-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Can 5G be added to Model 3?
- Thread starter Flybyglass
- Start date
Whenever 4g is sunsetted, probably. Probably not before then, because its not necessary before then.
Why? There's nothing in the car that needs 5G. Like jj said, maybe when 4G goes away.
Why? one reason could be to provide better sentry live view footage from the car to your phone. and I'm absolutely certain that there are other things that could benefit from it that none of us are thinking about.
Why update any technology at any point? because it brings in the potential for expanded capabilities and increased capacity for existing capabilities.
Why update any technology at any point? because it brings in the potential for expanded capabilities and increased capacity for existing capabilities.
"no reason anyone needs more than 3g in a car" and now it's being turned off because it doesn't work well enough and now people are trying to get their cars upgraded to 4g. That's the identical argument that occurred when 4g came out.
3G felt slow from day 1 in the Model S. Latency with any 3G technology (e.g. HSDPA) was an issue for interactive use, even when there was sufficient bandwidth. 4G/LTE has much lower latency, it's much nicer to use even when the extra bandwidth isn't needed. (Note the only real 4G is LTE, and any variant of LTE is 4G only, not 5G, do not believe AT&T's marketing lies about 4G and "5Ge." AT&T has a deep, deep culture of lying about their products and technologies.)
I haven't followed 5G tech closely, I assume all the 5G variants have even lower latency than LTE, but LTE latency is good enough that the subjective benefit of further latency reductions with 5G will be more minimal. So 4G/LTE -> 5G really is more about the extra bandwidth (in my opinion).
RobDickinson
Active Member
I will say that if Tesla adds online FPS games with the Ryzen MCU, *those* are something that could plausibly benefit greatly from 5G. Also video conferencing can often benefit from further latency reduction, if Tesla ever adds an in-car camera for that. Same if the car adds a WiFi hotspot since that could be used for any application.
Basically there's only two major reasons I see for a 5G upgrade: Possible new applications/features that we don't even have (yet?), or eventual LTE sunset (a very long ways away I think). 5G can be useful but just slapping it onto a car right now would be minimal benefit.
Loading map data and images and talking to Tesla cloud backends? Sure 5G could improve that a bit but 4G (LTE) is truly good enough already for that. Early reports from Ryzen MCU owners even say map loading is faster. I believe they're only on LTE too, so the bottleneck for most of us with MCU1 and MCU2 is really the processor, not the modem/connection. (Especially MCU1. LTE upgrade was a big help there but it's still slower to load map data than MCU2 with LTE.)
Basically there's only two major reasons I see for a 5G upgrade: Possible new applications/features that we don't even have (yet?), or eventual LTE sunset (a very long ways away I think). 5G can be useful but just slapping it onto a car right now would be minimal benefit.
Loading map data and images and talking to Tesla cloud backends? Sure 5G could improve that a bit but 4G (LTE) is truly good enough already for that. Early reports from Ryzen MCU owners even say map loading is faster. I believe they're only on LTE too, so the bottleneck for most of us with MCU1 and MCU2 is really the processor, not the modem/connection. (Especially MCU1. LTE upgrade was a big help there but it's still slower to load map data than MCU2 with LTE.)
Yes but everything you said doesn't require retrofitting 5G in our current cars. They will put 5G in the new cars when it's needed for the new stuff.
What we should be talking about retrofitting or upgrading instead of this stupid 5G stuff is letting us upgrade to the new Ryzen MCU. I am willing to pay like $1000 for them to do that upgrade for me.
If I recall correctly the MCU1 to MCU2 upgrade is $2000 or more, for a Model S. It does include LTE but loses AM and FM radio, FM can be preserved with an additional cost module. LTE upgrade only for MCU1 was $200-ish, I went with that option on my S instead.
Did Model 3 ever ship with MCU1? If so how much is the MCU2 upgrade for a 3? If I recall correctly the S upgrade includes replacement of both displays, so maybe the upgrade would be a little cheaper in a 3. Though I kind of doubt it, especially for MCU3
If MCU3 were $1000 or less I'd probably get it for both cars! However at $2000+ per car I'd probably skip it entirely for now. I'd like MCU3 but there's other things I'd rather spend that much money on.
Did Model 3 ever ship with MCU1? If so how much is the MCU2 upgrade for a 3? If I recall correctly the S upgrade includes replacement of both displays, so maybe the upgrade would be a little cheaper in a 3. Though I kind of doubt it, especially for MCU3
If MCU3 were $1000 or less I'd probably get it for both cars! However at $2000+ per car I'd probably skip it entirely for now. I'd like MCU3 but there's other things I'd rather spend that much money on.
If I recall correctly the MCU1 to MCU2 upgrade is $2000 or more, for a Model S. It does include LTE but loses AM and FM radio, FM can be preserved with an additional cost module. LTE upgrade only for MCU1 was $200-ish, I went with that option on my S instead.
Did Model 3 ever ship with MCU1? If so how much is the MCU2 upgrade for a 3? If I recall correctly the S upgrade includes replacement of both displays, so maybe the upgrade would be a little cheaper in a 3. Though I kind of doubt it, especially for MCU3
If MCU3 were $1000 or less I'd probably get it for both cars! However at $2000+ per car I'd probably skip it entirely for now. I'd like MCU3 but there's other things I'd rather spend that much money on.
No, model 3s never shipped with MCU1. I believe (but am not positive) that its a module on the Car computer for a model 3 (unlike model S). My car was shipped in 2018 with "HW 2.5" and the MCU was never called out separately, but I believe it was MCU 2.
gnuarm
Model X 100 with 72 amp chargers
If you are paying for an upgrade, why upgrade to yesterday's technology only to see that abandoned in a few years?
When I bought my car no one said a word about 3G being obsoleted and removed from service. I monitor cellular tech and T-Mobile still supports 2G! So when can expect 4G to be terminated? I see various non-official sources saying, don't worry about it. But I see that Sprint has announced termination of 4G-LTE by June 30, 2022. Not sounding so good now is it?
gnuarm
Model X 100 with 72 amp chargers
That's not the issue with 3G is it? The problem is the level of service won't be supported because they can make more money supplying 5G. Why would a cell phone company care that your car loses connectivity? They expect you will contact your car dealer and buy the upgrade... or a new car. They don't care which.
@gnuarm It's up to you if you care about losing cellular connectivity before some theoretical 5G upgrade becomes available, which may never happen for these older cars. Many of us gladly upgraded to 4G / LTE.
The Sprint 4G / LTE turndown is just because of their merger with T-Mobile USA. There is no reason to keep operating two separate networks.
The sky isn't falling, network operators are simply moving on to efficiently utilize their available spectrum. As they should, else we'll never get good coverage with newer, faster cellular technologies.
gnuarm
Model X 100 with 72 amp chargers
Sorry, that doesn't make sense. While they might turn off individual towers with significant overlap, the merger would not be a reason to turn off a capability.
Yes, the network operators will move on every time it is advantageous to them. That's the point. 3G gets turned off today. There's no indication of how long they will continue with 4G.
I mention this because my phone was not acceptable for a carrier switch to ATT. My phone has 4G, but apparently not the right flavor for ATT. So I'd have to buy a $300 phone to switch, a 5G phone.
No, I have no confidence that 4G will be supported more than two or three years after the 5G network is substantially rolled out.
Similar threads
