Tesla has finally put an end to its unlimited “Standard Connectivity” internet connection included in all Tesla vehicles with now a new generous eight-year time limit.
Connectivity has been a flagship feature of Tesla’s offering in the auto industry. It enables several fun and useful features for customers and has also been used by Tesla to collect data from the fleet and improve features — mainly Autopilot.
Tesla always offered internet connectivity for free, but as its fleet grew, so did the internet connectivity requirement and cost.
In 2018, Tesla started requiring a new paid “premium connectivity” package for a monthly fee to access some of the more data-heavy connectivity features. Since then, Tesla owners have had to decide if they want to pay $10 per month for the premium connectivity service or not.
More recently, the automaker launched a software update to allow owners to use their phones’ Wi-Fi hotspots while driving as an alternative to LTE connectivity.
After launching the “Premium Connectivity” package, Tesla only made navigation standard with the standard connectivity that comes with every vehicle:
| Connectivity Packages | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Navigation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live Traffic Visualization | – | ✓ |
| Sentry Mode – View Live Camera | – | ✓ |
| Satellite-View Maps | – | ✓ |
| Video Streaming*⁺ | – | ✓ |
| Caraoke* | – | ✓ |
| Music Streaming*⁺ | – | ✓ |
| Internet Browser* | – | ✓ |
Arguably this was the most important feature, and Tesla was also seemingly offering it for life with its cars since there was no time limit until now.
Now Tesla has updated its website to specify that Standard Connectivity is included for “eight years”:
Standard Connectivity is included in your vehicle, at no additional cost, for eight years beginning on the first day your vehicle was delivered as new by Tesla, or the first day it is put into service (for example used as a demonstrator or service vehicle), whichever comes first. If you are purchasing a used vehicle, you will be notified of how long your vehicle will include access to Standard Connectivity.
Interestingly, it doesn’t sound like Tesla planned to offer an option to buy Standard Connectivity after the eight-year period is over as Tesla only mentions buying Premium Connectivity after that:
Premium Connectivity is available as an annual or a monthly subscription.
It sounds like at that point, Tesla drivers would have to pay $10 a month for the premium connectivity, but that’s eight years away. Things have time to change.
Electrek’s Take
Some people are not happy about this, but to be honest, Tesla’s connectivity packages have been quite generous so far compared to the rest of the industry.
This simply brings them closer to being on par with the industry – though I’d argue that eight years of included connectivity with navigation is better than most.
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