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No LTE in 2014

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Don't they use different "towers" (transceivers on the same towers) for LTE than 3G? If they had unlimited LTE capacity then its efficiency would be a clear win. However if they have limited LTE capacity or can sell that capability at a high cost, and lots of largely unused 3G capacity, then 3G would be cheaper. I suspect that 3G will slowly die off and at that point LTE will be cheaper.
 
Don't they use different "towers" (transceivers on the same towers) for LTE than 3G? If they had unlimited LTE capacity then its efficiency would be a clear win. However if they have limited LTE capacity or can sell that capability at a high cost, and lots of largely unused 3G capacity, then 3G would be cheaper. I suspect that 3G will slowly die off and at that point LTE will be cheaper.
You can still put LTE hardware in the car, since that also works on HSDPA+

It's up to the carrier to enable 4G/LTE, but it's up to Tesla to put the LTE hardware in the car. It's then just the flip of a switch to enable LTE on all cars.
 
Come 9/14, when my contract with ATT expires and hopefully, the iPhone 6 is out, am switching to T-Mobile for sure. For $80, it's unlimited data and text on 4G LTE not only within the US but, abroad as well. And, hotspot tethering is free too. Have had enough of being a slave to ATT for this long.

Good luck with the coverage. You get what you pay for.
 
Don't they use different "towers" (transceivers on the same towers) for LTE than 3G? If they had unlimited LTE capacity then its efficiency would be a clear win. However if they have limited LTE capacity or can sell that capability at a high cost, and lots of largely unused 3G capacity, then 3G would be cheaper. I suspect that 3G will slowly die off and at that point LTE will be cheaper.

It's my understanding that LTE does use a different transceiver than HSPA/HSPA+. There are 2 issues where the towers are concerned: (1) The ability of the transceivers to handle transmissions to and from X number of clients and (2) Backhaul capacity from the towers to the Internet.

It's not clear to me that LTE capacity is limited, as there are a lot of phones out there (iPhone 4/4S generation) that don't have LTE. However, almost every new phone has LTE, do the networks will get increasingly congested if antenna capacity isn't added. Eventually, LTE will carry all traffic, including voice calls, so there is plenty of incentive for the carriers to get plenty of LTE hardware up on the towers.

I actually suspect that Backhaul is more of an issue. Wireless carriers don't prevent users from using LTE over HSPA. Instead, they cap bandwidth and prioritize some users over others. Tesla may have an arrangement with AT&T where Tesla "subscribers" have lower network priority and bandwidth than direct subscribers.