Does the Model 3 have 3G connectivity or just LTE?

[Kabillyhop]

Once a day or so, my model 3 completely loses connectivity - the LTE signal strength icon has a diagonal line across it. Often I have to reboot the screen to get connectivity back again, and then it comes back after a couple of minutes. Perhaps I'm too impatient and if I waited long enough it would come back without the reboot..

It occurs to me that I've never seen a 3G connection. Does the model 3 not support 3G? I'm wondering if the issue I'm having is that if I drive through a spot where the LTE signal is too weak, it is not able to fall back to 3G.

If that is the case, there are lots of rural areas where this car will not have connectivity.

Is anyone else having the same experience? Does anyone know if it should be able to make a 3G connection?

Thanks

 

[Watts 4 Me]

I went camping last week. There is no connection of any kind out there. But on our way out, we slowly started getting signal. I saw 3G signal pop up way before i got full LTE.

 

[KetchupKilla]

I went camping last week. There is no connection of any kind out there. But on our way out, we slowly started getting signal. I saw 3G signal pop up way before i got full LTE.

Yup 3g is available. I had an area in Canada that was 3g.

 

[JulienW]

Not positive but I think 3G fall back is an LTE spec requirement.

 

[Kabillyhop]

Hmm.... maybe there's something wrong. I've had the car 3 months and I don't think it has ever made a 3G connection.

Thanks for your answers!

 

[hydro 481]

When will we get 5G?

 

[dmurphy]

Not positive but I think 3G fall back is an LTE spec requirement.

There are LTE-only devices and in fact, as 3G networks start getting turned down, this will become much more prevalent. The widespread adoption of VoLTE made this possible.

 

[TomT]

5G is so iffy, particularly with MMWave, that I see no point in its inclusion for many years to come... Verizon can't get it to even cover an entire stadium or arena...

When will we get 5G?

 

[VT_EE]

5G is so iffy, particularly with MMWave, that I see no point in its inclusion for many years to come... Verizon can't get it to even cover an entire stadium or arena...

I agree. The major benefit of 5G is very localized high-speed internet. Vehicles will utilize the existing frequencies due to their constant movement and distance to towers. There is really no benefit for Tesla’s to move to 5G in the near term.

 

[vickh]

I had 3G only in PHX for a few days for some reason (normally LTE) .

Could be ATT on my commute or Tesla is punishing me for no wifi (intentional to keep car asleep)

 

[Gordon87]

I agree. The major benefit of 5G is very localized high-speed internet. Vehicles will utilize the existing frequencies due to their constant movement and distance to towers. There is really no benefit for Tesla’s to move to 5G in the near term.

I park in a multi-level garage with no Wi-Fi. I get some updates over LTE, but need to go to the Service Center to have them push most updates over their Wi-Fi. I believe that having 5G service in the future would solve my problem.

 

[hydro 481]

5G is so iffy, particularly with MMWave, that I see no point in its inclusion for many years to come... Verizon can't get it to even cover an entire stadium or arena...

I was kidding (mostly)

 

[VT_EE]

I park in a multi-level garage with no Wi-Fi. I get some updates over LTE, but need to go to the Service Center to have them push most updates over their Wi-Fi. I believe that having 5G service in the future would solve my problem.

Possibly, but Tesla isn’t going to want to pay for the extra bandwidth on their account (even if you are paying their $100/month subscription). Your best bet is to connect the Tesla to your cell phone’s hot spot for downloads. I’ve done this on occasion and it works.

 

[Gordon87]

Possibly, but Tesla isn’t going to want to pay for the extra bandwidth on their account (even if you are paying their $100/month subscription). Your best bet is to connect the Tesla to your cell phone’s hot spot for downloads. I’ve done this on occasion and it works.

I’ve tried that as well, but since one never knows if the car is downloading an update, one could sit in one’s car for a while and not get an update. I expect that once 5G is ubiquitous, Teslas would be built with 5G capability rather than just the old LTE.

 

[SammichLover]

I’ve tried that as well, but since one never knows if the car is downloading an update, one could sit in one’s car for a while and not get an update. I expect that once 5G is ubiquitous, Teslas would be built with 5G capability rather than just the old LTE.

This has changed as of, IIRC, 2019.32.2.X. You down get an amber arrow pointing downward displayed on the right side of the top of the screen. Tap it and it tells you the version number of the patch that is ready for download.

It also shows a progress bar but I’m not sure if that is properly functional, yet.

 

[smartypnz]

5G is great, but you would probably have to be parked within site of the tower (or max 200 yds, whichever is less).

 

[VT_EE]

I’ve tried that as well, but since one never knows if the car is downloading an update, one could sit in one’s car for a while and not get an update. I expect that once 5G is ubiquitous, Teslas would be built with 5G capability rather than just the old LTE.

V10 seems to notify me that a download is available via LTE You then you just connect the car to your hotspot and it downloads. You can even monitor the process in the software tab of your car. The notification message specifically states you need to connect to WIFI for the download. I had this happen on a recent road trip. Used the hotspot and it worked great.

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

I’m not sure the computer is really fast enough to have an appreciable benefit from better than ~20mbit service. It’s very wimpy hardware, I don’t see 5G making a lot of difference.

 

[afadeev]

When will we get 5G?

Definitely way sooner than 6G!

I agree. The major benefit of 5G is very localized high-speed internet. Vehicles will utilize the existing frequencies due to their constant movement and distance to towers. There is really no benefit for Tesla’s to move to 5G in the near term.

You are confusing 5G with mmWave-length spectrum. The latter is a subset of the former.

mmWaves may never be practical for automotive use cases, but mid-band and traditional sub 2Gig spectrum will soon get re-farmed for 5G, making 5G as ubiquitous as LTE.

I park in a multi-level garage with no Wi-Fi. I get some updates over LTE, but need to go to the Service Center to have them push most updates over their Wi-Fi. I believe that having 5G service in the future would solve my problem.

Your problem is not LTE vs. 5G, but the fact that Tesla is not willing to sponsor data downloads over cellular (AT&T) network for anything other than emergency updates. That's not an unreasonable position for them to take, if you do the math.
5G wont change the economics.

You need to sponsor data connection over WiFi (or WiFi hotspot off your cell phone) to download the majority of Tesla software updates in a way that wont cause Tesla to eat $10+M/year in extra annual data charges.

a

 

[Rottenapplr]

Once a day or so, my model 3 completely loses connectivity - the LTE signal strength icon has a diagonal line across it. Often I have to reboot the screen to get connectivity back again, and then it comes back after a couple of minutes. Perhaps I'm too impatient and if I waited long enough it would come back without the reboot..

It occurs to me that I've never seen a 3G connection. Does the model 3 not support 3G? I'm wondering if the issue I'm having is that if I drive through a spot where the LTE signal is too weak, it is not able to fall back to 3G.

If that is the case, there are lots of rural areas where this car will not have connectivity.

Is anyone else having the same experience? Does anyone know if it should be able to make a 3G connection?

Thanks

3g pops up but in my experience music doesn’t work. Not sure if it downloads map data.