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LTE Throttling since 11/3/17
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- Model S Poll User Interface
Yes, but more annoying to me is the missing content, or content that won't play at all over LTE.
I have favorites that I "favorited" prior to these issues, that not only won't play over LTE, but are not even available to select anymore. Switching to WiFi, they work as they always have.
Of course, if your LTE speeds are terrible, that would also be a factor, but in my case speed does not appear to be an issue.
I'm going to escalate this with Tesla, it was functionality that was working fine they obviously changed something to cause this issue. I think what they mean is they are going to try to come up with a work around for the throttling they just imposed on our cars.
wolfson292
Architect
This is not limited to TuneIn and Slacker. It happens on Spotify in the US as well, if you are able to get it enabled. I have to suspect it is actually related to LTE throttling.
Say what now? Spotify in the US? Do tell.
wolfson292
Architect
Not normally available unless you can manually edit the UI config in the car. Just saying it's not a provider specific issue.
wolfson292
Architect
I have to disagree with your statement. Traffic from the CID to services like Spotify and Slacker, go direct through the carriers LTE network to the providers. The traffic does not go through Tesla. The car maintains an OpenVPN connection over either WiFi or LTE back to Tesla for communicating with Tesla servers, but it's limited to things like software updates, mobile app connections, telemetry, etc...
The only way for that is to lower our music quality. Or invent a super new awesome compression!!
I agree that there is an OpenVPN connection back to Tesla, via LTE and/or WiFi, and also agree that entertainment communication over WiFi is also direct, but based on my own experiences, I disagree that all entertainment content over LTE is direct.
Take Tunein ... if I connect via HotSpot/WiFi, I get the same list of stations that I get on a computer. If I connect via Tesla LTE, the station list is different with many stations missing*, some that won't play at all, and some that stutter. Turn on my hot spot and connect over WiFi, they all appear and work fine. Slacker shows the same content, but not all content plays equally well.
I'm in Canada on Rogers, not AT&T, and my LTE speed ranges from 1.2 to 2.0 MBS, so it's not bandwidth throttling in my case; can't speak for AT&T ...
What I suspect is that many of the missing streams have switched to different streamiing codecs, that Tesla servers do not allow or handle well.
*Many missing stations are Bell network stations which switched to a playlist streaming format 2-3 months ago.
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Was at SC today and asked about the throttling problem. Service people said it's a known problem and Tesla says that it will be fixed in the next firmware update due in about a month. Basically the same story I heard a month ago, except back then they said it would be fixed by the end of December and now the time frame is end of January 2018.
HankLloydRight
No Roads
I also agree with this... when tethered via wifi to my AT&T LTE cell phone, the car thinks it's on wifi and doesn't use the Tesla VPN for entertainment traffic, and all entertainment systems work perfectly. When just connected via LTE over AT&T using the car's onboard cell radio, all the problems return.
While this is circumstantial evidence, I think this demonstrates that all traffic goes through the Jasper Networks proxy server whenever connected via LTE.
It's also obvious that at least the web browser traffic is routed through Jasper Networks proxy server when on LTE and not when on wifi.
It makes you wonder if that's just the standard reply for any software thing they don't understand or can't fix.
My guess is that come Jan 1 all data will be back to regular speed, reason?
Because I suspect Tesla exceeded their data plan with ATT and it will reset Jan 1.. speculation yes, but this isn’t a software problem (other then the regular bugs with slacker and tune in).
Because I suspect Tesla exceeded their data plan with ATT and it will reset Jan 1.. speculation yes, but this isn’t a software problem (other then the regular bugs with slacker and tune in).
HankLloydRight
No Roads
And I seriously do not think this is the reason. Why? Because companies don't make bandwidth contracts like this with an annual cap. Monthly, maybe, but not annually. It would be nearly impossible to predict a year ahead of time what the bandwidth demands would be with new models coming (M3) out and significant increases in BW demands for AP2/AP2.5 telemetry and training.
And even if there was an annual cap, any fool writing that kind of agreement would include an overage charge for BW above the pre-defined annual cap. Even if it's expensive, it doesn't interrupt service. They wouldn't just start throttling down to 2G speeds like this. I doubt the Tesla contract has any bandwidth cap at all.
And just suppose for on second that is true -- all it would take is a phone call to have AT&T remove or raise the cap and alleviate the problems thousands of owners are having and complaining about everyday for at least two months now.
I agree it's not a software problem on the Tesla firmware end, but it's most certainly a software or configuration problem on the AT&T LTE tower or headend.
I've been dealing with this issue for a few months, just like everyone else on this thread. It's clearly a bandwidth issue unrelated to the individual streaming provider, because slacker and tunein are affected exactly the same way. Try loading a long podcast on tunein - the light grey bar takes minutes to move even slightly, whereas on Wifi the entire thing loads in a minute or two. When playing on slacker you can see that the song buffering just barely stays ahead of playback. And those times when the music does catch up the player, instead of pausing, gets a buffer underflow and loses its mind for a while (likely a separate quality issue with the media player).
I just brought in my car for service and got a somewhat older loaner. I gave the media player a try, and was delighted to see that songs were loading just fine while driving the same routes I drive every day. The grey buffering bar zipped right along, just like mine used to do, and playback was flawless. "Aha", I thought, "there must be a new FW update to fix the problem", but I checked the FW version and it was older than mine. Then I looked at the cell icon - it said "3G". This car doesn't have LTE, and it doesn't have the problem.
So the common link is LTE. Would AT&T choose to only throttle Tesla LTE and not 3G? That seems somewhat unlikely. It seems to me that the problem is on the Tesla end. Either they broke LTE somewhere, or Tesla is doing the throttling themselves.
I just brought in my car for service and got a somewhat older loaner. I gave the media player a try, and was delighted to see that songs were loading just fine while driving the same routes I drive every day. The grey buffering bar zipped right along, just like mine used to do, and playback was flawless. "Aha", I thought, "there must be a new FW update to fix the problem", but I checked the FW version and it was older than mine. Then I looked at the cell icon - it said "3G". This car doesn't have LTE, and it doesn't have the problem.
So the common link is LTE. Would AT&T choose to only throttle Tesla LTE and not 3G? That seems somewhat unlikely. It seems to me that the problem is on the Tesla end. Either they broke LTE somewhere, or Tesla is doing the throttling themselves.
Slow server response can appear to be the same as LTE throttling ...in fact, if all LTE traffic is routed through Tesla servers how would you tell the difference? Again, Canadian on Rogers with >1.2MBS, not seeing a bandwidth issue. I do see missing content and some content that will not play, or plays intermittently over LTE. WiFi works fine.
HankLloydRight
No Roads
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