Two years of complimentary data connectivity

[KarenRei]

As long as I can drop my own GSM sim card in, I'm fine with that. If they go with CDMA, that would be annoying.

That would be an idiotic decision, they'd have to make a whole new system for non-US markets.

 

[Tezlah]

After 2 years, all Tesla vehicles will be connected to the internet via SpaceX satellites

SpaceX is pushing hard to bring the internet to space

 

[Stolz25]

The ability to connect via a Wi-Fi hotspot while driving apparently changed without fanfare in 17.28.c528869. Of course, it can always change back... as it has before.

I'd be afraid it would run up to my cap pretty quick if I used it as a wifi hot spot. We have no idea how much data Tesla is sending back and forth do we?

 

[ModelNforNerd]

I believe you mean a Tesla cannot be used as a wifi hotspot.

Still, a rather annoying oversight in 2017.


The wife needs to do work while we're in transit a lot of the time. Having the hotspot in the Audi has been helpful, because she at least gets to put the laptop away once we reach our destination.

I'd really like it if they could make this an option in the near future.

 

[sitter_k]

Maybe this is part if tesla music streaming. Imagine a car where the manufacturer gets paid monthly for some kind of subscription, music, internet etc.

Good for shareholders annoying to others, bad for the brand....

 

[dsvick]

I'd be afraid it would run up to my cap pretty quick if I used it as a wifi hot spot. We have no idea how much data Tesla is sending back and forth do we?

I'd be willing to be that you would only pay for the connectivity that you use, like for internet radio and web browsing. Tesla would still handle EAP and FSD data. And OTAs would be best done at home on your wifi anyway. The only thing that could go either way would be connectivity for the app, Tesla may just handle it since there wouldn't be much of it.

 

[Stolz25]

I'd be willing to be that you would only pay for the connectivity that you use, like for internet radio and web browsing. Tesla would still handle EAP and FSD data. And OTAs would be best done at home on your wifi anyway. The only thing that could go either way would be connectivity for the app, Tesla may just handle it since there wouldn't be much of it.

That's if you are using their plan. The suggesting I was responding to would be using my phone as a wifi spot where the car thinks it is on wifi. I'm assuming when connected, all the car data goes over wifi. It wouldn't know to throttle so it doesn't use up my data plan.

 

[KarenRei]

I'd be willing to be that you would only pay for the connectivity that you use

I wouldn't mind a per-GB pay-as-you-go fee, I think that would be quite reasonable. I just don't want to get stuck with ~$240 a year (or maybe more, who knows) just to be able to use the app. Because that's a pretty dang expensive remote control, if you ask me.

 

[rlang59]

There is an FM radio, there is also internet radio. Lack of connectivity would only affect the internet radio.
Navigation is included in the base model so I assume map updates would be handled automatically and at no charge. Lack of data would only affect internet radio and the web browser.

With the S/X navigation is included but if you don't have a data connection you do not get the map display. You can still navigate by manually putting in an address but it only get the turn by turn in the instrument cluster. Also as said somewhere else in this thread you lose voice commands without a data connection.

 

[ummgood]

IIRC Honda uses XM/Sirius satellite radio data transmission for traffic info

Not true...

I work in automotive radios for a living and they use FM-RDS but are moving to FMHD. What this means is on standard FM broadcasts like Clearchannel they have a data service on those broadcasts called RDS. On RDS things like station names currently playing song and the scrolling 8 character labels you see in basic radios on GM rental cars are transmitted. In addition to this data is traffic. There are also some other things being transmitted over that channel like iTunes tagging etc...

FMHD has more data capability and can get more precise traffic data for smaller local streets while the limited bandwidth on FM-RDS really only allows for highways and major streets.

Traffic data is also transmitted over standard airwaves (Garmin uses it). Tesla currently uses Google data. Internet connection is required.

Garmin uses FM-RDS and FMHD depending on what model you have. In Europe they use FM-RDS or DAB.

Another major thing happening is XM is having problems with IP3 interference from new LTE rollouts from companies like T-mobile. Most of the current car radios were not designed to handle IP3 blockers and if you have XM radio in your car when they roll this out you'll get drop outs quite frequently. On my wife's 2014 Honda Odyssey in Austin the XM drops out all the time. We eventually cancelled it because of this problem. I am not sure of the implementation that Tesla uses for their XM but it could also suffer from this issue.

 

[dsvick]

That's if you are using their plan. The suggesting I was responding to would be using my phone as a wifi spot where the car thinks it is on wifi. I'm assuming when connected, all the car data goes over wifi. It wouldn't know to throttle so it doesn't use up my data plan.

Ahh, I see what you're saying now. Yes, if it's connected to wifi I bet it would try to send everything over that.

I wouldn't mind a per-GB pay-as-you-go fee, I think that would be quite reasonable. I just don't want to get stuck with ~$240 a year (or maybe more, who knows) just to be able to use the app. Because that's a pretty dang expensive remote control, if you ask me.

I'd like a per GB way to go as well. I don't use internet radio and the web browser use would be minimal.

 

[bkp_duke]

Tesla doesn't currently support an external WiFi HotSpot when the car is in operation. So this should get interesting.

So not true. Just completed an 8500 mile road trip and was able to WiFi tether to my phone for areas where there was no AT&T signal (phone on T-Mobile or Sprint, per Google Project Fi).

 

[brianman]

Nobody has yet experienced life in Tesla without a plan, so nobody know how it works. Theoretically all the early Model S owners (like me) will have to start paying for data in January. I haven't heard any details.

More details...

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-4CW8X0/0x0x727013/9885dd26-2e82-4052-b171-3685fd8150b3/Q4'13 Shareholder Letter.pdf

To further enhance the driver experience, new Model S customers will now receive free data connectivity and Internet radio for four years. As an added benefit to our existing Model S customers, the free four year period starts on January 1, 2014. To be fair to all, in rare cases a customer may be charged for extreme data use.

 

[lensovet]

More details...

http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-4CW8X0/0x0x727013/9885dd26-2e82-4052-b171-3685fd8150b3/Q4'13 Shareholder Letter.pdf

going to dig up this old thread…

Have MS owners started paying? If so, how much?

So not true. Just completed an 8500 mile road trip and was able to WiFi tether to my phone for areas where there was no AT&T signal (phone on T-Mobile or Sprint, per Google Project Fi).

Any recent updates on this? Does this still work with v9?

 

[bkp_duke]

Any recent updates on this? Does this still work with v9?

Haven't upgraded to V9. Cannot say.

 

[balajeek]

Model 3 supports wifi, right? So if your phone can operate as a wifi hotspot, that might be an alternative.

If you have to pay $20/mo for service then PUP is basically $4,5k, not $5k.

I thought so and I tried to turn on hotspot on my iphone and connect to it, it won't. (the reason I tried is to see if the browser can load faster, becaz it sucks now like its been throttled)

 

[balajeek]

Tesla doesn't auto connect to wifi while you are driving. This is a security measure introduced in 8.0 to hinder malicious hotspot attacks. Further, every time you shift into drive, it automatically disconnects wifi.

Yes, I saw sometime back a YouTube'r did a demo on his car.

 

[lensovet]

That’s fine but what about manually connecting?

 

[BobAbooey]

My Audi with AT&T