It looks like I have LTE enabled

[travwill]

Maybe not exactly but perhaps the SC can tell you the build date. You could use the tracker spreadsheet on here.

If you have an inventory car with 50 miles on it that has been in use even more than a week, it most likely does NOT have LTE. It seems only LTE cars built brand new have LTE if they were built at the very end of May, that last week, and even towards the last few days of May at most. No way an inventory car would be from then as those cars are just now getting delivered in the last few days to the MidWest/East, etc. Mine was built the first week of June and is arriving early this Wed even.

So you probably do have 3G but it should suffice just fine, same functionality overall. Consider those savings you must have got, even if small, covering a retrofit later if really needed ;-)

 

[breser]

As one of the people who got one of the last cars without autopilot and ultimately traded the car to get autopilot. Don't sweat the 3G vs LTE. Even on WiFi with a very good Internet connection backing it the car's browser is slow. The issue isn't 3G or LTE but the software and/or hardware behind the touchscreen interface. There isn't a lot of reason to use the car's browser either. It's not just slow but also awkward to use due to need to reach for it. Unless Tesla enables tethering to the car I can't see a whole lot of difference in 3G vs LTE. Slightly faster map tiles and slight better latency. But probably not much difference in usability. Most of what you'll likely use the Internet connection for is listening to TuneIn or Slacker which 3G is plenty fast for and controlling the car, which the lower latency might be nice for but isn't going to make a huge difference.

So mostly this is going to just be an arbitrary check box. The real difference is going to be insignificant.

 

[Tamar]

My SM responded to an email tonight (I figured he'd get it tomorrow when I sent it). Looks like my car rolled off the line on May 18 so doesn't have LTE. I know it's not a big deal (at least to me). I was just curious and of course we all want the absolute latest and greatest. I think my car sat on a train for a few weeks, since it sounds like it JUST arrived in Chicago and will be transferred to the next truck to Mpls.

 

[Tamar]

Good idea to check the delivery tracker. I found the VIN one number higher than mine...it moved in to production on May 15 and was delivered on June 2. The production end date is blank.

 

[Andyw2100]

My inventory 85D is in Chicago waiting to be transported to me in Mpls. Is there any way for me to figure out when its build date(s) was/were from the VIN? It is listed as having 50 miles so likely was delivered in Chicago in the last week or so. Would be very happy if it is LTE equipped!

All new Model Ss come with titles that indicate 50 miles driven on them. It's just the basic number Tesla uses. My car had 17 miles on the odometer when I received it. You can't infer anything from that 50 mile figure.

 

[Tamar]

All new Model Ss come with titles that indicate 50 miles driven on them. It's just the basic number Tesla uses. My car had 17 miles on the odometer when I received it. You can't infer anything from that 50 mile figure.

Thanks Andy. I didn't know all Model Ss come with titles that say 50 miles, I did know that cars still on the train have had that...it's good to have that confirmed. All I knew was that it was in Chicago, and that it couldn't have been there long because of the 50 mile listing. That's what I meant by it arriving in the last week.

 

[arg]

So mostly this is going to just be an arbitrary check box. The real difference is going to be insignificant.

This is going to vary substantially with where you are. There are two reasons for wanting LTE:

1) Performance (both throughput and latency). As you point out, the best 3G already provides as much as the car can use and so LTE has little to offer. Certainly where I am, 3G coverage is mostly HSPA+ and congestion is not too bad, so LTE offers me little. On the other hand, there are places where 3G was deployed early and not upgraded, so they suffer the lower throughput and higher latency of the original UMTS protocols, or perhaps suffer from heavy congestion on 3G where the carriers are investing in LTE rather than upgrading the soon-to-be-obsolescent 3G. In these places, LTE will be a big improvement.

2) Coverage. Not yet an issue in most places, since most early 4G deployments are in dense population areas where there is already 3G - it's being marketed as a premium service and/or used to beat congestion. But for places where there is still a lot of 2G coverage, and where the frequency allocations for LTE offer better range than those for 3G, this is going to be huge. Currently for me in many parts of the UK where I go, the existing coverage on Tesla's chosen carrier is abysmal (the 3G is good where you can get it, but vast areas have just 2G, and the 2G is only GPRS rather than EDGE) - it's one of the worst features of the car. And this is never going to get any better on 3G, while LTE offers hope for improvement as coverage rolls out.

 

[Cyclone]

Along the lines of arg, the sword cuts both ways. I have an iPhone 6 on Verizon Wireless in the States and many times at sporting events and concerts, I have to force my phone off LTE to have a usable data connection. LTE in recent years has been strong hyped and in some areas, it is now being congested while 3G is being used signifant less. Note though that 3G in this case is on a CDMA network, not a GSM network.

 

[wayner]

As one of the people who got one of the last cars without autopilot and ultimately traded the car to get autopilot. Don't sweat the 3G vs LTE. Even on WiFi with a very good Internet connection backing it the car's browser is slow. The issue isn't 3G or LTE but the software and/or hardware behind the touchscreen interface.

And if you really have to have LTE in the car then just buy a Wifi hotspot and keep it permanently plugged into the car's USB port. You can probably add the data plan to your existing mobile plan so it may not cost you any more each month and the upfront cost isn't too much, likely less than $100.

 

[widodh]

Along the lines of arg, the sword cuts both ways. I have an iPhone 6 on Verizon Wireless in the States and many times at sporting events and concerts, I have to force my phone off LTE to have a usable data connection. LTE in recent years has been strong hyped and in some areas, it is now being congested while 3G is being used signifant less. Note though that 3G in this case is on a CDMA network, not a GSM network.

That is completely up to the provider. But LTE/4G is a lot better technology then 3G is. Latency is lower, thus response times are faster. No, it's not just a bump in bandwidth, congestion control in LTE is also properly done.

3G/HSPDA+ is still a circuit-switched system where LTE is packet-switched, like the internet works.

You should prefer 4G over 3G anytime!

 

[HankLloydRight]

And if you really have to have LTE in the car then just buy a Wifi hotspot and keep it permanently plugged into the car's USB port. You can probably add the data plan to your existing mobile plan so it may not cost you any more each month and the upfront cost isn't too much, likely less than $100.

I've tried that on long trips tethering my iPhone with LTE to the car... and there was no perceivable difference in map loading, nav, website access, speed or latency. Also, the car had problems staying connected to the wifi hotspot and would often default back to 3G. Now the in-car LTE might be better because it's less steps, but I think the real bottleneck is still the applications running on the touchscreen.

 

[scaesare]

I've tried that on long trips tethering my iPhone with LTE to the car... and there was no perceivable difference in map loading, nav, website access, speed or latency. Also, the car had problems staying connected to the wifi hotspot and would often default back to 3G. Now the in-car LTE might be better because it's less steps, but I think the real bottleneck is still the applications running on the touchscreen.

I've had similar experience. My Verizon LTE hotspot didn't change the overall responsiveness of the car much...

 

[hill]

LOL, let me be the first!

Given the way cellular chipsets seem to be built to work in a variety of modes, I was hoping the hardware in the cars would be LTE capable from the beginning, but not enabled. I guess we'll see.

Many of us with rooted phones "change" the device's native radios (whether 3gHSPA+ or 4g or LTE) - because they're software (ok, actually it's a flashable chip), as opposed to a rom type chip ... at least that's the case with phones. Could it be that some of the OTA updates are in fact doing the same thing? On an uncomfortable note, and as a Leaf owner - their system is running on 2g ... which if I understand correctly, will be phased out shortly. That will be another interesting tid bid ... whether the Nissan dealer can update their soon-to-be antiquated radios.
.

 

[PatD]

As one of the people who got one of the last cars without autopilot and ultimately traded the car to get autopilot. Don't sweat the 3G vs LTE. Even on WiFi with a very good Internet connection backing it the car's browser is slow. The issue isn't 3G or LTE but the software and/or hardware behind the touchscreen interface. There isn't a lot of reason to use the car's browser either. It's not just slow but also awkward to use due to need to reach for it. Unless Tesla enables tethering to the car I can't see a whole lot of difference in 3G vs LTE. Slightly faster map tiles and slight better latency. But probably not much difference in usability. Most of what you'll likely use the Internet connection for is listening to TuneIn or Slacker which 3G is plenty fast for and controlling the car, which the lower latency might be nice for but isn't going to make a huge difference.

So mostly this is going to just be an arbitrary check box. The real difference is going to be insignificant.

What he said. I see the same thing at home on my (strong) wifi signal. It's still very slow to load stuff in the browser and maps are poor. So I don't expect much from LTE (At least initially.) Maybe with version 7 of the firmware we'll see a better browser, but until then. . .

 

[HankLloydRight]

I also suspect a faster processor and/or GPU might really make the difference to see the difference LTE brings to the table.

 

[thegruf]

Anyone brave enough to dive in to see if it is just the LTE module that changed or if there is a new gen processor board in there too?
That would properly be some news

edit: actually is there a mode in the software/diagnostics that allows you to see what hardware is installed?

 

[Ingineer]

Yes, it's clear to me that the sluggishness is mostly due to the Tegra3 not being strong enough to make Tesla's UI be really responsive. Could possibly be helped with more optimized code, and of course the CPU module could be upgraded as well. Tesla bothered to make it modular ostensibly so it could be upgraded. The cellular modem and the CPU are separate modules. Maybe they'll offer a upgrade kit at some point.

Here's the CPU module with the Tegra3:

 

[hill]

If the bus doesn't allow for a faster processor to input its faster speed, it becomes a moot point though. Often the case is - a board's speed & the cpu are both the latest & greatest - and their speeds are thus matched, which provides little room for increasing one w/out increasing the other. TEGRA has been notorious (at least up to 5yrs ago) for upgrade/support. Here's to hoping that things have changed w/ them.
.

 

[Ingineer]

If the bus doesn't allow for a faster processor to input its faster speed, it becomes a moot point though.

I'd be shocked if Nvidia didn't think about this when they designed their modules and the interface spec. This gives automakers an upgrade path, which is the whole point of making the system modular.

Unfortunately there isn't much public info available: Visual Computing Module (VCM) from NVIDIA Tegra | NVIDIA

 

[thegruf]

@Ingineer - nice pic of the Tegra 3 board, but what would be good to know is if they upgraded the processor board at the same time as they started shipping LTE.