US car in Canada-navigation and browser?

[Kgdietz]

We'll be taking our 2015 70D to Canada (Ottawa and Montreal) the week after next. I called Tesla to see whether the LTE connectivity would work in Canada or not. First they said "yes", followed closely by "let me check", then "only if you are close enough to the border to pickup US cell towers". Checking through the forums here there seems to be some difference of opinion here based on the age of the car?

So, any first hand knowledge? What did your car do in Canada? If I do lose connectivity will navigation still work? I thought at one point I heard that there was limited navigation even without LTE?

Worst case I can add a Canada plan to my phone and tether the car or get a rental wifi hotspot but I was hoping to avoid the expense and also don't mind being unreachable for a time, as long as I can figure out where I'm going.

My route will be up to the Cornwall SC, some kind of destination charge in Ottawa (any ideas?), then Montreal SC, then back down the Northway and Thruway with some combination of the now many SCs on that route.

Thanks

Ken Dietz

 

[jbcarioca]

I'm on my way to the same areas plus some next week in a US P90D. I'd really like to know the answers, too. My backup plan is Waze on my cellular telephone.

 

[rypalmer]

It's seamless. It will work anywhere there is LTE/3G. Don't worry about it unless you plan on leaving the continent.

 

[toto_48313]

I have a "Canadian" Tesla, and LTE/3G works very well in the US... I can imagine it works the other way too.

 

[deonb]

It didn't always used to work - for the first year or so it definitely didn't roam and you had to tether the car to your (roaming) phone to get Nav.

But this changed about 2 years ago and it roams seamlessly now - at least in British Columbia.

I haven't upgraded to LTE so can't say whether you'll get an LTE signal.

 

[Spenny818]

I had a 90D from Virginia stop at our place in Huntsville, ON to charge on their way to Quebec City. They were using the navigation and cellular data without issue. This was just last month.

 

[JSergeant]

So, any first hand knowledge? What did your car do in Canada? If I do lose connectivity will navigation still work? I thought at one point I heard that there was limited navigation even without LTE?

Ken Dietz

I'm currently in Montreal and traveling to Ottawa tomorrow. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the connectivity - navigation and internet radio continued to work after we crossed the border. This is in a new S90D - the last time I was in Canada last year in my old S85 I don't believe the connectivity continued to work and navigation was very limited.

 

[rjcbox]

Please keep us updated. Looking to make trip to Toronto in a month and was wondering about Internet connection, but most of all if the 70D can make it using superchargers

 

[Kgdietz]

Sounds like I should be good to go. Thanks all for the responses and I'll post back how things go.

Ken

 

[jbcarioca]

Please keep us updated. Looking to make trip to Toronto in a month and was wondering about Internet connection, but most of all if the 70D can make it using superchargers

It can make it. Check with evtripplanner and opt "supercharger only".

 

[hybridbear]

I'm glad to see that this works. I imagined that it would, but it's nice to have the confirmation.

 

[jbcarioca]

An aside, but relevant to Canada/US driving. The Tesla of course lets us switch between metric and Imperial measures. In addition if you cross the border but do not change, the tesla will display speed limits converted to whatever display you are using. So a 100 kph will display as 62 mph if the car is set to Imperial measures.

 

[TaoJones]

Navigation worked fine in BC from end to end as long as there was a cell signal.

 

[jbcarioca]

I forgot to mention I am in Quebec now with a US P90D. Navigation, web browser, radio all work fine. FWIW there have been fewer outages in rural Quebec than in US equivalents and the EV charging infrastructure is impressive thanks to CircuitElectrique although mostly not free.

 

[MikeMayhem]

My car's internet works in both USA and Canada. I make the trip often into the states and no issue. P85D
As I understood it, all Tesla's have a US SIM card in them that roams in Canada. My car has LTE and have noticed along alot of the US freeways away from urban centres only 3G signal but still works perfectly.

 

[TrevTremaine]

Please keep us updated. Looking to make trip to Toronto in a month and was wondering about Internet connection, but most of all if the 70D can make it using superchargers

Although I've got a 90D, we returned from a trip to NJ just last week. Superchargers on route: Tannersville PA, Binghamton NY, Syracuse NY, Buffalo NY, Grimsby ON and Toronto ON. Given the LONG lines at the border (an hour wait), I'd suggest you charge at Buffalo charge in advance of hitting the border. Toronto SC is on the eastern side of the city (which can take a while to reach during rush hour), so consider doing a top up in Grimsby.

Take care around Rochester as there's a number of lane changes/converges/diverges. If you decide to stop at Binghamton and choose to eat at "The Spot", make sure you ask about portion sizes - they are big. The Buffalo SC is kind of hidden behind a Key Bank which is next to a Sears. Don't eat at the Friday's on the corner as it's a dump with slow service. For Syracuse, to get to the highway westbound (90) the entrance to it is straight across from entrance to the hotel where the SC is.

The only place I had any internet issues (and they were minor) was around Binghamton probably because of the mountains.

 

[shonline]

I spent 2 months in Eastern Canada this summer and cell data was great. No difference than when in the US

 

[hacer]

I just got back from my Canada trip. I'd read this thread beforehand and expected things to go smoothly, which it mostly did. When I first crossed the border (rainbow bridge in Niagara Falls), the LTE reception stopped pretty much the moment I got through customs. I still had 3 bars, but it said "E". The internet radio stopped. So I drove to the hotel and parked. The next morning there was still no service and I wasn't able to connect to the hotel wifi because it required a login which the Tesla can't manage although my tablet and phone had no difficulty. I made the mistake of zooming out on the NAV and then there was no map at all. I got directions on my phone and tablet, then left for Montreal.

It wasn't until I was about 20 miles away on the QEW before connectivity was restored. My cell phone is ATT and it had no service either until that point. Thankfully the tablet had all the roads/turns from when it had wifi at the hotel.

It seems like Tesla should use a network coverage map to realize the car is headed out of a covered area and at least pre-fetch maps for the region where it can expect coverage to be lost. That way you will at least have maps in the car.

I had no other network issues except in Quebec city where it was totally out for almost all of 8/15, but that was just part of the broader ATT problems that day and had nothing to do with being in Canada (it all worked great the other days in QC).

 

[hacer]

Please keep us updated. Looking to make trip to Toronto in a month and was wondering about Internet connection, but most of all if the 70D can make it using superchargers

No problem at all, at least in the summer. I had no worries whatsoever starting in Maryland going from Niagara Falls through Toronto to Montreal, then Quebec city and returning through Vermont. I did use destination charging at each of my hotels (Niagara Falls, Montreal, Quebec) but the only one that was really necessary was in QC. The supercharger network is fantastic on the East coast (except for Maryland itself until they get the Laurel station running!). I used EV Trip Planner for my route planning and it matched very well my 70D.