Wifi Hotspot through UVO Link and Verizon

22402 Views 90 Replies 32 Participants Last post by 2022carnivalprestige, 10 mo ago

Echandaragga

Discussion Starter · Sep 3, 2021 (Edited)

Hey all!

Go to this website and enter your VIN to see if your carnival is eligible for IN CAR WIFI CAPABILITY. it's finally here and I'm so excited that this is happening!

Wi-Fi Hotspot

owners.kia.com

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Leshemdoc

· #2 · Sep 3, 2021

Echandaragga said:
Hey all!

Go to this website and enter your VIN to see if your carnival is eligible for IN CAR WIFI CAPABILITY. it's finally here and I'm so excited that this is happening!

Wi-Fi Hotspot

owners.kia.com

Thanks! I wonder why Kia hasn't notified all eligible owners. Maybe they are doing a slow rollout.
Looks like it is available for EX, SX and SXP.
Requires:

Enrolling in a UVO package, including the lite package that is complimentary for 5 years.
Updating the navigation and multi media software.
Signing up for a Verizon data plan (free trial includes 3GB for 3 months which is not much).

My kids are older and we each have a 40GB hotspot per month included with our unlimited plan from ATT so this will not be relevant to us. However, this is great news for anyone with young kids in the back. Thank you @Echandaragga!

Phantasm22

· #3 · Sep 3, 2021

Echandaragga said:
Hey all!

Go to this website and enter your VIN to see if your carnival is eligible for IN CAR WIFI CAPABILITY. it's finally here and I'm so excited that this is happening!

Wi-Fi Hotspot

owners.kia.com

This is awesome. It says a firmware update is required for my carnival but the latest I think is from April.

babysteph13

· #4 · Sep 5, 2021

Phantasm22 said:
This is awesome. It says a firmware update is required for my carnival but the latest I think is from April.

Latest is from April so they haven't release the new update in order for this to work.

Oger2point0

· #5 · Sep 8, 2021

babysteph13 said:
Latest is from April so they haven't release the new update in order for this to work.

Did my update yesterday. Just download the updater and log into your uvo account and it will tell you if there's a update for your vehicle. I've done 3 updates since April.

Phantasm22

· #6 · Sep 8, 2021

When I downloaded the updater software and log in it says that I have no registered vehicles. Clicking on the "register now" just takes me to my Kia owners page, which has my registered vehicle. I called Kia support and they said that the two systems "don't talk to each other and that I should use the guest". The only updates I see when selecting the 2022 Kia Carnival are the updates from April. The support person said that I should download that version and it will enable the wifi update. I had to order a larger USB thumb drive because it requires ~32GB stick to update the software, so once that comes, I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Rectangle Screenshot Font Software Technology

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Oger2point0

· #7 · Sep 8, 2021

Phantasm22 said:
When I downloaded the updater software and log in it says that I have no registered vehicles. Clicking on the "register now" just takes me to my Kia owners page, which has my registered vehicle. I called Kia support and they said that the two systems "don't talk to each other and that I should use the guest". The only updates I see when selecting the 2022 Kia Carnival are the updates from April. The support person said that I should download that version and it will enable the wifi update. I had to order a larger USB thumb drive because it requires ~32GB stick to update the software, so once that comes, I'll let everyone know how it goes.

View attachment 537

That's strange that they told you that. Mine is syncing just fine you can see in the bottom of my pic that I've installed the current software.

Tire Vehicle Blue Wheel Car

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UN-Limited

· #8 · Sep 8, 2021

Phantasm22 said:
When I downloaded the updater software and log in it says that I have no registered vehicles. Clicking on the "register now" just takes me to my Kia owners page, which has my registered vehicle. I called Kia support and they said that the two systems "don't talk to each other and that I should use the guest". The only updates I see when selecting the 2022 Kia Carnival are the updates from April. The support person said that I should download that version and it will enable the wifi update. I had to order a larger USB thumb drive because it requires ~32GB stick to update the software, so once that comes, I'll let everyone know how it goes.

View attachment 537

Exact same issue here! I needed a bigger thumb drive since I don't use those things anymore (cloud storage for everything). I heard this update caused a bluetooth pairing bug for the rear seat screens on at least one person's vehicle. Could have been just a coincidence though so take it with a grain of salt.

Phantasm22

· #9 · Sep 8, 2021

I ended up opening a case with Kia UVO Call Center. They tried from their end and are seeing the exact same issue I'm seeing.

Carnival_Winner

· #10 · Sep 8, 2021

Hello,
I have spoke with UVO call center.

They have confirmed me the instruction after installed the S/W.

1. Check mail inbox that is registered to Kia Access APP account. (They said wait about maximum 1day for email)
2. If instruction email has received, follow instruction. It will takes several days...(I don't get it.. what takes several days)
3. You will receive another email for Wi-Fi Hotspot sign up email.
4. Done.

Good luck guys~!

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Phantasm22

· #11 · Sep 10, 2021

Step 1 is complete for me. I'll share some of my stumbles so that others don't have a repeat.

As previously stated, you'll need at least a 32GB thumb drive
DO NOT download the update directly to the drive. It will fail. I had two different thumb drives bomb out on me and I was panicking that my new drives were broken. Unfortunately the write speed of the thumb drive couldn't keep up with the download speed from the internet. Instead, just download to your local drive and then copy it over to the thumb drive.
The update will take ~30 mins to complete. I just inserted the drive in the car and turned it to AUX and it detected the update and started it. 30 mins later and it was done.

I haven't played with the update or taken a screenshot of what version it updated me to. I'll report back when I have more info.

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babysteph13

· #12 · Sep 10, 2021

Oger2point0 said:
That's strange that they told you that. Mine is syncing just fine you can see in the bottom of my pic that I've installed the current software.
View attachment 538

What is the date on this software update?

UN-Limited

· #13 · Sep 12, 2021

Phantasm22 said:
Step 1 is complete for me. I'll share some of my stumbles so that others don't have a repeat.

As previously stated, you'll need at least a 32GB thumb drive

DO NOT download the update directly to the drive. It will fail. I had two different thumb drives bomb out on me and I was panicking that my new drives were broken. Unfortunately the write speed of the thumb drive couldn't keep up with the download speed from the internet. Instead, just download to your local drive and then copy it over to the thumb drive.

The update will take ~30 mins to complete. I just inserted the drive in the car and turned it to AUX and it detected the update and started it. 30 mins later and it was done.

I haven't played with the update or taken a screenshot of what version it updated me to. I'll report back when I have more info.

When you downloaded the files to the hard drive, did you copy the entire folder to the thumb drive or just the folder's contents? In other words, did you just dump the files into the root directory of the thumb drive, or did you maintain the folder structure?

Beaver Family_MO

· #14 · Sep 12, 2021 (Edited)

UN-Limited said:
When you downloaded the files to the hard drive, did you copy the entire folder to the thumb drive or just the folder's contents? In other words, did you just dump the files into the root directory of the thumb drive, or did you maintain the folder structure?

I just downloaded the update to my PC. After that the KIA Navigation Updater program asks you if you want to copy it over to you USB thumb drive. Mine is copying over right now. It is slow, like 25mins to copy. Could be due to the read/write speed of my 32GB thumb drive. We will see how it goes from here.

Update: it worked, it's just a slow process. Carnival is updated.

Reactions: 1

bruesjoh04

· #15 · Sep 12, 2021

UN-Limited said:
When you downloaded the files to the hard drive, did you copy the entire folder to the thumb drive or just the folder's contents? In other words, did you just dump the files into the root directory of the thumb drive, or did you maintain the folder structure?

You need to make sure all the files are in top level of the USB drive. They cannot be in another folder, or they won’t be visible to the car when you try to perform the update.

Usually this should be done for you by the program. But if it isn’t, that’s what you want.

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Beaver Family_MO

· #16 · Sep 12, 2021

Carnival_Winner said:
Hello,
I have spoke with UVO call center.

They have confirmed me the instruction after installed the S/W.

1. Check mail inbox that is registered to Kia Access APP account. (They said wait about maximum 1day for email)
2. If instruction email has received, follow instruction. It will takes several days...(I don't get it.. what takes several days)
3. You will receive another email for Wi-Fi Hotspot sign up email.
4. Done.

Good luck guys~!

Did you get the email, and wifi functional?

Phantasm22

· #17 · Sep 13, 2021

UN-Limited said:
When you downloaded the files to the hard drive, did you copy the entire folder to the thumb drive or just the folder's contents? In other words, did you just dump the files into the root directory of the thumb drive, or did you maintain the folder structure?

Copied the contents of the folder to the root. It includes a bunch of compressed tar gzip files. Also, the Mac version didn’t offer to copy to the drive after downloading.

LPUndrgrndr

· #18 · Sep 13, 2021

I was able to perform the update and received the e-mail to enable the Wi-Fi Hotspot. It looks like all UVO link features get disabled while the Wi-Fi Hotspot is being added, which takes 3-5 days. This seems like such a backwards way for Kia to roll this out. It's especially frustrating because there's not a lot of details about this whole process. I'd really like to know if wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay will be enabled now that Wi-Fi is available.

Here is the text from the e-mail:

Congratulations on successfully updating your Kia’s navigation system! You’re now ready to move to the next step of enabling your vehicle for Wi-Fi Hotspot.

Please note: During this process, your UVO will be unenrolled from UVO link and none of the UVO link features (i.e. Remote Commands, Find My Car) will be available during this time.

After 3-5 days, your will be Wi-Fi ready and we will send you an email requesting you re-enroll your vehicle into UVO link with instructions on how to do so. If your vehicle was on a free trial of UVO link, the re-enrollment will continue your free trial based on the original enrollment date.

After you enroll you will receive an email from our partner Verizon confirming the Wi-Fi Hotspot activation and the start of your Wi-Fi Hotspot free trial.

You will then be ready to enjoy your 3-month or 3-GB free trial (whichever comes earlier) free trial.1

If you are interested in enabling Wi-Fi Hotspot, please click the link below to continue:

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Carnival_Winner

· #19 · Sep 13, 2021

LPUndrgrndr said:
I was able to perform the update and received the e-mail to enable the Wi-Fi Hotspot. It looks like all UVO link features get disabled while the Wi-Fi Hotspot is being added, which takes 3-5 days. This seems like such a backwards way for Kia to roll this out. It's especially frustrating because there's not a lot of details about this whole process. I'd really like to know if wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay will be enabled now that Wi-Fi is available.

Here is the text from the e-mail:

Wireless Carplay and Android Auto will not support from this update.
This Updates only for

2021 April Map DB update
WiFi Hotspot via Verizon

LPUndrgrndr

· #20 · Sep 13, 2021

Carnival_Winner said:
Wireless Carplay and Android Auto will not support from this update.
This Updates only for

2021 April Map DB update

WiFi Hotspot via Verizon

That's very disappointing, but I'm still hopeful they will add it in the future.

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