Nissan offers 2G Leaf owners a $199 3G upgrade, with just 24 days left

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Winter is the only time I really benefit a lot from the telematics, of course. That leaves me debating whether or not to spend $200 on a car that I'll be turning in no later than May, and possibly sooner...
 
Has anyone received any communication from Nissan themselves? I got the original letter, but that is it. Also, has Nissan officially stated that the service will be free to use for the remainder of the life of the vehicle? I am looking for something official from Nissan, not reported on a website. I may be willing to pay the $199 for the upgrade, but not if they are going to turn around and add in a monthly fee.
 
GetOffYourGas said:
Has anyone received any communication from Nissan themselves? I got the original letter, but that is it. Also, has Nissan officially stated that the service will be free to use for the remainder of the life of the vehicle? I am looking for something official from Nissan, not reported on a website. I may be willing to pay the $199 for the upgrade, but not if they are going to turn around and add in a monthly fee.

I haven't received anything beyond the original letter, but I just completed the "ordering" process a couple of days ago at my dealer.
I have an excellent relationship with my service advisor (he has been there since I bought my Leaf), and he told me--without hesitation--that the $199 was the only fee I would have to pay and my CW/EV Connect service would continue as is indefinitely.
The only uncertainty is how long it will actually take to get the new modem (I was told 4-8 weeks).
 
Stanton:

Can you please provide more details on the upgrade you were able to buy? Part number, especially, but anything else that might help. My service advisor has nothing even after calling Nissan directly, but says if he had more info he might be able to get somewhere.

Thanks!!

-ben-
 
I received a letter from Nissan about the fact that ATT is turning off the 2G network Dec 31, 2016 which will result in CarWings going offline. We will not be able to use the Nissan app to communicate with the LEAF.

Nissan want $195 for the upgrade.

Here is my take. I am leasing the car. It belongs to Nissan. The lease expires the end of May 2017. Why should I have to pay for the upgrade? It was Nissan's choice to fail to upgrade to the 3G or 4G network. 3G has been around for over 10 years.

I strongly advise owners to resist Nissan's effort to extort payment for what is clearly their mistake in failing to install the latest technology in an EV!
 
Congrats on your second Post, and to the Cubs! Nevertheless, there are two threads that is already covering this topic.

Finally, It is not an extortion if you have an option. They did not demand you pay or they will disable your car on the side of the road. Enjoy your Leaf for 5 more months!
 
Still, Nissan failed to use 3G or 4G for CarWings. For an EV with advance technology, that is an oversight.
 
bobcubsfan said:
Still, Nissan failed to use 3G or 4G for CarWings. For an EV with advance technology, that is an oversight.

It wasn't an oversight. I'm sure using 2G saved them a lot of money on radios and service, since they are the ones paying AT&T for the connectivity. They are only doing the 3G upgrade because AT&T is shutting down the 2G service.
 
littauer said:
Stanton:

Can you please provide more details on the upgrade you were able to buy? Part number, especially, but anything else that might help. My service advisor has nothing even after calling Nissan directly, but says if he had more info he might be able to get somewhere.

Thanks!!

-ben-

Here is the link to what I found out today.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&p=477992#p477934
 
baustin said:
It wasn't an oversight.
It wasn't an oversight to *use* 2G. It was an oversight to not include hardware capable of both 2G and 3G communication. Every cheap mobile phone in the world has had the ability to do both for several years now. This could have been a simple flash reprogramming instead of a hardware replacement.
 
That is my point exactly. I wonder if this affects those who are paying for traffic option for CarWings. If so, those users have to pay again.
 
garsh said:
baustin said:
It wasn't an oversight.
It wasn't an oversight to *use* 2G. It was an oversight to not include hardware capable of both 2G and 3G communication. Every cheap mobile phone in the world has had the ability to do both for several years now. This could have been a simple flash reprogramming instead of a hardware replacement.

Maybe so for phones, but the TCU being used was a 2010 (or older) model. What was the cost difference, at that time, between a 2G unit and a 2G/3G unit? Also, AT&T had not yet announced any plans to discontinue 2G service. Nissan chose to keep their costs as low as possible.
 
baustin said:
Maybe so for phones, but the TCU being used was a 2010 (or older) model. What was the cost difference, at that time, between a 2G unit and a 2G/3G unit? Also, AT&T had not yet announced any plans to discontinue 2G service. Nissan chose to keep their costs as low as possible.

Actually, AT&T announced plans to discontinue 2G service in 2012.
http://www.corp.att.com/erate/docs/2g_sunset.pdf

That means for the 2013 models onward, Nissan KNEW the 2G TCUs were going to be rendered inoperable by January 2017, but chose to continue using them, all the way through the 2016 models.
 
Durandal said:
baustin said:
Maybe so for phones, but the TCU being used was a 2010 (or older) model. What was the cost difference, at that time, between a 2G unit and a 2G/3G unit? Also, AT&T had not yet announced any plans to discontinue 2G service. Nissan chose to keep their costs as low as possible.

Actually, AT&T announced plans to discontinue 2G service in 2012.
http://www.corp.att.com/erate/docs/2g_sunset.pdf

That means for the 2013 models onward, Nissan KNEW the 2G TCUs were going to be rendered inoperable by January 2017, but chose to continue using them, all the way through the 2016 models.

AT&T announced the 2G change in August of 2012, which means the 2013 production line was already set. It's not a matter of what they knew, or what the Engineers wanted to do, it is Nissan Corporate choosing the cheapest option at the time. What is best is not always done, especially when someone else has a tight grip on the budget.
 
baustin said:
Maybe so for phones, but the TCU being used was a 2010 (or older) model. What was the cost difference, at that time, between a 2G unit and a 2G/3G unit?
For the chips? Negligible. 4G services were being deployed in 2010. So 3G wasn't even cutting edge at the time. Every cut-rate cell phone being sold was capable of 3G.
Also, AT&T had not yet announced any plans to discontinue 2G service.
It seems even more insane that they would use a module that didn't support enough frequencies to be moved to a different network via a SIM card & software update.
 
garsh said:
baustin said:
Maybe so for phones, but the TCU being used was a 2010 (or older) model. What was the cost difference, at that time, between a 2G unit and a 2G/3G unit?
For the chips? Negligible. 4G services were being deployed in 2010. So 3G wasn't even cutting edge at the time. Every cut-rate cell phone being sold was capable of 3G.
Also, AT&T had not yet announced any plans to discontinue 2G service.
It seems even more insane that they would use a module that didn't support enough frequencies to be moved to a different network via a SIM card & software update.

Yes, and that is forward-thinking, common-sense thought. Not something used by the Corporate controller looking at what is cheapest now.

They could probably be moved to the T-Mobile network with just a SIM card change, if they still offered 2G service.

Nissan chose the cheapest train and rode until it ran out of steam. Now, instead of having to replace the radios in all the older cars, they only have to pay to replace it for the ones willing to fork over the $199 co-pay. Still going for the cheapest option, and I'm sure it was the least expensive, 3G only, radio they could get.
 
baustin said:
They could probably be moved to the T-Mobile network with just a SIM card change, if they still offered 2G service.
Has anyone tried swapping the SIM for a T-Mobile one and confirming that it works?

I found https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/att-2g-iot-lifeline.htm. Not sure how much data goes up/down each month via Nissan Connect.
 
I had the telematics unit replaced by Nissan before the end of the year. I have not been able to get the carwings to connect since. In the settings there is a area for you to type a user name and password. What goes there? Is that the same user name and password to get into the Nissan owners portal?
 
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