2019 RAV4 - phone connection interference issue

[Southern Softy]

Good morning all,

I have my phone ( LG K8 - 2017 ) set up via Bluetooth with wi-fi hotspot enabled so I get live traffic updates, all works fine and it is not connected via any USB. When I try to make a phone call I get dropout and cannot hear the person on the other end, they keep cutting in and out. If I plug the phone in via the USB in the centre arm rest box it makes no difference but if I either plug it into the USB in the front of the centre console or disable the hotspot enabling feature on my phone the issue disappears so it seems there is some sort of conflict going on. I prefer to not have to keep plugging in my phone to get a clear voice every time I get in the car but perhaps I will have no option. 

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this issue or can they confirm they do not have this issue and it is therefore my phone rather than a system issue.

All suggestions welcome prior to a visit to my dealer 

[Malop]

I’m using an iPhone 6 as a wireless hotspot for live traffic and connect via USB and bluetooth (depending on which source I remember to hook up to). No problems with calls 

[PeteB]

The USBs under the centre armrest (and in the back) are for charging only.  They are not connected to the infotainment system, only the one ahead of the gear selector does that.

I've not plugged my phone in at all, but use bluetooth for calls, music, texts and emails. 

I have set the phone as a mobile hotspot a couple of times to test out the Internet traffic for the built in SatNav, and whilst it's a great improvement over the RDS/TMC traffic, it's still nowhere near as good as my TomTom, so that's what I use most of the time.

Everything works fine with my Samsung S7 Android phone, in fact I make a lot of my calls sitting in the car by the beach so I can just talk as if I'm speaking to someone in the car.

[Southern Softy]

Paul,

if I don’t connect via USB I get the issue, my point is I don’t want to have to plug in every time I get in the car.

Pete, have you tried making a call wire free but with hotspot connected ?

[Mike169]

Hi, I use the USB connection for plugging music via a normal USB stick, into it and it works 100% and I feel it is not for charging only. Regards. Mike.

[Southern Softy]

Mike, thanks but this relates to the new model Rav4

[PeteB]

43 minutes ago, Southern Softy said:

... Pete, have you tried making a call wire free but with hotspot connected ?

I don't think so, but I will when I get the chance.

[Southern Softy]

Thanks Pete,

just trying to work out where the issue might be, I am hoping it is my phone and not the car

[PeteB]

OK so I set my phone as a wireless hotspot and linked the car to it.

I then made a phone call to my home answerphone and left a message.  The phone sounded fine in the car playing the prompts and the recorded message was fine at home.

At the time my phone was sitting on this wireless charger which is plugged into a TomTom adaptor in the 12V socket (the TomTom cradle on my beanbad is also plugged into this - it has a through 12V socket and 2 USB sockets) -

[Southern Softy]

Hi Pete,

Thank you for your response.

I am going to try a full phone reset tonight and have another go tomorrow so fingers crossed