How much are you prepared to pay for connectivity?

[Lerxt]

Tesla Australia is offering wifi hotspot with the Model S, courtesy of the telecom provider Telstra. I think this is a first for Tesla.
http://mobile.news.com.au/technolog...odel-s-customers/story-fnjwucvh-1227159672788

 

[wayner]

Is it LTE or just 3G - the story isn't clear on that. I am guessing only 3G since it doesn't seem like the Tesla hardware can do LTE.

 

[Judge Advocate]

Connectivity and Supercharging Payments

There's plenty of discussion on connectivity and different views on what's important and what each of us might find reasonable. I figured it's worth splitting off for a poll on what we might be prepared to pay. I know I likely didn't cover all the various options but there's only so many choices in a poll and overall I have the impression that we break down in to two main categories: those who don't want connectivity but want to use the phone app and those who want browsing, slacker, maps etc.

I also guess there's folks that will say they'd like everything for $X and if that's not available they'll take phone app only; but I had no way to ac**** for that in the poll, you'll have to add it as comments in a post.

Monetary amounts are on a per month basis.

I am prepared to pay nothing for connectivity.
Paid enough for the car and these things were perks offered at no cost, ever.

I am concerned, however, that Supercharging might someday not be free.

 

[capt601]

Will be awfully hard to change any current customer for supercharging. With all of the talk and advertising of free supercharging for life. Mottled chance to none that they ever charge. Especially since it is built into the price of the car and some Paid $2500 for lifetime access.

 

[Cyclone]

Look at @tliving's post here about some costs to think about for using Superchargers:
Can you use Superchargers for your daily needs? | Tesla Living

Personally, I'm of the opinion that the S and X will remain "free Superhcarger for life" cars. What I (with no inside knowledge) imagine, is when they want to axe that perk, it will happen alongside retirement of the Model S to be replaced by whatever (Model Y for S-3-X-Y)? That way, they don't go against the established paradigm and the "free" users will naturally disappear as the vehicles age and come off the road. The same will likely happen with the X.

Now, the 3, I can imagine it changing here. Maybe only Signature 3s get it free for life versus paying X per kWh or have Y charges per month. Or maybe they will still get free for life, but have a higher buy-in vs. being part of base pricing (60s were paying $2,500 I believe). This must be tempered though if they release a 3 that has less range than a S. If so, then they may need the free Superchargers to incentivize the mass-market buyers.

 

[mwulff]

Being in Europe I have to deal with crap like different countries (roaming will cost $5 pr mb) and different telecom companies. Tesla's advantage is that they buy sims that work anywhere in Europe and I am willing to pay for that. Considering cell phone pricing here about $250 per year seems fair.

 

[xrayangiodoc]

I swapped the AT&T SIM in my iPad for a Tmobile one and get 200MB a month free for life. If I need more I can pay $10 and get 1GB for a month. With 1GB the WiFi hotspot feature of the iPad is activated. If Tesla D/Ced connectivity I would probably just use a mobile WiFi hotspot.

 

[AC1K]

you forgot a bullet for the poll... i dont care what it costs as long as its HIGH SPEED (LTE Connectivity)
if the only way i can get high speed connectivity is through a WIFI hotspot to LTE then ill use my own phone for that.

 

[simonog]

you forgot a bullet for the poll... i dont care what it costs as long as its HIGH SPEED (LTE Connectivity)
if the only way i can get high speed connectivity is through a WIFI hotspot to LTE then ill use my own phone for that.

What do you use in the car where high speed connectivity makes any difference?

for the speed of rendering and without video capability, 3G seems well aligned to me.

 

[jerry33]

What do you use in the car where high speed connectivity makes any difference?

for the speed of rendering and without video capability, 3G seems well aligned to me.

True, but only if you have four or five bars. More often you have between one and three. Then it's deadly slow.

 

[Candleflame]

I am prepared to pay nothing for connectivity.
Paid enough for the car and these things were perks offered at no cost, ever.

I am concerned, however, that Supercharging might someday not be free.

I find it a bit strange that people always think supercharging is free. It's not really free, the cost is included in buying the car. And not too long ago it had to be enabled for 2500 euros on the 60kwh model. With pretty expensive day rates thats still around 9615kwh of electricity or about 48000 km typical range. And Tesla would likely get much, much, much better deals on their super charger electricity. If Tesla would just push 2500 euros onto the base price of all their future models I wouldn't be surprised if they actually make a small profit with the Model 3 on supercharging. I realize building a super charger is expensive, but that is just a one time investment + maintainance and Tesla is in it for the long game.


(Obviously in reality you can't buy a Tesla without supercharging anymore so it's hard to really see the hidden cost which is included in the car for supercharging)


Regarding 4g vs 3g. 3g is more than fast enough for even watching youtube in your car. The problem is that the reception is usually so bad that the speed drops. I'd rather have a better 3g network than a 4g network which is just as crap as the current 3g one imho.

 

[jerry33]

I find it a bit strange that people always think supercharging is free.

Nothing is "free", but how many other products use "free" in their marketing? It would be different if Tesla were the only company to use "free", but they're not. It's pretty much an accepted terminology in North America to use "free" to mean "no additional cost after purchase".