3G connectivity issues since V6.xxx

[pbrulott]

I've been having issues with 3G connectivity for the last couple of weeks. It coincides with one of the V6 updates, might be the original one.

Symptoms:

3G connectivity gets to 0 bar from time to time, no pattern of location or time. I lose it for 2-3 min up to 30min. Sometimes a reboot fixes it, sometimes not. Other symptoms are obvious: Grey squares appearing on the NAV system, NAV system not searching location (ask to enter an address) and Slacker stopping or looping.

I reported it on the below thread in the Model S use interface section:

3G working intermittently - Page 3

It seems like I'm not alone and it might be a canadian roaming issues brought with V6 as per one of the poster. I talked to a couple of owners in the last weeks and some reported the same issue. Fellow canadian, if you have issues with 3G like what I described, please discuss/report it here

 

[clea]

I had issues after waking the car up with even the 3G in E mode and a frozen screen. Thought only a reboot would fix it but if I left it long enough it would correct itself so a reboot was not required.
The last few days I have turned off sleep mode and I no longer have had any issues with it yet so it seems that in my case it was related to the sleep mode in v6 ...

 

[iKhalid]

Good to know that I'm not the only one... I have both of your symptoms:
1- 3G issues. Sometimes it stays offline for more than 10 minutes before I have the connection back.
2- Frozen screen, especially after waking up.

I tried a combination of "Always connected" with sleep and without sleep without any luck.

Also, the connection from the app is really poor, which I think is related to the above. It's hit or miss with 50% chance of hit. This worries me that winter is coming now.

 

[Peter_M]

I've had 3G issues since the 6.0 upgrade too (the first time was on the first drive after upgrading). On one occasion on a long trip with good coverage, the signal dropped to zero bars, then E (EDGE) for 15+ minutes, and I had to switch over to a mobile hotspot with my phone. Also, it was often taking 10+ minutes to get a connection after getting in the car. As others have said, rebooting sometimes fixed it, sometimes not, and the disconnects didn't seem to be in weak coverage areas.

I mentioned it to the SC and they said it was a bug relating to coming out of power save mode, so they suggested turning Energy Saving to Off for now. I did that about 10 days ago and haven't seen the problem since. When I was seeing the problems, I had Energy Saving set to either Night or On, with or without "Always Connected" checked.

The problem is random enough that I'm not 100% convinced that this workaround would always work, but it looks like it. Hopefully they'll fix this soon - I'd rather not be wasting several km of range per day.

There was a mention in another thread of a new update that was supposed to address this issue, but I don't remember seeing any confirmation of that.

 

[Jeeps17]

Add me to that list.

I'll try the solution that Peter_M proposed, thanks for that.

Hopefully a fix will come sooner than our poor supercharger !

 

[Doug_G]

I've had some issues coming up from power down, including sometimes no bluetooth and a spontaneous reboot, but no 3G problems. I have also seen the car power up after opening the trunk and not power down again despite self-locking.

Also my iPhone contacts don't work anymore.

 

[CHG-ON]

Regarding a WiFi hotspot: I have had no luck in connecting my Verizon MiFi to the car in order to overcome the 3G issues. I have tried several times. Would you have any hints on how to do so? I'm not sure it would improve the browser performance, but I would like to try.

Thanks!

 

[Canuck]

Same here since 6.0. No 3G for about the first 5 minutes of most drives. It was discussed on page 3 of this thread: 3G working intermittently - Page 3

I was told this yesterday by the Vancouver Service Centre:

"Our firmware team is close to a permanent solution and all the added information is helping. In the meantime, if you disable Energy Savings and Always Connected on the touchscreen, it will restore full 3G connectivity, but at the expense of range-loss while the vehicle is parked. To accomplish this, navigate to CONTROLS > DISPLAYS > ENERGY SAVING.
I will keep you updated as things continue to develop."

 

[dasRad]

Just under a month ago I lost connectivity along the Lougheed highway out near Agassiz. It seemed odd as my phone was still connected. At the time I though that it might be that Rogers didn't have 3G in the area. Since then I have had 3G drop out completely in the Kelowna area on a handful of occasions. I hadn't experienced this in the Kelowna area before, but being that the network is Rogers, I've been putting it down to just problems with their network. I've even called Rogers a couple of times to ask if there are problems in the area, but I just don't have stamina to jump through their customer service maze and have yet to get an answer. Most recently lost connectivity this evening.

 

[mknox]

I have always had the issues you describe. When it gets bad enough, a re-boot will make it better. I drive a very predictable route, and one other thing I've noticed is that it gets a lot worse in the rain for some reason. I have a work and personal cell phone on different networks and have not noticed any rain-based signal issues with either of them. I believe the 3G antennae are in the sideview mirrors, so maybe a coating of water is affecting reception.

 

[Mr. Bigby]

I mentioned it to the SC and they said it was a bug relating to coming out of power save mode, so they suggested turning Energy Saving to Off for now. I did that about 10 days ago and haven't seen the problem since. When I was seeing the problems, I had Energy Saving set to either Night or On, with or without "Always Connected" checked.

The problem is random enough that I'm not 100% convinced that this workaround would always work, but it looks like it. Hopefully they'll fix this soon - I'd rather not be wasting several km of range per day.

There was a mention in another thread of a new update that was supposed to address this issue, but I don't remember seeing any confirmation of that.

I had the same issue, and the same response from the SC, with the exception that they suggested that "Always Connected" be checked off. I did that, but then noticed that my power usage climbed quite noticeably. Now I compromise. For routine days, when I don't really care about instant connectivity, I stay in power save mode. If I know I will need reliable navigation, I switch over per their suggestion. It's worked for me so far.

 

[mnx]

Add me to the list as well. I had been frequently seeing 0 bars even in areas with great signal strength. (I had always connected turned off and power saving set to on).

I tried setting always connected to on and it appears to be better.

 

[Duckjybe]

I set mine to always connected (NIGHTLY selected as well) and it seems better now as well. No loss of 3G in 2 days.

 

[catnip]

Today, I started the car & use navigation to put in the address, everything was fine; 15 minutes later, I lost all 3G connection. I drove passed my destination for 8 km. until the connection came back on.

 

[RAM_Eh]

I am having connection issues too lately. I notice it more as the internet radio is off for most of my commute.

 

[Grassy Knoel]

Strongly suggest toggling off the power saving option. My center screen is stuck in deep sleep mode (24hrs) and I'm theorizing that it's due to the waking up issues assoicated to V 6.0.XXX. Car works but no climate control, seat heaters, music etc... Normally I would have limited issues with that but it's about to drop below freezing for awhile. Vancouver SC is aware, but not sure what they can do without remote access.

 

[Knobby]

As I had posted in the other thread, I'm pretty sure the 3G dropout is due to some problem with waking from the Energy Saving mode, as that is when it always happens, and also I turned that off last week and it totally stopped happening. Well I just got my car back from the SC, for other reasons. It now has 1.67.80. So maybe that's to address this problem.

 

[wolfpet]

I'd like to confirm that 6.0 has this issue. Turning off the sleep mode (advised by SC) fixed it for me. This brings back some vampire loss, of course, but I'm not too concerned.

 

[Tanchico]

I've had the same issues since v6.0 update on Sep 12th. In fact it happened the same evening I was updated and was the first time I'd ever seen the issue. I'm on my 3rd build of v6.0 and the problem still exists. (1.65.11, 1.65.13 and 1.67.45)

There is no difference with energy saving on or off and no difference with stay connected on or off. It's random enough that I was fooled into thinking it didn't happen after some of these setting changes. I've kept a log of the issues and which settings I've had on or off. I can't find any coloration.

It is also not related to coming out of sleep. Sometimes it will happen for me after I've left the car for less than a minute. I've had it drop the connection while driving.

 

[Canuck]

I'm certain that this is conflict with 3G roaming and v.6. The reason I say this is beccause I spent a weekend in the States and had no connection issues. Right upon returning to Canada, the problem returned. Plus, this is only a Canadian issue. Therefore, it must be a roaming / v.6.0 conflict issue since that is when it first arose.

It does help to change power settings to not allow it to sleep since the problem is the initial connection. But this doesn't always work. For example, if you come home, and your car connects to your home's wifi, then connecting back to 3G can be a problem. It helps to forgot your home wifi until this problem is solved so it always stay connected to 3G. But if you drive to an area with weak 3G, and lose the reception even very briefly, getting it back takes about 5 minutes.

Those are my observations.