how long is the streaming music/radio buffer?

[crackers8199]

random question, moreso for the s/x owners i guess (since the 3 will probably be similar) - how long is the buffer on the streaming radio? i live in an area where cell reception is spotty in the general vicinity of my house (in a canyon, once i get about a mile or two away i've got full signal but right around the house it's very hit or miss). how much does it buffer? am i going to be SOL around my house, or will it buffer enough to get me through the dead zones?

for example, will it buffer enough in my garage on wifi to get me to the mile or two down the road where cell service picks back up?

 

[MorrisonHiker]

IMO, it's not long enough. I think it only loads one song at a time. I wish that they would cache a few songs so that when you go through areas with poor cellular service it could keep playing a few minutes longer. A couple songs/10 minutes would cover most of the times I've been without cellular service.

 

[thimel]

Yes, when using Slacker, it loads one complete song. It doesn't start loading the next one until the present one finishes playing.

 

[crackers8199]

Yes, when using Slacker, it loads one complete song. It doesn't start loading the next one until the present one finishes playing.

what about tunein? if i have one option that will work most of the time, i'm less likely to try to find a way to add a portable satellite radio...but if i'm going to be going through dead spots in the canyons all over southern california and keep losing cell reception, i might not have a choice...

 

[Pinot.Noir]

The Slacker app on my phone will preload about an hours worth of music (its an option). I sometimes use my phone to stream Slacker when Slacker is not working correctly on the S. I believe you can use your Tesla Slacker login on the Slacker app, but I had Slacker before I got the S so I switched to my personal account on the S to bring all my favorites over.

 

[crackers8199]

I believe you can use your Tesla Slacker login on the Slacker app

this would be alright, as long as you can in fact use your tesla slacker login in the app (to cache music overnight / on wifi). if not though, that wouldn't really solve the issue.

worst case i guess i could just throw a bunch of music on a flash drive and leave it plugged in, but i'm still a little miffed they don't have xm as an option (if for no other reason than situations like this, where there's no cell service available). wife and i drove from southern california to KS and back for work a few weeks ago, and there were/are vast stretches of highway in the southwestern US with no cell service. maybe at&t is better than t-mobile (our provider), and that may mitigate it some...but i can't imagine it'll cover EVERYWHERE.

 

[Mark Z]

In the 2012 and 2017 MS, the TuneIn works on Wi-Fi when I enter the vehicle. After driving away from the home outside of Wi-Fi range, the TuneIn stops, endlessly searches and frequently requires me to select any other choice before returning to my previous TuneIn station.

This behavior stated with the newer interface and remains consistent. Maybe Model 3 will get a reprieve from this annoyance.