Premium connectivity vs tethering

[metromoxie]

I’m trying to decide on premium connectivity vs tethering my phone. What are folks experience with car connectivity vs phone cell connectivity? Are they comparable or is the Model Y’s cell connection notably better or worse than most iPhones?

Relatedly, I’ve seen that Teslas used AT&T in the US for cell network. Is that still the case?

Thanks!

 

[Yeah]

The $10 is worth the hassle of always having to connect to the hotspot

 

[Big Earl]

Premium connectivity is reasonably priced and much more convenient. Yes, Tesla still uses AT&T as far as I know.

 

[iamnid]

I don't find the car's connection to be any better than that of my phone; however, you will have to fiddle with it each time you get in the car. It isn't very good at reconnecting each time you get in the car.

 

[schen72]

The $10 is worth the hassle of always having to connect to the hotspot

If you purchase the annual plan, you get a slight discount at $100/year. After my 1 year trial expired, I went ahead and purchased the annual plan. I like being able to view live sentry video remotely and also having the satellite view on my in-car map.

 

[exxxviii]

I’m trying to decide on premium connectivity vs tethering my phone. What are folks experience with car connectivity vs phone cell connectivity? Are they comparable or is the Model Y’s cell connection notably better or worse than most iPhones?

Relatedly, I’ve seen that Teslas used AT&T in the US for cell network. Is that still the case?

Thanks!

Ditto above. Tesla's premium connectivity is one of the cheapest in the automotive industry. It seems like a no-brainer to subscribe versus trying to hack together a tether or personal hotspot approach.

 

[metromoxie]

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone—I’m pretty convinced on the premium connectivity

 

[Mark-YSR]

I hotspot whenever I want to stream audio. The map works on Standard Connectivity.

Not worth the CAD$14 or so to me monthly and we don't have an annual plan here.

 

[240vPlug]

That's not worth the hassle. Just get the annual plan and it's only $8 and change a month

 

[Stirfry]

I hotspot whenever I want to stream audio. The map works on Standard Connectivity.

Not worth the CAD$14 or so to me monthly and we don't have an annual plan here.

Same here, I don't listen to music much so I just hotspot when required.

 

[hmmwv]

The price is very very reasonable given the convenience and added feature, it's a process to connect to your phone's hotspot every time you start the car.

 

[sleepydoc]

another disadvantage of tethering - on top of the hassle of reconnecting every time you get in the car, it also won't automatically disconnect when you get home meaning your phone doesn't connect to your home wifi and the car keeps sucking data off your mobile plan.

 

[Mutant]

I generally only get premium connectivity for planned longer road trips (summer months and potentially spring break) because it's hard to beat price for unlimited data to watch Netflix and Disney+ in the car while supercharging on road trips.

Outside of that I enable a Bixby routine on my Samsung phone to automatically enable hotspot only when connected to in car bluetooth which also disables the hotspot when the bluetooth connection is lost (turns off hotspot when I leave the car).

 

[Daekwan]

So I went for a year and a half doing the hotspot thing. Mainly because I absolutely refused to pay $20 a month to stream Spotify Premium ($10 for Tesla premium connectivity + $10 for Spotify premium). Was just silly to throw away another $240 a year.. when I already get Apple Music free thanks to Verizon Wireless and get Youtube Music free thanks to my premium subscriptions there. And everything streams just fine using Bluetooth on my phone.

When Tesla finally added Apple Music in December my stance has changed. I went ahead and paid the $99 for the annual subscription to Tesla premium connectivity. At $8 a month.. its probably the best deal of all unlimited streaming data. That said I only it found it useful because of Apple Music.

Must admit the video streaming while parked is also very cool.. and it even works with live cable TV if you have YouTubeTV or Hulu Live TV. That said I have no interest in sitting in my car watching entire shows, movies or even a sports game. When Im using a Supercharger.. chances are it's only for about 15-20mins.. which is just enough to to use the bathroom and grab some food & drink before its time to start driving again.

Apple Music + Tesla premium connectivity has been a wonderful addition to my car.

 

[YW555]

I really don't see the point of the Premium subscription if you still need to subscribe to music apps, I already have a Youtube Premium subscription. I never use satellite view when navigating. I have unlimited data on my phone so I'll tether when superchargering if I need to pass the time.

 

[Daekwan]

Also should add that in the event I do want to watch TV in my car.. that I picked up an Apple iPad Mini 6 last year and fits perfectly in the center console tray. Tethered to my phone (free).. it allows me to watch live tv, movies and shows. And it of course works while the car is in motion.

Im not advising anyone to watch TV while driving. And the iPad Mini screen is certainly significantly smaller than the 15" touch screen. That said its a great option that works so well.. I now leave it permanently in my vehicle. I've also found the iPad Mini useful for running other apps like ABRP or Waze while Im driving.. as many times I want to visually see what alerts those apps are telling me, but want to use my iPhone for other purposes while driving.

iPad Mini 6 fits perfectly here with no modifications necessary. Almost like it was specifically sized to do so:

 

[woolymammoth17]

Everyone here says they connect to hotspot or pay for the premium connectivity to get streaming. Why not stream Spotify or Apple Music from your phone to the car through Bluetooth? You can control it from the car or the phone, and it connects automatically. What am I missing?

 

[dafish]

1) If you look on Youtube there is a video showing how to set an iphone to auto connect and disconnect from tethering.
2) If I let every provider that wanted $10 a month have it I'd have another house payment. They've all reached for the recurring payment money grab.
3) AT&T network: It's poor around here. I worked for AT&T (phone company, not cell) for 6 years. We were required to use AT&T wireless. But exception swere endless because coverage was so bad. Good I know in metro area's, not so good in rural. Yes, I know some will feel it's great. Cool, happy for you.

Net: It's not too important to me either way. It's my wife's and she's going to take a while, if ever, to use the tech well. I'm likely to stream from an attached USB anyway, and/or BT into my phone for Sirius, so it's not much of a loss. I can say it it's an issue that affects her I'll insta write the check.

Now if nav handled alternate routes, traffic jam re-routing, intermediate waypoints, multi-points w/best case routing, etc that would be different.

 

[sleepydoc]

Everyone here says they connect to hotspot or pay for the premium connectivity to get streaming. Why not stream Spotify or Apple Music from your phone to the car through Bluetooth? You can control it from the car or the phone, and it connects automatically. What am I missing?

Because controlling it is a pain. (Not that Tesla’s Spotify/Apple Music interfaces are great, either)

 

[antneed]

What is the situation when you hotspot from your phone and live traffic conditions…I keep hearing mixed opinions on this…
…..When you hotspot from your phone are you able to view live traffic conditions?
shouldn’t that be an automatic feature for every GPS at this time…

Thanks