3G connection & maps

[douhgboy]

I'm an aspiring future tesla owner... i live in an area with very patchy 3G coverage, and I'm wondering how this will effect the operation of the nav and other functions. Particularly the maps - if there is no 3G signal, is there no map displayed? Is it possible to cache maps using wifi before leaving home, if one anticipates a poor connection during the journey?
Just wondering how reliant on a constant connection the system is...
Thank you!

 

[Footbag]

If you have the Tech package, you get Nav (powered by Garmin I believe). It will work offline, with the limitation being that the 17" screen won't show you the map (but the map/guidance on the left of the instrument panel will function, as will the voice prompts).
I don't know what the impact on entering addresses is if offline, someone else can clarify if that will work.

 

[ecarfan]

If the car has no internet connection (3G or wifi) you cannot search for a destination, but if you have an address I think you can navigate to a destination but no route will be displayed on the center screen, only on the drivers display, if I remember correctly (my car is not offline too often).

 

[benjiejr]

I'm an aspiring future tesla owner... i live in an area with very patchy 3G coverage, and I'm wondering how this will effect the operation of the nav and other functions. Particularly the maps - if there is no 3G signal, is there no map displayed? Is it possible to cache maps using wifi before leaving home, if one anticipates a poor connection during the journey?
Just wondering how reliant on a constant connection the system is...
Thank you!

My 3G coverage where I live can be spotty and it didn't help that initially I had one bad 3G antenna. I can confirm that when 3G is not available, the map on the 17" display doesn't update. You also can't search for anything when you don't have a good signal. There seems to be a tiny bit of caching but I certainly wasn't able to cache maps on wifi before leaving home.

In my experience, the 3G signal is fairly important to the experience. On the bright side, after I had the bad 3G antenna replaced, my signal was much improved; I believe it was actually better than what I would get on my phone.

 

[jerry33]

If you have some other better kind of coverage to you phone, use the phone as a hotspot and connect to it with the car's WiFi.

 

[Footbag]

I just wanted to clarify that while offline, you indeed can input an address and be directed to it (again, lacking maps on the 17" screen). You have to enter an address, there is no POI searching. This keeps the system useful without connectivity. It is a bit unfortunate that there are no POIs available offline (many other cars offer POI searching, and most of those don't even have online as an option, so for whatever reason, Tesla decided that was not important enough to offer).