$10 Month for Premium Connectivity
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Rogue Synapse
Member
Looking at the above I also notice that my warranty seems to have changed to the New Vehicle warranty instead of the previous Used Vehicle Warranty... interesting since my car already had 75k miles when I got it, and at the time I got it was warrantied for an additional 2 years and 100k total odometer miles. I’m starting to get the sense I ought to keep surveillance on my account page because stuff changes behind the scenes all the time.
I just picked up my car today, 2020 Performance model. My page states the following:
Premium Connectivity
Free Unlimited
Premium Connectivity
Free Unlimited
.They really need to be more clear on their website. People who get it free for the life of the car says "Free Unlimited". People who get it free for 1 year says "Free Unlimited" until after 1 year. It's just too confusing.
Rogue Synapse
Member
Dang - I took a screenshot of my account 4 months ago when I noticed the Used Vehicle Warranty was being listed as a New Vehicle Warranty, but I didn’t scroll down far enough to capture the Premium Connectivity section
It's bs they are charging MCU1 owners the same price as MCU2. Here is what they advertise for $9.99/mo:
Navigation
Live Traffic Visualization
Satellite-View Maps
Video Streaming
Caraoke
Music Streaming
Internet Browser
For MCU1 video streaming and caraoke don't exist, and browser might as well not exist since its barely functional. Why am I paying the same price for less features? I really hope it's a glitch on their site or they offer a $5 a month plan for MCU1.
If they insist on charging me $9.99 a month I want to know when video streaming, caraoke and a functional browser are coming to my car.
Navigation
Live Traffic Visualization
Satellite-View Maps
Video Streaming
Caraoke
Music Streaming
Internet Browser
For MCU1 video streaming and caraoke don't exist, and browser might as well not exist since its barely functional. Why am I paying the same price for less features? I really hope it's a glitch on their site or they offer a $5 a month plan for MCU1.
If they insist on charging me $9.99 a month I want to know when video streaming, caraoke and a functional browser are coming to my car.
I guess the department charged with this rollout never considered used car buyers. Not sure there was written policy before whether connectivity will be charged, for years people just speculated they will charge some day since no car manufacturer gives you that for free for life. Then middle of last year they advised that any (new) cars sold then on would not get free premium connectivity. So any new car even with MCU1 bought before the cutoff date last year will get it for free, even my daughter’s early 2018 M3 LR gets it for free. I guess just to be fair, Tesla may want to consider offering preowned MCU1 car owners discounted price.
SoCal Buzz
Supporting Member
I believe my ‘13 always said 1 year of connectivity included, and 5 years later they never bothered to start charging. With improved browser, ongoing slacker access, Spotify availability, traffic-based navigation, etc. not to mention firmware updates with new features, I have no issue with $120 / year.
Rogue Synapse
Member
You know, I give more than $120/year to some charity and nonprofit causes. With what the early-mid Tesla adopters have had to put up with in the last few years, there is certainly an element of charity in our continued patronage of Tesla. You kind of have to be a believer to tolerate the various quality, PR, and service catastrophes that have become more frequent over the last couple of years (although I totally agree that Tesla needs to get its customer service act together if it wants to sell to the masses of agnostic people who just want a good car experience).
Despite my disappointment, this new fee isn't that unreasonable. Even for MCU1 folks who can't make the most of it. I've often wondered how much cellular data Tesla's national fleet was using and what impact that must have financially on the company. I think I'm planning on ponying up, although I'll probably let it expire for a couple of weeks just to see how badly I really miss it first, and try using Spotify on my phone with Bluetooth instead for a while...
Despite my disappointment, this new fee isn't that unreasonable. Even for MCU1 folks who can't make the most of it. I've often wondered how much cellular data Tesla's national fleet was using and what impact that must have financially on the company. I think I'm planning on ponying up, although I'll probably let it expire for a couple of weeks just to see how badly I really miss it first, and try using Spotify on my phone with Bluetooth instead for a while...
My question is, how will all the other cellular actions work through the app? If I drop “premium” does that mean the car loses its cellular altogether? It can’t, otherwise none of that will work unless the car is connected to WiFi.
WesB
Member
Without premium connectivity, your car is still always connected to the internet. In needs it in order to load the basic navigation. You just lose features such as satellite imagery, traffic, music streaming, etc.
Rogue Synapse
Member
Would anyone consider joining me to write Customer Service about this? Last time I wrote them was in the spring to request that a Spotify app be included in a future software update, and that turned out OK, but certainly because I wasn't the only one to suggest this.
They used to accept emails at [email protected], but I got an auto-reply that this account is no longer monitored, and the only way to contact is on the website through the Tesla account under "support" and "contact us". There are limited characters available on their online form. You have to answer "Yes" when prompted for "Do you need more help?" to get the message actually sent to a person. Here's what I wrote them:
They used to accept emails at [email protected], but I got an auto-reply that this account is no longer monitored, and the only way to contact is on the website through the Tesla account under "support" and "contact us". There are limited characters available on their online form. You have to answer "Yes" when prompted for "Do you need more help?" to get the message actually sent to a person. Here's what I wrote them:
Would you consider offering a reduced Premium Connectivity price (e.g. $5/mo) for legacy MCU1 owners who were not grandfathered into Free Unlimited Data (basically, a small, self-limited cohort of people like myself who bought used MCU 1 cars after July 2018)? Many Premium Connectivity features are only available on MCU2, and MCU1 cars can't take full advantage of the subscription.
By the way, sorry for the obnoxious screenshots upthread. I didn't realize they would be so ginormous, it's too late to edit them, and they didn't really add anything to the conversation.
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I don't think anyone from customer support would be willing and/or able to make such a decision.
Tweeting Elon on the other hand...
WesB
Member
No, the satellite maps and traffic are disabled on the screen no matter what you're connected to. But you would be able to use wifi to use the Tesla theatre, music streaming, and features like that.
Rogue Synapse
Member
I know they can’t really do anything. When I emailed about Spotify they said they “forwarded it to the appropriate team for consideration for future updates”. It was probably just a placebo, but I like to think that in aggregate, multiple contacts to Tesla from enough people would be enough to get this issue on their radar. Tweeting Elon seems tacky for something so mundane as this (plus I don’t have a Twitter account).
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