Is $10 premium connectivity sustainable?

rjtumble

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That doesn't sound right to me. If you are selling hundreds of something you have overhead you need to cover, if you are selling thousands of that same thing, each sale doesn't need as much profit to cover that overhead
That's be a you're thinking like a person instead of a greedy corporation. Executives are paid when profit increases and stock prices increase. You do that by finding ways to make more money, not saying "well, we're making enough, all good"
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Gurule92

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That doesn't sound right to me. If you are selling hundreds of something you have overhead you need to cover, if you are selling thousands of that same thing, each sale doesn't need as much profit to cover that overhead
Even normal phone plans change and get morw expensive. I mean, on my plan you can add lines for like $10/mo but if you go to a new plan it's like 45/line for the 1st 2 and like 30 after that or something. Very different and much more expensive.

Even with just normal increases like inflation, it seems inevitable. Because if they keep the price the same they're losing profit margin every year
 

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We have premium connectivity for life included on our '18 Model 3 and I never hesitated adding it by an annual payment on our '23 Model Y. I'm not big into some of the features but I've grown to love several of them where paying $100 a year is worth it to me.
 

MEDICALJMP

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We have premium connectivity for life included on our '18 Model 3 and I never hesitated adding it by an annual payment on our '23 Model Y. I'm not big into some of the features but I've grown to love several of them where paying $100 a year is worth it to me.
What are those features you find worth it?
 

JeffnReno

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What are those features you find worth it?
I like the satelite images while driving that also display traffic conditions in real time along with business names etc in the area I'm in. When waiting in my car while either charging or just waiting for my wife doing some shopping, I like watching Youtube, Netflix, or just browsing the web without having to use my phone. I'm not big into gaming so solitaire and chess work fine in that area...lol.
 


BayouCityBob

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Re ATT raising prices probably worth reiterating that this is another wonderful thing about Tesla's OTA model. Other OEMs design for a particular carrier and are stuck with them unless they do a much more complex service visit and then only one vehicle at a time. With Tesla otoh, if ATT gets difficult, Tesla can move the entire fleet en masse to another GSM carrier overnight.

And then there is starlink for the new vehicles.
 
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Gurule92

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Re ATT raising prices probably worth reiterating that this is another wonderful thing about Tesla's OTA model. Other OEMs design for a particular carrier and are stuck with them unless they do a much more complex service visit and then only one vehicle at a time. With Tesla otoh, if ATT gets difficult, Tesla can move the entire fleet en masse to another GSM carrier overnight.

And then there is starlink for the new vehicles.
Does Tesla use esim? If not that might be hard
 
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Gurule92

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I gotta assume they do. Has been in iPhone since XS. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
2018? I guess most of Teslas cars are newer than that but there's a good chunk that aren't.
 
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Gurule92

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I just set my phone to turn on Hotspot when bluetooth connected to my car and get 90% of the features. Satellite view is cool but I don't need it. Same with traffic lines
 


HaulingAss

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Wholesale wireless data costs have been dropping for over 30 years on a per bit basis and that's not going to reverse. Tesla has a bulk wholesale contract and it works because cars in general consume very little data relative to most cellular users and that data is not as time sensitive in terms of latency and timing. Voice calls made in your Tesla go through your own cellular carrier, even when using hands-free in the car. Voice carried over cellular is extremely time-sensitive compared to the way Tesla caches much of the data needed so they can download it when the network has small surpluses of capacity.

Tesla probably has a goal of roughly breaking even on Premium Connectivity or, alternatively, covering their wireless data costs on cars that don't subscribe to Premium Connectivity with the small profit they make on those who do.

We have two Model 3's with free Premium Connectivity for life and one Performance Model 3 with paid Premium Connectivity. Even though all three cars are capable of streaming HD Netflix movies, etc., in general, it's not something that is used for hours on end, so it ends up costing Tesla very little. The other uses, like high-res satellite maps, real-time traffic updates, etc. also consume relatively little due to efficient programming. For example, the most used satellite maps are cached in memory so most people rarely download a lot of new maps. And when new maps are downloaded, it's a lower priority request from the cell towers because the maps are intelligently cached in advance. This results in using cellular bandwith that is surplus and Tesla can contract for that data at a much lower rate because it is not time sensitive in the way a voice call is. Streaming music is not too bandwidth intensive as it's compressed audio format and is also cached to a degree so it doesn't congest the network at peak moments..

The way Tesla buys wireless data it's pretty cheap so I wouldn't worry about increases in the cost of Premium Data beyond normal cost of living-type adjustments. It amounts to less than $0.30 per day and the amount of music and real-time traffic data provided is worth a lot more than that if you drive even a few days per week.
 

HaulingAss

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Satellite view is cool but I don't need it. Same with traffic lines
I find the real-time traffic knowledge indispensable and love the way it intelligently routes us around late-breaking accidents/trouble spots on the fly. It works so well, I stopped questioning it when, for example, it wants to route us off the Interstate onto surface streets. I can't tell you the number of times it has automatically routed us right around a gridlock situation that just developed due to accidents, vehicle fires or disasters like flooding or landslides. A huge saver of time and frustration.
 
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charliemagpie

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With utmost respect to those who don't want to pay, I would.

Just had to buy insoles.. cost me $900. $450 for each foot. !!!!!

~Nine friggin years of Premium lol
 
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Gurule92

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With utmost respect to those who don't want to pay, I would.

Just had to buy insoles.. cost me $900. $450 for each foot. !!!!!

~Nine friggin years of Premium lol
This is a good way to look at it lol
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