Any plans for 4G on the MS?

[Karma]

My VIN is 62179, and I take delivery next week. That being said, how much could the part and labor cost to upgrade less than 100,000 cars? It's got to be far less than what Honda is facing with it's airbag issues.
I certainly didn't even factor 3G vs 4G/LTE speeds into my decision to acquire a MS. I'll let you know if I later change my mind, but I doubt you'll be hearing it from me ;-)

 

[randompersonx]

I don't think it's a showstopper, but UMTS will be pretty horrible to use 3-4 years from now.

That said, I buy my cars to drive them, not to mess around with their computers. Once a certain minimum functionality is met, the rest is nice, but not necessary.

 

[Firewired]

Hey if LTE is that important to you, wait. For me it isn't, but I have been waiting for the quite a while for autopilot. They made multiple references to active cruise coming out. Have they made similar statements about LTE coming soon? I was guessing Autopilot would come out last summer based on Elon's references to active cruise control and waited thinking I would keep the car for a while, and it was important to me. Even better was getting the unanticipated performance boost of the P85D.

 

[RAW84]

I'd like 4GLTE as well, but I'm resigned to the fact that this is technology...it just keeps pushing forward.

Imagine when the screen is upgraded to OLED!

But really, I remember when it couldn't connect to wifi, sounds like it can now, that's more important to me.

 

[saz25]

I'd like 4GLTE as well, but I'm resigned to the fact that this is technology...it just keeps pushing forward.

Imagine when the screen is upgraded to OLED!

But really, I remember when it couldn't connect to wifi, sounds like it can now, that's more important to me.

If this was 2 years ago when LTE first came out I'd agree. By now every carrier has it. By now it's not even new technology anymore. A car so advanced should have this. They say you get 4 years worth of free cell service. If 3G is not widely available 2-3 years from now, your're stuck without a connection unless you teather. Isn't that silly? A $100,000 with 6 year old technology that you can't use? That's how it could be in the not too distant future.

Again, I love the car. I have it virtually built in my account, just waiting to click submit.

 

[breser]

If this was 2 years ago when LTE first came out I'd agree. By now every carrier has it. By now it's not even new technology anymore. A car so advanced should have this. They say you get 4 years worth of free cell service. If 3G is not widely available 2-3 years from now, your're stuck without a connection unless you teather. Isn't that silly? A $100,000 with 6 year old technology that you can't use? That's how it could be in the not too distant future.

Again, I love the car. I have it virtually built in my account, just waiting to click submit.

3G isn't going anywhere for quite some time. AT&T 3g runs on 850 MHz and 1900 MHz. If they get enough of their users switched over they'll maybe drop one frequency and reuse it for LTE in areas where they have both frequencies in use. That's not likely to impact coverage for a car, as opposed to say a persons cell phone that goes in buildings where some frequencies don't penetrate as well. AT&T for instance isn't decommissioning their GPRS/EDGE data support until 2017 and that's 2G technology (GPRS was first deployed in the '90s and EDGE in 2003). There's no time frame for 3G support to be decommissioned. So I don't really see any issue with the car having 3G for quite a while. Maybe if you want to keep the car for 14+ years this is a problem. But I suspect most of the people commenting about this aren't worrying about that.

 

[dsm363]

YMMV.

As far as my concerns went, waiting for 4gLTE is just a waste of perfectly good time in a car I'd been waiting years for. In daily use, it's not that internet-heavy.

Agree. It's not like many people sit in their Tesla on the web browser. I personally only use the Internet in the car for maps, Internet radio and POIs. It does fine with that. Would 4G be better? Sure but not worth delaying buying something like the P85D or any version really over lack of 4G.

 

[dsm363]

If this was 2 years ago when LTE first came out I'd agree. By now every carrier has it. By now it's not even new technology anymore. A car so advanced should have this. They say you get 4 years worth of free cell service. If 3G is not widely available 2-3 years from now, your're stuck without a connection unless you teather. Isn't that silly? A $100,000 with 6 year old technology that you can't use? That's how it could be in the not too distant future.

Again, I love the car. I have it virtually built in my account, just waiting to click submit.

Technology you can't use? I've used it every day for 2 years. What are you planning on doing in the car with 4G that is impossible with 3G? Tesla won't let you watch a movie on the 17" screen even if it was 4G if that was your concern.

 

[Mayhemm]

Personally, I'd rather see Tesla put effort into upgrading the car's GPU (nVidia Tegra4, maybe?). My 17" display responsiveness has noticeably reduced during 6 months of ownership. What's it going to be like in another few years?

Maybe we could actually get some overlay on the rear-view camera then. :tongue:

 

[David_Cary]

I would think 4G would come at the same time as a browser speed increase. It is one of the remaining negatives of such a tech heavy car. I personally think this is the next major upgrade and if you are sitting there thinking I'm not quite ready yet to buy, I'll wait for the upgrade - makes sense to me.

It will probably be free with a new car and $1000 for older cars to upgrade. Not insignificant.

Now the Leaf still uses 2G which does have a date. There is no express promise for a certain number of years of free connectivity but they are going to have issues when a 3 year old car loses connectivity (if that is what happens). The Leaf still has free access. No internet browse but climate control pre conditioning, text notification for charging status, charging location updates etc etc. I'm sure when a 3 year old Leaf with a 4 year warranty loses functionality, Nissan is going to upgrade old cars.

 

[Karma]

Something else to consider: Tesla is going to hit the 100,000 car mark within the next quarter, possibly extending into the second quarter of 2015. That means they are 1/2 way to the magic number of 200,000, which is "magic" because that's where your $7,500 tax credit disappears. How long it takes to reach that number will depend on production speed, and the Model X rolling off, but I would bet that it's prior to 3G going off-line.

I have 4G/LTE on my iPhone 6 (AT&T), so if i really need those data speeds while traveling, I'll pull over and use the phone (unless I'm missing something, isn't that the real alternative?)

 

[steve841]

Would it be that difficult to make a 4G/LTE USB dongle?

Right up Tesla's alley: Charge $500 and allow it on all models.

I just cant see anyone having massive data use. Even keeping extensive travel logs via VT gets old after a while.

 

[rlang59]

Something else to consider: Tesla is going to hit the 100,000 car mark within the next quarter, possibly extending into the second quarter of 2015. That means they are 1/2 way to the magic number of 200,000, which is "magic" because that's where your $7,500 tax credit disappears. How long it takes to reach that number will depend on production speed, and the Model X rolling off, but I would bet that it's prior to 3G going off-line.

I have 4G/LTE on my iPhone 6 (AT&T), so if i really need those data speeds while traveling, I'll pull over and use the phone (unless I'm missing something, isn't that the real alternative?)

It has to be 200k sold in the US not just 200k manufactured for the credit to start to roll off.

 

[eco5280]

I haven't heard anything about that yet, but they should be moving to 4G soon given this announcement:

Verizon Is Killing Off 3G Networks (to Make More Room For LTE)

As I recall, Tesla uses AT&T, so they're fine for now, but if this is the trend of things to come, Tesla will also have to come up with a retrofit for older cars to be upgraded as well.

VZW is different than the other carriers - they're really the only ones on their towers. They are the only major CDMA player in America. GSM on the other hand encompasses about every other wireless carrier. (Sprint is the only other "major" CDMA player but they are hovering at 7% of the market)

 

[Karma]

It has to be 200k sold in the US not just 200k manufactured for the credit to start to roll off.

I stand corrected. You are right, of course.

 

[saz25]

The reason I don't prefer teathering is that is uses our shared family data. I guess I could increase it to the next tier for a few bucks if the data the MS uses would cause me to go over my current limit.

food for thought ....

 

[eco5280]

First - some of are you talking about 4G LTE in cars as if it's been a standard for years and Tesla is behind. The 2015 Audi A3 was the first car ever in the US market with 4G LTE, and now Chevy is putting it on lots of models too. But it's certainly not widespread yet.

I agree with the tethering advice. Upping your cell phone's plan will surely be cheaper than the cost to upgrade the module from Tesla (when and if that's available).

 

[RAW84]

If this was 2 years ago when LTE first came out I'd agree. By now every carrier has it. By now it's not even new technology anymore. A car so advanced should have this. They say you get 4 years worth of free cell service. If 3G is not widely available 2-3 years from now, your're stuck without a connection unless you teather. Isn't that silly? A $100,000 with 6 year old technology that you can't use? That's how it could be in the not too distant future.

Again, I love the car. I have it virtually built in my account, just waiting to click submit.

Do you really think it would be good for business for Tesla to leave the vast majority of it's drivers with an inoperable 3G service, if it ever came to that?

I don't think that's a realistic outcome. If 3G networks come down 4 years from now, I believe Tesla would take care of it's drivers. At the very worst, they'd make us pay some nominal fee, no more than $1,000 to upgrade to 4G LTE antennas, at best they do the upgrades for free. My guess, is we'll have to pay something. Still, I'm ok with that because a) I'll get to drive this car for the next 4 years and b) I highly doubt 3G disappears in 4 years.

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The reason I don't prefer teathering is that is uses our shared family data. I guess I could increase it to the next tier for a few bucks if the data the MS uses would cause me to go over my current limit.

food for thought ....

I agree with the tethering advice. Upping your cell phone's plan will surely be cheaper than the cost to upgrade the module from Tesla (when and if that's available).

I tethered with a tablet I had installed in my last car. (Grandfathered unlimited plan from vzw)...trust me, that gets cumbersome after a while. I don't think that's an acceptable solution for most Tesla drivers.

 

[andrewket]

Tethering to my LTE phone makes the Tesla infotainment system (nav, radio, web browser) far more responsive. Tesla has to have a way to upgrade cars to LTE. 3g will die. Model S's being manufactured today will outlive it.

 

[eco5280]

3g will die. Model S's being manufactured today will outlive it.

Analog cell phone towers survived probably 10 years once digital signals came out. Just FYI. So many devices use 3G (OnStar, vehicle communications a la Tesla, cell phones, tablets, personal safety devices, etc etc etc etc ad nauseum) that I think 3G will be around at least 5+ years.

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I tethered with a tablet I had installed in my last car. (Grandfathered unlimited plan from vzw)...trust me, that gets cumbersome after a while. I don't think that's an acceptable solution for most Tesla drivers.

A) There are apps that make tethering seamless and automatic. So ease is achievable.
B) 3G is an acceptable solution for most Tesla drivers :biggrin: