Alternate WiFi Options

[Janus]

Due to <insert long story> my X is out of range of my home's WiFi. A situation that won't be changing for a while. So I've been forced to use other WiFi networks to reliably get software/map updates. So far, here's what I'm using:

1. xfinitywifi
2. Work's guest WiFi
3. In-laws WiFi

For #1 & #2, they both use captive portals, so I had to first spoof my X's MAC address onto a different device to perform the logon.

So my two questions for the group:

1. For those with reliable/accessible home WiFi, do you even bother connecting to other WiFi networks? And if so, what benefits do you see in this?
2. What are some of the other non-home WiFi networks that people use?

Thank you!

 

[webbah]

You could tether to your phone, but this depends on your data plan of course. I live in an apartment without wifi in the garage and the car had a fairly weak LTE signal there. To solve both issues I installed a Teltonika RUT850 automotive wifi router in the car. I’ve got unlimited data here in Switzerland so never have an issue with using a 4G/LTE router. Might be different in the US though. The Teltonika has 2 3 dB gain antennas I installed in each window pillar completely stealth. Now I have excellent connectivity to the car anywhere and wifi anywhere. It also allows my Blackvue to upload videos to the Blackvue cloud for any “incidents” or sensors that detect things.

RUT850 - 4G/LTE Wi-Fi Automotive Router | Teltonika Networks

 

[linux-works]

similar problem, here; apartment renter, no wifi in garage. no good cell plan for tethering (for me). I have 2 things that do work:

- set my home wifi gain up higher (bigger antenna, move it toward the window, park toward the non-garage area closest to my window) or even use a wifi repeater that links to the same ssid and just gives a 2nd signal. put that one close to the window or balcony, etc. just for the duration of the wifi download, though!

- drive to work, park near the entrance and use their guest wifi I've gotton firmware updates for the car that way, while I'm at work.

I have not tried to spoof mac addr's (that's a neat trick) just to get beyond the login captive portals. too much effort

this is only for fw updates. and those are not so frequent that I need to have something more permanent.

 

[mystery]

Try CableWiFi. Can set MAC address online at your ISP so it never needs to authenticate. CableWifi covers four major ISPs: Optimum, Xfinity, Spectrum, and Cox

 

[JPoldo]

For my first 2 years of ms ownership, I was spoiled with great WiFi service in the garage. Now we downsized, temporarily living in a luxury apartment with a basement garage, but no WiFi. After considerable cruising, I discovered a local micobrewery with a very strong signal. One beer was qualification to obtain their security password. The MCU prompted me to accept an update. It took about 20 minutes.

 

[srs5694]

I used my sister's home WiFi (850 miles from my home) when I visited her over the holidays, so as to get the latest software update. Other than that, I've never connected to any other WiFi network with my car (although it might have auto-connected to Tesla's WiFi when I visited their new store in Rhode Island a few months ago, and I bet it was connected before delivery to the store in Dedham).

I'd be cautious about using public WiFi portals on a regular basis. There's no telling how good their security is, and there are any number of ways bad security could lead to problems for you, especially if you use the car's network connections while so connected to do Web browsing. Furthermore, if the WiFi network is well-known (for a chain restaurant, say) and you tell your car to connect to it automatically, the car could end up connecting to some miscreant's network that uses the well-known WiFi credentials. Whoever operates that fake network could then intercept all the traffic between the car and whatever sites it's using. I hope that Tesla encrypts its own data, so this might not affect software downloads, but again, if you use the car's Web browser, it would not be secure. If you must use a public WiFi hot spot, I recommend telling the car to forget the network between uses, or at least to not auto-connect (if that's an option; I don't recall, offhand) and log in again whenever you need to use it. That will help to minimize the risk.

 

[Janus]

I used my sister's home WiFi (850 miles from my home) when I visited her over the holidays, so as to get the latest software update. Other than that, I've never connected to any other WiFi network with my car (although it might have auto-connected to Tesla's WiFi when I visited their new store in Rhode Island a few months ago, and I bet it was connected before delivery to the store in Dedham).

I'd be cautious about using public WiFi portals on a regular basis. There's no telling how good their security is, and there are any number of ways bad security could lead to problems for you, especially if you use the car's network connections while so connected to do Web browsing. Furthermore, if the WiFi network is well-known (for a chain restaurant, say) and you tell your car to connect to it automatically, the car could end up connecting to some miscreant's network that uses the well-known WiFi credentials. Whoever operates that fake network could then intercept all the traffic between the car and whatever sites it's using. I hope that Tesla encrypts its own data, so this might not affect software downloads, but again, if you use the car's Web browser, it would not be secure. If you must use a public WiFi hot spot, I recommend telling the car to forget the network between uses, or at least to not auto-connect (if that's an option; I don't recall, offhand) and log in again whenever you need to use it. That will help to minimize the risk.

Totally agree that using the web browser when on unknown WiFi is bad idea. I generally avoid using the in-car browser at all, simply because plenty of legit sits can host malicious ads.

But for software/maps updates and other background Tesla stuff, I'm not worried. The cars use OpenVPN for all managements/updates/etc from the mothership.

 

[linux-works]

in general, since we don't have adblockers and javascript managers on the built-in browser, its probably a bad idea to use the browser for any sites you don't 100% trust (ie, almost none of them, sadly, these days; they all cross script and import malware from upstream presented to us as 'ads').

we don't know how well sandboxed this browser is, on our car. I'd be very careful hitting this or that website.