Free LTE Connectivity to end this month

[Hillbilly]

Except you would pay way more than $100 per year in increased fuel and maintenance plus the loss on the Rivian for selling that soon. ??‍

You do you!

I've got another vehicle anyway and have my rivian mostly paid off. It's about the principal, not the money. I'll likely end up buying a Porsche 911 instead and not regret it.

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[COdogman]

I've got another vehicle anyway and have my rivian mostly paid off. It's about the principal, not the money. I'll likely end up buying a Porsche 911 instead and not regret it.

Ok…Rivian said from the beginning they would eventually be charging for these specific things. It’s odd to take a stand on it now…

 

[NY_Rob]

People do realize that AT&T (or Verizon or Sprint, T-Mob, etc..) do not give LTE service away for free right? If your cell modem has an active connection... someone is paying for it.

 

[SANZC02]

Ok…Rivian said from the beginning they would eventually be charging for these specific things. It’s odd to take a stand on it now…

Even stranger is, the payments would be going to Rivian, not to AT&T so really not much different than how it is today. ??

 

[Hillbilly]

Ok…Rivian said from the beginning they would eventually be charging for these specific things. It’s odd to take a stand on it now…

Yeah, and it's fine so long as I'm not required to pay. My issue is with at&t.

 

[COdogman]

Even stranger is, the payments would be going to Rivian, not to AT&T so really not much different than how it is today. ??

Agreed. Everyone has their own lines in the sand I guess… I just don’t understand this. It was known from the beginning.

 

[Hillbilly]

People do realize that AT&T (or Verizon or Sprint, T-Mob, etc..) do not give LTE service away for free right? If your cell modem has an active connection... someone is paying for it.

Yes, but as of today, I'm not paying rivian anything for it. When they start to charge, I won't be either so long as I can opt out. If I'm forced to pay separately for at&t, I will sell. It is what it is.

 

[COdogman]

Yeah, and it's fine so long as I'm not required to pay. My issue is with at&t.

You do what you have to do. I’m just confused because AT&T has always been the provider for Rivian and we knew from the beginning we would have to start paying for LTE at some point.

 

[Hillbilly]

You do what you have to do. I’m just confused because AT&T has always been the provider for Rivian and we knew from the beginning we would have to start paying for LTE at some point.

No, it was mentioned as an a la carte option. If it is a required subscription/fee, that's not what we were told.

 

[SANZC02]

No, it was mentioned as an a la carte option. If it is a required subscription/fee, that's not what we were told.

I’m sure it will not be a required charge just more limited access if you opt out. I would wager it to be very similar to the Tesla premium access.

But if you have such an aversion to AT&T they are making money off your Rivian purchase, sure indirectly but still it is a revenue source for them.

 

[Hillbilly]

I’m sure it will not be a required charge just more limited access if you opt out. I would wager it to be very similar to the Tesla premium access.

But if you have such an aversion to AT&T they are making money off your Rivian purchase, sure indirectly but still it is a revenue source for them.

I understand att is being paid by rivian. Rivian will soon be eliminating that cost by passing the cost directly to us. If we are allowed to opt out, att will get less money from rivian. That's perfectly fine with me.

 

[SANZC02]

I understand att is being paid by rivian. Rivian will soon be eliminating that cost by passing the cost directly to us. If we are allowed to opt out, att will get less money from rivian. That's perfectly fine with me.

Full disclosure, don’t hate me but, I’ve been an AT&T wireless customer since 1987, through the Cingular spinoff and back, still have the original phone number.

 

[irish26]

I expect LTE, with unlimited data and hotspot, to come in at $120 per year - as this is what ATT offer to anyone off the street with an ATT Phone to Volvo, Ford etc (https://www.att.com/plans/in-car-wifi/). Anything more would be pretty egregious.

I hope that’s the price. On my wife’s suburban, GM charges us $240/yr for that same AT&T service

 

[NY_Rob]

For reference..

BMW uses AT&T- their connectivity package for our i3 is $120 for the year. It's features are almost identical to the Rivian features at this point in time (real-time traffic, music streaming, pre-conditioning, vehicle locator, "send destination to vehicle", etc..)

Tesla also uses AT&T and their "Premium" connectivity package is $99/year and has more features than Rivian offers at this time including streaming video from Netflix, Disney+, HBO, YouTube, etc.. and also a built-in full featured web browser (which is how people use Waze in their Tesla's).

With the above in mind, I don't really see Rivian charging more than Tesla charges for connectivity while offering less features.

 

[evmax]

I understand att is being paid by rivian. Rivian will soon be eliminating that cost by passing the cost directly to us. If we are allowed to opt out, att will get less money from rivian. That's perfectly fine with me.

So from my exhaustive reading from this thread, there is a gripe against AT&T. What if they went to an esim model for connectivity (assuming they have the software/antennas that will work) and you could choose AT&T/Tmobile/Cricket/Verizon/etc. Better for regional access as well depending on where you live.

I'm totally fine paying up to $100*/month for data service, but they had better put some video streaming services onboard with that fee. $100 for maps and audio is a bit disproportionate IMO.
$40-50 would be reasonable

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