How important is LTE?

[llamafilm]

I’m getting ready to buy my first Tesla, a model 3. I understand there is an option to buy LTE connectivity for $10/month. How important is it to have this? I have Wifi at home for software updates. I currently use Apple Music, so that will work fine through my phone.
I’m not excited about the prospect of losing CarPlay integration for the music, but I did hear a rumor Tesla may add Apple Music soon.
I suppose I could use my phone as a Wifi hotspot, but I don’t want to have to think about this all the time and turn the hotspot on/off. Are others doing this?

 

[Pyre]

I do wish i could just stream pandora.

From what i hear if you plan on even watching some youtube or netflix then its worth it. The traffic visualization gets routed by the system whether you have the connectivity or not (atleast the video i saw said that)

 

[llamafilm]

Also - does anyone know which network provides this service in the US? I spend a lot of time in rural areas where some are better than others.

 

[KenC]

I’m getting ready to buy my first Tesla, a model 3. I understand there is an option to buy LTE connectivity for $10/month. How important is it to have this? I have Wifi at home for software updates. I currently use Apple Music, so that will work fine through my phone.
I’m not excited about the prospect of losing CarPlay integration for the music, but I did hear a rumor Tesla may add Apple Music soon.
I suppose I could use my phone as a Wifi hotspot, but I don’t want to have to think about this all the time and turn the hotspot on/off. Are others doing this?

Well, you can always try it for a month or vice-versa. I had premium connectivity for a year, then when it required me to pay, I didn't renew it. I miss it a tiny bit for the added convenience, but I also have a sub to Apple Music, so I just stream from my iPhone to the car.

I may be wrong, but I thought Tesla used AT&T for its LTE. I find AT&T's rural coverage to be not all that great.

 

[sroy]

SR+ comes with 1 free month of premium and LR/P with a full year. You will be able to try it at least and you let it expire for at least a month or two to see if you miss it.

 

[EVFamilyGrins]

The biggest difference between Premium connectivity and using phone wifi hotspot is that navigation will not VISUALIZE traffic. Traffic patterns are still accounted for in route planning and ETA, just not displayed on screen.

Using you phone as a hotspot is doable but not easy. Every time your Tesla is taken out of Park, it will turn off WIFI settings. This means that you have to put your Tesla in D/R, press brake to put in hold mode, go into WIFi settings and link to your phone. This works well for long trips, but a real hassle if your running errands around town.

 

[Zacster]

While I use a phone based music subscription and almost exclusively use that for music in the car, I subscribe to the connectivity package anyway. It is all of $10/month and I really do use it for real-time traffic. Since I live in Brooklyn though it may not be necessary. I can just assume every road is red, all day long, and I wouldn't be all that far off. Seriously though, even yesterday it came in handy in that the BQE was jammed from LGA all the way to the BBT and I used an alternate route. But back to my assumption, usually the alternates are jammed too.

If Tesla ever implements other music services I would switch to one that has better sound than either Pandora or Slacker, neither of which sound good at all due to low bitrates, and then I'd need the connectivity for that too.

 

[Pyre]

While I use a phone based music subscription and almost exclusively use that for music in the car, I subscribe to the connectivity package anyway. It is all of $10/month and I really do use it for real-time traffic. Since I live in Brooklyn though it may not be necessary. I can just assume every road is red, all day long, and I wouldn't be all that far off. Seriously though, even yesterday it came in handy in that the BQE was jammed from LGA all the way to the BBT and I used an alternate route. But back to my assumption, usually the alternates are jammed too.

If Tesla ever implements other music services I would switch to one that has better sound than either Pandora or Slacker, neither of which sound good at all due to low bitrates, and then I'd need the connectivity for that too.

I thought if it was a corded connection the sound was "good" (not great)

 

[jjrandorin]

I thought if it was a corded connection the sound was "good" (not great)

Model 3s dont play from a "corded connection". Model 3s can play from USB storage (so a USB thumb drive), but do not play music through any corded connection to a phone.

 

[Zacster]

Model 3s dont play from a "corded connection". Model 3s can play from USB storage (so a USB thumb drive), but do not play music through any corded connection to a phone.

And from a phone through Bluetooth. But no cords...

 

[Knightshade]

And from a phone through Bluetooth. But no cords...

Yeah, but quality over BT is significantly lower than off a USB stick with HD audio files

 

[Gasaraki]

I’m getting ready to buy my first Tesla, a model 3. I understand there is an option to buy LTE connectivity for $10/month. How important is it to have this? I have Wifi at home for software updates. I currently use Apple Music, so that will work fine through my phone.
I’m not excited about the prospect of losing CarPlay integration for the music, but I did hear a rumor Tesla may add Apple Music soon.
I suppose I could use my phone as a Wifi hotspot, but I don’t want to have to think about this all the time and turn the hotspot on/off. Are others doing this?

You get 1 year of free LTE service. The LTE provide free streaming radio, traffic on maps, and satellite view on the NAV.

As for Tesla adding more streaming services in to the computer, that might happen but we don't know which ones exactly.

 

[sleepydoc]

Yeah, but quality over BT is significantly lower than off a USB stick with HD audio files

It depends on which protocol the Bluetooth connection is using. BT does have high quality audio codecs and I challenge you to hear the difference in a car.

 

[Knightshade]

It depends on which protocol the Bluetooth connection is using.

No, it does not.

BT is not capable of lossless audio.

BT does have high quality audio codecs and I challenge you to hear the difference in a car.

Bring some "high quality" BT content over. I'll bring some FLAC on a USB key.

Also bring a large amount of money because you'll lose it during your bet.

 

[sleepydoc]

No, it does not.

BT is not capable of lossless audio.



Bring some "high quality" BT content over. I'll bring some FLAC on a USB key.

Also bring a large amount of money because you'll lose it during your bet.

I never said BT is capable of lossless, just high def; they’re not the same. And yes, I still challenge you to tell the difference between high def/good quality audio and lossless in a car driving down the road.

very few people have the ears or the equipment to hear the difference. Even fewer cars have systems capable of showing the difference. Virtually none can do so in traffic.

try the site Is your audio system really ready for lossless?
It gives a blinded comparison of lossless vs lossy audio to see if you can hear the difference.

 

[Knightshade]

I never said BT is capable of lossless, just high def; they’re not the same. And yes, I still challenge you to tell the difference between high def/good quality audio and lossless in a car driving down the road.

very few people have the ears or the equipment to hear the difference. Even fewer cars have systems capable of showing the difference. Virtually none can do so in traffic.

try the site Is your audio system really ready for lossless?
It gives a blinded comparison of lossless vs lossy audio to see if you can hear the difference.

FWIW I got 100% on 2 of 5 songs (Daft Punk and Eagles), 80% on 2 of 5 (Killers and James Blake), and 40% on the dixie chicks song, apparently I only can't tell when banjos are involved.

But I also expect that test uses higher quality lossy samples than the car is capable of playing over BT so it'd be even more obvious comparing that to something like unadulterated FLAC files.

 

[TomB985]

It's worth mentioning that Premium Connectivity only applies to streaming audio, traffic visualization, and satellite maps. The LTE connection is still active without the subscription and is used for remote lock/unlock, summon, preconditioning, and everything else you do from within the app. Mama Tesla still "talks" to the car whether you pay for the connection or not.

 

[neurocutie]

6mos+ without Premium Connectivity and I really don't miss it much if at all. Nav still works and since I primarily listen to Sirius XM which coming from my phone and its data, as well as Alexa/Amazon, again phone app and data, no Premium Connectivity isn't a big loss.

 

[Adopado]

It's worth mentioning that Premium Connectivity only applies to streaming audio, traffic visualization, and satellite maps. The LTE connection is still active without the subscription and is used for remote lock/unlock, summon, preconditioning, and everything else you do from within the app. Mama Tesla still "talks" to the car whether you pay for the connection or not.

Yes, the title of this thread is misleading. It should be "How important is Premium Connectivity".

All cars have constant LTE connection whenever it is available in the locality. The thing you pay for monthly is "Premium Connectivity". This means that you can freely use the LTE capability in more ways. Specifically the navigation maps can be in a photographic Satellite view as per Google maps instead of just the graphic style streets etc. It also allows you to use the web browser (otherwise you can only get this when the car is connected via wifi). It also gives you Spotify whilst on the go and the ability to watch Netflix, Youtube etc whilst waiting at a Supercharger for example. You can get most of these features by hot spotting wifi from your phone data but it's a bit of a pain to set up every drive and is unlikely to be so consistent in signal strength.

 

[sleepydoc]

FWIW I got 100% on 2 of 5 songs (Daft Punk and Eagles), 80% on 2 of 5 (Killers and James Blake), and 40% on the dixie chicks song, apparently I only can't tell when banjos are involved.

But I also expect that test uses higher quality lossy samples than the car is capable of playing over BT so it'd be even more obvious comparing that to something like unadulterated FLAC files.

Well, the entire point of that test is to see if your ears (and equipment) can tell the difference. You're apparently in the minority who can but the follow up question is can you tell the difference with the Tesla audio system? It's a moot point in some respects, since I don't know of a way off hand to actually play lossless audio in a Tesla, but it's still relevant, because if the amplifier and speakers aren't good enough to produce the difference it the Bluetooth issue doesn't matter.