Elon Musk has announced that Tesla’s electric vehicles (EVs) will use Starlink’s new cellular broadcasting satellites to connect with T-Mobile users in the United States.
Musk took to Twitter after T-Mobile and Starlink announced the partnership. He also clarified that this would work even with Tesla’s EVs with the AT&T LTE network. This will potentially be used for other operators as well.
Musk revealed that the connection would provide satellite to cellular coverage from Starlink that will provide a 2-4 Mbps link shared by everyone in the satellite coverage area.
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This means the speeds would not be fast enough for streaming 4k content or enjoying some of the premium features of the Tesla EVs, like live streaming video from the car’s cameras. Experts say this implementation could work similarly to MVNO like Google Fi, which works via many other carriers.
Tesla always has come with connectivity packages, but its sales have grown, and Musk has scaled back the packages. Teslas purchased before June of 2018 had a premium connectivity package at no additional cost. But the latest cars bought after July 20, 2022, come only with the standard connectivity package along with navigation and in-car maps at best.
The reason could be that as AT&T has shut down its 3G network, and old cars that do not have an LTE modem could be required to do a $200 upgrade to stay connected. This would apply to cars that were sold before 2015.
