Should I upgrade cellular antenna from 3G to LTE?

[HankLloydRight]

For those of you who claim the map tiles load quickly, perhaps it is because they are cached locally. When those tiles need to be updated or you are traveling somewhere you will notice a big different with the 4G upgrade.
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The tiles are not cached for very long (it's against the Google TOS to cache the tiles). In my tests before and after LTE, I'd zoom out to some other part of the country and zoom in, and then quickly scroll/scan around to see how new areas loaded (or slowly when on 3G). I took about a dozen videos of 3G map tile loading before getting my P85+ updated to LTE to do a comparison, but then the memory card got corrupted, so I never could show it side-by-side.

 

[GMan324]

I have had great service on my 3G cellular connection in my 2014 MS60, while traveling in metro and rural area alike here in the Midwest. I agreee with the comments that “better” service will be dependent on your specific geographic area.

I personally feel the $500 upgrade is overpriced since I can just make a hotspot from my phone’s unlimited plan for free. AT&T is reported to be keeping their 3G network until the end of 2021, but my hope is that as the service phases out Tesla will offer the LTE upgrade for free or a discount at some point in the future. The carriers often try to push their high volume corporate users to the higher speed networks to keep the slower networks open for others. No promises of course, but since my 3G service is working fine, I am going to continue being cheap and see what happens in the future.

 

[Canuck]

Map loading has never been an issue for me, usually it is fast enough, although I have seen the difference between my Dec 2014 car and a 2018 MCU2 car and I would describe this as night and day difference in loading speed. Still undecided....

I don't notice a difference between my early 2014 LTE upgraded S, and my June 2018 3, either with maps, streaming or web browsing.

I tell myself I noticed a speed increase when I upgraded from 3G to LTE years ago when the upgrade was first made available in Canada but truth be told, if there was a difference it was hard to notice since all data stuff worked much better and faster on V6 3G when I first got my car and before V7 came out. I could even cache the maps for the areas in BC since we have lots of places with no cell coverage, as you point out, including at my cabin, and that worked for places with no coverage, provided you went there on the maps before driving there (and it took time if you wanted detail but was worth it). I could do it my cabin too through wifi before heading out and cell when heading there. No more. Podcast places were remembered, logins remembered in the browser, etc. It was so much better. I'd type emails on the browser while stopped in traffic (touching the phone is points and a steep fine here, as you know). No more doing that in either car. More of my ranting here for anyone interested: Web Browser Doesn't Work

By the way, my LTE turns to 3G in the car, when there's no 4G and only 3G, and does some weird lines or dots or something when it's on "edge". Since I'm without cell coverage a lot, Sirius is a must for me.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Mostly your decision would depend on the reception of 3g-4g where you mostly use your car.

If the 3g is lacking, then the 4g upgrade might be more than worth it.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I personally feel the $500 upgrade is overpriced since I can just make a hotspot from my phone’s unlimited plan for free.

Not so much anymore.. Tesla changed it so the wifi radio shuts off when you put the car in 'Drive'. I think you can then turn it on manually again (each time), but it's inconsistent in holding a connection to a mobile hotspot.