How is Prime connected to the interwebs?

As you surmised - I don't know, but I'll see if I can find out for you. Hang tight.

 

On my Prime, it's free for 3 years.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

^^ Same here^^. Another SoCal Perk the rest of the country doesn't get?

 

I have a Prime Premium, and it's twice updated the console software, asking me each time. My phone was not connected to it, so it is clearly using its own wireless connection to the internet. This must also be how it gets traffic data.

 

What about for the PLUS trim? So the Plus doesn't have "Safety Connect" nor the Entune on the 7" screen -- and I don't have or use the downloadable Entune app on my Android (can't see a reason to have). So for software updates and such, everything would be done through the dealer in person, rather than over a cel connection, or remotely correct?

BTW: HD Radio is AM as well as FM. Here in the LA Area, the strongest HD station is KNX News 1070 AM.

 

The plus has entune and I’ve updated my entune app using my phone before.

 

Just a clarification here. The Advanced has a built-in cell phone which supports what is called "telematics", which is low-data-rate communications from the car for doing things like calling Safety Connect in case of an accident. There are also "Advanced Entune" applications to do things like report the battery charge level, locate the car, remotely turn on the A/C, and so on. The Entune application on the user's smartphone connects to a server over the Internet, and that server handles "talking" to the car to do the desired function.

Completely unrelated other than the use of the name "Entune", there are also the regular Entune applications, which for the most part are media things like Pandora. These use the Internet connectivity of the user's smartphone, and are available on all trim levels. To support this functionality, there is a software component that runs on the car media system, and software which runs as an application on the user's smartphone. The part on the car can get updates using the Internet connectivity of the smartphone via the smartphone Entune application, and the application on the smartphone is updated in the usual way (Apple App Store, Android Play Store).

Using the term "Entune" for both features is just is just a source of confusion, and except for the fact that there is a single smartphone application that supports both features, they really have nothing to do with each other. The Entune smartphone application only shows the Advanced applications if they have been enabled from a Web site, but is still just one application.

 

Sorry for the OT here, but …

Remember "telnetting" in?

And even fewer yet may remember what a "stack" is … and how easy it is to screw one up! LOL

 

In the "old" PiP, traffic data came through XM - so when the free trial ended (mine ended up being three years - maybe all the Adv models had this) so did the traffic data. The nav - while still operational - no longer showed any traffic data. So if it is true that the data comes through HD rather than XM, this is a former problem that is fixed in the Prime.

 

I am real sure that my 2012 PiP was receiving XM traffic data until I traded it in for my Prime in February 2017. I had my own subscription to XM data with traffic which I set up after the complimentary subscription expired, in addition to a subscription for audio radio channels. When I got the Prime, I made sure that the data subscription was cancelled and had a prorated refund applied to my account.

 

Newbie! When I was in graduate school in the 1970's, I had an ArpaNet account. ArpaNet was the Defense Department project that evolved into the Internet. And before telnet, there was good old modem to modem calls into a timesharing system. My first experience with online banking was one of these pre-Internet dialups.

 

What, nobody talking about X.25 (X dot 25) yet?

 

Funny - I once worked for the company that was responsible for building out the ArpaNet under the original grant. The part of the company that became responsible for internet work and Mae East network peering point was sold off to Level 3 after it went bankrupt but the research company still exists and is part of Raytheon.

 

Used to "telnet in" all the time, both daily from home (my main email box was accessible only via telnet to the system) and even internationally when travelling -- both to a shell account as well as telnet-able BBSes. There are still some places where you can telnet into I believe (like NYX.NET) though for the most part, that (along with BBSes in the traditional sense) are from another era.

If you want to talk funny/stupid computer experiments of days gone by, besides normal telnet, there was also a commercial service called "PC Pursuit" available in major US Cities. Owned by Sprint, it made use of their phone lines after the business day, when usage would go down. For $30/month you could use your computer and connect from your major metropolitan area, to local BBSes or computer telephone numbers in other major metropolitan areas (if you lived in LA, you could use PC Pursuit in the evenings to call a local BBS in Brooklyn, Boston, San Fransisco, etc). This was in the 300/1200 baud days. The connection was pretty sluggish, because you shared the lines with others. If you instead called a BBS directly with the normal phone company and typed "Q", you'd see the "Q" immediately on your screen. But if you used PC Pursuit, you'd type "Q" and it'd take maybe 1/2 sec to 1 sec to see the "Q" finally pop back up on your screen. So I thought it'd be fun one time to see how much of a loop I could make, and what the delay would be like. Calling the local LA PC Pursuit access number, I then connected to the local NYC PC Pursuit access number, then from NY, called back to the local LA number, then connected right back to NY, etc., I didn't even try other cities (like Boston), I just did LA - NY - LA - NY - LA - NY - LA - NY - LA a whole bunch of times. I forget how long I made the loop, but at least 20 times back and forth, just to see how long the delay would be. So then when I finally decided it was enough, I'd press a key (like "Q") and watch as it'd then take maybe 40 seconds for the "Q" to finally appear on my screen! (bouncing back and forth between LA and NY dozens of times along the way). Now that's boredom... and days gone by!

 

It's amazing that anything resembling work ever got done back then … Things have changed SO quickly. And it kind of reminds me of the wait we had when the original PiPs floated over from Japan - and how many of us used GPS tracking to follow the ships over. Seems like about the same wait. LOL

 

Tinfoil hat time..
If you look at the prime rear window, at the very top, there appear to be un-terminated heating elements, that look a bit like antenna elements.

They are a bit large to be for cell or anything related to satellites (XM, GPS, etc.)
There are quite a few of them too. Where do these things go?

They _could_ be for ordinary broadcast radio (it's about the right size), and this would make sense, but I thought the FM antenna was in the shark fin thingy?

As for connectivity, I still use telnet extensively for debug consoles, and is quite useful for a lot of embedded folks. Say what you will about ssh, but it simply won't fit into really small things, just make sure to disable it in production! Remember, back in the 'good old days' we had real honest to goodness _line noise_. The dreaded 'no carrier' due to some idiot picking up an extension phone was also quite refreshing after getting your file 99% downloaded!

Now, who has done xmodem over a telnet connection?

 

My telnet dates back to PDP-8 in 1982, I think my xmodem predates that by a year. I have used them both together very rarely.

Communications with the Prius operational electronics is usually over the CAN bus. which is hardwired, except for those owners who have added bluetooth dongles.

Toyota seems to have understood that co-mingling operational electronics and infotainment electronics, is a bad idea, unlike some other vendors.