Premium Connectivity cost $9.99/month for many Model 3 versions

[YusufT]

From the FAQ I posted the 2018 link to? That would be pretty weird.

Do you have a March 2019 copy of the connectivity FAQ that shows they removed the 1 year language?





Was there anything to indicate the service was free for life?




For spotify that's true- For slacker it does include a better-than-free account (though it's the mid-tier one, not the top tier)

Yeah Slacker gave all Tesla cars the mid-tier functionality, no account required. If you pay $10/month it’s still going to be there.. you’re paying for the bandwidth to use the services not the service itself everything will be the same

 

[Knightshade]

I think you’re being a little hard on people here. The average user does not go digging through the Tesla blog section of their website before buying a car.

I don’t recall the 1 year term being removed, but based on the screen shots from the March time frame it appears they were. And no, it does not say the “service” is free for life. The problem is that not everyone understands that these features are a “service”. The description also explains that the car has heated seats and a premium sound system, but nobody would think that after one year you would have to pay a fee to keep using those features either. All of the features of the interior are bundled into one description with nothing to distinguish which are features and which are part of a “service”.

FWIW I'm not trying to be hard on anybody- I'm genuinely trying to understand what Tesla actually said, where, and when.

Unfortunately the wayback machine doesn't have snapshots of the connectivity FAQ from the time folks are saying all mention of 1 year was removed from tesla.com, so I can't tell if they actually DID remove it from there, or if folks are instead just saying they ordered without looking at the FAQ.

Couple that with the fact that Model S and X users had never been billed for the service and I could see how this might be misleading to many consumers.

Tesla had been publicly saying S/X users WOULD have to start paying eventually- since late 2013/early 2014... (with Jan 2018 being the date the very first ones would need to start paying)- so that was hardly news to anybody by the time the 3 was on sale.

But Tesla could do a much better job in how they communicate things about their vehicles.

Agreed-and about literally everything else they do. Tesla is simply awful at communication across the board.

 

[Quickstart88]

Which date are you looking at? On the first page "Vehicle Configuration" on the left side it says "Accepted by Customer on" which seems to be the order date while on the second page "Final Price Sheet" at the top says "Date of Agreement" which seems to be the delivery date.

The Premium Connectivity is based on the order date (not reservation nor delivery date).

Thanks - I hope you are right but I think you nailed it.
My order payment and accepted by customer was on 4/28/2018.
On the second page Date of agreement was July 2nd 2018.

 

[OCR1]

FWIW I'm not trying to be hard on anybody- I'm genuinely trying to understand what Tesla actually said, where, and when.

Unfortunately the wayback machine doesn't have snapshots of the connectivity FAQ from the time folks are saying all mention of 1 year was removed from tesla.com, so I can't tell if they actually DID remove it from there, or if folks are instead just saying they ordered without looking at the FAQ.

Post #383 in this thread has a snapshot of the premium interior description from March 2019 (when I bought my car actually) showing no mention of the one year service.

I do remember reading the FAQ in March and seeing the one year of service being explained. But as I said, the FAQ was buried under the “blog” section of the Tesla website where only hardcore Tesla fans might end up looking for stuff like that. I found it, but I’m sure many others did not.

 

[MP3Mike]

Yeah Slacker gave all Tesla cars the mid-tier functionality, no account required. If you pay $10/month it’s still going to be there.. you’re paying for the bandwidth to use the services not the service itself everything will be the same

Are you sure people will still have the Slacker account that can be used over WiFi if they don't have the connectivity package?

 

[Spottswoode]

Welcome, and congrats on the new purchase.

You understand correctly. Regular maps, no traffic visualization, but yes the traffic data is still supplied for route calculation purposes and ETAs. However, I can tell you from experience driving around the Orange County/LA area that the traffic data is not very accurate, nor is the road closure data. It routinely directs me on these wacky routes that nobody would ever take, and it often tells me to turn onto a road that is closed for construction even when Google Maps on my Iphone shows the road correctly as being closed.

So you will have to decide whether the overall package is worth the $10. I like the satellite maps and the traffic visualization (even if not always accurate) but I still use Google Maps on my Iphone if I’m not sure where I’m going.

Very helpful thank you. So it seems that the $10 is good if you don't want to fiddle with your phone, selecting playlists, using G or Apple Maps, as much.

Because if you already have a Spotify paid account, you can just bluetooth your Spotify, or Apple Music, or whatever is on your phone, to the car, it just won't be the fancier interface on the car display. And you won't see the traffic, but you still get the navigation calculations taking into account that traffic anyway.

But that satellite map is pretty sweet, to me anyway, don't think my wife will care.

 

[earthwormjim]

Not worth it to me. I never sit in my car outside of driving, so the video streaming is not relevant to me.
The satellite view is neat, but doesn't yield any important information. Traffic view would be sort of nice, but I always run Waze on my phone anyway. You still get the same routing information anyway without the visualization.

I don't have Spotify, I still use Bluetooth for all of my audio listening, and slacker is pretty awful in my experience.

If in the future Tesla were to add Android Auto and CarPlay to premium connectivity,I would pay for that. Screen mirroring is far better than Tesla's walled garden. But I'm not expecting CarPlay at the very least. I doubt Tesla has the authentication chip installed. At least Android Auto can be a pure software solution.

One question though, without Premium Connectivity, will I lose the web browser even on WiFi on my SR+? I do occasionally use teslawaze.

 

[YusufT]

Are you sure people will still have the Slacker account that can be used over WiFi if they don't have the connectivity package?

Tesla doesn’t give you a slacker account, the software just acts as a mid tier service. You have the option to login to your premium slacker account but you don’t have to. They would probably just block the access when you’re not on Wi-Fi. Premium connectivity is just you paying for the cellular connection, so they’re just blocking access to services that use a lot of bandwidth when you’re not on Wi-Fi.

 

[Eno Deb]

One question though, without Premium Connectivity, will I lose the web browser even on WiFi on my SR+? I do occasionally use teslawaze.

It will still work over Wifi (see Tesla's page).

 

[MP3Mike]

Tesla doesn’t give you a slacker account, the software just acts as a mid tier service. You have the option to login to your premium slacker account but you don’t have to. They would probably just block the access when you’re not on Wi-Fi. Premium connectivity is just you paying for the cellular connection, so they’re just blocking access to services that use a lot of bandwidth when you’re not on Wi-Fi.

I'm pretty sure that Tesla does provide a Slacker account, as you can contact Tesla to get the password so you can login to it and adjust settings, like explicit content, etc.

From the Model X manual:

Note: Tesla also provides you with a
complimentary four-year Streaming Personal
Radio account. To use your own Slacker Plus
or Premium account instead, scroll to the
bottom of the Streaming source, enter your
credentials, touch Use High Bitrate to stream
higher quality sound, and press LOGIN. (To
switch back to your Tesla account, simply
touch USE TESLA ACCOUNT; you don't need
to enter a user name or password for your
Tesla account.) You can purchase your own
Slacker Plus or Premium account at
www.slacker.com. Model X does not support
basic (free) Slacker services.

 

[MP3Mike]

It will still work over Wifi (see Tesla's page).

Can you point to where it says it will? The only thing I see is this:

Can I get Premium Connectivity features by using a mobile hotspot?
Some features that are available to Standard Connectivity owners over Wi-Fi such as video streaming, Caraoke and the internet browser may also be accessed over mobile hotspots, subject to fees and restrictions of your mobile carrier.

Note that streaming audio is not mentioned as something that will work over a mobile hotspot.

OK, I see at the top where it says that Music Streaming will work, but it doesn't say they provide the necessary account. So it will work if you provide your Spotify or Slacker account, but I doubt you will get the free Slacker account.

 

[Eno Deb]

Can you point to where it says it will?

Table -> Asterisk.

 

[C141medic]

You will get these with free package via phone hotspot wifi

I have 10GB of hotspot WiFi included with my cell plan. So, I’m going to let my premium connectivity expire at the end of this month and try an experiment using my 10GB of WiFi for a month. I’m thinking for my needs, the data will more than suffice. The only issue I have is how this will work logistically? Curious if anyone has done this consistently and specifically the ease of use?

 

[YusufT]

I'm pretty sure that Tesla does provide a Slacker account, as you can contact Tesla to get the password so you can login to it and adjust settings, like explicit content, etc.

From the Model X manual:

You just repeated what I said. The mid-tier is called personal I guess. If you purchase the higher tier you can log into it by scrolling down and clicking sign in on the bottom right. Click there again to switch back to what you were using before. Please show me where it says you can contact Tesla for a password?

 

[Dan44]

It took a full day but I have it now.

 

[C141medic]

Now, if they included the ability to view clips of sentry alerts and dashcam videos on your phone and on the vehicle display, I’d purchase the premium connectivity without hesitation. Hopefully, this’ll be something they’ll add later. Just tweeted Elon. Slim chance I’ll get a response but It would be great if they could do this.

 

[MP3Mike]

You just repeated what I said. The mid-tier is called personal I guess. If you purchase the higher tier you can log into it by scrolling down and clicking sign in on the bottom right. Click there again to switch back to what you were using before. Please show me where it says you can contact Tesla for a password?

But does Tesla provide the free Slacker account if you don't have the connectivity package?

As far as the password, been there done that. As have other people. (They may not do it anymore.)

 

[earthwormjim]

It will still work over Wifi (see Tesla's page).

Oh OK good, so I could tether to my phone potentially for teslawaze. I recall WiFi turning off when you go into drive, but you can turn it back on.

 

[Knightshade]

You just repeated what I said.

No, what you said was "Tesla doesn't give you a slacker account." That's the opposite of what he said.

The mid-tier is called personal I guess.

Nope... there's 3 Slacker account levels, none are called personal.

There's basic, plus, and premium... the second 2 cost money normally. The account Tesla gives you is a Plus account.

If you purchase the higher tier you can log into it by scrolling down and clicking sign in on the bottom right. Click there again to switch back to what you were using before.

"what you were using before" is.... the Slacker account Tesla gives you.

That you said didn't exist, but obviously does.

Please show me where it says you can contact Tesla for a password?

S/X owners have been able to get this for several years.

They don't appear willing to give it out to 3 owners weirdly- but it's still an account (as otherwise you'd have nothing to "switch back to" when logged out of a higher level account you own)

 

[MentalNomad]

I placed my Model 3 LR Dual Motor order on August 9, 2018 (that is the date shown on my Tesla Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement). When I log in to my Tesla Account it shows:

Premium Connectivity
Free Unlimited

I have not received any notifications from Tesla stating that I will have to pay the new $9.99/month Premium Connectivity fee.

I placed my order, Model 3 LR Dusk Motor, on July 10, 2018. Delivery August 22.

I've received the sad email.

In my account, it says, "Complimentary Period Ending on December 31, 2019."