LTE upgrade is on the way

[tomas]

3 Loaners in 3 months of ownership, and next week as I hit 4 months of ownership, I get a loaner again.

Wow, and Apple just announced that plan for iPhone. For $32 per month, you get the newest phone every year. Except, you are getting a new car every month. Deal! (...I do understand your misery from reading your posts, so I'm just trying to lighten the mood...)

 

[Cyclone]

Wow, and Apple just announced that plan for iPhone. For $32 per month, you get the newest phone every year. Except, you are getting a new car every month. Deal! (...I do understand your misery from reading your posts, so I'm just trying to lighten the mood...)

Thanks! My car came back from the detailer today, so I'm fully Xpel'd! Put my MC Red decals on the wheel cover, the S in Model S, and the rear appliqué, and the car looks great. We also planned a road trip next weekend after it gets the original battery out back in and I get my driver door (loose panel) and passenger rear door (ambient light stopped working) fixed and tires rotated. I'm thinking of a CF decal for the handles and rear Tesla logo to dechrome and tie in with the spoiler.

 

[Sousaphil]

I just had the LTE upgrade performed in Denver. So far, so good. Reception is much better around town. The maps redrew very quickly. Slacker also loaded songs very fast. 24 hours in...quite pleased.

 

[andrewket]

I upgraded yesterday as well. I can confirm other reports: while the increase in speed was expected (map redraws, slacker caching, etc), what is surprising is the increase in signal strength. I don't know if the upgrade included new/better tuned antennas, or if the new radio has better shielding/is less susceptible to RFI, or if the cables to the antennas have less loss.. whatever the reason, signal quality is improved. Driving in the DC metro area, between Rockville and Tysons, I had 5 bars the entire time. It wasn't until I got into Vienna and secondary roads that it went down to 4 bars. At my home I now have 3 whereas previously I had 1. Now of course this could simply be a UI game, what really matters is the db level which we don't have access to. But it does seem to be improved.

Definitely worth the $500 imho. I wonder if the new radio supports AT&T LTE band 30 in the US?

 

[Ingineer]

I wonder if the new radio supports AT&T LTE band 30 in the US?

Here's what they use: Automotive LTE M2M Wireless Module for Connected Cars

 

[vdiv]

Do we know what dBmV level each bar indicates for the 3G and LTE modules, if the measurement is accurate, and if the indicator is for strength and not signal quality (i.e. bit error rate time average)?

 

[andrewket]

Do we know what dBmV level each bar indicates for the 3G and LTE modules, if the measurement is accurate, and if the indicator is for strength and not signal quality (i.e. bit error rate time average)?

I'm sure it is signal strength; Poor word choice on my part.

 

[mttnyc]

Upgraded last week to LTE. All solid. Enjoying the extra speed and reception. Based here in NYC/Bronx. Upgrade performed at Mt. Kisco Service center, during annual service appointment.

Update Firmware and Perform LTE Retrofit On MCU With Gyro Board, United States and Canada.

Included components with the upgrade per my receipt:

LTE Retrofit Package (1067726-00-A) QTY = 1 Cost $500 + tax
PCBA, LTE CONNECTIVITY, UBLOX GPS QTY = 1
(1054968-01-A)
SIM CARD, JASPER (1035347-00-A) QTY = 1
SCR, M3x4.PH.TRX10.W/PATCH (1010052-00A) QTY = 3
CBL.COXIAL.50.OHM, 100mm.U.FL (1010854-00A) QTY = 3
SCR.M5x6.PH.TRX25.SST.W/PATCH (1010058-00A) QTY = 12

I'm thinking the upgrade included the PCB board, as well as replacement of cabling and perhaps Antenna?
This may account for the increased signal strength that folks are reporting.

Best - Myles

 

[andydoty]

Did it as well. Well worth it in my opinion. Reception appears to be much better!

 

[Ingineer]

The antennas are located in the side mirrors, so it doesn't appear they touch them.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Just got wifey's car done today at Tysons Corner. Once again the team did a great job - Michael, Carlos and the team continue to deliver an A+ product. Kelly thanks for closing the deal with Jill C, my first and only referral...

 

[ElectrkSam]

Scheduled my LTE upgrade for 20-Oct. Love that Tesla allows adding new features to their car after the fact.

 

[JMG]

Ordered my LTE upgrade along with a dual charger installation. I've had areas (on the interstate none-the-less) where my 3G drops to the "E", I'm assuming that is roaming? And in some areas where I work, I'm only a mile or two away from no 3G connectivity at all. So I'm looking forward to better coverage.

 

[Chris]

Ordered my LTE upgrade along with a dual charger installation. I've had areas (on the interstate none-the-less) where my 3G drops to the "E", I'm assuming that is roaming? And in some areas where I work, I'm only a mile or two away from no 3G connectivity at all. So I'm looking forward to better coverage.

E stands for EDGE, a 2G cellular data protocol (and fallback from 3G)

 

[Xenoilphobe]

E stands for Extremely slow... Haven't seen that since the upgrade.

 

[Kipernicus]

Sorry I haven't had a chance to look through all 400 posts here, but is there any mention of the cost of the data plan?
Our cars come with 4 years of free data, right?
Does the LTE upgrade give us another 4 years, resetting the clock?
Will ongoing costs on 3g be cheaper than LTE?

 

[MileHighMotoring]

Sorry I haven't had a chance to look through all 400 posts here, but is there any mention of the cost of the data plan?
Our cars come with 4 years of free data, right?
Does the LTE upgrade give us another 4 years, resetting the clock?
Will ongoing costs on 3g be cheaper than LTE?

It's a mystery as yet.

 

[zzzzdoc]

Got mine done this week in Brandon. There was some issue with a stuck screw, so they replaced the screen.

Not sure if I'm imagining it, but I'd swear that the new screen has better color saturation on the camera.

Otherwise, navy updates much faste, and Tunein and Slacker load podcasts and music faster too.

 

[AEdennis]

We were among the lucky ones to have received an invite to the Model X Launch party a few weeks ago.

Our Model S was in the shop a day before the event, and they needed to keep it for a few days, so we got to drive a 70D for a loaner for the drive from Southern California to Fremont and back. The loaner was equipped with LTE and we experienced better data connectivity throughout our drive. Whereas we had several sections of I-5 without access to our streaming music, the experience on the loaner was much less.

Needless to say, we decided to have our car upgraded to LTE mid-way through that drive. We called our service advisor to ask them to go ahead and add the LTE upgrade. Even though part of the work for Tesla on this visit included having the dash opened up and work in the same area as where the cellular modem is (to be replaced) and thus have less labor than others in the group, Tesla has a fixed $500 charge for this upgrade.

That was a few weeks ago, and we've since done another Southern to Bay Area roundtrip and can definitely confirm that we've had better experience with the streaming music with much fewer loss of signal situations in that drive. The modem swaps down from LTE to 3G if that's the best signal available and even down to Edge.

 

[Andyw2100]

Needless to say, we decided to have our car upgraded to LTE mid-way through that drive. We called our service advisor to ask them to go ahead and add the LTE upgrade. Even though part of the work for Tesla on this visit included having the dash opened up and work in the same area as where the cellular modem is (to be replaced) and thus have less labor than others in the group, Tesla has a fixed $500 charge for this upgrade.

The labor charge for the LTE upgrade is fixed, but that doesn't mean you should be paying labor twice for the same work. The labor charge to open that part of the dash, etc., should not have been billed on the other work, since it was already billed as part of the LTE upgrade work, and was only performed once.