I have to say that I'm very impressed with the coverage the car can achieve now. It used to be that the car had worse 3G reception than my phones (Samsung & LG); now I can say that the opposite is true -- when my phone has no coverage, the car will have 3-4 bars.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
LTE upgrade is on the way
- Thread starter artsci
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Model S User Interface
I have to say that I'm very impressed with the coverage the car can achieve now. It used to be that the car had worse 3G reception than my phones (Samsung & LG); now I can say that the opposite is true -- when my phone has no coverage, the car will have 3-4 bars.
breser
AutoPilot Nostradamus
I think this is going to be highly dependent on where you are. The only places I've ever noticed losing 3G coverage has been near national parks that have no cell coverage (LTE, 3G, etc) at all and in one stretch on I-90 that's pretty brief. For what it's worth I don't have LTE coverage on my phone in that area either. Better coverage might be the case in some areas. But I wouldn't count on this fact and go spend $600 to hope this is the case.
bylund
Member
This will make a bigger difference when more of current 3G spectra is reallocated to LTE or later generations of mobile networks.
Of course, YMMV; during my trip to Florida and back I can't recall seeing any dead spots along the supercharger routes - I know there were several previously with 3G between St. Louis and Indianapolis alone. In the midwest, large open flat land with no mountains to help with signal acquisition and distribution makes cellular service somewhat more difficult.
My point was that it appears they've dramatically increased the reception capability of the car, and if you're experiencing coverage issues, it may be something you consider as a fix if you need it. No guarantees, but that's my experience.
vdiv
Chief Grump
For those of us that bought their new car mere weeks before LTE made an unannounced and unexplained appearance it is not cool. It is not so much about the money, it is about having to schedule an appointment, wait weeks, dissasemble the new car to put it in, etc.
This is the nature of buying a Tesla. There are no model years. The same goes for parking sensors, autopilot, power folding mirrors, etc. your case is not unique. Tesla cannot be expected to announce every little change and keep everyone happy. Otherwise everyone would continually delay their order.
Thumper
Active Member
Some of you younger folks may not remember, but this was the same experience when buying a computer for many years. You would commit to a new computer and by the time you got it home, you could have bought one with faster processor, more memory, etc for less money. Well it seemed like it was by the time you got it home. Like computers, this will probably settle down to a slower pace eventually. In the mean time it is how it is going to be. You can either wait or buy, but you might as well accept the situation and not complain.
mspohr
Well-Known Member
You received exactly the car you ordered (3G).
You should have known that cars made in the weeks after yours would have changes (Tesla reportedly makes about 20 changes a week).
3G still works fine and LTE doesn't offer anything noticeable for most users so you don't really "need" to upgrade. It's nice that Tesla offers the upgrade for existing users who want it and want to spend the time and money for it.
vdiv
Chief Grump
This is the perfect analogy. Back then I simply planned to make upgrades to my computers every few months without knowing precisely what they would be. When I bought my P85D I adopted the same tactic; I have planned for $15,000 per year for 'upgrades' when i have no clue what they will be. As it happens I am spending about that amount buying ludicrous and LTE. I am confident next year there will be something else, without knowing what it will be. With Tesla, though, I know there will be really nice, sometimes delightful, software upgrades and the odd highly desirable hardware upgrade.
Other brands force us into the aftermarket for improvements, and even then most of them are cosmetic. Many that are not cosmetic will invalidate warranties. I hate it that I am buying LTE and Ludicrous nine months after my P85D was built, but not so much that I'd have delayed my purchase by even a day.
All this improvement without buying a new car is one major reason I love my Tesla.
Tyl
Active Member
When Elon gets his low orbital satellites up we will be able to main line right into Tesla:biggrin: 100% connected all the time no matter where we travel!!!
What would make it better? This issue has been covered multiple times on all the issues mentioned above. Just the nature of buying a car like this. Have used 3G for 30+ months and it works fine. If I want LTE I'll upgrade. LTE was in phones when my car was delivered too so I knew it existed. Any free upgrade window will leave someone out. Make it any car delivered within 30 days of an upgrade gets something for free then the person at 31 days is upset. Make it 90 days the 91 day person is upset.
Last edited:
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
Not to discount what you are seeing as that is a perfectly reasonable statement, but between Charlotte and Atlanta, we used to constantly run into outages along the way with AT&T and an iPhone 4 and iPhone 5. Our Verizon 4S and 5S would stay on without issue. However, fast forward a couple years and our iPhone 6 will lose LTE and drop to "4G", but maintain a connection the entire way down. This could be antenna differences in the phone, but it could also be AT&T refarming their network along that route.
So while 3G may have had spotty service the last time to Florida, it may not anymore. But again, generally speaking, LTE would be the better coverage option long-term and may provide you service would today you experience a 3G dead zone.
In my case, these are regularly traveled routes - at least to Indy, so I pay attention to where the dead spots are. In my case, after the LTE module was installed, the dead spots went away. Who knows, perhaps the rest of the route has perfect coverage on 3G now - but based on my previous experience up until the module was installed, I doubt it.
My Model S shipped with 3G/HSPA and not LTE -- we have such poor 3G coverage on AT&T in the NYC metro area that the Nav app routinely struggles to keep up with the car's progress and I find myself looking at a grey screen much of the time.
I don't know that I would spend the $500 on an upgrade tho. but the spotty 3G coverage is beginning to get tedious.and I've only had my car 1 month.
I did my very first 17 inch touchscreen reset yesterday 20 minutes into 2 hr road trip bc I had no "data" service even though the antenna showed full bars. usually I will lose data for a minute or 2 and then as I drive around it will come back. not yesterday. anyway. the screen went blank for a little longer than I was comfortable. I thought I might have to drive 70 miles with a dark touch screen.
to make matters worse, I have been unable to tether my iPhone 6 to the Model S successfully. no LTE workarounds for me thus far...
I don't know that I would spend the $500 on an upgrade tho. but the spotty 3G coverage is beginning to get tedious.and I've only had my car 1 month.
I did my very first 17 inch touchscreen reset yesterday 20 minutes into 2 hr road trip bc I had no "data" service even though the antenna showed full bars. usually I will lose data for a minute or 2 and then as I drive around it will come back. not yesterday. anyway. the screen went blank for a little longer than I was comfortable. I thought I might have to drive 70 miles with a dark touch screen.
to make matters worse, I have been unable to tether my iPhone 6 to the Model S successfully.
no LTE workarounds for me thus far...Last week on the way to Yosemite, I lost 3G, which is expected. However, on the way back, I was expecting 3G will be connected as soon as I reach Oakhurst, but it never did. In fact, it didn't even connect all the way back to my house in Clovis. I had to reboot the 17" panel for 3G to recover.
Question for people with LTE: When you lose LTE, does it return as soon as you've reached an area with service just like your phone? I would consider this upgrade if it does.
Question for people with LTE: When you lose LTE, does it return as soon as you've reached an area with service just like your phone? I would consider this upgrade if it does.
You mean I can't sell my P166 computer for $1500 , and it isn't the fastest computer out there now?:biggrin:
I agree with your computer analogy. Weeks after I got my car, the parcel shelf (which was an option costing $250) became included with the car. And of course AWD came along, and TACC, etc.
Last edited:
Looks like I'll get the LTE upgrade tomorrow (offered my car as the installation guinea pig) while my car is at the SC to have my passenger door problem fixed.
If so, will report results tomorrow evening.
If so, will report results tomorrow evening.
That's the price you pay for buying a car that is updated continuously rather than waiting until the next "model year". Would you rather that people who bought after you had to wait a certain number of months before getting LTE, even though Tesla was ready to start installing it earlier? Almost every one of us has a story of "If I had only waited X weeks I could have had...". For me two years ago it was parking sensors and folding side mirror. Just enjoy the car.
