Actually, your phone is only used when dialed into the 'services' network (when the SYNC 'Samantha' voice changes. The voice of services is called 'Darby', and she lives in a server outside of the vehicle, but I digress...)

Anyway, when you are getting your destination plugged in (or traffic, or weather, or sports, etc) you are using minutes. As soon as the route is downloaded to your car, though, (and SYNC says 'download complete') your phone is open again to make and receive calls.

The only exception to this is if you stray off the planned route, and SYNC needs to dial back into the 'services' network to get an updated route*. In this case, it *SHOULD* ask you if you want to update the route, and if you confirm, then it calls back in, gets a new route (no interaction necessary from you at this point--it remembers where you want to go), and gives the new route to your car for you to follow.

*When I say 'updated route', I mean that essentially, SYNC doesn't have a map database. The offboard server does. When you want to go somewhere, you talk to the server (hence why the voice changes and is scratchier--it's a phone call), and once the server figures out where you're going, it asks the car where you're currently at, and then figures a route for you (factoring in traffic, construction, and all that jazz), then downloads it to the car. The route is really just a series of waypoints that you should pass through, and the in-vehicle guidance takes you through them. If you stray too far from this route, though, SYNC can't automatically re-calculate your route based on nearby streets, because it doesn't know what they are. So what ends up happening is that SYNC has to call back in to the server (with your permission) and basically say "hey, we wanted the driver to be [wherever], but he's way over here (and off-route) now. Re-calculate a route to his destination based on his NEW location, and send THAT to me, please". At that point, your vehicle has you follow the NEW route to your destination.

But that's the only time it uses your phone. When it's giving you actual maneuver guidance (so long as the download is complete), it should be in Samantha's voice (SYNC voice), and your phone is available for you to use. If you're on the phone, you'll hear that "ding" noise (maneuver coming up--look at display to see what it is), or the "ding ding" noise (execute maneuver now), but it won't talk over your phone call.

So again, you are ONLY charged for a (voice) phone call when you're interacting with the server, or when the route is downloading. Once it's in your car, and you hear 'download complete', your phone is back in service, and the car automatically follows the downloaded list of directions unless you give the 'cancel route' command.

And the best part is that all the data downloading is done over the voice channel of your phone, too (like an old-school modem). You don't need a data plan.

 

awesome information engineer. It wasnt till i read that that i remembered hearing those cues and seeing the download complete. From what i remember also, that download for a decent length trip is pretty quick. Its not lightning fast, but i didnt feel like my car was hooked up to a 56 K modem from 1990.

 

Big thanks from me too. That makes more sense, and is nice to know. Btw, your syncmyride.com customer support chat specialists are giving out alot of bad info, this is just one of the examples. I think they need to read more.

Also, when the voice switches to "Darby" my volume drops real low.... I always have to turn up my radio volume to hear her prompts. When the actual directions are being given to me by "Samantha", the voice is loud and clear. Is this on the list of fixes for the next version?

Thanks again for setting us straight.

 

As FordEngineer mentioned, the voice of "Darby" isn't generated by your vehicle - it's coming from the phone call. The lack of volume may be due to the handset or bluetooth volume on your phone - I don't see how a Sync update would fix this.

 

Hmm, it seems like "Darby" is quieter than the incoming calls I receive. I will try to test and see.

 

This ties back into the 'SYNC phone call volume is super low, and fluctuates all over the place' issue. We know about it, and are trying to figure out a good way to fix it for good (not just apply a band aid). Since you're interacting with Darby through a phone call, you get plagued by this. It's certainly an issue we're working toward fixing as soon as we can. In fact, if you were to call 'services' directly through your cell phone, she should sound loud and clear (well, as loud and clear as can be on a phone connection). In fact, TellMe (the partner who's helping us with the off-board services coordination) has the volume on Darby turned up as far as it will go on their server to help with this issue for now.

No prob.

 

Oh yeah, I mean, it's not that bad, but the data coming over the channel is very simplistic. But, if you were to actually listen in, you'd head the chatter, static, and buzzing of an old-school modem. SYNC, however, is smart enough to know when that Data over Voice (DoV) string is about to start, and it mutes the speakers during that time so you don't have to hear it. If you ever do hear the modem noise through your speakers, you can be fairly certain that something is not working the way it should be.

Yeah, this is what happens when you let marketing control something. We keep trying to tell them this, but they have a hard time listening. For a case study, see syncmyride.com (But seriously, I'll keep my opinions of marketing to myself from now on).

 

FordEngineer,

Thanks for clarifying this for the board. 2 questions:

1) Since the maps are all on the central server, I assume they are updated fairly frequently, correct? What is the frequency of updates? Quarterly?

2) Are you aware that when you are in media mode, turn off your vehicle, then return to your vehicle, that sometimes it jumps to AM radio rather than resume media mode?

 

(duplicate)

 

At the risk of adding too many things to FordEngineer's presumably full plate (and more to the point of this thread)

I turned voice guidance "off." That mutes Samantha's voice (but includes the helpful tones). Unfortunately, it mutes EVERYTHING. So you're jamming to The Allman Brothers when <tone>, then a period of 5-6 seconds of silence (I assume this is the period at which Samantha does her thing), then "Rambling Man" comes back on. Why the period of silence ? Seems like a cheesy workaround to muting her voice -- it just mutes EVERYTHING!