4 year complimentary connectivity?

[Brass Guy]

Did Tesla change their policy, or is my service supposed to lapse at the end of this month?
Has anybody with a 2012 or 1013 Model S been contacted about the end of their 3G (or LTE if you've upgraded) service? Has Tesla changed this policy?

Some communication might be - oh wait...

 

[ChadS]

My wife's Model S was delivered in Sept 2012. We still have all connectivity, and have not yet heard anything about that changing.

 

[Brass Guy]

What I remember is that no matter how old the car is, the 4 years starts no earlier than Jan 1, 2014. Those of us with 2012's and 2013's get a few extra months. But I never heard what happens after the 4 years are up.

 

[SoCalNick]

That sounds like a ticking clock in 25 days...

 

[ucf_motorcycle]

Wow first I'm hearing of this. Any ideas an an alternative? Could I simply create a hotspot with my phone and connect to that?

 

[Saghost]

Wow first I'm hearing of this. Any ideas an an alternative? Could I simply create a hotspot with my phone and connect to that?

I've read that the car disconnects from Wi-Fi automatically when it goes into Drive with the current firmware versions. If they remove that, a hotspot would be a possible solution.

 

[Saghost]

What I remember is that no matter how old the car is, the 4 years starts no earlier than Jan 1, 2014. Those of us with 2012's and 2013's get a few extra months. But I never heard what happens after the 4 years are up.

Correct. They announced that in 2014.

AFAIK, they haven't yet announced their plans going forward - Elon was quoted a few times as saying he wanted to make it free forever but wasn't sure the business case would close.

Presumably we'll hear something in the next month or so, either a final plan or kicking it down the road again.

 

[gaswalla]

if it's anything like the process they followed to start billing for superchargers, we should be ok for another year or so

 

[Brass Guy]

Kicking it down the road some more sounds like Tesla to me.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Kicking it down the road some more sounds like Tesla to me.

This. It's probably such a small line item expense, that it would cost more in metering, billing, staff, collections, and systems development than in costs Tesla to just pay the bill.

And they can't just disconnect people because Tesla still needs some bandwidth for telemetry.

 

[Saghost]

This. It's probably such a small line item expense, that it would cost more in metering, billing, staff, collections, and systems development than in costs Tesla to just pay the bill.

And they can't just disconnect people because Tesla still needs some bandwidth for telemetry.

I think they could let the cellular carrier (AT&T, I think?) handle all that if they wanted to - it's certainly something they have experience with.

Paying for your own data would open the door for video streaming on the center screen when parked and a car Wi-Fi hotspot, or they can keep it free and limited like now.

 

[gaswalla]

Video streaming in the front half of a car is illegal - at least in California

 

[bmah]

Video streaming in the front half of a car is illegal - at least in California

Also technically unlikely given the computing power in the CID.

Like @HankLloydRight, I believe that Tesla is likely to just continue providing "free" connectivity because the cost of dealing with billing, etc. will likely outweigh any revenue they'd gain from it. They'll probably continue to state a policy of "four years", just to allow them to begin charging in the future if it turns out it's in their best interest to do so. Some people might point to Supercharger idle fees as a counter-example, but in that case, Tesla has a vested interest in keeping chargers available for use.

(All of this is speculation, of course.)

Bruce.

 

[Saghost]

Video streaming in the front half of a car is illegal - at least in California

While driving, yes. My Volt allowed it while in Park, and I didn't think anyone forbade that.

 

[vladg]

While driving, yes. My Volt allowed it while in Park, and I didn't think anyone forbade that.

That's true. My last three cars (BMW, Audi and Hyundai) all had the ability to play a DVD movie in the front center screen, as long as the car was in park.

 

[kavyboy]

Also technically unlikely given the computing power in the CID.

Like @HankLloydRight, I believe that Tesla is likely to just continue providing "free" connectivity because the cost of dealing with billing, etc. will likely outweigh any revenue they'd gain from it. They'll probably continue to state a policy of "four years", just to allow them to begin charging in the future if it turns out it's in their best interest to do so. Some people might point to Supercharger idle fees as a counter-example, but in that case, Tesla has a vested interest in keeping chargers available for use.

(All of this is speculation, of course.)

Bruce.

There are videos out there of movies being played on the center screen or rooted cars.