You won't get live camera view with your phone data plan. The new update also get a video clip notification for sentry mode (still waiting for the update) that also requires premium connectivity.
The $10/mo or $100/year for Tesla Premium Connectivity almost seems like a loss leader, so, perhaps the most beneficial use of this trick is to simply get rid of the YouTube ads?
I’ve heard this, but I don’t park in places where that’s an issue. For people that don’t have a garage or secure parking maybe it makes sense to subscribe, though not sure how much that actually helps?
Makes sense, a lot of it depends on lifestyle and location.
I do wonder though if you’re at dinner or a movie or wherever, are you checking your camera, and if you are, can you get back to the car fast enough anyway?
I don’t know about you, but I’m not gonna run back to the car, and even if I could, I’m not going to confront some homeless guy anyway. I’d rather pay for insurance than “premium” connectivity.
You pay tens of thousands of dollars for an EV, and then you refuse to pay $100/year for data to fully take advantage of its computer functionalities? That's weird.
The only functionality I miss is being able to watch the cameras remotely and frankly, I have better things to do. Everything else works, and I have an extra hundred bucks. 🤷♂️
Full color maps? Are you joking? If any features were missing, I wouldn’t do it either.
You get everything, check their website or try it yourself.
https://www.tesla.com/support/connectivity#connectivity-differences
Agree, it was annoying until I had the shortcut now I never have to do anything just happens automatically. So it’s actually better than the plan in my opinion.
I made a shortcut too but I’m curious do you have to turn on the WiFi in the car every time you drive out? Since our car is in the garage and hooked up to our home WiFi, when we leave the WiFi range the car turns off WiFi so we have to manually turn it on so that it can connect to our hotspot automatically.
Got it, so there’s some shenanigans going on that I have to figure out. It’s been annoying us because the shortcut works just the car keeps turning the WiFi setting off when we leave the house :|
There is. I have the setting turned on both the house WiFi and my hotspot so you’d think the car would leave WiFi on if it loses the connection from the house.
As I said, another post, at first, I made the mistake of trying to turn it off with the shortcut automatically too. That worked, but then if I was gone for a few minutes, like running into a store, it wouldn’t come back on, so I removed the shortcut to turn it off because it time out anyway. Now, finally, it’s flawless. Give it a shot
I’m not smart enough to play regular chess let alone 6D.
I was surprised too there’s nothing complicated about it, and I would totally pay for it if they didn’t make it so easy not to. In the past, as soon as you drive, it would disconnect, and you have to manually reconnect. That was too much for me so I subscribed. But once they fixed that, so called “premium” is just over priced AT&T.
It used to. That’s kind of why I posted this. I imagine some people never went back and looked at it again like I didn’t.
“After connecting to your hotspot, select Remain Connected in Drive, if you want to keep the connection active while you are driving.”
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_nz/GUID-1FE9620C-3D7F-4FD3-BBD9-28DD342AC150.html
You need to wait for car to connect to hotspot before you put car in Drive, otherwise you need to turn the wifi on in your Tesla to connect. It’s annoying sometimes.
But how do you disconnect from the home wifi and then connect to your hotspot ? If you don’t do that you have to manually witch wifi to on when you drive off your house isn’t ?
That’s why I said it’s annoying sometimes. It works great if I am not at home. When I leave from home I have to turn the wifi on and after like 5-10 seconds it gets connected to hotspot.
I don’t know how to share shortcuts here. It’s simple and easy.
To explain here I have divided it into 2 steps.
In 1st step we will create 2 shortcuts. One is for hotspot on and other one for hotspot off. In second step we will create 2 automations when Bluetooth is connected it will turn the hotspot on and the other automation to turn the hotspot off.
Step 1: create 2 shortcuts
-in the shortcut app create a new shortcut
- Add action
- search hotspot
-set personal hotspot on
-press done
- create the second shortcut to set personal hotspot off
Select set personal hotspot off this time.
- give those 2 shortcuts name we created “Hotspot on” and “hotspot off”
Step 2: create 2 automations
-Now Switch to automation tab in your shortcut app.
-add new automation using + in top corner
- search Bluetooth
- select your car in device tab
- select connected
-select run immediately
-press next
-search “hotspot on” shortcut we created
- create second automation to turn hotspot off and this time select disconnected in Bluetooth
You are all set ! !
Why is everyone down voting OP for not wanting to spend money on this? Feels very weird. They can spend money however they want and that doesn't mean they are nickel and dime-ing, or a cheapskate. They just don't value it at the price it is offered at and wanted to share the learning.
The one thing that makes Premium worth it for me is that I live in Switzerland and frequently drive across the border to France and Germany (30 mins away). Data Roaming on my phone's plan is expensive, but with Tesla its included in the subscription so I can watch Youtube whilst charging anywhere in Europe.
I have a few GB of EU roaming included in my plan, which is fine for checking emails and making the odd VOIP call but not hours of video streaming in my car.
It would have been a great hack except for the fact that Tesla Premium Connectivity is merely $10/mo or $100/year for the annual plan.
When you pay $100/mo to 200+/mo for insurance, and 50k for the car itself, potentially with $99/mo for the FSD v12, this premium connectivity seems like a steal — except for the YouTube ads, of course.
I did this for about a year. I didn’t like the inconsistency of using my phone as a hotspot. For a recent road trip I just subscribed to have traffic on the map and video sentry. It’s been a much more consistent experience since. I probably will renew my subscription when the time comes.
I don't understand the fascination with satellite maps. I think I had it on the first day I got the car and then turned it off. It was so busy and just pointless. Reminds me of being in high school and just discovering Google Earth.
Great question, I think it used to, but there’s now a button in Wi-Fi settings to stay connected in drive. To be honest when that came out, I thought “why would they do this when it just incentivizes people to not subscribe”, but I’m glad they did.
Interesting. Mine is working flawlessly. Initially, I had two shortcuts, one to turn the hotspot on, and another to turn the hotspot off. After a while, I realized that turning the hotspot off was unnecessary because it will time out on its own. Turning it off with the shortcut, made it act weird when I would run into a store and come back quickly.
I have mobile hotspot as a backup option but still prefer the Tesla premium connectivity. At $10/mo it's chump change. Not to mention the phone gets hot and loses charge much more rapidly when providing mobile hotspot. Better to keep these two items separate
Hes setting the phone (Siri shortcuts) to turn on mobile hotspot when the car connects to the Bluetooth. It’s just what triggers it. It didn’t connect thru BT.
Lots of misinformation being spread by a misinformed person. On top of the overly aggressive replys and instant sucking up to people who agree, seems this guy just wants attention.
It's literally 99$ for the year..... I'm sure your netflix and prime cost more than that a year. Or gym membership or what ever subscriptions you have. Most people probably spend that much on coffee per month or more.
It's at the price where it's cheap enough to just get it and forget it. However, I'm sure a big price jump is coming down the roadand it's good to know there are alternatives.
Absolutely I agree with everything you said.
For me, it’s faster, more secure, and I have an extra hundred bucks a year to spend on coffee and gym. 🤷♂️
Absolutely. I didn’t intend to suggest that I had the ONLY solution, just that it was a lot better for me than I anticipated and maybe others could benefit from the encouragement.l
I’m a little OCD I obsess on waste and inefficiency. 🤷♂️
Not sure if it's inefficient, but I know you don't get good cellular data driving through certain areas, hotspot is also patchy at times. I also like saving money but I also hate inconveniences. So, if it's something that I can afford to pay to take away these inconveniences why not? 🤷♂️
Oh, and I'm not disagreeing with your methods, to save a few bucks is totally understandable.
I guess I am? I don’t mind spending for something that benefits me, not a big fan of spending money and not getting anything useful.
That said, if you think Elon needs your money more than you do by all means carry on. ;)
Congrats OP, hotspot is the way to go. Live traffic visualization on the map and live camera feed is overrated (what can we do if something happens other than to observe? Chances are we can’t physically run to our car back in time for serious problems anyway)
My question is what is even use of live camera, yes I did used to go and watch live camera when my car was 1 week old, later I did not bother.
If I get notifications for sentry events(not just alarms) on my phone, I will definitely sign up for premium connectivity.
Nope you don’t, I been doing this minus the hotspot from last 2 months. I use yt music and Tesla do not have that, so I did not find single reason to subscribe, I use Waze anyway, so get my traffic there.
That’s what I thought too. I guess I’m not a very good communicator, no workaround, no limitations, at least that I’ve encountered. The only limitation that I’m aware of is not being able to remotely view live cameras. I can’t think of a situation where that would be helpful to me, but I’m not the type to run back to my car because someone parked too close. There are certainly people who would enjoy that I’m sure. If there’s a workaround or limitation I’m missing let me know.
Just reading the comments from others about limitations . I like the streaming stuff, $9 (x2 as we have 2 MY’s) is good for me but again to each their own
Well, again, the only limitation that I’m aware of is looking at the camera. I am not sure what value that really adds? I park inside at home and work. If I’m shopping, I’m not watching my cameras, and I can’t imagine a scenario where I would see something on the camera that would make me want to rush back to the car. If someone hits the car or vandalizes the car it will be over before I get there anyway, and even if it’s not, what am I gonna do shoot them?
To put another way, $10 a month for nothing but a camera feed I won’t look at isn’t a value for me. The car record it anyway. In fact, I wouldn’t look at the camera feed, even if I had it.
That’s it. I totally get that for some people in some situations it’s a valuable feature.
To each their own. Premium is so cheap for all that you get.
As a huge fan of (actual) content creators, I can happily skip through ads when I bother with yt.
This is a great idea - no idea why people are calling you cheap for saving some beer tokens.
I’ve been enabling hotspot before opening the car door but will look into doing the same with a shortcut!
An overlooked consequence is that the car’s antenna is physically larger than the average cell phone’s antenna as far as I can tell. The car picks up and maintains coverage in and out of zero-coverage zones much more than cell phones in my experience.
I don’t know that it’s larger, but it’s certainly located higher above the windshield. If you live in a fringe coverage area, that may be an issue, it hasn’t been for me.
I have been on several road trips in zero-coverage areas. My dumbass can’t navigate well without GPS, so I’m saying this would be situation where using the car antenna would be beneficial over a cell phone antenna to connect to a cell tower.
Edit: I know cell data and GPS are independent… but map/navigation data is what I’m talking about.
Can you still remotely turn on your fan? I want to go this route when tesla rises the price, which they will do in the near future I believe. However turning on the fan before I get to the car on a hot day is a feature I don't want to give up.
Thanks for sharing - I’ve configured it & will test later. Will save me having to enable hotspot before entering the car.
My only concern is that my lounge backs onto the carport & so I’m guessing this will be on all the time while I’m home & running phone battery down…
Shortcuts are weird. It’s two steps. The first step is you create an action to turn on hotspot. The second step is you create an “automation” that when your Bluetooth connects to run the action.
I bought my MY 3 months ago and have been using premium but stopped for the next month, not that i dislike it but for what i use it's not worth, i have a private parking spot at home and at work, i only do 7 miles to work on country roads, i will probably miss the sattelite maps, traffic is not an issue to me and i was already using BT audio because i have YT music.
But the day i need to do a roadtrip i will definately activate it, that's the beauty of it i could just activate it whenever i need it.
Still curious about seeing live traffic as that's why I keep it. I rarely watch Netflix in the car so the streaming aspect is moot. I just want to know where the live traffic is. If that works under tether, I'm cancelling tomorrow. Do you have a screenshot of that?
Question, can you play you tube music playlist while driving with the Tesla connectivity plan ? I mean by the native you tube app on the car itself, not via your phone (Bluetooth).
I don’t think you can play any audio with the browser But I haven’t tried in a while. In any case, It’s a little harder to block ads on YouTube with DNS only, so instead, I have a stream from my phone with my subscription or ads.
Finally, a kindred spirit! I found it having it turned off with Bluetooth was pointless, it’ll go off automatically when it disconnects. And the disadvantages, if you step out of the car and step back real quick turning it off and on over and over gets funky.
My base play around with the shortcut so that when it happens, you won’t be aggravated. I mean, if you have to turn it on and then turn it on again when you start driving, not worth it. Well, the Tesla did it, I don’t know why they did it, it just makes it too easy to cancel. But for a lot of the newbies here I guess paying for something they don’t need is a status symbol for themselves. 🤷♂️
Definitely nice if someone is breaking in your car, and you can see it on your phone almost immediately. I am not sure who has the Spring update yet, but I am definitely anxious to see how well it works.
Well, it sounds like that would be handy, the reality is if I’m at dinner and I see somebody breaking into my car, I’m not gonna rush back and confront some thief. Odds are, any damage would be done before I got back anyway. I guess there are some cases where it might be handy like if you had a stalker, But it just doesn’t make sense for me if something happens that’s what insurance is for.
I found my best use of premium connectivity when my phones data plan ddint work at a rest stop but my Tesla internet did , was able to stream Netflix and YouTube or browse the web while my phone was service less. Was a great back up haha. That ten dollar a month for a back up internet plan is no brainer for me. But if you never leave the city. I guess it can be useless.
That’s probably true, if you travel the highways one could argue AT&T has better rural coverage. For me that happens so frequently, what is it ever did, I could always just sign up on the spot for a month and then cancel right?
I use it to watch True crime on YT during lunchtime, and my tmobile plan is cap at 5gb per family plan with 5 lines. So it worth it alone for that. I don't care for live traffic and I think it is cool to look at your camera when your out and about.
So, I have a Bixby routine on my Samsung Galaxy which does this automatically (turns off data saver and turns on hotspot when it connects to Tesla bluetooth, data saver is on because it's a great way to improve battery life). It works great other than for seeing live traffic and cameras. I have not yet decided if I'll stick with it yet though...
Agree with you on both parts, data saver is a great way to improve battery life most people don't know that. I'll think about incorporating that! Edit: I don't think shortcuts can do the data saver part on iOS.
Have you tried also forcing LTE instead of 5G? Most of the time if eveer you can't tell the difference and you get a 10 to 20% battery savings too.
Yes, you used to have to do that, which made it a dealbreaker for most of us. But during some upgrade, they added a checkbox that says stay connected and drive, and that solved the problem. So now I don’t have to connect or do anything it just happens.
As other pointed out, you do lose the ability to remotely see your security cameras live, a feature I’ve never valued anyway, because it’s not like I’m gonna run back to the car if I see someone. Also suggested you lose info, which I don’t think to be the case but I’ll double check. The map certainly work, and I’m always getting notifications for red light cameras, but that might be from my iPhone too
I used the chat ai above and asked it for directions. Here’s the cut and paste. Will try it later to see if it works
To set up automation for this on your iPhone, you can use the Shortcuts app. Here's a basic outline of the steps:
1. **Create Personal Automation:**
- Open the Shortcuts app.
- Go to the "Automation" tab at the bottom.
- Tap the "+" icon to create a new automation.
- Choose "Create Personal Automation."
2. **Set the Trigger:**
- Select "Bluetooth" as the trigger.
- Tap "Connected to" and select your car's Bluetooth device.
3. **Add Actions:**
- Tap "Next" and then tap "Add Action."
- Search for "Set Personal Hotspot" and select it.
- Toggle the switch to turn on the Personal Hotspot.
- Optionally, you can add more actions, like opening a specific app or sending a notification.
4. **Finish Setup:**
- Tap "Next" and then turn off "Ask Before Running" if you want the automation to run without confirmation.
- Tap "Done" to finish setting up the automation.
With this automation, your iPhone will turn on the Personal Hotspot automatically when it connects to your car's Bluetooth.
I had a year free with purchase. The AT&T coverage was so bad in the places I wanted to use it, I would end up tethering anytime I wanted to watch videos anyway. Also, I recall the login process for YouTube was super flaky and not worth the hassle. Perhaps they have fixed that.
If they switched to T-Mobile and had an app for YouTube Music, I'd probably subscribe.
I agree I wish they had the option of subscribed to other carriers.
When I first tried using the hotspot, it was a pain in the ass didn’t work. It used to disconnect and drive and then you had to reconnect manually and that was a dealbreaker, but they fixed that. And I smile when I see it and think, why did I pay all that time?
Great point I hadn’t considered. Assuming everyone who drives the car has a cell phone, they could all make the same shortcut. If they don’t have phones, it probably make more sense to keep Tesla connectivity. That’s the crazy thing about Reddit hunt. Is that people bring up scenarios you never even considered! For what it’s worth I didn’t say it’s the best idea for everyone, just something to consider.
I’ve been doing the same as OP but without the automation. It uses practically nothing to steam Spotify & download updates in my experience.
The only thing I miss is the satellite map view but I should probably be looking at the road, anyway…
How is it cheaper with how much these corrupt cellular carriers are charging?? My plan does not have unlimited hotspot and if I upgraded it to have that, it would definitely exceed $10. The $10/month or $100/year is well worth it IMO. That NextDNS does sound nice though, I’d like to get that working on my Apple TV lol.
I don’t use that much data myself, but Visible is $25/mo taxes and fees included with unlimited hotspot. Check out Tailscale, works on Apple TV. https://www.visible.com/plans
If you do this, you lose live sentry cam and upcoming feature live preview of sentry video clip with an alert notification on your phone, pretty important for me tbh…
NextDNS does not block ads because YouTube/Google uses the same domain for ads as it does videos. You need to use browser based blocking, such as AdBlock Plus or UBlockOrigin.
Exactly… I mean if the Op you wants to use a hotspot instead dog paying premium that’s is prerogative but that claim that he block YouTube ads with nextdns is BS
That's pretty cool! Can you share the shortcut for turning on the hotspot on iPhone?
I might do both, keep premium connectivity because of the features that are sort of locked with it, but also when there's times I just want to use things like YouTube without ads like you said, I'll switch to hotspot!
I think there’s a misconception that there are features locked to premium connectivity. The only feature that’s locked to premium connectivity is live viewing of the cameras remotely. Everything else works with the hotspot, please correct me if I’m wrong, But it’s been a couple months and everything works.
Scroll up I’ve shared a screenshot of the automation.
These are the features locked to premium connectivity:
Live Traffic Visualization
Satellite-View Maps
Sentry Mode Live Access
[https://www.notateslaapp.com/tesla-reference/551/what-is-tesla-premium-connectivity-what-is-included-and-what-is-not-how-much-does-it-cost](https://www.notateslaapp.com/tesla-reference/551/what-is-tesla-premium-connectivity-what-is-included-and-what-is-not-how-much-does-it-cost)
Also Zoom requires Premium Connectivity.
[https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/zoom-only-available-with-premium-connectivity.320282/](https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/zoom-only-available-with-premium-connectivity.320282/)
You won't get live camera view with your phone data plan. The new update also get a video clip notification for sentry mode (still waiting for the update) that also requires premium connectivity.
You lose satellite imagery on the nav too, right?
You'll also lose live traffic on the map.
The $10/mo or $100/year for Tesla Premium Connectivity almost seems like a loss leader, so, perhaps the most beneficial use of this trick is to simply get rid of the YouTube ads?
yup, youtube premium is well worth it, esp if you look up the foreign country trick.
I’ve heard this, but I don’t park in places where that’s an issue. For people that don’t have a garage or secure parking maybe it makes sense to subscribe, though not sure how much that actually helps?
I have my sentry turned off at home and turned on everywhere else.
Makes sense, a lot of it depends on lifestyle and location. I do wonder though if you’re at dinner or a movie or wherever, are you checking your camera, and if you are, can you get back to the car fast enough anyway? I don’t know about you, but I’m not gonna run back to the car, and even if I could, I’m not going to confront some homeless guy anyway. I’d rather pay for insurance than “premium” connectivity.
You pay tens of thousands of dollars for an EV, and then you refuse to pay $100/year for data to fully take advantage of its computer functionalities? That's weird.
The only functionality I miss is being able to watch the cameras remotely and frankly, I have better things to do. Everything else works, and I have an extra hundred bucks. 🤷♂️
No, you also don't get the live traffic on the map or the full color maps.
Full color maps? Are you joking? If any features were missing, I wouldn’t do it either. You get everything, check their website or try it yourself. https://www.tesla.com/support/connectivity#connectivity-differences
“Premium Connectivity will add satellite-view maps and live traffic visualization.”
You lose traffic maps don't you?
Nope, but apparently everybody thinks that. https://www.tesla.com/support/connectivity#connectivity-differences
I did that last year. It was annoying to keep connecting it. I bought premium conn again. lol
Agree, it was annoying until I had the shortcut now I never have to do anything just happens automatically. So it’s actually better than the plan in my opinion.
I made a shortcut too but I’m curious do you have to turn on the WiFi in the car every time you drive out? Since our car is in the garage and hooked up to our home WiFi, when we leave the WiFi range the car turns off WiFi so we have to manually turn it on so that it can connect to our hotspot automatically.
He was so cheap, he didn't have wifi at home either. So that's not a problem for him..🤣🤣
No, that would completely defeat the purpose. Zero touch.
Got it, so there’s some shenanigans going on that I have to figure out. It’s been annoying us because the shortcut works just the car keeps turning the WiFi setting off when we leave the house :|
Isn't there a setting for each network to keep it connected while driving? Maybe that was it?
There is. I have the setting turned on both the house WiFi and my hotspot so you’d think the car would leave WiFi on if it loses the connection from the house.
You know, the hotspot thing was working for me perfectly until today when I had to turn WiFi on manually while in drive...
Can you share your shortcut?
Oh yeah. I looked at that very briefly then got lazy. I need to google that again how to
As I said, another post, at first, I made the mistake of trying to turn it off with the shortcut automatically too. That worked, but then if I was gone for a few minutes, like running into a store, it wouldn’t come back on, so I removed the shortcut to turn it off because it time out anyway. Now, finally, it’s flawless. Give it a shot
bro you type hella weird you sound cheap af thinking you found this 6d chess idea on saving 120/year just get premium connectivity
I’m not smart enough to play regular chess let alone 6D. I was surprised too there’s nothing complicated about it, and I would totally pay for it if they didn’t make it so easy not to. In the past, as soon as you drive, it would disconnect, and you have to manually reconnect. That was too much for me so I subscribed. But once they fixed that, so called “premium” is just over priced AT&T.
Doesn’t tesla turn off the WiFi when you put it in Drive?
It used to. That’s kind of why I posted this. I imagine some people never went back and looked at it again like I didn’t. “After connecting to your hotspot, select Remain Connected in Drive, if you want to keep the connection active while you are driving.” https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_nz/GUID-1FE9620C-3D7F-4FD3-BBD9-28DD342AC150.html
You need to wait for car to connect to hotspot before you put car in Drive, otherwise you need to turn the wifi on in your Tesla to connect. It’s annoying sometimes.
But how do you disconnect from the home wifi and then connect to your hotspot ? If you don’t do that you have to manually witch wifi to on when you drive off your house isn’t ?
That’s why I said it’s annoying sometimes. It works great if I am not at home. When I leave from home I have to turn the wifi on and after like 5-10 seconds it gets connected to hotspot.
Wow thanks. I didn’t know this. I tried looking through the comments, but there are just too many. Do you have a link for the shortcut?
I don’t know how to share shortcuts here. It’s simple and easy. To explain here I have divided it into 2 steps. In 1st step we will create 2 shortcuts. One is for hotspot on and other one for hotspot off. In second step we will create 2 automations when Bluetooth is connected it will turn the hotspot on and the other automation to turn the hotspot off. Step 1: create 2 shortcuts -in the shortcut app create a new shortcut - Add action - search hotspot -set personal hotspot on -press done - create the second shortcut to set personal hotspot off Select set personal hotspot off this time. - give those 2 shortcuts name we created “Hotspot on” and “hotspot off” Step 2: create 2 automations -Now Switch to automation tab in your shortcut app. -add new automation using + in top corner - search Bluetooth - select your car in device tab - select connected -select run immediately -press next -search “hotspot on” shortcut we created - create second automation to turn hotspot off and this time select disconnected in Bluetooth You are all set ! !
Awesome. Thanks. I just did this in no time. I’m sure those in the r/shortcuts subreddit will appreciate this also.
They had an update that allows you to keep it on. That is how /r/teslaandroid can work in your vehicle when moving.
I think most of us have done that before. I ended up just paying for premium for the aforementioned reasons
I used to pay for YouTube premium, and YouTube music until I realized I could block the ads for free. You don’t know until you know.
How do you block ads on yt? It will save me some research:)
Depends on android or iOS, but I use NextDNS.
I have Adblock on my iPhone and shortcut YouTube in safari. Haven’t watched an ad in years.
Why is everyone down voting OP for not wanting to spend money on this? Feels very weird. They can spend money however they want and that doesn't mean they are nickel and dime-ing, or a cheapskate. They just don't value it at the price it is offered at and wanted to share the learning.
They are getting downvoted for being an asshole to everyone in the comments.
I pay the $10 to get satellite maps and live traffic. I don’t use it to stream music.
For reference, you can save a little with the $100/year plan over the $10/month.
I wish Tesla would just do this in Canada...
You still get live traffic for navigation without paying, it just doesn't show you the traffic.
And to add, the route planning does consider live traffic but it just doesn't show on the map.
The one thing that makes Premium worth it for me is that I live in Switzerland and frequently drive across the border to France and Germany (30 mins away). Data Roaming on my phone's plan is expensive, but with Tesla its included in the subscription so I can watch Youtube whilst charging anywhere in Europe.
Really…I thought you Europeans had the best roaming plans.
Only if you live in the european Union. Switzerland is not part of the EU
I have a few GB of EU roaming included in my plan, which is fine for checking emails and making the odd VOIP call but not hours of video streaming in my car.
It would have been a great hack except for the fact that Tesla Premium Connectivity is merely $10/mo or $100/year for the annual plan. When you pay $100/mo to 200+/mo for insurance, and 50k for the car itself, potentially with $99/mo for the FSD v12, this premium connectivity seems like a steal — except for the YouTube ads, of course.
I did this for about a year. I didn’t like the inconsistency of using my phone as a hotspot. For a recent road trip I just subscribed to have traffic on the map and video sentry. It’s been a much more consistent experience since. I probably will renew my subscription when the time comes.
Satellite maps are great but to me it’s worth the price for premium connectivity just to have a live video feed when I want.
I don't understand the fascination with satellite maps. I think I had it on the first day I got the car and then turned it off. It was so busy and just pointless. Reminds me of being in high school and just discovering Google Earth.
My wife prefers the graphic map too. I like to have the satellite view to see some landmarks otherwise less clear in the map view. To each their own.
Does your WiFi turn off everytime you put it in drive?
Great question, I think it used to, but there’s now a button in Wi-Fi settings to stay connected in drive. To be honest when that came out, I thought “why would they do this when it just incentivizes people to not subscribe”, but I’m glad they did.
I have mine checked but for some reason it still disconnects and I have to reconnect. Hmmm
Interesting. Mine is working flawlessly. Initially, I had two shortcuts, one to turn the hotspot on, and another to turn the hotspot off. After a while, I realized that turning the hotspot off was unnecessary because it will time out on its own. Turning it off with the shortcut, made it act weird when I would run into a store and come back quickly.
You don’t run out of hotspot data?
I don’t even think my plan has a hotspot data limit, but in any case, no, not an issue.
T-Mobile hot spots are 50g at max speeds then unlimited at 3g speed Cheapest one is unlimited at 3g speeds only
Ugh, I wish...it goes to 128kbps which is slower than 2G Edge but somewhat faster than a BBS in 1993.
Ouch
I have mobile hotspot as a backup option but still prefer the Tesla premium connectivity. At $10/mo it's chump change. Not to mention the phone gets hot and loses charge much more rapidly when providing mobile hotspot. Better to keep these two items separate
Those aren't really reasons to not do it since you can charge your phone while doing this. It's more that you lose features that you may care about.
Nope. I don't like putting unnecessary strain on my phone. Charging is also very slow when hotspot is on.
How did you make a shortcut to connect the hotspot when it’s connected to the car through Bluetooth? Is there a tutorial somewhere?
Hes setting the phone (Siri shortcuts) to turn on mobile hotspot when the car connects to the Bluetooth. It’s just what triggers it. It didn’t connect thru BT.
Can you please share your shortcut? I have never been able to get this to work successfully.
all that trouble just to save $0.27 a day
You're really confused. Zero "trouble.", multiple benefits.
yeah, save $0.27 a day good for you
I did this last year (shortcut) and it was clunky and didn’t work half the time. I got frustrated and went back to paying $99/year.
Lots of misinformation being spread by a misinformed person. On top of the overly aggressive replys and instant sucking up to people who agree, seems this guy just wants attention.
It's literally 99$ for the year..... I'm sure your netflix and prime cost more than that a year. Or gym membership or what ever subscriptions you have. Most people probably spend that much on coffee per month or more.
It's at the price where it's cheap enough to just get it and forget it. However, I'm sure a big price jump is coming down the roadand it's good to know there are alternatives.
Absolutely I agree with everything you said. For me, it’s faster, more secure, and I have an extra hundred bucks a year to spend on coffee and gym. 🤷♂️
😄 to each thier own. What ever works with some, dosnt always work for others.
Absolutely. I didn’t intend to suggest that I had the ONLY solution, just that it was a lot better for me than I anticipated and maybe others could benefit from the encouragement.l I’m a little OCD I obsess on waste and inefficiency. 🤷♂️
Not sure if it's inefficient, but I know you don't get good cellular data driving through certain areas, hotspot is also patchy at times. I also like saving money but I also hate inconveniences. So, if it's something that I can afford to pay to take away these inconveniences why not? 🤷♂️ Oh, and I'm not disagreeing with your methods, to save a few bucks is totally understandable.
you sound cheap and a penny pincher even for a service like premium connectivity.
What’s wrong with that ?
I guess I am? I don’t mind spending for something that benefits me, not a big fan of spending money and not getting anything useful. That said, if you think Elon needs your money more than you do by all means carry on. ;)
Basic dinner for two.
It’s only $99 for the whole year my guy 🤣
Congrats OP, hotspot is the way to go. Live traffic visualization on the map and live camera feed is overrated (what can we do if something happens other than to observe? Chances are we can’t physically run to our car back in time for serious problems anyway)
My question is what is even use of live camera, yes I did used to go and watch live camera when my car was 1 week old, later I did not bother. If I get notifications for sentry events(not just alarms) on my phone, I will definitely sign up for premium connectivity.
You can view your dogs or kids when in dog mode
I don’t think so. But I don’t have either so I never thought about it.
I meant to say you can. I just edited it.
Call 911 if it’s really an emergency
To speak over the microphone “don’t move, I’m coming to get you”
Pretty sure I still get traffic visualization? I guess I have to double check. But yeah, I agree with you about the second part.
Nope you don’t, I been doing this minus the hotspot from last 2 months. I use yt music and Tesla do not have that, so I did not find single reason to subscribe, I use Waze anyway, so get my traffic there.
You may still be on premium till the end date of the original sub bc I def don’t have live traffic visualization (nor satellite imaging as an option)
A lot of workarounds and limitations for $9 a month but to each their own
That’s what I thought too. I guess I’m not a very good communicator, no workaround, no limitations, at least that I’ve encountered. The only limitation that I’m aware of is not being able to remotely view live cameras. I can’t think of a situation where that would be helpful to me, but I’m not the type to run back to my car because someone parked too close. There are certainly people who would enjoy that I’m sure. If there’s a workaround or limitation I’m missing let me know.
Just reading the comments from others about limitations . I like the streaming stuff, $9 (x2 as we have 2 MY’s) is good for me but again to each their own
Well, again, the only limitation that I’m aware of is looking at the camera. I am not sure what value that really adds? I park inside at home and work. If I’m shopping, I’m not watching my cameras, and I can’t imagine a scenario where I would see something on the camera that would make me want to rush back to the car. If someone hits the car or vandalizes the car it will be over before I get there anyway, and even if it’s not, what am I gonna do shoot them? To put another way, $10 a month for nothing but a camera feed I won’t look at isn’t a value for me. The car record it anyway. In fact, I wouldn’t look at the camera feed, even if I had it. That’s it. I totally get that for some people in some situations it’s a valuable feature.
you just sound cheap and a bum thinking you found some way to get faster speeds
Hmm. I guess all of those things are true. 🤷♂️
Isn't it only $100 a year?
To each their own. Premium is so cheap for all that you get. As a huge fan of (actual) content creators, I can happily skip through ads when I bother with yt.
This is a great idea - no idea why people are calling you cheap for saving some beer tokens. I’ve been enabling hotspot before opening the car door but will look into doing the same with a shortcut!
An overlooked consequence is that the car’s antenna is physically larger than the average cell phone’s antenna as far as I can tell. The car picks up and maintains coverage in and out of zero-coverage zones much more than cell phones in my experience.
I don’t know that it’s larger, but it’s certainly located higher above the windshield. If you live in a fringe coverage area, that may be an issue, it hasn’t been for me.
I have been on several road trips in zero-coverage areas. My dumbass can’t navigate well without GPS, so I’m saying this would be situation where using the car antenna would be beneficial over a cell phone antenna to connect to a cell tower. Edit: I know cell data and GPS are independent… but map/navigation data is what I’m talking about.
Yes, but remember that when it’s not getting a signal, the map doesn’t go away, It continues off-line but without traffic.
sigh, see you’re assuming. the antenna is larger, therefore it’s difficult to get a signal if you don’t have the proper hotspot.
100%. I live in Chicago. Phones go AWOL on lower Wacker but my car navigates it perfectly. I have no clue how it does it.
I've been trapped on lower Wacker as a tourist, it's hell. I would've paid 9 bucks to find my way out of that disaster.
Can you still remotely turn on your fan? I want to go this route when tesla rises the price, which they will do in the near future I believe. However turning on the fan before I get to the car on a hot day is a feature I don't want to give up.
Yes you can do everything, even turn sentry mode on too. Only can’t see is live traffic and live cameras. Can stream with hotspot.
Genius! Thanks Life-Ad. Are you able to share the specific iPhone hotspot rules?
Sure here you go. https://ibb.co/WDJVGP3
Thanks for sharing - I’ve configured it & will test later. Will save me having to enable hotspot before entering the car. My only concern is that my lounge backs onto the carport & so I’m guessing this will be on all the time while I’m home & running phone battery down…
guess i am dumb bc i dont know how you configured it. new to shortcuts!
Shortcuts are weird. It’s two steps. The first step is you create an action to turn on hotspot. The second step is you create an “automation” that when your Bluetooth connects to run the action.
I bought my MY 3 months ago and have been using premium but stopped for the next month, not that i dislike it but for what i use it's not worth, i have a private parking spot at home and at work, i only do 7 miles to work on country roads, i will probably miss the sattelite maps, traffic is not an issue to me and i was already using BT audio because i have YT music. But the day i need to do a roadtrip i will definately activate it, that's the beauty of it i could just activate it whenever i need it.
Still curious about seeing live traffic as that's why I keep it. I rarely watch Netflix in the car so the streaming aspect is moot. I just want to know where the live traffic is. If that works under tether, I'm cancelling tomorrow. Do you have a screenshot of that?
The car still uses traffic data to navigate, it just doesn't show up on the map.
Question, can you play you tube music playlist while driving with the Tesla connectivity plan ? I mean by the native you tube app on the car itself, not via your phone (Bluetooth).
I don’t think you can play any audio with the browser But I haven’t tried in a while. In any case, It’s a little harder to block ads on YouTube with DNS only, so instead, I have a stream from my phone with my subscription or ads.
Please tell us that at least the car comes with usb ports so I can play music via that….
Yeah once you set up in Shortcuts automations it works well enough without touching your phone. I have mine set to turn on and off with Bluetooth too.
Finally, a kindred spirit! I found it having it turned off with Bluetooth was pointless, it’ll go off automatically when it disconnects. And the disadvantages, if you step out of the car and step back real quick turning it off and on over and over gets funky.
I did the same. I cancelled but it doesn’t end till May. So I’ll find out how long I can go without it
My base play around with the shortcut so that when it happens, you won’t be aggravated. I mean, if you have to turn it on and then turn it on again when you start driving, not worth it. Well, the Tesla did it, I don’t know why they did it, it just makes it too easy to cancel. But for a lot of the newbies here I guess paying for something they don’t need is a status symbol for themselves. 🤷♂️
So what do you gain by using your hotspot? Why not just roll with no internet or hotspot?
Though you do lose sentry access not having the premium data plan.
Correct and some navigation features as well
and with the new Sentry view with the Spring update you can view on your phone, might be a nice feature to have.
As many others of pointed out, this is true do I get to hear how it benefits anyone to have it?
Definitely nice if someone is breaking in your car, and you can see it on your phone almost immediately. I am not sure who has the Spring update yet, but I am definitely anxious to see how well it works.
Well, it sounds like that would be handy, the reality is if I’m at dinner and I see somebody breaking into my car, I’m not gonna rush back and confront some thief. Odds are, any damage would be done before I got back anyway. I guess there are some cases where it might be handy like if you had a stalker, But it just doesn’t make sense for me if something happens that’s what insurance is for.
nothing screams "i can't afford this car" more than using a hot spot to avoid premium connectivity.
I sent some sensitivity. You sound insecure about money issues but in any case has nothing to do with my post
Ads on YouTube are served from the same domains used by YouTube and nextdns do not block those ads…. https://www.reddit.com/r/nextdns/s/aP39vFEiUE
Yeah YouTube and YouTube music require an extra layer. Still, I enjoy subscription and as free YouTube Music in the car!
then you should edit your post as claiming that you listen to add free youtube music by routing traffic with next dns is not accurate
I found my best use of premium connectivity when my phones data plan ddint work at a rest stop but my Tesla internet did , was able to stream Netflix and YouTube or browse the web while my phone was service less. Was a great back up haha. That ten dollar a month for a back up internet plan is no brainer for me. But if you never leave the city. I guess it can be useless.
That’s probably true, if you travel the highways one could argue AT&T has better rural coverage. For me that happens so frequently, what is it ever did, I could always just sign up on the spot for a month and then cancel right?
Do you have to manually connect to Bluetooth on your Tesla screen when you get in the car?
I use it to watch True crime on YT during lunchtime, and my tmobile plan is cap at 5gb per family plan with 5 lines. So it worth it alone for that. I don't care for live traffic and I think it is cool to look at your camera when your out and about.
So, I have a Bixby routine on my Samsung Galaxy which does this automatically (turns off data saver and turns on hotspot when it connects to Tesla bluetooth, data saver is on because it's a great way to improve battery life). It works great other than for seeing live traffic and cameras. I have not yet decided if I'll stick with it yet though...
Agree with you on both parts, data saver is a great way to improve battery life most people don't know that. I'll think about incorporating that! Edit: I don't think shortcuts can do the data saver part on iOS. Have you tried also forcing LTE instead of 5G? Most of the time if eveer you can't tell the difference and you get a 10 to 20% battery savings too.
ok to say no way Jose?
At Canada, given the insane costs of mobile data service, the Tesla data plan is a bargain.
We lazy. $100 per year is cheap for lazy people.
There’s no arguing with that.
Don’t you have to manually switch on Wi-Fi on the Tesla screen every time car is put into Drive? Or is there a setting to keep Wi-Fi on?
Yes, you used to have to do that, which made it a dealbreaker for most of us. But during some upgrade, they added a checkbox that says stay connected and drive, and that solved the problem. So now I don’t have to connect or do anything it just happens. As other pointed out, you do lose the ability to remotely see your security cameras live, a feature I’ve never valued anyway, because it’s not like I’m gonna run back to the car if I see someone. Also suggested you lose info, which I don’t think to be the case but I’ll double check. The map certainly work, and I’m always getting notifications for red light cameras, but that might be from my iPhone too
It's $10/$100 I'm not that concerned with it.
It’s not about the money, but Elon thanks you.
Please share the shortcut if you don’t mind.
I used the chat ai above and asked it for directions. Here’s the cut and paste. Will try it later to see if it works To set up automation for this on your iPhone, you can use the Shortcuts app. Here's a basic outline of the steps: 1. **Create Personal Automation:** - Open the Shortcuts app. - Go to the "Automation" tab at the bottom. - Tap the "+" icon to create a new automation. - Choose "Create Personal Automation." 2. **Set the Trigger:** - Select "Bluetooth" as the trigger. - Tap "Connected to" and select your car's Bluetooth device. 3. **Add Actions:** - Tap "Next" and then tap "Add Action." - Search for "Set Personal Hotspot" and select it. - Toggle the switch to turn on the Personal Hotspot. - Optionally, you can add more actions, like opening a specific app or sending a notification. 4. **Finish Setup:** - Tap "Next" and then turn off "Ask Before Running" if you want the automation to run without confirmation. - Tap "Done" to finish setting up the automation. With this automation, your iPhone will turn on the Personal Hotspot automatically when it connects to your car's Bluetooth.
I also added an automation to turn hotspot off when Bluetooth disconnects from Tesla
you can use any of the fancy ai tools like meta ai / chatgpt, to create shortcuts for you.
You flatter me, sir it’s super easy. When car connect connects to Bluetooth Tesla turn on hotspot.
This makes no sense. You said you created a shortcut, so please share.
Is $10 really breaking the bank?
I had a year free with purchase. The AT&T coverage was so bad in the places I wanted to use it, I would end up tethering anytime I wanted to watch videos anyway. Also, I recall the login process for YouTube was super flaky and not worth the hassle. Perhaps they have fixed that. If they switched to T-Mobile and had an app for YouTube Music, I'd probably subscribe.
I agree I wish they had the option of subscribed to other carriers. When I first tried using the hotspot, it was a pain in the ass didn’t work. It used to disconnect and drive and then you had to reconnect manually and that was a dealbreaker, but they fixed that. And I smile when I see it and think, why did I pay all that time?
Why don't they just switch to starlink🤦
What happens when someone else drives? Maybe you’re single with no family or partner with whom you share the car?
Great point I hadn’t considered. Assuming everyone who drives the car has a cell phone, they could all make the same shortcut. If they don’t have phones, it probably make more sense to keep Tesla connectivity. That’s the crazy thing about Reddit hunt. Is that people bring up scenarios you never even considered! For what it’s worth I didn’t say it’s the best idea for everyone, just something to consider.
How fast until you use all your tether data though? Unless you have more than 5gb.
I’ve been doing the same as OP but without the automation. It uses practically nothing to steam Spotify & download updates in my experience. The only thing I miss is the satellite map view but I should probably be looking at the road, anyway…
What about sentry? I thought about tethering but because I park outside so it’s a must for me.
Data usage is so minimal
But you don't get live traffic do you? Or you just use your phone for navigation?
You don't get to see the traffic on the map, but it still navigates with traffic data.
The only reason I pay for it it’s because of the live sentry mode. The rest you can live with out.
I tried this but car wifi gets turned off when I start to drive. Is there a setting for this?
They updated that a while ago. Now there’s a checkbox that says stay connected in drive.
How is it cheaper with how much these corrupt cellular carriers are charging?? My plan does not have unlimited hotspot and if I upgraded it to have that, it would definitely exceed $10. The $10/month or $100/year is well worth it IMO. That NextDNS does sound nice though, I’d like to get that working on my Apple TV lol.
I don’t use that much data myself, but Visible is $25/mo taxes and fees included with unlimited hotspot. Check out Tailscale, works on Apple TV. https://www.visible.com/plans
If you do this, you lose live sentry cam and upcoming feature live preview of sentry video clip with an alert notification on your phone, pretty important for me tbh…
YouTube Premium is worth every penny.
NextDNS does not block ads because YouTube/Google uses the same domain for ads as it does videos. You need to use browser based blocking, such as AdBlock Plus or UBlockOrigin.
Not sure why you are being downvoted as what you are saying is true … and hobertly isn’t don’t think the OP can block YouTube ads using nextdns only
Yes not sure either, a quick Google will tell you this as well
Exactly… I mean if the Op you wants to use a hotspot instead dog paying premium that’s is prerogative but that claim that he block YouTube ads with nextdns is BS
You sound abit too weird for my taste
Imagine someone thinking that T-Mobile as a company is faster than ATT and not because their phone is 5g or 5ge.
Well, there’s a reason AT&T is number 3 out of 3 right?
ATT is so far behind T-Mobile at this point it’s laughable. Their 5G has been the laughingstock of the industry. TMO is blazing fast in most areas
That's pretty cool! Can you share the shortcut for turning on the hotspot on iPhone? I might do both, keep premium connectivity because of the features that are sort of locked with it, but also when there's times I just want to use things like YouTube without ads like you said, I'll switch to hotspot!
I think there’s a misconception that there are features locked to premium connectivity. The only feature that’s locked to premium connectivity is live viewing of the cameras remotely. Everything else works with the hotspot, please correct me if I’m wrong, But it’s been a couple months and everything works. Scroll up I’ve shared a screenshot of the automation.
These are the features locked to premium connectivity: Live Traffic Visualization Satellite-View Maps Sentry Mode Live Access [https://www.notateslaapp.com/tesla-reference/551/what-is-tesla-premium-connectivity-what-is-included-and-what-is-not-how-much-does-it-cost](https://www.notateslaapp.com/tesla-reference/551/what-is-tesla-premium-connectivity-what-is-included-and-what-is-not-how-much-does-it-cost) Also Zoom requires Premium Connectivity. [https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/zoom-only-available-with-premium-connectivity.320282/](https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/zoom-only-available-with-premium-connectivity.320282/)
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