Who has done their own LTE upgrade?

[CravingMender9]

That’s great to hear. Although I feel like *sugar* because I had to spend $165 on a used unit for Ukraine because my service center would not sell me a SIM card. They said it’s a restricted part. Maybe because I’m still in full warranty.

Maybe, but I think it's more of a service center thing. In any case, I think $30-35 difference isn't too bad as long as it worked! And I am grateful to your experimentation & others in this thread to give me the courage to go do this. You might have got it for a few $ extra, but you earned a lot of goodwill Thanks.

 

[Jillmark99]

Is it possible to use an alternate SIM card or does it have to be the Tesla AT&T SIM card? Could a person use a T-Mobile SIM instead?

 

[random155]

Is it possible to use an alternate SIM card or does it have to be the Tesla AT&T SIM card? Could a person use a T-Mobile SIM instead?

As far as I know only compatible with the Tesla sim. But I don’t know if anyone who has tried otherwise.

 

[Shadious]

Purchased all the required parts from Charlotte NC service center for $109 + taxes. I've read some horror stories about other locations, but credit where credit is due, the service & people here are definitely really good. Excited to try it out in the next weekend or 2. I hope I don't break any trim parts and everything goes well. Fingers crossed. It'll also help me remove my Tegra board for eMMC replacement. I don't have much symptoms yet, but starting to see random "Navigation without live data" message.

Also planning to remove the instrument cluster while I'm at it. It has 2 small bubbles on top for the past 2-3 months. Thinking of sealing the screen edges with gorilla epoxy or something so that it doesn't worsen in summer. Any tips/suggestions for that mini project? Thanks in advance.

Edit: small tidbit- the service people said it'll need a firmware upgrade for LTE retrofit where the service person will need to physically access the MCU and configure it. That'll be about 1hr labor @ $175. I said it's still worth it because I was quoted $600 for full retrofit by them. Made both of us laugh In any case, looks like it isn't required as others have done it without any additional work.

I’d source a used IC screen from EBay. Mine was from a 2015 with about 15k miles. Just swapped out the screens from the EBay one with my bubbling one. Easy task if the dash is apart. That goo gets worse over tone and is really hard to remove. Good luck with the project, there are several good YouTube videos out there on the process. Definitely get the air bag leveler from Home Depot or Lowe’s. Makes the job MUCH easier!

 

[MP3Mike]

Is it possible to use an alternate SIM card or does it have to be the Tesla AT&T SIM card? Could a person use a T-Mobile SIM instead?

I'm pretty sure you can use a non-Tesla SIM, but there are issues. Tesla wakes the MCU up via SMS, and if you change the SIM they won't have the correct SMS number to wake your car up remotely. So if your car goes to sleep you won't be able to access it via the Tesla app. (at least that is what I have seen reported.)

I would think people doing their own 4G upgrades would have the same problem even with a Tesla SIM, but I haven't seen anyone report that problem.

 

[random155]

I'm pretty sure you can use a non-Tesla SIM, but there are issues. Tesla wakes the MCU up via SMS, and if you change the SIM they won't have the correct SMS number to wake your car up remotely. So if your car goes to sleep you won't be able to access it via the Tesla app. (at least that is what I have seen reported.)

I would think people doing their own 4G upgrades would have the same problem even with a Tesla SIM, but I haven't seen anyone report that problem.

My car wakes up no problem via the app. Installed my own LTE hardware. Albeit, with Tesla sim.

 

[Jillmark99]

Thanks. Will forgo an aftermarket SIM.

anyone here with an LTE modem and SIM (upgrade kit) they want to part with? If so please PM me. Thx.

 

[Shadious]

Thanks. Will forgo an aftermarket SIM.

anyone here with an LTE modem and SIM (upgrade kit) they want to part with? If so please PM me. Thx.

My service center (West Palm Beach ) Sells the kit for $109 plus tax

 

[Jillmark99]

LOL. I’m no where near West Palm Beach. I’m from Canada. Care to buy me the kit from your SC for me and you could ship it to me? I’m more than happy to pay you for it.
Please PM me if you don’t mind. Thx

 

[smilepak]

Anyone replaced the LTE SIM card? I am thinking as the LTE signal I have now on the 2015 stink. Usually one bar, sometimes two. A few times 3G. I had a loaner on the 2018 and that had much better signal. I wonder if it is the SIM card is the issue.

 

[random155]

Anyone replaced the LTE SIM card? I am thinking as the LTE signal I have now on the 2015 stink. Usually one bar, sometimes two. A few times 3G. I had a loaner on the 2018 and that had much better signal. I wonder if it is the SIM card is the issue.

I believe the antennas are the issue. From what I’ve read they are in the side view mirrors. I’m sure they have been revised over the years.

 

[CravingMender9]

Just did it finally! Thank you very much everyone! Still sitting inside the car wondering how I got the courage to do it myself! The crack sound when you unlatch the trim pieces are scary! But everything is working excellently! I'll call it 99.9% success. For the 0.1% - I did face an issue with a screw near MCU. The screw threads were bad and the head was stripped while putting it back. It is sitting tightly currently, but removing it again without drilling a hole / notch (for eMMC repair) is impossible now. Any suggestions?

 

[random155]

Just did it finally! Thank you very much everyone! Still sitting inside the car wondering how I got the courage to do it myself! The crack sound when you unlatch the trim pieces are scary! But everything is working excellently! I'll call it 99.9% success. For the 0.1% - I did face an issue with a screw near MCU. The screw threads were bad and the head was stripped while putting it back. It is sitting tightly currently, but removing it again without drilling a hole / notch (for eMMC repair) is impossible now. Any suggestions?

Channel locks do great things.

 

[CravingMender9]

Channel locks do great things.

Opened it up again today to try and fix (or replace) it. Still extremely tight, but this time, I tried with a newer T25 bit and that worked! Looks like it is time to replace my many years old toolkit

 

[T.R.T.e.s.l.a.]

Purchased all the required parts from Charlotte NC service center for $109 + taxes. I've read some horror stories about other locations, but credit where credit is due, the service & people here are definitely really good. Excited to try it out in the next weekend or 2. I hope I don't break any trim parts and everything goes well. Fingers crossed. It'll also help me remove my Tegra board for eMMC replacement. I don't have much symptoms yet, but starting to see random "Navigation without live data" message.

Also planning to remove the instrument cluster while I'm at it. It has 2 small bubbles on top for the past 2-3 months. Thinking of sealing the screen edges with gorilla epoxy or something so that it doesn't worsen in summer. Any tips/suggestions for that mini project? Thanks in advance.

Edit: small tidbit- the service people said it'll need a firmware upgrade for LTE retrofit where the service person will need to physically access the MCU and configure it. That'll be about 1hr labor @ $175. I said it's still worth it because I was quoted $600 for full retrofit by them. Made both of us laugh In any case, looks like it isn't required as others have done it without any additional work.

Can you, please, post the part numbers of all the parts necessary to make the LTE upgrade?
Did those include the LTE sim?
Do you know if there are any different part(s) to make this LTE upgrade for EU cars?
TIA

 

[CravingMender9]

Can you, please, post the part numbers of all the parts necessary to make the LTE upgrade?
Did those include the LTE sim?
Do you know if there are any different part(s) to make this LTE upgrade for EU cars?
TIA

Out of all these, only the first 2 things are required (1054968-01-B and 1035347-00-A). But the other things are included as part of the kit -and frankly I'm glad, since the coaxial cables are quite flimsy and easy to break. It is good to have them for backup.

For Europe - I don't think there would be different parts (except for the European SIM obviously) since @random155 here had purchased the module from Europe to upgrade a US car. But I can't say for sure.

 

[T.R.T.e.s.l.a.]

View attachment 508159

Out of all these, only the first 2 things are required (1054968-01-B and 1035347-00-A). But the other things are included as part of the kit -and frankly I'm glad, since the coaxial cables are quite flimsy and easy to break. It is good to have them for backup.

For Europe - I don't think there would be different parts (except for the European SIM obviously) since @random155 here had purchased the module from Europe to upgrade a US car. But I can't say for sure.

Perfect.
Thank you!

 

[random155]

View attachment 508159

Out of all these, only the first 2 things are required (1054968-01-B and 1035347-00-A). But the other things are included as part of the kit -and frankly I'm glad, since the coaxial cables are quite flimsy and easy to break. It is good to have them for backup.

For Europe - I don't think there would be different parts (except for the European SIM obviously) since @random155 here had purchased the module from Europe to upgrade a US car. But I can't say for sure.

Europe has different parts than US. For whatever reason the Ukrainian had a US kit... dont know why. But no, they are not the same.

 

[CravingMender9]

Europe has different parts than US. For whatever reason the Ukrainian had a US kit... dont know why. But no, they are not the same.

Thanks for the clarification. That's good to know.

 

[Frunky-Runner]

Here is a quote a received from Tesla for this retrofit on AUG 2015 TMS 85.
Looks overpriced to me