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WiFi, again.

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@Jan Fiala thank you for suggestion 1. I will for sure do as you suggest: connect to WiFi hot-spot every now and then to see if anything new gets downloaded.
Regarding 2) I can tell you that I cross border at least 6 times a week, so I know perfectly well when connection is lost, in which exact spot it happens, how long does it take to pick-up a new connection, etc.etc.
The roaming issue is more complicate than this: first of all Switzerland is not EU, so the standard GSM roaming agreements in force all over EU countries do not apply here. In our case the roaming agreements are left to private negotiation between cell operators.
In general, voice roaming is always guaranteed, but data roaming is not. Sunrise, as a low cost operator, is well known for the extremely poor agreements on data roaming in EU; while Swisscom, as a state operator is very strong (and costly!) in data roaming.
Obviously I do understand that Tesla has chosen a low cost operator to replace a high cost one, and probably many Swiss people do not feel the difference because they prevalently stay inside the country. But for me, as a Swiss travelling 60% of the time in EU, it is a big problem.
 
@Jan Fiala thank you for suggestion 1. I will for sure do as you suggest: connect to WiFi hot-spot every now and then to see if anything new gets downloaded.
Regarding 2) I can tell you that I cross border at least 6 times a week, so I know perfectly well when connection is lost, in which exact spot it happens, how long does it take to pick-up a new connection, etc.etc.
The roaming issue is more complicate than this: first of all Switzerland is not EU, so the standard GSM roaming agreements in force all over EU countries do not apply here. In our case the roaming agreements are left to private negotiation between cell operators.
In general, voice roaming is always guaranteed, but data roaming is not. Sunrise, as a low cost operator, is well known for the extremely poor agreements on data roaming in EU; while Swisscom, as a state operator is very strong (and costly!) in data roaming.
Obviously I do understand that Tesla has chosen a low cost operator to replace a high cost one, and probably many Swiss people do not feel the difference because they prevalently stay inside the country. But for me, as a Swiss travelling 60% of the time in EU, it is a big problem.
Have you considered hacking the car to swap in a different SIM card in the Tesla module? There are folks out there who help hack Teslas (for a fee).
 
I'm not sure about what a hacking of that kind would involve.
I think the hardware part will be no issue for me, it's just opening the MCU receptacle and swapping the SIM.
I'm not sure about the software part; Is swapping the SIM enough or is there need for a software modification/reconfiguration? and in case does it need the toolbox from Tesla? Should I get root and SU?
I really do not want to root the car, I'm quite a tinkerer with electronics, but Linux I only know the basics, and do not want to risk bricking the car and be stranded; I need the car for my daily job can not afford to loose it for a number of days in case I do something wrong.
 
I was at Service Center today for the 40.000 check.
I asked to swap SIM from Tesla's Sunrise to my own unlimited data SIM. They could do the swap, but there was no engineer available to: "push to the car the software needed for your SIM" (I'm quoting in English something they told me in German - neither is my mother language, so maybe I got the meaning wrong).
Anyway, a ranger will call me tomorrow, to fix an appointment. He will swap the SIMs and push the needed software at the same time.
BTW, after swapping the SIMs, I'll sign a "Non-Tesla SIM Card Waiver", where I will accept that any and all charges for voice and data used by the SIM (including any communication initiated by Tesla) will be on my expense. This will let Tesla remove the 14 days interval before pushing big/priority updates and maps update, and basically they will treat me as if I were always on WiFi, BINGO!!
So, thank you again @Jan Fiala for your suggestion.
 
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