Forum Discussion
SyncUp & Drive kills batteries/alternator
I recently added the SyncUP & Drive device to my account - we are long-time T-Mobile customers and have not had any problems whatsoever besides this to date. My son was getting his license and I ...
¡Hola, @hjchase1!
Welcome to our Support Community! Gosh, that's not a great first experience for your son especially since he's just getting on the road. It doesn't put your family in a great position either with this happening to two vehicles from the sounds of it. I listed next steps in a different thread you commented on: SyncUp Issues. Please follow those steps to get a ticket filed so our Engineers can figure out why this is happening.
My battery has died twice since I got this device within a week. Coincidence? Don't think so, the battery is less than a year old. Today, the car started losing power on the highway, and eventually died on the exit ramp while showing the battery warning light. Luckily, it turned back on and the battery light disappeared; but the car had little power. Called AAA, they said the battery was fine and that it was the alternator (aside from the battery not receiving a good charge and trying to provide power to make up for the failing alternator). Car is now at Audi and it sounds like this darn device is going to cost me around a $1,000 in repairs. To make it worse, and I'll admit it's pretty funny, the device says my battery is healthy and shows good amps even when the battery died a few days ago and I had to get it jump started, and today when the battery icon turned on and the car was clearly struggling. T-Mobile probably won't care, I'll call in the morning; but if you don't want to risk damaging your car do not get one of these. Just suck it up and pay the premium for your car's built in wireless service or use your phone as a hotspot. If you want to spy on your teen driver (not why I got this) just stick an AirTag or Tile into the car, or have a pro install a good dashcam (some offer 4G/LTE, not aware of 5G).
