When trying to play Pandora through the car radio I get the message "no internet connection". I called GM tech support and they told me that you have to buy a internet package. Is this true? it works fine when played through the media side of the radio but it doesn't have the functionality of Pandora from the screen.

 

Pandora app requires internet. You can tell your car to join your home Wifi, but then you won't be able to use Pandora once you leave your garage. So yes, you either need to buy a wifi data plan for your car, or tell your car to use your phone as a wifi hot spot if your phone supports it.

 

Since compressed music is very low bandwidth, everyone uses their phone's data plan to pull the music down. The purpose of the Pandora app on your infotainment is not to supply music, but to be used as an alternate (more convenient) front end for your phone's Pandora app.

Interesting. This is the first I am hearing that anyone would even consider buying GM's wifi for that purpose since phone data plans are a lot cheaper than using GM.

 

You don't say what year you have. If is a 2014 with Pandora app, not Android Auto or Apple carplay - keep reading.

The Pandora app runs on your phone. The phone must have an internet connection. The Infotainment screen is merely an interface to Pandora on the phone.

With the Pandora app in my 2014 - pair your phone with the car. Make sure you have the latest Pandora version on your phone and that you have a Pandora account that stays logged in. Have at least one Pandora "station" defined. Phone must have 4g data enabled (WiFi might work in your garage). Phone must be unlocked. Media volume on the phone must be set all the way LOUD.

Now - press the Pandora app on the infotainment main screen. After maybe 15 seconds Pandora will start. You can change stations, etc. from the infotainment screen.

Have fun!

Ron

 

You don't need a WiFi connection to use Pandora. However, you do need an internet connection. It need not be WiFi. WiFi's only one way to connect. You could use your cell phone's celluar connection. Of course this may cost you money depending on your cell phone's data plan. I, for example, have unlimited data with Sprint so I don't even think about this.Maybe you do too...

Technically this is not true. It's true that sometime compressed music has low bandwith. But it doesn't need to. It can have high bandwidth and it could use a lossless form of encoding (meaning you're not really lossing anything by the compression algorigthm). Also there is no guarantee that pulling music down will result in any higher bandwidth, or a better compression algorithm for the music. In fact the opposite is highly likely. IOW it's much more likely that a streaming service would try to conserve on how much data is shoved down the pipe to you to 1) cut their costs and 2) better insure that the end user gets at least some music as opposed to studdering.

The WifFi connection in a vette is just a plain stupid idea. It'll get no better speeds than your phone (unless you're provider is just a lot spottier in the area than the provide that GM uses) plus you are paying for yet another data plan. Of course, again, it may depend on whether or not you have unlimited data from your cell phone provider and if you don't, how much that'll cost you compared with having a car WiFi data plan and a cell phone plan. Some say that the antenna in the vette may be better than your phone. I don't think that's true at all and it's surely not worth it.

Me? I use Google Play Music - uploaded all of my music up there, spent like $20 on a 128 gig sdcard for my phone then told Google Play Music to download all of my music. So now I have all of my music on my phone and don't even need to worry about WiFi, celluar data connection or anything.

 

Yes, you do need a wifi connection to use the Pandora App on the Mylink system. Of course you can put your phone into Hotspot mode, which broadcasts a wifi signal, and then connect your Mylink to that Wifi signal. This will then use your phones data plan to feed wifi to the Mylink system. Either way, the Mylink system has to see a Wifi signal from somewhere to stream music. Hence why it's asking for a Wifi signal.

You can also tell Pandora to use lower bitrate streams to reduce data usage. So he was right too.

And I actually pay for Wifi in my vette. I use it to auto connect apps to the internet and my Radar/Laser systems without having to break out my phone and put it into hotspot mode. I find it very useful. It's also stronger than my phones broadband in low coverage areas.

 

I've never had WiFi in the Vette and I've never paid Sprint for a hotspot connection. I'm pretty sure I've used Pandora with my phone in the car. I really don't think that software can tell, nor cares if your internet connection is using WiFi or cellular data. I'm pretty sure there's a setting in the Pandora app itself to say only use WiFi connection as many people still worry about data charges. Just toggle that off and you can use your cellular data connection in addition to WiFi. I don't know as I don't use Pandora. I find it limiting and nagging for me to purchase it so I uninstalled it long ago.

Hmmm... Apparently, there's also the allow background data setting for Android phones. See https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/896407. Note that this article verifies that you can indeed use Pandora on 4G. And when you think about it it stands to reason that you may want to listen to Pandora on a walk or when you're getting some chow and no WiFi is around.

Not sure who "he" is here however I never said you can not use lower bitrate streams to reduce data usage, rather I said you could use non-lower bitrate streams if you choose to like when data usage charges are not an issue.

Apparently, you don't understand the internet nor WiFi that well. I also use my cell phone to connect to internet apps (Android Auto, streaming podcasts (though most times I have it downloaded beforehand) as well as Radar/Laser systems. I don't have hotspot mode nor do I need it. I do "break out my phone" as you put it because I use Android Auto and I prefer using it. It currently requires a USB connection. But the music/podcasts sound a lot clearer when connected to the USB and I'm charging my phone. But I can use my various media apps through Bluetooth and I can connect my Radar app without taking the phone out of the pocket. IOW most of the things you say you have to use WiFi for I can do and have done without WIFi.

And I addressed your issue of supposedly getting better signal on WiFi than your phone. I believe the Vette's WiFi is AT&T. If you are using say Verizon or Sprint and the area that you are in just doesn't have good coverage for your provider, but AT&T has better coverage then yes the Vette's WiFI, powered by AT&T, will give you a stronger signal. But if your provider was AT&T then it would be no faster - more convenient perhaps, but no faster.

 

It is actually very easy. You just use your phone as a hotspot. On my Samsung S9 you just turn Hotspot and Tethering. Then set up the car stereo to recognize your phone internet. I have it set up on my 2019 and 2017 Colorado with no extra fees, etc. I have helped a few folks set theirs up as well. It is pretty easy but nit real intuitive so climb in the car and play. GM doesnt really spell it out well as they want you to sign up fir Onstar to acheive this......

 

My experience is that tethering costs you extra. At least with Sprint. Maybe because I have unlimited data. At one point I had downloaded and used Free Wireless Hotspot for Root Users, but you had to root the phone and nowadays I believe this kills the ability to use Samsung Pay, which I use all the time. You're probably playing extra $$$ for the ability to use your phone as a hotspot.

Here's an article about how to get free tethering - https://www.lifewire.com/tether-your...or-free-121653. It stands to reason that if this site's telling you how to get tethering for free that it's often not free.

 

I just use Android Auto.

 

I do too, but others don't have that option.

 

Plug your phone in and have pandora on your phone as well. Will work then.

 

Again, you keep thinking the OP is talking about playing the Pandora App on his PHONE and connecting it to his car to play through the speakers. Obviously this doesn't need wifi and uses your phones data. But if you actually know the MyLink system you would know there is a Pandora App installed on it. It is NOT a controller for Pandora on your phone. It is its very own App the was installed into the head unit from factory. This has nothing to do with your phones Pandora app. The Pandora app in the Mylink system DOES require a Wifi signal to use. With this app you don't have to have a phone in the car but you have to connect it to a Wifi signal. It is the only way it will work. Now if for whatever reason you want to use your phone as a hotspot to feed a wifi signal to the Pandora App embedded into the Mylink system you can, but if you have your phone it is better to just use the Pandora app on your phone and stream over your phones data.

What you seem to be missing is that "playing pandora from your phone over bluetooth or usb cable" is NOT the same as "loading the Pandora app on the Mylink system". They are two different things, two different apps. I know for a fact that the Pandora App embedded into the Mylink system requires Wifi. It is its own App and is not a controller for the pandora app on your phone. It has nothing to do with it.

By the way, I build Datacenter Infrastructure Systems for a living. I'm pretty sure my knowledge of what Wifi is would far surpass your expectations. Your Pandora app on your phone runs in a cloud system like the ones I build every day.

 

Dude, me too! Though I tend to work on my client's data centers, many that still seem to eschew cloud computing...

So, audio going through Bluetooth uses a WifI connection... Check...

Excuse me but check your premises. I never said I pay for WiFi and I've never paid for WiFi for my car. So while you may claim yourself the networking guru you, like everybody else including me too, are human and make mistakes. And yes I do use a USB stick for music in addition to other sources so sue me! WiFi in the car is still stupid and by that I mean WiFi that is used to connect to the internet. Stated definitively, I have never, I repeat NEVER connected my phone to my cars WiFi. Never even bothered setting it up.

I also said that I've only used Pandora once or twice for a few hours at best. It was my impression that the music was being played from my phone using Bluetooth, not WiFi. Are you saying that the audio that's being streamed is using WiFi to get to the head unit? Pretty cool considering my WiFi is turned off! Or are you saying that my phone uses WiFi to control the Pandora App on MyLink? Also a cool trick considering I've never set up nor used my WiFi in the car.

My WiFi on the phone was turned off. So tell me again, how was I using WiFi with Pandora?

Oh and I have no idea what "Android Connect" is. Did you mean Android Auto?

 

Please spare me Mr hotshot. I do the same thing though again, not on cloud centers but on fortune 500 companies premises and I've probably been doing it longer than you.

 

Well since Pandora is owned by SiriusXM...

Now how do you guys feel about XM? -shaking head.

Do you buy the XM contract or the Pandora XM contract?

 

Personally, I buy nothing. Do you know how much free music is on the internet?!?

 

To be specific, the cloud platform is just a piece of the cluster of hardware I work with. I deploy hybrid environments mostly. Been doing this nearly 20 years so its useless to try and measure our ePeens over this. I'm sure were both good at our jobs. I can't disclose my clients but I live in the Datacenter and cover everything from power and cooling, international networking backbones, enterprise infrastructure and on and on. Basically form a business and a technical standpoint I cover it all.

Anyhow, my only point is that I am confused if you are referring to the Pandora App on your phone or the Pandora App on the Mylink system. They are not the same and at least in my 2015 C7 and my 2017 Camaro SS, you can only use the Mylink systems Pandora app if you connect Mylink to a Wifi signal, regardless of where the signal comes from. So you and I are either not on the same page in regards to the apps, or we have different versions of the Mylink system.

 

Just pair your phone with Bluetooth to the car and run Pandora on your phone and it Bluetooth to your radio. No need for hot spots or WiFi. I have never used the Pandora app on the radio.

 

Thanks, I'll be sure to update your resume with all of this information! I only said I do it too.