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3G issues and speed

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I have been having quite a bit off issues with my 3G connection over the past day and a half. I first noticed things being different when my slacker radio would not play consistently and constantly buffer. I did a reset on my screen and waited for the 3G to come back and it was fine. Happened again later in the evening. This, by the way, was in areas where the reception is usually not an issue. Then this morning, when leaving my house I had another behavior. The Signal bars were completely gone. A few minutes later, they came back but no 3G symbol. It took a full 7 minutes of driving for 3G to come back. Same deal again later in the afternoon. No 3G. And again, just before arriving home it dropped and I had to reboot again.

During the day I decided to check my download speed in the car. I used two websites that have speed tests that do not require flash and my speeds were completely erratic while sitting in the same spot. I got as high as 2.1Mbps but often I would get around 100 Kbps! I am not sure if anyone is seeing the same thing or noticing some 3G issues but i can tell you that when it is at 100 Kbps, forget about internet radio. forget about using the maps app and forget about any web. It is painfully slow and the maps just freeze and block out. Has anyone had any issues with this recently? I am on 4.1 and everything was fine until yesterday.

Perhaps some of you want to check what speeds you are getting (do more than one test as it seems the results are not so consistent). The sites I used are:

testmy.net
ispgeeks.com (do a search for key words "ispgeeks speed test no flash" to get the specific link to the test that does not require flash.

On a side note about google maps and the imfamous blocks I really see no reason for Tesla not to cache the maps that are recently in use. Most of the time we are driving in the same areas and they should not be pulling everything off the internet all the time. Overlaying the traffic info on the cached maps would make for a much smoother and pleasant experience imho.
 
I have been having quite a bit off issues with my 3G connection over the past day and a half. I first noticed things being different when my slacker radio would not play consistently and constantly buffer. I did a reset on my screen and waited for the 3G to come back and it was fine. Happened again later in the evening. This, by the way, was in areas where the reception is usually not an issue. Then this morning, when leaving my house I had another behavior. The Signal bars were completely gone. A few minutes later, they came back but no 3G symbol. It took a full 7 minutes of driving for 3G to come back. Same deal again later in the afternoon. No 3G. And again, just before arriving home it dropped and I had to reboot again.

Same for me. My guess is that it's a Canadian issue. If we're officially AT&T client and roaming in Canada, it's possible we get a lower priority on the network. I've experienced the opposite in the US while roaming.

Again, just a theory.
 
Same for me. My guess is that it's a Canadian issue. If we're officially AT&T client and roaming in Canada, it's possible we get a lower priority on the network. I've experienced the opposite in the US while roaming.

Again, just a theory.

We are getting this service included with the car now. It's hard to be very critical but I would never accept this kind of performance for any paid service. If the service is indeed through AT&T I still don't get why performance would be low while in Canada. I don't think there is an actual AT&T network in Canada. They are likely using Canadian partner network like Rogers. When I travel to the USA with my Rogers phone I am on AT&T network but paying service to Rogers.

In any case the slow speeds are very frustrating. I'd be much happier just tethering to the lte speeds from my iPhone.
 
We are getting this service included with the car now. It's hard to be very critical but I would never accept this kind of performance for any paid service. If the service is indeed through AT&T I still don't get why performance would be low while in Canada. I don't think there is an actual AT&T network in Canada. They are likely using Canadian partner network like Rogers. When I travel to the USA with my Rogers phone I am on AT&T network but paying service to Rogers.

In any case the slow speeds are very frustrating. I'd be much happier just tethering to the lte speeds from my iPhone.

Good news: Tesla recently posted this: "We have made a lot of progress in designing our connectivity plans and are happy to announce that the option to tether your smartphone device to Model S will indeed be possible." - When is Tesla going to announce connectivity pricing? | Forums | Tesla Motors

This morning I wasn't able to listen to my songs on Slacker due to buffering every 5 seconds.
 
We are getting this service included with the car now. It's hard to be very critical but I would never accept this kind of performance for any paid service. If the service is indeed through AT&T I still don't get why performance would be low while in Canada. I don't think there is an actual AT&T network in Canada. They are likely using Canadian partner network like Rogers. When I travel to the USA with my Rogers phone I am on AT&T network but paying service to Rogers.

In any case the slow speeds are very frustrating. I'd be much happier just tethering to the lte speeds from my iPhone.

Well the tethering possibility is good news. Not so sure about their statements on how long we will get their base included 3G and slacker accounts. The statement seems to say for a limited time all model S will continue to receive.... Wasn't there some special deal for the signature holders? Will the services be included for a year? 3 months? Something else? I would love the option to tether when I want but to have the backup tesla plan as well.
 
On a side note about google maps and the imfamous blocks I really see no reason for Tesla not to cache the maps that are recently in use. Most of the time we are driving in the same areas and they should not be pulling everything off the internet all the time. Overlaying the traffic info on the cached maps would make for a much smoother and pleasant experience imho.

To be honest, the big Google map on the 17" does nothing for me. I don't care for the "top down, north is always up" view. I would only use it to plan a route, then throw it over to the Nav screen on the instrument cluster and be done with the big map.
 
Well the tethering possibility is good news. Not so sure about their statements on how long we will get their base included 3G and slacker accounts. The statement seems to say for a limited time all model S will continue to receive.... Wasn't there some special deal for the signature holders? Will the services be included for a year? 3 months? Something else? I would love the option to tether when I want but to have the backup tesla plan as well.

As I recall, they were saying 1 year for Sig and 3 months for everyone else.
 
As I recall, they were saying 1 year for Sig and 3 months for everyone else.

That's what I've been told as well. The rumor I'm hearing is that there will be some sort of "compulsory" connection for basic Tesla stuff like firmware downloads, telemetry uploads and so forth. It's unclear if that will be provided for "free", as part of the maintenance package or by some other mechanism. Optionally, there would be the data plan for Internet radio, Google Maps, web browser and the like. This one could be paid for or obtained through a tethered phone. I've heard this kicked about, but no confirmation.
 
Is that confirmed that Rogers is the Can carrier? I thought Tesla made a deal with AT&T which would be roaming on Bell/Telus HSPA+ network with US VPN backhaul. Thought that they had not cut a deal with a Can carrier.

I could have it checked for you with my wireless colleagues but I work for Bell
 
Is that confirmed that Rogers is the Can carrier? I thought Tesla made a deal with AT&T which would be roaming on Bell/Telus HSPA+ network with US VPN backhaul. Thought that they had not cut a deal with a Can carrier.

I could have it checked for you with my wireless colleagues but I work for Bell

That's what I heard. Is it possible roaming clients (ie. AT&T) gets lower packet priority on the network?
 
I doubt it but I'll ask my guys what is the expected roaming data rate performance vs local for surfing the internet.

Did you ever get anywhere on this question? The 3G speed/no speed is driving me nuts. Yesterday I was driving around and testing it and the speeds were very good. 3MBPS and above. Today I get barely 150Kbps! In same areas etc. This type of variation is not normal, even if considering all the possible factors such as time of day, number of people on the network etc. I know this from checking on my phone over time. On the phone it can vary but nothing like this!
 
Is that confirmed that Rogers is the Can carrier? I thought Tesla made a deal with AT&T which would be roaming on Bell/Telus HSPA+ network with US VPN backhaul. Thought that they had not cut a deal with a Can carrier.

I could have it checked for you with my wireless colleagues but I work for Bell

Aren't all the Cdn. carriers on some similar flavor of GSM now? I know when I take my Telus phone to the US, it roams on AT&T.

- - - Updated - - -

I posted a thread to prove or disprove the idea that Canadian internet service is slower. It's over in the Model S section so that maybe Americans would contribute. Not a lot of responses but so far it looks like "disprove".

Well, from my sample of one, I notice that my Telus iPhone is MUCH slower when roaming on AT&T in the US. It becomes almost unusable if I hit an AT&T EDGE area.