thanks for all of the help guys. I guess I'll have to wander around an find a free WiFi spot (there are none that I know of anywhere near me).
Ross
or you could just get a wifi router for your internet connection for your normal computers should you have a such
and make your own hotspot
I'm looking for ways to be able to use my little Android Tablet for internet access using a cheap DIAL-UP account. I was poor before my home was robbed; I'm now really and truly poor. I just need to be able to sell some of my possessions on EBay and post resumes, nothing fancy. I'm trying to be spared the gas expense of driving to the library . . . just to log in to the internet on their WIFI with my tablet. Oh and, my PC is on its last legs, so I really don't want to tax its dying motherboard beyond making an internet connection . . . and then feeding it to my little Tablet.
I've never done anything with ethernet before, but could something like the
TRENDnet TEW-687GA (450 Mbps) Wireless Router be a solution until I can afford broadband? I guess what I'm asking is: Can a telephone landline be plugged into any of these routers, or do they always have to be cable/DSL?
My Android Tablet has Bluetooth, but I don't think that's a dialer (?). Please forgive my ignorance, I really don't know where to begin to ask.
Thank you guys.
coydroid
Theoretically sure, practically no.
Phone modems had serial (maybe USB) connections to computers because they needed to be controlled - told what number to dial, etc - where as DSL/Cable modems are controlled by the ISP end (by MAC).
Ask a neighbor - I see up to 20 networks in my WiFi list!
My android head unit doesn't seem to be able to autouconnect to wifi. Here is my settings:
I use an iPhone iOS 13.1 with bluetooth connection. That works fine as its autoconnects when turning on the head unit. To engagen the phones Wifi I have to toggle the "hot spot on /off " on the phone as the head unit will not fint it otherwise.
As I understand the Iphone doesn't seem to be able to connect as the hot spot setting changes to off in the same time the Iphone autoconnects to a Wifi-network.
Any workarounds?
Im thankful for all suggestions.
Greetings from Sweden
From what I understand, an iPhone needs to be on the WiFi Hotspot screen to be able to allow other devices to connect.
I'm sure it's a security thing. However, it is annoying if you're trying to use the device as a hotspot. Android doesn't behave in this way.
I'm not an iPhone expert so maybe others will have another idea. My thought is to either purchase a dedicated hotspot (they make some that are also OBD readers, offer keyless entry, etc) or switch to an Android device.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
Hi after much reading and searching I have still not come up with a proper answer and was wondering if anybody here may be able to help me? My issue is WiFi connection on my xtrons headunit (probably been discussed a million times) I have been able to use WiFi both with 4G google and tethered to iPhone but this will only work maybe 1/100 times, now the unit will show many networks but neither my phone or dongle?? So therefore I cannot connect?
When my networks are shown it just cycles between connecting and authenticating and will not connect.
If I reboot everything it may connect once but then back to same problem. Such a shame as the unit is best used with full internet connection. As I say when it has connected it has been great but only works for short period then will show networks but will not connect. Any help would be amazing. Thanks in advance.
My SM-T500 won't let me connect to my smartphone with bluetooth tethering if Wifi is on.
I have a Wifi device with no internet that I need to connect my tablet to.
To have internet on the tablet I need to establish a connection via bluetooth with my smartphone but the tablet says "To use Bluetooth tethering, turn off Wi-Fi on this device."
Does anyone know how to overcome this limitation that Samsung has imposed.
I can't understand why Samsung creates these restrictions.
seems to me you having problems with your imei, and maybe also corrupt your imei this could probitly come from the flashing process...i have this problem by myself if i find some solution i will let you know and you please too if you find a solution
terrano306 said:
My SM-T500 won't let me connect to my smartphone with bluetooth tethering if Wifi is on.
I have a Wifi device with no internet that I need to connect my tablet to.
To have internet on the tablet I need to establish a connection via bluetooth with my smartphone but the tablet says "To use Bluetooth tethering, turn off Wi-Fi on this device."
Does anyone know how to overcome this limitation that Samsung has imposed.
I can't understand why Samsung creates these restrictions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not connect both your tablet and the other device to the smartphones wifi hotspot?
lewmur said:
Why not connect both your tablet and the other device to the smartphones wifi hotspot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for replying.
I will try to elaborate better.
On my boat I have a wireless fishfinder that communicates with an android device through a hotspot that the fishfinder itself creates. This hotspot does not have internet because it only serves to send the data to the android device. In my case the SM-T500.
On the SM-T500 I also use some marine navigation apps that work offline but with less functions than if they were connected to the internet. Without internet I don't have some real-time data.
Of course I could use the smartphone instead of the SM-T500 but it's much harder to read a nautical chart on a 6" device than on a 10" tablet. Even worse if the sea is rough.
I just can't understand why Samsung blocks such simple functions unnecessarily.
I guess it's live and learn and run away from Samsung when buying another device.
terrano306 said:
Thanks for replying.
I will try to elaborate better.
On my boat I have a wireless fishfinder that communicates with an android device through a hotspot that the fishfinder itself creates. This hotspot does not have internet because it only serves to send the data to the android device. In my case the SM-T500.
On the SM-T500 I also use some marine navigation apps that work offline but with less functions than if they were connected to the internet. Without internet I don't have some real-time data.
Of course I could use the smartphone instead of the SM-T500 but it's much harder to read a nautical chart on a 6" device than on a 10" tablet. Even worse if the sea is rough.
I just can't understand why Samsung blocks such simple functions unnecessarily.
I guess it's live and learn and run away from Samsung when buying another device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung doesn't block it, Android does. It's just a function of how it works. It doesn't support two wireless connections at once. Blame the fishfinder for choosing such a weird way to connect. You could always switch back and forth between the two hotspots.
If I were you, I'd just buy a cheap tablet like a used Amazon Fire HD to connect to the fishfinder. It doesn't take a fancy device to perform that simple task.
lewmur said:
Samsung doesn't block it, Android does. It's just a function of how it works. It doesn't support two wireless connections at once. Blame the fishfinder for choosing such a weird way to connect. You could always switch back and forth between the two hotspots.
If I were you, I'd just buy a cheap tablet like a used Amazon Fire HD to connect to the fishfinder. It doesn't take a fancy device to perform that simple task.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would say the same thing if you ask me......
lewmur said:
Samsung doesn't block it, Android does. It's just a function of how it works. It doesn't support two wireless connections at once. Blame the fishfinder for choosing such a weird way to connect. You could always switch back and forth between the two hotspots.
If I were you, I'd just buy a cheap tablet like a used Amazon Fire HD to connect to the fishfinder. It doesn't take a fancy device to perform that simple task.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right. I just chose this fishfinder because I have two small boats and it allows me to switch between them and not have to walk around with lots of wires behind.
I blamed Samsung because my Xiaomi smartphone doesn't have this function blocked and is on the same android version as the SM-T500.
I don't know about the Amazon tablet. I currently use several marine navigation aid applications on my SM-T500 and sometimes I notice that it can barely get the job done. And the SM-T500 was one of the cheapest tablets I've found with GPS.
Either way, I'm already resigned. I do exactly as you said and I switch between the fishfinder hotspot and the one on my smartphone to get internet.
It's not perfect but it does the trick.