LTE service free only for 4 years

[grichard]

Maybe it will be more advanced and sophisticated than half the cars people are driving, but I doubt it will be more advanced and sophisticated than half the cars people are riding in.

That was pretty stylish!

 

[AmpedRealtor]

People who think they are going to be happy with their Tesla many years in the future are (wrongly, in my opinion) thinking of it as a car. It's not. It's a gadget. Do any of you still use your original 2007 iPhone? I have one. We call it the iBrick and use it as an alarm clock. I believe our current cars will be similarly hopelessly slow and obsolete a few years down the road.

Yes, you can buy an LTE upgrade, but most hardware upgrades won't be that self-contained or simple. You can't go D. You won't be able to get the new sensor suite when it comes out, so self-driving will never happen. When the crowded supercharger protocol becomes "just park your car nearby and go about your business; when your turn comes it will drive over, hook itself to the charger, and re-park itself when done" you'll still be the one dealing with your car manually.

People just don't keep their gadgets that long because they become better so fast. This car-like gadget will be no different.

I must disagree. While the technological aspects of this car can be compared to an iPhone or an iPad, the price tag certainly cannot. I stretched to buy this car, I'm not going to be incurring a $40,000+ loss just to be able to get some new technology. The underlying performance and driving experience remains unchanged from the day I purchased the vehicle. I typically keep my cars for at least 7 years. My previous cars also got substantially better over time but that did not make me want to ditch the car that I had. I would be even less inclined to do so with a $100,000 car that has already lost 40% of its resale value.

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Sorry, but our eight year old Model S's won't be worth much more than $20K at best, probably less considering the relatively inexpensive Model 3 at that time will be in almost every way a better car. So replacement won't be an issue for all the people who have currently purchased vehicles on the order of $100K.

The above only matters if you sell your car. Again, not everyone is interested in taking a massive financial loss just to have a new feature. Some of us keep our cars for a long time. The least environmentally conscious thing anyone can do is trade-in their cars for a new one just to get some new feature. Driving the car into the ground is the most environmentally responsible way.

Oh, yeah. You'll certainly be wanting one of those cheaper, lighter, higher capacity battery packs too. Your old battery pack will have degraded somewhat. But the replacement will be almost as much as the Blue Book value of the car. So really the only sensible way to get your new battery is to get rid of the old car and get a new one.

I won't be needing a new battery pack as long as the one I have gets me where I need to go. Even if it degraded 20% I would still be fine. I think you are making a lot of assumptions.

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Is wrong to say the LTE service in your Model S is free for 4 years. The correct statement is that the service is "prepaid." Same for Supercharging.

Splitting hairs. Free sounds better and I'm going with that! When I talk with prospective owners, they respond better to "free".

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I would also guestimate that > 90% of cars that are sold will be bought by other people who want to actually drive them, as opposed to just using them for bonfires or lawn ornaments.

... or for bragging rights.

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Mr Musk claims autonomous vehicles will be ready in 2 years. That seems rather optimistic to me. But in 10 years, cars that you must manually drive could very well be obsolete.

When Musk says 2 years, that actually means 10 years.

 

[simonog]

Map updates is not the same as connectivity.

Unless they've changed it, map updates can only come over wifi

 

[ChadFeldheimer]

I stretched to buy this car, I'm not going to be incurring a $40,000+ loss just to be able to get some new technology.

You've already chosen to incur a $40,000+ loss to get some new technology (Model S). Yet you're sure there's nothing (car related) that could be invented to make you do it again.

You might be right. But I'm doubtful =)

When Musk says 2 years, that actually means 10 years.

My babelfish says 4.

Back on topic: the first Model S was delivered June 2012, 3.5 years ago. So we will soon find out what happens after the 4 free years is up. Presumably Tesla will broadcast its intentions at least a few months prior to June 2016...

 

[N4HHE]

I hesitate to ever say "it's not the money" (because it's almost ALWAYS the money)

Money is the most accurate measure of resource consumption known to man. Is the only metric for which each stage of the supply pipeline demands accurate accounting... no one is willing to work for less than they are worth, to provide labor or material for less than fair value.

 

[gaswalla]

Back on topic: the first Model S was delivered June 2012, 3.5 years ago. So we will soon find out what happens after the 4 free years is up. Presumably Tesla will broadcast its intentions at least a few months prior to June 2016...

Actually we find out in exactly 2 years as the 4 years starts as of January 2014 for early cars

 

[ChadFeldheimer]

Actually we find out in exactly 2 years as the 4 years starts as of January 2014 for early cars

Thanks for the correction!

 

[Screwbal]

Since we're talking LTE and in turn AT&T how do things fair with the connectivity for international roaming? I'm just a few hours away from Canada so if I drive up there does all of the internet functionality work as expected? If I stayed up there for a month there would be some good roaming fees that would come up I'm sure. At any point does Tesla come back and send you a nastygram?

 

[mrElbe]

Since we're talking LTE and in turn AT&T how do things fair with the connectivity for international roaming? I'm just a few hours away from Canada so if I drive up there does all of the internet functionality work as expected? If I stayed up there for a month there would be some good roaming fees that would come up I'm sure. At any point does Tesla come back and send you a nastygram?

We Canadians are already roaming up here. In the early days US drivers lost connectivity while roaming in Canada but that was resolved long ago.

 

[jerry33]

Since we're talking LTE and in turn AT&T how do things fair with the connectivity for international roaming?

Two words that probably don't belong in the same sentence

 

[rlang59]

Unless they've changed it, map updates can only come over wifi

I am aware of that, the the comment I was responding to seems to think that the connectivity (such as the google maps) is the same thing as the 7 years of map updates that was part of the tech package.

 

[kevincwelch]

Is browser speed and map reload substantially faster for LTE v. 3G? I use the maps and stream frequently, but browsing is something I estimate a few times per month.

 

[wayner]

Is browser speed and map reload substantially faster for LTE v. 3G? I use the maps and stream frequently, but browsing is something I estimate a few times per month.

Maps are slightly faster - I upgraded my P85D from 3G to LTE a few months ago. The browser is still painfully slow - they really need to fix that. Surely they can find a faster OS browser that they could use, or high a summer student to improve the browser.

 

[ArtInCT]

I feel that if you have a yearly service contract for your Tesla, then the telephony fees should be covered by that contract. It would be a great way for TM to retain happy customers and it is a logical bundling as much of the connectivity is for logs and software updates.

 

[Trips]

Has anyone on here got a notice that their 4 years of free service is about to end?

The original multi-year deal was announced in January 2013 so there should be a few. I do not see any pricing for Tesla or any mention of them on the AT&T website. They did have a few references to "Tesla" in their page source code but that could be unrelated.

 

[efusco]

Has anyone on here got a notice that their 4 years of free service is about to end?

The original multi-year deal was announced in January 2013 so there should be a few. I do not see any pricing for Tesla or any mention of them on the AT&T website. They did have a few references to "Tesla" in their page source code but that could be unrelated.

Shhhhhhhh!! 4.5 years, no word.

 

[gaswalla]

The four years start Jan 2014

 

[efusco]

The four years start Jan 2014

Source? My impression was always that it was 4 yrs from date of delivery.

 

[SMAlset]

People who think they are going to be happy with their Tesla many years in the future are (wrongly, in my opinion) thinking of it as a car. It's not. It's a gadget. Do any of you still use your original 2007 iPhone? I have one. We call it the iBrick and use it as an alarm clock. I believe our current cars will be similarly hopelessly slow and obsolete a few years down the road.

Yes, you can buy an LTE upgrade, but most hardware upgrades won't be that self-contained or simple. You can't go D. You won't be able to get the new sensor suite when it comes out, so self-driving will never happen. When the crowded supercharger protocol becomes "just park your car nearby and go about your business; when your turn comes it will drive over, hook itself to the charger, and re-park itself when done" you'll still be the one dealing with your car manually.

People just don't keep their gadgets that long because they become better so fast. This car-like gadget will be no different.

I don't know if I agree. "Better" I guess is in the eye of the beholder. We don't look at our new S as just a car, but then both hubby and I have kept our cars for more than 8 years (his 8 years and mine 16! It's a loaded Toyota Avalon and just runs and looks great so been enjoying no car payments). I will say that I have missed things like maps and phone connectivity in it but that's it. Hubby is using TACC in our Tesla (only had it 1 month) and we do enjoy the controls of the main screen and apps plus some of the camera features.

We did not get the FSD option and not sure if we would bother to upgrade down the road. I do tend to think that a large portion of those buying Teslas while having EAP don't use things like auto-park, summon, etc. and might not feel comfortable ever doing so. I know having my car pull up and charge by itself has no real appeal to me. Appliances and cars with lots of tech can have more ways to go wrong, also be hacked. Example, we bought a high end double oven; it's circuit board failed and after spending thousands of dollars for it found ourselves unable to even cook a meal in it because some little computer part failed. The board was fortunately still covered by warranty but expensive to replace. After this experience I'd rather have an oven that had knobs and just worked than one with the fancy menus for programmed cooking that it has and I hardly ever use.

 

[TexasEV]

Source? My impression was always that it was 4 yrs from date of delivery.

Source was Tesla but I can't find it now. It was four years from the date of the announcement that they were giving 4 years free, and that announcement didn't come until long after my car was delivered in July 2013, so Jan. 2014 sounds about right.