Update 2018.12 -- So where's the Navigation Update?

[chillaban]

I thought it doesn’t download maps or firmware while driving even when on WiFi. Any truth to that??

Not from my experience. I’ve seen it download and make a firmware update available while driving. The only thing is that it doesn’t download very fast and you’d have to drive 1-2 hours for it to finish a firmware download, and then it takes another hour or two for it to show you the update.

 

[BigMskiman]

Plus, my recollection is that using your phone as a WiFi hotspot depletes the battery rather quickly. And since the 12 V charger and USB ports are not energized when the car is off, leaving your phone in the car when it is parked and with the phone operating as a hotspot would not seem to work for very long.....Or am i wrong on that?

USB port between driver-passenger stays active.

 

[TaoJones]

With the $10/mo 1GB stand-alone plan for the Mobley, what happens once that limit is exceeded? Specifically, does AT&T assess their usually exorbitant excess bandwidth fees (ask me about their failed attempt to bill at the rate of $19,000/GB one time), or, ideally, do they just throttle the bandwidth so that the bill is a nice predictable less than $15/mo every time after taxes and fees?

I’d like to use one of these for both (limited, motion-sensed while parked only) dashcam cloud files as well as to help facilitate software updates to the extent possible.

 

[MelaniainLA]

With the $10/mo 1GB stand-alone plan for the Mobley, what happens once that limit is exceeded? Specifically, does AT&T assess their usually exorbitant excess bandwidth fees (ask me about their failed attempt to bill at the rate of $19,000/GB one time), or, ideally, do they just throttle the bandwidth so that the bill is a nice predictable less than $15/mo every time after taxes and fees?

I’d like to use one of these for both (limited, motion-sensed while parked only) dashcam cloud files as well as to help facilitate software updates to the extent possible.

Read above. With the 1GB Mobley plan, they do NOT charge overages -- they simply downgrade (throttle) the speed from LTE speed (which the Tesla can't process anyway!) to 128kbps, fine to download firmware updates and complete downloading maps. When my maps downloaded, I woke up to see a 6BD download overnight -- apparently, their system which measures usage is "slow" and there was a delay between it downloading entire maps and flagging me for throttling! HAHA! No overage on that charged.

Therefore nice predictable!

 

[David29]

Read above. With the 1GB Mobley plan, they do NOT charge overages -- they simply downgrade (throttle) the speed from LTE speed (which the Tesla can't process anyway!) to 128kbps, fine to download firmware updates and complete downloading maps. When my maps downloaded, I woke up to see a 6BD download overnight -- apparently, their system which measures usage is "slow" and there was a delay between it downloading entire maps and flagging me for throttling! HAHA! No overage on that charged.

Therefore nice predictable!

I went to the AT&T site today to try to order this. The Mobley devices are out of stock and AT&T is not currently taking orders for them. No date is given for when they might have more. Also, the site says the monthly fee is $20 unless you have an existing Mobile Share Data Plan.

 

[MelaniainLA]

I went to the AT&T site today to try to order this. The Mobley devices are out of stock and AT&T is not currently taking orders for them. No date is given for when they might have more. Also, the site says the monthly fee is $20 unless you have an existing Mobile Share Data Plan.

Weird. I ordered and received it last week! Perhaps they had a flood or orders after I advertised how cool it is on here! Oy.

 

[David29]

Weird. I ordered and received it last week! Perhaps they had a flood or orders after I advertised how cool it is on here! Oy.

Could well be!

 

[MYB_S90D]

I went to the AT&T site today to try to order this. The Mobley devices are out of stock and AT&T is not currently taking orders for them. No date is given for when they might have more. Also, the site says the monthly fee is $20 unless you have an existing Mobile Share Data Plan.

ZTE, the company that makes the Mobley, has just been banned from selling in the U.S.
U.S. companies banned from selling to China’s ZTE telecom maker

 

[MelaniainLA]

ZTE, the company that makes the Mobley, has just been banned from selling in the U.S.
U.S. companies banned from selling to China’s ZTE telecom maker

OMG! I bought it just in time - days before this case concluded! I guess their resale value just went up!

 

[GayForEllon]

You may want to think twice about using that device. I would never buy anything from them, US Intelligence Agencies Warns Against Buying Huawei, ZTE Phones

 

[Aljohn]

The update is 2018.14.2 . Received the other day to my surprise. Helps with with close in streets (AP1). The Dash system expands and the streets near are labeled in black, while the street on route are in blue. There was one SC in Chattanooga TN that the old system miss
directed to the street adjacent to the parking lot. The new system, clearly shows the road, directs the turn into the parking lot and even to the lane to the Super Charger. Yea!! So far that's all the testing.

 

[TaoJones]

Read above. With the 1GB Mobley plan, they do NOT charge overages -- they simply downgrade (throttle) the speed from LTE speed (which the Tesla can't process anyway!) to 128kbps, fine to download firmware updates and complete downloading maps. When my maps downloaded, I woke up to see a 6BD download overnight -- apparently, their system which measures usage is "slow" and there was a delay between it downloading entire maps and flagging me for throttling! HAHA! No overage on that charged.

Therefore nice predictable!

Thanks for the additional info - I like nice and predictable - this option was decidedly not available last year when they raised my bill all kinds of ways for adding the hotspot. I may try again. Maybe I'll just try to get the standalone product without tying it to my existing account - which will require some creativity, but where there's a will there's a way.

That said, this article does not bode well for future ZTE Mobleys, which is a bummer - it's a nice device: When a butterfly flaps its wings in China... Hopefully they can crank out a few more for the US market before they run out of parts and pieces or have to otherwise tweak their supply chain.

 

[Drrick]

anybody tell me when the navupdate comes to europe?

 

[David29]

Thanks for the additional info - I like nice and predictable - this option was decidedly not available last year when they raised my bill all kinds of ways for adding the hotspot. I may try again. Maybe I'll just try to get the standalone product without tying it to my existing account - which will require some creativity, but where there's a will there's a way.

That said, this article does not bode well for future ZTE Mobleys, which is a bummer - it's a nice device: When a butterfly flaps its wings in China... Hopefully they can crank out a few more for the US market before they run out of parts and pieces or have to otherwise tweak their supply chain.

President Trump's announcement earlier this week may open up this option once again.
Trump reverses course on ZTE, citing job losses in China | ZDNet

 

[TaoJones]

President Trump's announcement earlier this week may open up this option once again.
Trump reverses course on ZTE, citing job losses in China | ZDNet

I'd like to think that it's not the job losses in China but the directly-related job impact in Silicon Valley that got his attention - there are at least 4 US suppliers that got hit during the first ZTE knee jerk alone. For this second knee jerk to be successful, every one of those companies or a suitable competitor will have to resume/start shipping product to China. It's certainly possible. But it won't happen overnight.

Further, with this administration, I'll believe it when I see it. So far its health care efforts have and are about to cost me more money, its tax plan is about to cost me more money, and making the ZTE Mobley (the only worthwhile mobile hotspot AT&T had) more difficult to acquire will undoubtedly cost me more money than it would have before.

In any case, I hope you're right. At a macro level, it appears that ZTE and the numerous affected US suppliers in California are but pawns in a much larger game.

 

[TaoJones]

I went to the AT&T site today to try to order this. The Mobley devices are out of stock and AT&T is not currently taking orders for them. No date is given for when they might have more. Also, the site says the monthly fee is $20 unless you have an existing Mobile Share Data Plan.

And it's worse than that. It's $20 additional to your base plan if you're an AT&T customer *plus* a minimum of $15/month for data for the device before overage charges which *will* be assessed. The rep could *not* confirm throttling in lieu of charges.

Same as it was last year.