[Percydh]

Last 2 weeks back I got delivery of my iX50. In USA for Personal eSim it seems the carrier is only T-Mobile, in order to have Wifi in the vehicle.
My mobile phone carrier is Verizon. My questions are:
1) Do I need to have account for T-Mobile only or I can be able to get this Personal eSim activated by Verizon.
2) I will appreciate if I can get some phone number to call to get help in activating eSim.
Any help will be appreciated.

 

[khaost]

Currently Personal eSIM only works with T-Mobile in the US. You'll need an account with T-Mobile to activate that.

For more information you can check T-Mobile's website. If you prefer to talk to someone, you can try reach out to BMW Genius (844-443-6487) or BMW Assist (888-333-6118).

 

[BMWiX192]

Just wondering, can't you use Verizon Hotspot Phone WiFi in your car? It will be from your phone. You might not even need to active sim. Unless you want to have car's own phone number attach to it and have it's own data plan.

 

[Legin]

At my car handover it was explained to me that the car eSim is mainly for automatic system updates and automatic communication with emergency services if in accident.

It can also be used to provide a WiFi network in the car for anyone to use if you share the password, however need to pay for a data plan to do this.

Suggested I use my own smart phone as hub for hotspot under my existing data plan and not use car eSim.

Hope this helps.

 

[Percydh]

I think now I get proper understanding that the T-Mobile personal eSim is needed for “only” Wifi purpose in Car which I can accomplish by my Hotspot from my Verizon network. However for updates and emergency services car’s own SIM will do the job. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[khaost]

Yup that's correct. You don't need to setup T-Mobile service if you don't plan to use in-car WiFi hotspot.

 

[busymom13]

I have spent months and months and hours of my time trying to get this figured out. I purchased the Premium package specifically for the personal eSIM (who honestly needs remote cameras). I got spoiled with my 2018 X5 and used it all the time when working. With 30-minute charging times, it seemed it would be especially helpful to make my charging time more efficient. My family phone plan will not let me add a hot spot and switching phone plans is out of the question since we won't be able to get service in the right areas (ie rural) with T-mobile.

Here you go:
1. You MUST have a T-mobile phone account to get this to work.
2. This is from last week's emails from a concierge:

"Thank you for contacting the BMW i Team regarding your 2022 BMW iX xDrive50. We appreciate your patience.

At this time, only T-Mobile customers are able to use their mobile plan with Personal eSIM. Customers with other major mobile network providers are expected to be able to use their mobile plan with Personal eSIM in the near future. There is also no external WiFi Hotspot that you are able to use. I encourage you to stay in touch with our latest announcements and offerings through our BMW PressClub at:
PressClub USA."

I'm not happy about this turn of events especially since BMW is still advertising the personal eSIM as a $300 on other electric car builds without mentioning you HAVE to have a T-mobile account for it to function. I honestly do not think that BMW had any clue about this restriction until the last few weeks as the dealership had my car for 3 weeks while we tried to figure this out!. I'm not sure where to go from here and just try to get what I paid for. If anyone has any further insight, like on future rollouts with AT&T and other carriers, I'd appreciate it.

 

[jeffgtx]

The $300 is for the wifi hotspot hardware in the car. it needs a plan to function with a carrier. IT is not really a BMW issue so much as getting the carriers to accept the eSIM rather than a physical sim. we went through he same pain when apple enabled sim on the iPad and iPhone. ATT and other will eventually allow it, but i am sure it has to go through certifications etc. mobile just had the exclusive access first apparently.