Premium Connectivity Vs. Connectivity to WiFi/HotSpot on phone

[DookieBrown]

My Premium Connectivity ends mid next month.
Are there features not available if my car connects to my phones Hotspot? My Hotspot is 5G.
When I say my phone, I mean I have a spare 5G phone on my account that is not being used. My intent is to keep the phone in the car 100% of the time for this purpose.

So along the same line, would one of those Hotspot devices from a cell carrier work the same way? I would think yes since it's just a Hotspot as well.

Thanks

 

[Tam]

...I would think yes since it's just a Hotspot as well...

Me too, with some exceptions.

Most should work: Entertainment, Caraoke, music streaming, internet browser, navigation...

Purposely blocked features: Live Traffic Visualization, Satellite-View Maps, Sentry Mode Live View...

 

[EVRider-FL]

Learn more here: Connectivity

 

[Evpowerdan]

Premium connectivity is to me a no-brainer, the other way appears to be a hassle.

 

[jjrandorin]

My Premium Connectivity ends mid next month.
Are there features not available if my car connects to my phones Hotspot? My Hotspot is 5G.
When I say my phone, I mean I have a spare 5G phone on my account that is not being used. My intent is to keep the phone in the car 100% of the time for this purpose.

So along the same line, would one of those Hotspot devices from a cell carrier work the same way? I would think yes since it's just a Hotspot as well.

Thanks

@EVRider-FL Already posted the link to the tesla page that tells you exactly what you will or wont have, in table format, but in case you dont want to click the link:

You can see from the chart that with a hotspot, you still wont have access to:

Live traffic visualization
Sentry mode - Live view camera
Satellite view Maps

Sentry mode will still work, but you wont be able to access the camera in live view mode. You wont get satellite map view, and you wont see traffic information on map (but supposedly the system till takes it into account when navigating).

I wouldnt know if the system still takes that into account though, as I have never owned the car without premium connectivity, and dont intend to. Its $99 a year, which is not even the cost of a single fast food lunch 1 time per month. Its absolutely worth that to me to not deal with the various hotspot connectivity issues people post here about, or worrying about if the car is re connecting to the hotspot after I put it in drive, etc.

Almost anyone who can afford a tesla vehicle in the first place has probably made more than the cost of a month of premium connectivity in the time it took them to read the first three posts of this thread.

 

[Theone8181]

@EVRider-FL Already posted the link to the tesla page that tells you exactly what you will or wont have, in table format, but in case you dont want to click the link:

View attachment 833357

You can see from the chart that with a hotspot, you still wont have access to:

Live traffic visualization
Sentry mode - Live view camera
Satellite view Maps

Sentry mode will still work, but you wont be able to access the camera in live view mode. You wont get satellite map view, and you wont see traffic information on map (but supposedly the system till takes it into account when navigating).

I wouldnt know if the system still takes that into account though, as I have never owned the car without premium connectivity, and dont intend to. Its $99 a year, which is not even the cost of a single fast food lunch 1 time per month. Its absolutely worth that to me to not deal with the various hotspot connectivity issues people post here about, or worrying about if the car is re connecting to the hotspot after I put it in drive, etc.

Almost anyone who can afford a tesla vehicle in the first place has probably made more than the cost of a month of premium connectivity in the time it took them to read the first three posts of this thread.

Wow your hourly rate must be massive.

 

[Sinh2bo]

Check with your mobile carrier to see how much high-speed hot spot you have.

 

[rpiotro]

And really, $99 per year? What fraction of the price you paid for the car is that? To get full functionality?

 

[rpiotro]

Wow your hourly rate must be massive.

Meh, I charge $90 per hour. That would almost cover a whole year. If you're not making a month's subscription cost in 1/2 hour you have made some poor life choices.

 

[Msjulie]

I get that the cost per year isn't a big deal overall and my car has it for free forever (Premium came with Performance cars back in the day) but if I did not have it I would not pay for it because I never use most of what it brings.

Value != cost for everyone

 

[Theone8181]

Meh, I charge $90 per hour. That would almost cover a whole year. If you're not making a month's subscription cost in 1/2 hour you have made some poor life choices.

It's a lower salary in the UK, but at least healthcare is free . Not sure free premium ever happened in the UK, think it might have just been a month.

 

[SlimJim]

I pay $10.83 per month.
I didnt know there was an annual subscription option.

 

[oreobbq]

I pay $10.83 per month.
I didnt know there was an annual subscription option.

Yep. Just depends whether you think you'll keep the car for a year when you purchase. I wonder if connectivity stays with the car for the next owner at least.

Premium connectivity should be low hanging fruit for Tesla if this market calms down and they decide to bring some type of referral incentive back.

 

[jjrandorin]

Wow your hourly rate must be massive.

Minimum wage in California (where I live) is either $15 or $16 per hour. Just like everywhere else in the US, minimum wage is not actually a living wage. The only way someone making minimum wage could afford a new tesla (any of them) would be to be living somewhere where they had no other expenses other than the car payment, and someone else paid for housing, food, etc.

The person making minimum wage in CA is still making $8 per 30 minutes, gross (before taxes).

As I said, its not even the price of a single fast food lunch per month. Now, if one wants to argue they dont see the value of a fast food meal a month in what they get from it, thats a different discussion. Not having to "futz around" with it is worth that to me, but for others that might be different, and I respect that.

Thats a different discussion than people saying its expensive, though.

 

[Theone8181]

For me it's about principles, imo on a car of this cost that should be free forever. There's no way tesla isn't making profit on that amount, although I'd love to know how much it is. I can tether to my phone and most of the time it works fine so I'm saving that money anyway.

 

[stopcrazypp]

For me it's about principles, imo on a car of this cost that should be free forever. There's no way tesla isn't making profit on that amount, although I'd love to know how much it is. I can tether to my phone and most of the time it works fine so I'm saving that money anyway.

$10 per month for a device is actually fairly cheap for a data plan in the US, so I doubt Tesla is making a significant marginal profit, if any, on that service alone. As for including it into the price of the car simply because the car makes a decent margin, that is not how the market works. For example, BMW makes a larger margin than a lot of brands, but they charge monthly for a lot of features that are included in the price of other cars (I believe there is an extra monthly charge for the phone app features even that Tesla includes for free).

Thats a different discussion than people saying its expensive, though.

Right, the concept that you can easily afford it is different from if it is "worth it" it applies to lots of things. There are plenty of subscriptions for things that fall under $10/month, but that doesn't mean everyone finds that worth it. This applies in spades to people like the OP which already have an existing data plan, and all this does is duplicate it and the three features that it adds is not necessarily worth $10/month (especially if someone does not use them in the first place).

 

[Theone8181]

$10 per month for a device is actually fairly cheap for a data plan in the US, so I doubt Tesla is making a significant marginal profit, if any, on that service alone. As for including it into the price of the car simply because the car makes a decent margin, that is not how the market works. For example, BMW makes a larger margin than a lot of brands, but they charge monthly for a lot of features that are included in the price of other cars (I believe there is an extra monthly charge for the phone app features even that Tesla includes for free).

Right, the concept that you can easily afford it is different from if it is "worth it" it applies to lots of things. There are plenty of subscriptions for things that fall under $10/month, but that doesn't mean everyone finds that worth it. This applies in spades to people like the OP which already have an existing data plan, and all this does is duplicate it and the three features that it adds is not necessarily worth $10/month (especially if someone does not use them in the first place).

BMW are really bad for it, I'm sure they were charging for carplay at one point.

 

[BigNick]

I'd rather pay the $99 annual fee for premium connectivity than a lot of the streaming drek out there.

 

[DookieBrown]

Thanks everyone. I think I'll let the trial lapse and see if the wife screams if she notices anything. The only thing she might notice is the missing traffic visualization. We haven't touched or used any of the other stuff.

 

[ODWms]

BMW are really bad for it, I'm sure they were charging for carplay at one point.

Don’t they charge a monthly fee now for heated seats?