Tesla is finally going to start charging for Mobile Internet

[mbhforum]

The good news is, us current owners are all grandfathered in! I think this is very fair from Tesla and $100 a year is reasonable for Slacker streaming (as much as I am not a fan of slacker) and Live Traffic for Navigation. I would probably end up paying for it if I bought a new Tesla since Bluetooth streaming sometimes is an issue for me.

Tesla is introducing new paid ‘premium connectivity’ package to support in-car internet features of growing fleet

 

[diplomat33]

$100/year seems very reasonable to me.

 

[mbhforum]

$100/year seems very reasonable to me.

Considering BMW wanted something like $400 a year for their service on my 2010 328xi that only allowed Live Traffic and some other minor features, I'd say so!

 

[Naonak]

The price itself for the concept is reasonable, I totally agree... it's too bad the maps and traffic are so bad, though... I don't know anyone that uses the in-car navigation. I know people do use it, but most people that have used it for any length of time end up switching to their phone and something like Waze. The in-car navigation, while better than pretty much all stock systems from any other manufacturer, is still garbage when compared to Waze and the like. Traffic navigation is hit or miss, there are no alerts for construction or other pop-up issues (police, etc...), maps are years out of date (the latest update finally fixed some of the out of date issues, thankfully) - and will only get worse as time goes on. The in-car browser is painfully slow.

Slacker is nice, but it's not great - not really worth $100yr IMHO. So... I'm not sure I would bother paying the fee, since the offerings are pretty crappy, all told. I don't care about OTA LTE updates, as my car is on WiFi every night. What is the fee buying me that I don't already get better solutions from my phone with?

 

[kaiserpathos]

Honestly, though - it's patently obvious any Premium option should also include a tier for Wifi Hotspot capability, or it's going to be viewed as a non-competitive feature. It just stinks that mediocre OnStar offers this on new GM vehicles and, as Elon has mentioned before, Tesla has the guts & gear right there built-into the car to offer it...and doesn't.

 

[Vic_F]

Once the service is a paid service Tesla needs to maintain a performance level generally matching that of tablet via LTE. It is going to be a balancing act for Tesla to cover running costs of "services" without appearing greedy. Hopefully, Tesla makes a commitment that internet connectivity "will never be a profit center" for Tesla like they have with Superchargers.

 

[whitex]

I see a way owners can now get updates without having to wait, and get a free carwash with it. If you paid for EAP or FSD or any other feature not yet complete, every time the update rolls out, call the service center to schedule an installation because you only have a standard connectivity package and no wifi in the garage at home. Tesla committed to give you updates when the sold you unfinished features, so without wifi the only way for them to deliver is a service center visit.

Of course this could just be a sales lever. After July 1st free lifetime premium connectivity with a referral code.

 

[Skipdd]

The price itself for the concept is reasonable, I totally agree... it's too bad the maps and traffic are so bad, though... I don't know anyone that uses the in-car navigation. I know people do use it, but most people that have used it for any length of time end up switching to their phone and something like Waze. The in-car navigation, while better than pretty much all stock systems from any other manufacturer, is still garbage when compared to Waze and the like. Traffic navigation is hit or miss, there are no alerts for construction or other pop-up issues (police, etc...), maps are years out of date (the latest update finally fixed some of the out of date issues, thankfully) - and will only get worse as time goes on. The in-car browser is painfully slow.

Slacker is nice, but it's not great - not really worth $100yr IMHO. So... I'm not sure I would bother paying the fee, since the offerings are pretty crappy, all told. I don't care about OTA LTE updates, as my car is on WiFi every night. What is the fee buying me that I don't already get better solutions from my phone with?

Do you have the new Nav? I've found the new Nav to be equal to Waze from a route to destination perspective. I still use Waze to figure out why traffic is slow and sometimes just as a point of comparison. And the map display on the IC is really helpful. Don't disagree about Slacker. Was hoping we would get an option to pay for an alternate provider like Spotify or Pandora.

 

[Naonak]

Yes, I have the new nav. It has some weird routing around here, still... and it doesn't account for traffic as well as Waze does, not by a long shot.

 

[Skipdd]

Yes, I have the new nav. It has some weird routing around here, still... and it doesn't account for traffic as well as Waze does, not by a long shot.

Good to know, thanks. I've actually had instances where Tesla Nav chose a faster route than Waze. Definitely more granular info coming thru Waze. For me, I use both, but now feel Nav has value.

 

[TLej]

Although I’ll apparently be grandfathered in, I’d feel better about this move if they would get the media player fixed so I could play music off my USB without all the issues it currently has.

 

[gaswalla]

Maybe the US cars will finally get Spotify

 

[nexusone]

Until they support Spotify and Waze this makes absolutely zero difference to me. I dont use the built in services at all because they suck.

 

[xyeahtony]

I don't know anyone that uses the in-car navigation. I know people do use it, but most people that have used it for any length of time end up switching to their phone and something like Waze.

Basically everyone on TMC has used or uses the navigation. Basically every Tesla blogger on youtube uses it. It comes in handy with that whole thing where it routes you through superchargers on long road trips.

Until they support Spotify and Waze this makes absolutely zero difference to me. I dont use the built in services at all because they suck.

That's cool. I'd rather have the navigation show up on my dashboard rather than on a tiny 5 inch screen but to each their own.

 

[turtlebud]

i don't use it frequently, but the nav has worked well for me when I have used it. much more convenient for it to show up on the MCU and the dash and it's definitely better since that last update - queues for upcoming streets and directions pretty comparable to google nav.

 

[Naonak]

Basically everyone on TMC has used or uses the navigation. Basically every Tesla blogger on youtube uses it. It comes in handy with that whole thing where it routes you through superchargers on long road trips.



That's cool. I'd rather have the navigation show up on my dashboard rather than on a tiny 5 inch screen but to each their own.

Getting you to a Supercharger is about the only thing it does well... and that's questionable if you already know where the Supercharger is and have it saved in a good GPS system. As I said, the traffic routing is horrible and the nav routing is questionable at best. Lots better options out there.

Sure, it's nice to have it on the main screen for navigation, but if you're stuck in traffic because it doesn't route you around it or it takes you over non-existent roads or drives you off a cliff... I'm gonna say the 5" screen is better than the 17" one, since it actually gets you where you're going.

 

[David_Cary]

Nav and Slacker worthless? I completely disagree.
I don't use Nav often - I usually know where I am going. It is a lot easier to interface with the car than a phone.
Just yesterday, I was driving a route I know well. Nav showed an unusual traffic pattern - an obvious accident. Later in the day, a similar thing happened but you could tell it was a thunderstorm cell.

Sure if you always hook a phone up to a mount and sync it - then you have gotten over a big hurdle and may prefer that. My only experience with that is the poor Uber drivers - seems like a pain.

But a true power user probably has a LTE full size Ipad. Ok - I am sure that is better. But that puts you in a separate category.

I expect a 90% take rate for the $100.

 

[Naonak]

Nav and Slacker worthless? I completely disagree.
I don't use Nav often - I usually know where I am going. It is a lot easier to interface with the car than a phone.
Just yesterday, I was driving a route I know well. Nav showed an unusual traffic pattern - an obvious accident. Later in the day, a similar thing happened but you could tell it was a thunderstorm cell.

Sure if you always hook a phone up to a mount and sync it - then you have gotten over a big hurdle and may prefer that. My only experience with that is the poor Uber drivers - seems like a pain.

But a true power user probably has a LTE full size Ipad. Ok - I am sure that is better. But that puts you in a separate category.

I expect a 90% take rate for the $100.

If the Tesla nav showed a problem, you can bet Waze showed it much sooner and much more accurately. The Tesla nav is like looking through a dirty window into a telescope compared to other nav solutions. Not sure what you mean by sync it? I get in my car, put the phone on it's magnetic mount and drive away. It takes all of about 1.8 seconds... in fact, it takes longer for my car to wake up when I press the pedal and put it in drive than it does to make my phone ready to drive. If it takes longer, then something has gone wrong somewhere.

The Tesla nav is terribly slow as well, something I didn't bother pointing out. The whole Model S MCE is basically glacier slow - anything that requires you to interface with it just pisses me off every time, so I avoid it. I can't believe my $150,000 car has such a slow, ancient interface, honestly... but it is what it is. It used to be awesome, but time marches on and Tesla never did with regards to that, unfortunately. We were promised a new browser years ago... still waiting. the Nav update is nice, but it's quite underwhelming. After using the interface in a Model 3, I'm even more disgusted with the MS/X interface, so I try not to think about it.

If I want to go anywhere local, it's Waze all day long. If I'm going cross-country, the built-in Nav works fine for On-ramp to off-ramp the majority of the time.

I didn't say Slacker was worthless, but it's pretty lackluster with all of the other offerings out there. I don't care about Spotify, like so many others, but I sure would like Google Music on there. IF they'd just do Android Auto, basically all problems would be solved with the Model S interface. Then we wouldn't have to worry about it.

 

[spectrum]

Although I’ll apparently be grandfathered in, I’d feel better about this move if they would get the media player fixed so I could play music off my USB without all the issues it currently has.

What are the USB issues? I plan to use this functionality as well.

 

[outdoors]

Please let me use my own hotspot that stays connected and doesn't kick off while in park.

Still have to use Waze. Using a secondary traffic/nav system while driving? Doesn't Tesla want to reduce or eliminate distracted driving? Wait. Let's add two or three music systems.

Fix what works before asking for more $. Wait. Who am I kidding?

I am all for it, but the way it seems with the whole grandfathering etc....makes me think no grand improvement for those $.