[vb307]

Just took delivery of my obsidian grey R Design last week. I bought it on Super Bowl Sunday via phone and text from a dealer nearly 500 miles away. I had searched every dealer in CA the night before and found *one* R Design in the entire state with the color and all of the packages I wanted, including Polestar. I've spent most of the long weekend going through the manual and learning how to use the car. I love it!

One issue I'm having is that the internal modem isn't working - it says I need to insert a SIM card. From what I can tell all XC40's come with a SIM installed and my window sticker mentions having a complimentary wifi hotspot subscription. It also says it can't find any new apps or connect to any data service, and the standard apps I'd expect (Spotify, Pandora, etc) are not there. I've got a call into the dealer, but since I'm so far away, they're not super responsive now that they've sold the car. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Kalvin]

Glad to hear that you were able to secure yourself a new XC40, congrats! A lot of people have been traveling out of state/country to get themselves one, as availability of them is still quite scarce. There have been other reports of the SIM Card not working and some have attributed it to a software update. They have recommended connecting to the internet via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth tethering until a proper fix has been found. Some have had luck resetting their APN settings, but this will have to be done every time the car is restarted.

 

[vb307]

Thanks! How do you reset the APN?

 

[Aizen]

Welcome to the forum vb307 and congrats on your new XC40! Just a note that I believe the monthly allowance for the SIM card is only 1GB, so you're going to go through that fairly quickly anyways. I've heard that there is no current fix for this issue, but you should still be able to connect to your home network via Wi-Fi. You can also tether to a hotspot on your phone while you are out and about.

 

[eVolved]

Congrats on getting your XC40.

Have you started to think about what modifications and accessories to get?

 

[vb307]

Not yet - I got the car pretty fully loaded so don't feel like I need too many more accessories. I'm sure as I start driving it more places than just my daily commute, I'll think of things.

 

[Jezza]

Trying to do this by memory... At some point during this process I had to call Volvo customer service and have them activate my service because my dealer didn't do it. They wanted to know my PIN number.. I didn't know it so they reset it and gave it to me over the phone and adamantly said don't lose it.. So, once the Volvo On Call was activated thru Volvo, I did this:

From the home page, swipe left. Select the Volvo ID app and make sure you're signed in to the Volvo ID you created using the Volvo On Call app on your smartphone.

Then make sure your internet thru the cell modem is turned on by swiping down on the little tab at the very top center of the screen, going to settings, choosing Communications, and then I think it's Vehicle Modem Internet. Make sure that checkmark is turned on.

From the same "swipe left" menu, there's a button for Download Center. You use that to search for new apps such as Spotify and Pandora.

The internet cell service you get works on AT&T's 2G network. It is painfully slow. The apps are slow and songs buffer when starting. The apps also aren't very well developed so just not as polished as the smart phone versions. The Spotify app is handy when I don't want to deal with plugging my phone in to access Apple Car Play; but doing so usually means a better experience, in my opinion. I haven't even activated my in car hotspot for the same reason. Tethering to an LTE connection thru a smartphone is a much better option when available.