Always connected, no fee. Although the car (at least my 21) also offers a cellular wifi hotspot that appears to use the ATT network[0]. No clue what the monthly pricing is, I've never signed up for that trial.
I have the lowest spec, cheapest car Ford had available and it still has the cellular antenna. I checked, and at leadt on an ecosport the cell antenna is very easy to remove and doesn't impact functionality of the car. That being said, I did reconnect the cellular antenna since app-enabled remote start is a genuinely useful feature. I can warm the car up from my desk without having to walk within range of the keyfob, so I am accepting that bit of privacy loss.
You're assuming that the traffic sent is free to be whatever. I could easily see telcos restricting this "5G for IoT" stuff to be just traffic to designated servers, with the more permissive hotspot use a separate extra service -- at which point, you're paying for it regardless of this hack.
Do we think ford even bother with SIM cards? Lots of modern 5G devices have e-sims etc, much easier for the factory floor if SIM card can be loaded via software too. None of my families cellphones have physical sims anymore either.
In this case, take the modem chip itself. Most off-the-shelf USB/Mini-PCIe/etc modem cards use the same underlying chips, so you can just move the chip over which would contain both the eSIM as well as the original IMEI.
I can't help but chuckle at the use of the word "just" here. Sure, if we are now into reverse engineering hardware module interfaces and potentially desolder jobs on a (at a minimum) ~$20k vehicle, of which many features will stop working once you remove the module as well as triggering how many warning and service lights...
Car connects free for itself, and loads navigation, traffic, location on app etc. If you want a wifi hotspot, thats $300 a year from ATT network 2ith 22GB fast speed per month.
No, GPS Shows a red circle & Line if car is far in basements or in downtown. No Traffic Data if no mobile coverage (although no symbols to show how much mobile coverage it has). App shows only last known location (& gas level, odometer, tyre pressure etc) from last point in time connected. Remote start & doors lock/unlock will not work if car is not connected.
