I'm trying to understand what this is actually for?

having read the columbus manual - i can see the info for the sim card slot that you can add as an option (between the sd card slots)

but nothing relating to the internal one

 

can anybody shed any light on it?

:think:

I believe you can fit a SIM to use for voice calls or for Data to utilise the WLAN feature

Correct. Fitting a sim with 3/4G data connection allows that internet connectivity to be available via the wifi hotspot that the Columbus unit can provide. If it's a sim that supports calls as well, then you now have a traditional hard wired car phone!

I suspect that this is the internal sim slot that is being referred to.

If its internal how do you fit a sim into it?

There's a slot

It just means it's internal to the car / infotainment system as opposed to being in an external device like a mobile phone or data dongle.

There's a slot

Where?

Edited 28 September, 201510 yr by InfiniteDreamer

Where?

You can see it here on photo. Sorry for bad quality. If you click it you can see it clearly, between two SD cards.

https://superb2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/20150718_160909.jpg

Edited 28 September, 201510 yr by Human1

You can see it here on photo. Sorry for bad quality. If you click it you can see it clearly, between two SD cards.

https://superb2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/20150718_160909.jpg

That is the sim slot you get if speccing the extra WiFi option.

I've seen two sel exec with columbus and neither had that slot.

That is the sim slot you get if speccing the extra WiFi option.

I've seen two sel exec with columbus and neither had that slot.

 

But the Columbus has integrated Wi-Fi so where does it get the signal from? 

Columbus supports provision of a WIFI hotspot for devices to connect to it. It ALSO supports connecting itself to the internet and essentially bridging one connection to the other.

 

That outbound internet connection can either be:

LTE (using a sim card in the unit in the glove box)

WIFI - connection to another wireless network e.g. a Vodafone WIFI dongle or similar, or a mobile phone that's been setup to be a personal hotspot.

rSAP - via a bluetooth connection to a mobile phone that is able to access the internet.

 

It's both a wifi client device and capable of being a wifi access point. It can bridge these connections so devices connected to the access point can get access to the remote network on the other side - however that might be setup.

 

I am NOT sure whether WIFI and rSAP based internet connections can be achieved in abscence of "Premium WLAN". Neither of them would need the SIM slot, so I am hopeful they would be possible.

Talk about confusing!

Still no wiser

Talk about confusing!

Still no wiser

Dealers should employ teenage youths to set these up for customers at handover and then perhaps all would become clear?

I can help shed a bit of light. I'm getting my dealers demo hatch so spent some time playing with it extensively. The demo one has the Columbus but not any of the premium wifi options etc.

The WLAN configuration menu allowed me to take my personal hotspot from my iPhone and rebroadcasted it to the car with the Columbus' SSID and password and passed through this connection.

The other option was enable able but didn't seem to see anything to connect to the Internet via in terms of a SIM card. It was odd though as the menu was fully enabled which you wouldn't expect if it wasn't capable of doing it. i.e. If you don't have lane assist, the option to configure lane assist doesn't show up.

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I'm just confused by the need for 2 sim slots

1 internal on Columbus as standard

Then another in glove box between sd cards if you spec the premium wlan option

There is only ONE sim slot - in the unit in the glovebox - and only IF the premium wlan option is specificed on ordering. There is no sim slot anywhere else.

 

What drewpost confirms is that the network bridging is available even if the Premium WLAN is not specced. Therefore the "premium WLAN" option only adds the ability to use a SIM in the glove box to establish an internet data connection.

 

Hope that helps clear it up.

Does the vehicle have a 'telematics' capability? If it does then very likely there is a non accessible SIM buried in one of the on board modules.

This one would be totally separate from and unavailable to any user hardware (which uses the one in the glovebox) as it is only used for emergency calls (e.g. Alerting Skoda to a car involved in a crash and its GPS location for transmission to the emergency services etc) or sending tech data to Skoda.

From my reading of the brochures the 'internal' SIM is the one in the glovebox if you add that option and an 'external' sim is the one in your phone.

Felis, you're right about the SIMs. There's no telematics capability (as there is for example in the modern BMWs which do have an inbuilt set of "online" services) or as in the RoadAngel Camera Locators that contain a SIM with data connection to update themselves and contact emergency services if needed.

I'm probably missing the point of this but if your smartphone is already acting as internet hot spot what is the benefit of linking the kids tablets (WiFi only) via the Columbus to the hotspot over the tablets connecting directly to the advertised hotspot on the smartphone?

There is only ONE sim slot - in the unit in the glovebox - and only IF the premium wlan option is specificed on ordering. There is no sim slot anywhere else.

What drewpost confirms is that the network bridging is available even if the Premium WLAN is not specced. Therefore the "premium WLAN" option only adds the ability to use a SIM in the glove box to establish an internet data connection.

Hope that helps clear it up.

OK cheers

It's just the spec in the brochure that makes it confusing

I'm probably missing the point of this but if your smartphone is already acting as internet hot spot what is the benefit of linking the kids tablets (WiFi only) via the Columbus to the hotspot over the tablets connecting directly to the advertised hotspot on the smartphone?

Exactly! Maybe to support things like smartgate? Only thing I can think of.

The odd thing is that all of the manuals show the SIM card slot. I wonder if you get it as standard in other markets?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Probably no more than signal strength as I would expect the Columbus system to connect to an external aerial which will in turn provide higher data rates than would be achievable from say a smartphone buried in a handbag/man bag. With 4G LTE being higher 'up' the radio spectrum above 3G, the signal/noise ratio becomes more important so the better the signal strength the higher the data rate. A car makes a good Faraday cage which doesn't help propagation.

This of course assumes that you (a) live/drive in a 3G/4G area and ( b )can actually get a decent data throughput due to capacity being available on your local cells. Oh and there's ( c ) want data Comms for your passengers in the first place......

Edited 28 September, 201510 yr by FelisBengalensis

Benefits of connecting to the Columbus unit WiFi hotspot over the Phone's own one:

 

• As Felis says, improved signal strength on the data connection
• Less power drain on the phone's battery (only one wifi client, not multiple) - device is already powered
• Your devices are on the same network as the Columbus unit - which will also be handing out DHCP IP addresses, meaning all devices can use MediaCommand.
• Might support more clients that the phone's hotspot (Columbus supports 8)
• Possibly higher WiFi throughput (Would hope Columbus wifi antennae better than phone?)

 

This is one area I'll be looking at in great detail when the car arrives; until one of us gets hold of one for long enough to try it all out it some educated guesswork is involved.

Benefits of connecting to the Columbus unit WiFi hotspot over the Phone's own one:

 

• As Felis says, improved signal strength on the data connection
• Less power drain on the phone's battery (only one wifi client, not multiple) - device is already powered
• Your devices are on the same network as the Columbus unit - which will also be handing out DHCP IP addresses, meaning all devices can use MediaCommand.
• Might support more clients that the phone's hotspot (Columbus supports 8)
• Possibly higher WiFi throughput (Would hope Columbus wifi antennae better than phone?)

 

This is one area I'll be looking at in great detail when the car arrives; until one of us gets hold of one for long enough to try it all out it some educated guesswork is involved.

 

well i pick up my L&K tomorrow - but i envisage it will be the weekend before i have time to mess with all the toys properly :p

 

 

just so everybody knows this is why i was confused - copy and pasted from the brochure

 

Columbus touchscreen satellite navigation system with integrated Wi-Fi HDD-based navigation with 8" colour

TFT touchscreen, DVD drive and an internal SIM card slot

 

 

Premium WLAN with integrated high-speed LTE internet † Includes SIM card slot and rSAP profile compatibility

to provide high-speed LTE internet. Only available in combination with Columbus satellite navigation system

Good luck with the pickup tomorrow! The brochure is not exactly the clearest is it :-)

Hope you enjoy it.