LTE Upgrade, Did YOU Do It?

[HankLloydRight]

i find the browser essentially useless due to its exteremly slow response time. i too tried an LTE hotspot from veriszon as well as WIfi. no difference in speed that is noticeable..

The browser is sluggish because the browser sucks, not because of the network connection, 3G, LTE or WiFi. And trying to use an LTE hotspot over Wifi also sucks because the Wifi in the car sucks, not because of the LTE connection.

I had the LTE upgrade done and all aspects (except for the browser) are significantly faster.

 

[msnow]

The browser is sluggish because the browser sucks, not because of the network connection, 3G, LTE or WiFi. And trying to use an LTE hotspot over Wifi also sucks because the Wifi in the car sucks, not because of the LTE connection.

I had the LTE upgrade done and all aspects (except for the browser) are significantly faster.

Another reason it's slow is all of the filtering that is going on probably for security.

 

[CHG-ON]

I won't change until they improve the browser and the download speed. The thing that I don't understand is why the upload speed is great, but the download sucks. What we need is the down, not the up, to make the browser, nav and music work well. We send practically no data up. It's unbelievably annoying in daily use. Essentially unusable when trying to do things on the fly. The value of the 17" is that I could then not have to use my phone to get the info that I need. A huge fail, IMO. There must be a reason why they did this. But I cannot fathom why.

 

[msnow]

@CHG-ON
Change what?

 

[HankLloydRight]

I won't change until they improve the browser and the download speed.

I never use the browser. You're right, it sucks. EVEN if it performed well (speed wise), it would still totally suck because it's so crippled.

But the LTE upgrade is so much more than just the browser.

 

[msnow]

That's right, more bandwidth, better range, consistent connection (most of the time).

 

[CHG-ON]

I never use the browser. You're right, it sucks. EVEN if it performed well (speed wise), it would still totally suck because it's so crippled.

But the LTE upgrade is so much more than just the browser.

Tell me more! If it improves other things, I would be interested. But I don't know what it would do to improve usability.

 

[HankLloydRight]

It's all been mentioned before... For me navigation and map redraws are significantly faster. People report better streaming with Slacker. Faster Nav searching. Some people report better/more stable connectivity.

 

[islandbayy]

Cross Post due to Thread Topic and Update.

Tesla Motors: 4G vs 3G Speedtest-Should you Upgrade to LTE???
=================================================
In this video, I compare internet speeds from my old 2013 Model S, on the AT&T Cellular network and 3G with my new 2016 Model S on AT&T LTE Service. Results were very interesting, and also could be reproduced. Based on my findings, I would continue to recommend people to not spend the $500 at this time to upgrade older Model S cars to operate on the 4G LTE Networks, accept in cases where you are constantly on the fringe of the network and signal and need that LTE to help get more throughput.

LTE Technology, (without getting too in depth or technical), is currently/generally a bit slower then the 3G HSPA+ that AT&T is using. Some of the major benefits of LTE are the better network management, generally lower latency, and fringe signal throughput.
If both 3G HSPA+ and LTE 4G have the same, low signal in the same spot, the LTE Will be faster in the majority of cases. While the 3G HSPA+ theoretically should have a faster speed in strong signal areas.

Key word though, is theoretically. In practice though, anything goes.

So based on my findings, and experiences driving a Tesla all over North America (US and Canada), rural and city, all over, If your care came with LTE, awesome, your all set, if it did not, don't be so hasty to donate $500 to Tesla for the upgrade. Wait for the 5G upgrade.

If you are constantly in a rural area that has poor signal, and want to make the most of that available signal and get the best throughput, and 3G is not cutting it, then upgrading to the LTE may be for you. As I said, LTW should provide greater throughput in low signal situations then 3G does.

I hope this has helped some people make that decision.


Please, once again note, all tests shown in this video are repeatable, and about the average/most common speeds I see. Peak hours of course speeds can very, but that is mostly tower overloading. Overloaded tower is overloaded no matter if it is 3G or 4G LTE, as each tower only has a finite amount of bandwidth available, and that is shared pretty much equally (not counting QOS, which the Model S / Model X and Model 3 should not need to worry about until we can in car video services.

 

[msnow]

@islandbayy - Could it be your physical location? I'm in SoCal and with just one bar LTE is giving me much faster map redraws and Slacker buffering speeds than my neighbor who has an older S with only 3G. Both of us notice the difference, it's significant. Also in your video you are connecting to an L.A. server while mine was San Jose. That seems odd.

 

[islandbayy]

@islandbayy - Could it be your physical location? I'm in SoCal and with just one bar LTE is giving me much faster map redraws and Slacker buffering speeds than my neighbor who has an older S with only 3G. Both of us notice the difference, it's significant. Also in your video you are connecting to an L.A. server while mine was San Jose. That seems odd.

Who knows. I was i Chicago, same location on both tests (within 50 feet) and direct line of sight of the tower. I also see no difference at home (Milwaukee, and basically all over wisconsin) in terms of performance. The only times I see a slight, and I do mean slight performance boost is on the fringe of signal. Barely getting 1 bar. The LTE is faster. As for testing location, we know all data, or at least the cellular data, that comes through the car goes through a Tesla VPN first, so all speed tests would go through to Cali first.

So a recap. Technicaly, AT&T's 3G HSPA+ is faster then the LTE, however the LTE will do better in poor signal areas. In your case, 1 bar, the LTE will be better. At better signal areas, if the carrier has invested previously in the tech, then tecnically the 3G HSPA+ "SHOULD" yield same or faster speeds. Of course, many factors play into it.

Now, a final point I have made in the past. If a tower is congested, and the towers available bandwidth is saturated, it does not matter what connection type your on (meaning 3g or 4g), a slow tower will be a slow tower regardless. Though, the LTE may provide slightly lower latency to the tower.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Technicaly, AT&T's 3G HSPA+ is faster then the LTE,

This seems strange to me. Can you post some links or references that backs this up?

If this is true, then why are all carriers moving to LTE and away from 3G HSPA+?

This article seems to make the opposite conclusion: HSPA+ vs LTE: Which one is better?

 

[islandbayy]

This seems strange to me. Can you post some links or references that backs this up?

If this is true, then why are all carriers moving to LTE and away from 3G HSPA+?

This article seems to make the opposite conclusion: HSPA+ vs LTE: Which one is better?

The Wiki explains it fairly simply. Evolved High Speed Packet Access - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Reading more now on LTE specs, seems my articles I originally read were a bit out dated. LTE now supports up to 300mbit.
Like I mentioned earlier, why they are moving: Lower Latency, Better network management, and on the fringe of signal, better speed. And it seems the specs support higher end speeds.

Personally, the current issue, is bandwidth to the tower. The carriers do not have enough to the tower. ANd if you don't have enough to the tower, doesn't matter if it's 3g or 4g.

 

[Lightmatrix]

I inquired with my SA while I was in for service today. She said the following:

"The LTE upgrade is an estimated $500 before taxes. However, we have noticed from customers who go from 3G to 4G that 4G tends to have less connectivity. We found some customers will no longer have service where they used to and we recommend staying with 3G."

Interesting...

 

[jerry33]

I inquired with my SA while I was in for service today. She said the following:

"The LTE upgrade is an estimated $500 before taxes. However, we have noticed from customers who go from 3G to 4G that 4G tends to have less connectivity. We found some customers will no longer have service where they used to and we recommend staying with 3G."

Interesting...

That hasn't been my experience, but perhaps it's limited to your area.

 

[zwede]

Around here in north Dallas AT&T HSPA+ (3G) is painfully slow. It often starts loading something and then just stops halfway. I did the LTE upgrade and it's much better.

 

[Lightmatrix]

That hasn't been my experience, but perhaps it's limited to your area.

Great to hear, I've got a 99% probability I will be relocating to Houston in the next few months for work so when I get there I'll do it.

 

[Fusion]

I'm too lazy to go back and look but what LTE service does Tesla use? That might be more the problem than anything else with speeds.

 

[msnow]

I'm too lazy to go back and look but what LTE service does Tesla use? That might be more the problem than anything else with speeds.

AT&T

 

[CHG-ON]

@CHG-ON
Change what?

3G to LTE. I might be waiting a long time.