-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
How much are you prepared to pay for connectivity?
- Thread starter NigelM
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Model S User Interface
Using a hotspot/jetpack or similar is one option. Many also talk about tethering to their phone, the issue there may be the inability of the phone to handle data and voice simultaneously. This may not bother you and there's too many different combinations of phone and carrier to say exactly what this means. Seems in my personal example (Verizon with iPhone 5) that phone calls will mostly go straight to voicemail so I'd lose phone call function while the car was tethered.
Hank42
Legacy Supporter
Well, that's the pickle they are in. They don't have their own dedicated connectivity for diagnostics. If they allow you to sign with AT&T, then they lose the remote diag ability if you cancel your AT&T contract. Additionally, their connectivity would be riding on your data plan. Not necessarily a _bad_ thing, just a different thing. There is only one 3g radio in the vehicle and it can only be associated with one account, theirs, or yours. Personally, I would rather own control of the connectivity unless Tesla gets some awesome "group buy" and can charge less than AT&T etc..
Also, as someone else pointed out - paying anything over $10 for 3g (three gee) connectivity is ridiculous. Furthermore, think about the hourly rate - just how often are you in the car, and just how much data are you downloading? It should be "free" unless there is some killer app for the Tesla that is released.
I think they will have you sign up directly with AT&T for data. In your MVPA there are multiple clauses saying if you have a data plan Tesla can use your plan for diagnostics. And if you cancel your data plan you are supposed to notify Tesla so that they can re-enable a data plan so they can continue to pull diagnostics.
Electric Machete
P#3820
For me a few things will factor in.
1. I cannot tether my iPhone to anything since I have an unlimited data plan. I would have to switch to a limited data plan to tether.
2. I don't like the idea of turning on tethering each time I drive. The question is how much would I pay each month not to have to do this.
3. My iPhone is on a 4g network vs. the 3g in the Tesla. Theoretically my iPhone paired to my car would allow faster speeds that what the Tesla currently offers.
4. How much will Tesla charge per month for 3g access? Will it be unlimited data? Will Tesla have any bargaining power since they would be purchasing thousands of accounts? How much of the monthly fees will go to Tesla?
Lastly, it was my understanding that Tesla would enable tethering through a USB port in addition to wifi. Does anyone know if this is the case? If so could I leave my iPhone on USB tethering all of the time and just plug it into a USB port while driving? It seems that this would not drain the battery.
1. I cannot tether my iPhone to anything since I have an unlimited data plan. I would have to switch to a limited data plan to tether.
2. I don't like the idea of turning on tethering each time I drive. The question is how much would I pay each month not to have to do this.
3. My iPhone is on a 4g network vs. the 3g in the Tesla. Theoretically my iPhone paired to my car would allow faster speeds that what the Tesla currently offers.
4. How much will Tesla charge per month for 3g access? Will it be unlimited data? Will Tesla have any bargaining power since they would be purchasing thousands of accounts? How much of the monthly fees will go to Tesla?
Lastly, it was my understanding that Tesla would enable tethering through a USB port in addition to wifi. Does anyone know if this is the case? If so could I leave my iPhone on USB tethering all of the time and just plug it into a USB port while driving? It seems that this would not drain the battery.
wcalvin
Member
If we're going strictly by track record, the hardware and enabling of options is sometimes expensive but there's no "usage" charges for anything yet.
- - - Updated - - -
Nope. Canada gets a better deal here. Canadian cars get working 3G in U.S. but U.S. cars don't get working 3G in Canada. At least that's my recollection.
SteveW25561
Member
That's really interesting. I just got back from my trip from Vancouver to Seattle, and really enjoyed having the seamless connection going south. Interestingly, immediately after I got back across the border into British Columbia (Peace Arch), it seemed like the 3G data connection on the maps at least dropped for a while -- the big screen's map was blank for quite a long time -- I only just started getting the street diagrams back about 10 minutes later, and no sat images so far (the car's now parked, so I'll check in the AM). It seemed like the car needed to take time to renegotiate a Canadian 3G connection after coming back up north, whereas going south it was seamless.
Anyhow I do hope whatever plan they offer allows bidirectional seamless data for US & Canada, without crazy roaming rates (eg a reasonable fixed cost).
I don't even want to talk about paid connectivity unless it's 4G. If it is, then there should be two tier options offered. A basic 4G with just enough data for basic car functionality, and an unlimited 4G for all the bells and whistles. If the price is reasonable and competitive, people will buy the unlimited option. The unlimited option should provide a hotspot for passengers.
ZBB
Emperor
I've read my MVPA and did not see anything about that. I signed it at the end of May and its noted that it is the "California MVPA (Cash)" and was last updated on Feb 12, 2013 -- so there may be newer or different versions... I just did some searches on it -- here's what I find on this:
- "Data" only appears twice, both in the single paragraph on "Vehicle Telematics Subscription". That paragraph describes that the subscription is activated, sends diagnostic and system data to Tesla, there is no charge for the service, that access to location data is tightly controlled and not stored by Tesla, and that I can contact Tesla if I want to suspend the subscription.
- "Subscription" only appears 3 times -- all in the same telematics paragraph.
- "Telematics" appears once -- in the title of that paragraph
- "Connectivity" does not appear
- "Plan" does not appear.
So, only one clause in my MVPA that has any mention of a data subscription. What are the other clauses you have? Is your MVPA newer?
Last edited:
ZBB
Emperor
We're up in BC 1-2x per year -- my in-laws live on Saltspring Island...
FWIW, international roaming on AT&T can be ridiculously expensive, especially for data. Without a plan, roaming to Canada is $0.015 per KB / $0.0195 for other countries -- so $15-$20 per megabyte. You could get monthly plans that included certain levels of MB -- but it was something like $30 for 25MB, $60 for 50MB, $120 for 100MB, etc. They reduced the monthly plan rates in the last ~2 years -- now $30 for 120MB / $60 for 300MB and $120 for 800MB. Still expensive, but reasonable considering that AT&T pro-rated them and you could turn it on the day you left the US and turn it off the day after you got back to minimize the fees.
Voice is still at ridiculous price levels. Looks like AT&T now offers roaming packages for voice -- which is nice. Previously, only their per-minute charges applied -- which range from $1/min to $2.50/min depending on country. I was in Russia a couple years ago -- and tried not using my phone, but ended up having to take a call that went over an hour. Huge bill that month!
I think they almost have to keep a basic level of data to the car free of charge for both their own monitoring needs as well as being able to use your phone to remotely send commands or check the state of the car. Either of those would use minimal amounts of data and are pretty integral to the overall theme of the car. They could then disable the web browser and music streaming to people unwilling to pay. Likewise, if somebody decides to just tether instead of pay for the data, they would still be unable to do the remote commands with the app if they didn't include this basic level of support. It's really necessary I think.
This post reminded me of VerizonMath!
http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2007/08/original-recording-of-verizon-customer.html
I'm thinking that Tesla (AT&T) can't come up with a usage based plan - it really needs to be just all or nothing.
With my phone I know roughly what I use each month and quite honestly it's reasonably constant; I suspect thats the same for most people. So it makes sense to buy a plan just above what I need and never worry about it.
With Model S I have no idea what I use (will Tesla tell me?) so I'd have no idea what usage rate to buy. I noted the estimate on Slacker up-thread but even that is asked on constant usage. Some months we have just have our usual short trips and we don't care about Slacker, maps or browsing; other months we take more long trips and will likely use lots of data as Slacker and maps get used more.
The point overall is that the rate of data usage in my car will vary much more month-to-month than with my phone. How should anyone try to select from a tiered plan under those conditions?
With my phone I know roughly what I use each month and quite honestly it's reasonably constant; I suspect thats the same for most people. So it makes sense to buy a plan just above what I need and never worry about it.
With Model S I have no idea what I use (will Tesla tell me?) so I'd have no idea what usage rate to buy. I noted the estimate on Slacker up-thread but even that is asked on constant usage. Some months we have just have our usual short trips and we don't care about Slacker, maps or browsing; other months we take more long trips and will likely use lots of data as Slacker and maps get used more.
The point overall is that the rate of data usage in my car will vary much more month-to-month than with my phone. How should anyone try to select from a tiered plan under those conditions?
SCW-Greg
Active Member
You should be able to just add your car on to your existing plan. I use Rogers here in Canada and they have something called the share everything plan. I have three devices (iPhone, iPad, Wifi hotspot) that share 4GB per month. I pay about $100 for the phone plan and then an $10/additional device. So if I paid for the Tesla it should just be $10/month plus upping my monthly data, if required.
