This is a silly thing that I just resolved. You might get a laugh out of it. Mazda's have wifi, and you can log into it. BUT, you don't have internet access with it without paid subscription. Without thinking much about it, I connected my phone to Mazda wifi without thinking about that subscription, and then NOTHING on my phone worked properly. This isn't even about CarPlay. The phone, sitting all by itself in the car WON'T WORK. Why? Because, at least with an iPhone, the iPhone chooses wifi, rather than cellular, by default if available. That means, if your phone is logged onto Mazda wifi, without a subscription, it WILL NOT GO TO CELLULAR, AND IT WILL NOT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET. You're stuck. It will just sit there and complain that it can't connect, even if you have great cellular signal. So if you don't take the trouble and expense to get full service Mazda wifi with internet access, don't let your phone get logged into that Mazda wifi. You can always turn off wifi entirely on your phone, but that's just a PIA. Just don't allow your phone to join it.

 

Don't know about IOS, but Android units have an option in the settings to delete saved WiFi networks. Simple solution there.

 

Not helpful. iOS has that setting too. But if people don't delete the wifi, and allow it to auto-join, they're hosed. That's why I posted this. To strongly suggest that they do.

 

Not polite, especially for new members, to disrespect someone who responded to your query.

 

Nothing not polite. No disrespect intended. Just said that the comment didn't really apply. Kinda sensitive, aren't you? The comment was about iPhones. The response was about Android.

 

Apple makes new iPhones so frequently how could it even be an issue...

 

Android people might have the same problem with the WiFi. How you deal with it depends on the OS.

 

What annoys me about the wifi on my 21 is I have a paid subscription as my wife uses it for work with her laptop as we drive. I added an AA wireless dongle and it has to use the wifi as well and the computer can't connect to wifi if the dongle is in use. I have to unplug the dongle and use a wired connection instead. Does anyone know if the newer models with built-in wireless AA/CP have this issue? Will the wifi in the car work as intended so you can connect your phone or laptop and the wireless AA still functions as well?

I understand this is another subject OP- not trying to threadjack....

On the subject of your post, why wouldn't the iPhone realize it didn't have a working connection since you don't have service and revert to the cellular connection?

 

On your iPhone, if you turn on Wifi Assist, it will use cellular if the wifi connection doesn't nave internet access. That may help.

 

That's not the point. Wifi assist uses cellular if the wifi connection is weak or unreliable. I'm talking about wifi that is strong and reliable, but is not connected to the internet. If you allow your phone to log into Mazda wifi, but you don't have an internet subscription for that Mazda wifi, your phone is hosed. Of course, it's a little nonsensical to allow your phone to log into wifi that doesn't connect to the internet, but you might say, as I did, hey, I might get around to that someday!