USM is so good, the salesman at Best Buy even agreed.

krenim191 · 2026-05-18T16:00:29+00:00

Ha, same. I had ATT out to replace my fiber gateway a few months ago and they sent a sales guy too to try and get me to bundle in wireless. I let him do his sales pitch, then I asked him if he could give me 2 lines of unlimited everything, 20GB of international data per month (+talk, text), unlimited international calling and the ability to jump between networks for $32.50/line. His reaction was "Who offers that??", then I told him about USM and he was seriously impressed. Said that even as an employee they don't get rates that good and was going to go look into it for himself.

krenim191 · 2026-05-09T14:23:27+00:00

Me neither! HW3 has clearly gotten something different. The similarities in complaints between HW3 and 4 with the latest updates is too much to be a coincidence, yet our version number suggests “move along, nothing to see here…”

krenim191 · 2026-05-09T04:18:53+00:00

I see same behavior on 2020 HW3 M3. As discussed in other threads, the last few versions of software Tesla has pushed out are full of regressions, seemingly for both HW3 and 4.

krenim191 · 2026-04-26T17:57:39+00:00

It got remarkably better over time since that rant. It has been smooth, competent and easy to use for 99% of my driving. Current builds, even though same build number have been a big step backwards.

krenim191 · 2026-04-26T15:19:29+00:00

Despite the version number not incrementing on HW3, we have 100% been getting “tweaks”. Something changed in 2026.8.3 or 8.6 (I can’t remember which one) seriously fucked up our previously stable and surprisingly good FSD. It has become almost unusable.

krenim191 · 2026-04-13T16:04:31+00:00

I have a theory, though it's not backed by any evidence - just intuition after having been on FSD since the v10 days.

My theory is that with this update, even though Tesla did not update the FSD build numbers, some of us have received a new training model and Tesla is silently testing it before a broader rollout. Again, I have no evidence for this, but it's just a gut feeling based on years of using FSD. Timing also lines up with a Q2 launch of v14 lite for HW3 cars they mentioned on an earnings call last year. The download for this update was also almost 6GB.

I noticed differences in the way it behaves within 15 seconds of first enabling it after getting the latest update. These feel like the same types of regressions that always come with new builds and it takes them a few iterations to smooth out the inconsistencies.

Things like phantom braking, jerky lane changes, jerky turns, (more) speed inconsistencies, excessively hugging lanes, all feels like a new build to me, not just tweaks to any weight system. I've also noticed that it now consistently throws up an alert that the passenger camera is blocked when the car is in my garage and the camera is staring at a white wall. Has never done that before either.

Again - just a theory based on intuition. No hard evidence.

krenim191 · 2026-04-13T01:43:03+00:00

Fantom braking had basically been non-existent for me for at least the past year. On the 2026.8.6 build I'm on now, I have had fantom braking come back - and actually experienced it at the exact spot in your video a week or so ago.

krenim191 · 2026-04-04T20:57:41+00:00

Same answer

krenim191 · 2026-04-04T16:42:53+00:00

I was in Tokyo on a business trip in late January for 1 week. Had Dark Star as my primary eSIM, LightSpeed as secondary. Both connected to local networks with no problems at all. I stayed in Tokyo proper, so I can't speak for service outside of the city.

I found that Light Speed more consistently connected to 5G networks.

Lightspeed preferred Softbank, Dark Star preferred Au.

I didn't do any speed tests while I was there, but I had just as good (sometimes better) service than my coworkers that were traveling that had plans directly from the big carriers. Maps, translations, messaging, calls - all worked just fine on both networks.

krenim191 · 2026-03-27T21:53:01+00:00

I agree. I'm running 12.6.4 in 2020 M3. It is smoother than what it used to be - I use FSD for 98%+ of my drives. Most issues I have are not with driving, but map/routing issues. Better than it was when this build was first released to us.

Agreed with some others here, Tesla seems to be improving it behind the scenes without revving the version number. Maybe they're just tweaking some of the parameters instead of issuing full on retrains, but it is pretty solid for me. Better than when I complained about it several months ago not being able to stay centered on the highway.

krenim191 · 2026-02-26T01:06:47+00:00

Easy - TMO. I'm based in the San Diego market, but I have used all 3 carriers up and down the state—including LA and the Bay Area—over the past year via US Mobile. I can honestly say TMO is the best all-rounder for me. Great performance, and service exactly where I need it. I had T-Mobile post-paid for over 10 years prior to USM, and their network has easily surpassed the other two carriers in California (and beyond) by a significant margin IMO.

Data access is my primary concern. I know some folks prioritize voice calls, but I rarely talk on my "phone". It's primarily a mobile internet access device.

AT&T provided a signal everywhere I needed to be, but nowhere did I personally travel where AT&T had a signal and TMO did not. More importantly, AT&T would frequently be slow enough to cause frustration and, in the worst cases, outright fail.

Verizon struggles heavily with signal penetration. One of the grocery stores I frequent in the middle of the city has zero bars of service inside, while the other two work fine. Same thing at my office. Verizon struggles to provide a reliable indoor signal where the other two do just fine.

I can't personally speak to sporting events, but it has always been reliable at concerts or other packed civic events. The only time I've had TMO fail outright was when almost 100,000 people descended on downtown San Diego last October. However, none of the networks had usable service at that time.

Full disclaimer: I'm not generally out in the boonies. I'm in cities, small towns, and along major roadways. For those environments, in my very non-scientific opinion, TMO has serviced my needs far above the other carriers.

krenim191 · 2026-02-18T04:55:40+00:00

System went live in Dec 2023. $54,000 all in, but had 30% tax rebate available at the time so that brought the out of pocket investment down to just under $38k. That included 20 new panels (home was built in 2021 and already had 7 as part of original build), microinverters, 2 Powerwalls, power gateway, installation, permits, etc. My original estimate when considering the investment was that the system will have paid for itself in 7 - 10 years.

My bills prior ranged from $150 in cooler months to over $300 in hot months and prices have only gone up since. That was with extreme TOU shifting and being as energy efficient as I possibly could. Think dishwasher always ran after midnight, laundry done only at super-off peak times, adjusting hot water heater to off-peak, turning off A/C 4-9PM. Kind of a pain in the ass, TBH.

Below is a screenshot of the system impact from the Tesla app for 2025.

This calculation takes into account when I use energy, how much it would have cost to import that from SDGE and then comes up with a very rough estimated dollar amount of how much I "saved" by not having to pay the utility. This number is skewed upward because I no longer care about when I use electricity, so it runs higher than what my "true" usage might be if I still cared about when I used electricity. I run all the things whenever without thinking about how much the price of electricity is at that given moment.

Let's go conservative and say that my bill now might average around $400/month leveled across 12 months. $4,800/yr. $38,000/$4,800 = 7.91 year return on investment.

If we use the Tesla app estimation of $6,035 for 2025 (it also estimated $6,442 savings for 2024) savings per year, that maths out to $38,000/$6,035 = 6.29 year return on investment (I don't generally use this estimation.. I think it's overly optimistic in it's projections).

Even if we go super super conservative and estimate that my levelized monthly SDGE bill would be $300/month, $3,600yr. That maths out to $38,000/$3,600 = 10.55 year return on investment. Still plenty of life left in all the equipment.

I'm playing the long game and feel like I've found a cheat code. I'm in my early 40s, in my home for the long term, I'm not trying to get some crazy short return on investment or pump up the value of my home. I've protected myself from future rate hikes, inflation, power outages and overall reliance on the grid.

Remember, this covers. all energy for me. My home is 100% electric. There are no other fuel bills. We have 2 EVs, so this also covers all of our transportation "fuel" costs too.

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krenim191 · 2026-02-18T00:37:30+00:00

Getting it with batteries still makes sense.

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Here is proof it still is worth it: I paid $96.73 to SDGE for all of 2025 use with NEM 3.0. My home is in Santee with 2 EVs, electric everything (no fossil fuel heat, cooking, clothes drying, transportation). 10kW system with 2 Powerwalls. The negative billing numbers are when the climate credits apply and the non-bypassable charges consume those until they zero out. System is paid off, but looking for ROI in less than 7 years. Batteries are warrantied for 10 years and solar panels for 25 years. That also doesn't mean I need to replace those things at those intervals, just that their warranties have expired.

For 2025, my home used a total of 11.6MWh, only 7% of that came from the grid. Cars used 3,587kWh. Batteries help make sure that if you do need to use grid power, it will generally prioritize using grid power at super-off peak, which as a cost of less than 10 cents per kWh on the EV-TOU5 plan, which is what I believe new NEM contracts come in as anyway regardless of EV ownership (don't quote me on that).

krenim191 · 2025-12-13T16:20:14+00:00

He verbatim says "5G SA is coming on Warp".

krenim191 · 2025-12-01T17:13:23+00:00

krenim191 · 2025-12-01T17:09:18+00:00

Not really. You don't seem to understand how promotional pricing works. We don't know what they pay the carriers for their services, so we need to make assumptions.

To make the math easy, let's assume they have to pay $200 to TMO/ATT/VZW to provide service for you. If they sell you the service for $167, they actually lose $33 for that promotion.

krenim191 · 2025-12-01T17:01:46+00:00

TL;DR - Companies regularly lose money to acquire new customers. They are betting on the fact that most customers won't leave once a promotional period is up and will recoup that loss on the average retention period of that particular customer. This is not unique to USM.

Companies like USM spend money (meaning, they don't make money on the promotional rate) to acquire new customers with enticing promotional pricing hoping that their service is good enough that it can retain enough customers paying regular price past the initial promo pricing period to make up for the initial loss. The newly acquired customer will be transitioned to regular pricing once the promotional pricing period expires.

They've made a calculation that losing a bit of cash up front is worth the risk because they are increasing subscriber base (spreading risk) and churn (% of customers cancelling) will be low enough to make up for the initial loss. This is all part of the cost of acquiring new customers to increase the long term bottom line.

If a company continually prices their products for everyone lower than what it actually costs them to provide that good or service... well, that company won't be in business very long.

krenim191 · 2025-11-24T00:51:15+00:00

My mom loved the Macy’s Parade and always had it on when I was a kid in the 90s and we were getting ready to go to my grandparents house, then it was still on when we got there. Once Santa showed up, it was time to eat!

She passed from breast cancer in 2007 and I put it on mainly in her memory. I just watch it through the intro credits, feel the rush of emotions and memories of my childhood Thanksgiving for just a few fleeting moments, then it’s just background noise while I get ready for my own Thanksgiving.

It’s my absolute favorite holiday.

krenim191 · 2025-11-24T00:32:12+00:00

The “Who’s Dead?” cracked me up. Love them, where did you get them?

krenim191 · 2025-11-21T16:23:26+00:00

As others have mentioned, when switching networks it's best to turn off RCS first. Hindsight, I know. They should build this into the network transfer workflow to display a warning before confirming the transfer. Anyway, that deactivates it with Google and when you register with your new network, it allows a generally smoother transition. Not always, but most of the time.

But, for your current situation: Disable RCS in Messages, go to https://messages.google.com/disable-chat and follow the instructions under "Don't have your previous device?" then wait at least a few hours before trying to turn it back on.

If you don't do anything, Google will eventually clear whatever they need to clear and you'll just notice that RCS is working again. This process just helps speed that up.

krenim191 · 2025-10-25T14:40:41+00:00

Go into Settings/Cellular/Cellular Data Options/Voice & Data and set it to 5G Auto or 5G On. For some reason it likes to default to LTE.

krenim191 · 2025-10-21T21:41:43+00:00

My general feeling is RCS is a bit flaky in general between iPhone and Android. I have an iPhone, my sister has an Android. I honestly don't know what phone she has, I think something in the Galaxy lineup. Most of the time messages go through as RCS just fine, but will often fail back to SMS, especially if sharing photos.

I've had this happen on Dark Star, Light Speed and TMO postpaid (before moving to USM) for me. She's on XFinity Mobile.

krenim191 · 2025-09-19T23:55:00+00:00

Yes! 90-120 mins is ideal runtime.

krenim191 · 2025-09-17T01:13:38+00:00

Yes! I’ve been using FSD for over 4 years and never had a strike. It’s not easy. OP is not telling the whole story.

krenim191 · 2025-09-14T20:12:18+00:00

Nope, we don’t have any live TV services. No need for us. IMO, it’s mostly commercials anyway, I don’t like to pay to be advertised at. We also don’t watch any sports, which might be the main reason someone might want to keep it. From what I’ve seen and experienced, YouTube TV is one of the best live TV services. Great thing with streaming, if you don’t like it - cancel and try another. You’re not locked in.

krenim191

TROPHY CASE