Car manufacturers don't even try to pretend that their prices have anything to do with the actual costs of components. You want an "original X" part? That will be $$$$, thank you very much.

This is apparently a photo of the easily replaceable card that it's on: https://www.ebay.com/p/3035604932

I'm not sure how you plan on taking apart the dashboard for less than $50 of labor, though.

It doesn't have to be placed in the dashboard.

So you're saying that existing cars, where it's in the dashboard, can be modified for almost nothing to put this card someplace else?

Edit: I mean, hindsight is great when you're designing a new car, and Tesla did make it much easier to replace this card in newer models, but we're talking about old cars. 75 minutes of labor for an S, 90 for an X.

> So you're saying that existing cars, where it's in the dashboard, can be modified for almost nothing to put this card someplace else?

Of course I'm not saying that. Please re-read my post if necessary.

Edit: This is a design deficiency, is what I'm saying.

Isn't hindsight awesome? Even though your first bit of advice was implemented on day 1 (the modem is on a separate card), it's still expensive to replace it.

Just because the old modules were mPCIe doesn't mean a new one will be too.

I have an Thinkpad T430s, that came with mPCIe 3G modem; for LTE, it was possible to find a replacement, but for 5G, I don't expect there will be any (any whitelists in firmware aside).

Or similarly, I have an openwrt router with mPCIe 802.11-ac wifi (Turris Omnia). It is not possible to replace them with -ax adapters, they all have m.2 interface.

With cars and other long-used goods I would expect the same problems.

Sure, most have USB-only connections and some have actual PCIe connections (I suppose). And then there's the fragmentation at the software/AT command level.

Still, Tesla could have spent the software effort required to make it work with a few of the most common 3G/4G/(5G) modules from reputable manufacturers.

And $1450 labor.

I have actually found Tesla labor prices very reasonable.

Tethering off your phone seems simpler, especially if you got their app running.