3G Pricing - Speculation

[gsxrex]

Out of curiosity, I looked up the Mercedes mbrace system. $280/year, plus $28/month to get all the bells and whistles including in car internet yadda yadda yadda. Basically, you are buying your car a phone line (looks like it has a concierge service as part of the plan). That's over $51/month. Mercedes smartly doesn't say what class of service the dataplan is (3G/4G/LTE/telepathy).

Regardless, the per device model that the wireless carriers won't let go of is such a huge cash cow. :cursing:

 

[ElSupreme]

The weak link here for me is att. When I park my car at night (when I could be downloading updates) I have absolutely no service. I need the car to connect to my home wifi while parked. And quite frankly, if I could connect to my homw wifi, then it could connect to a portable mifi device - giving me 'real' 4G (LTE) as I drive down the road. My maps might actually keep up with me as I drive and my slacker might not skip and pause while it struggles to buffer. I know folks are talking about tethering to the car, but I need the car to tether to wifi via my home or portable 4G. The carrier they chose is a poor one for me, and I live in one of the 5 largest cities in America. Not being an att 'hater' but for me where I live and work the service is not as good as their competitors. I know that they all have strengths and weaknesses in their various service areas.

Exactly. My phone can provide WiFi hotspot, or accept standard WiFi or connect to a WiFi hotspot. I see no reason why the Tesla will be any different. I fully expect it to do all of the above.

 

[brianman]

Mercedes smartly doesn't say what class of service the dataplan is (3G/4G/LTE/telepathy).

As much as I love and ... um, "trust" Tess ... I don't want her to have telepathy.

 

[Robert.Boston]

I recall reading a reliable source saying that the Model S definitely would not serve as a WiFi hotspot, but only that it could connect through WiFi (eventually). If so, I'm leaning towards tethering. The only challenge there is that my carrier charges a tethering fee per device, so I'd have to pay a double fee for my wife's phone and mine (or she can do without -- she hates the distract-factor of the center console).

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

My iPhone is AT&T, but I might switch over to Verizon once they allow tethering...

Isn't there one problem with switching to Verizon? If you get on a phone call with your iPhone, your data pipe will seize up till the call is done, no?!

I guess 4G LTE is going to evolve to support simultaneous voice and data in the next couple of years. And, surely, newer iPhones and definitely, other current phones such as Galaxy S3 will/do support this via separate radios and such.

 

[jomo25]

Right.with 4GLTE, this is no longer a Verizon network limit as much as a device limit. All the GS3 onward can support both simultaneously. The iPhone5 cannot becasue it would need add'l radio they opted to not include. I suspect the 5s onwards will support it.

Isn't there one problem with switching to Verizon? If you get on a phone call with your iPhone, your data pipe will seize up till the call is done, no?!

I guess 4G LTE is going to evolve to support simultaneous voice and data in the next couple of years. And, surely, newer iPhones and definitely, other current phones such as Galaxy S3 will/do support this via separate radios and such.

 

[yobigd20]

My iPhone is AT&T, but I might switch over to Verizon once they allow tethering.

Verizon does allow tethering. And it's free. It turns my iPhone5 into a wifi hotspot. Since September last year, I've been using it every single day on a train to tether to my laptop so I can get 4G LTE on the laptop. I intentionally switched from AT&T to Verizon specifically because Verizon does not charge a monthly fee for tethering whereas AT&T was charging an extra $15 or $25/month.

 

[Stoneymonster]

Tesla should meet or beat this: http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/04/t-mobile-audi-drop-price-of-in-car-wi-fi-to-15month-over-30-months/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+All+content%29

Competition is a good thing.

 

[William3]

Agreed.

 

[brianstorms]

Joining in here late, sorry about that, but I am curious --- what was the final decision regarding 3G in the Model S?

I can't find anywhere on the Tesla Motors site any mention of these hidden/gotcha fees.

 

[markb1]

Joining in here late, sorry about that, but I am curious --- what was the final decision regarding 3G in the Model S?

I can't find anywhere on the Tesla Motors site any mention of these hidden/gotcha fees.

There wasn't one. Tesla still has not announced connectivity pricing.

 

[brianstorms]

Mystery solved then! Thanks