Android App not waking up and connecting to Model 3

[Monroematt]

After parking my Model 3 outside, or in the garage, the Android phone app has difficulty waking up and connecting to the car. Sometimes it will connect after multiple attempts, but often it just keeps trying until it times out. If I go out to the car and open the door, the car wakes up, and the phone app connects very quickly. I have tried restarting the phone, and clearing the app cache, but this has not helped. Obviously going to the car and manually opening the door to wake up the car is not the purpose of using the phone app.

Any ideas on how to correct the issue?

 

[KnightRiderKit]

@KnightRiderKit Sorry for the jargon.

Walking up to the car, the phone connects directly to the car via Bluetooth radio to unlock it. This is when having the app running can help because the phone saving battery power by sleeping or by keeping the app asleep will make it take longer to wake up and connect to the car.

The "notification shade" is the bar at the top of the phone's screen where you can pull down to access notifications like new emails. Is the Tesla "T" in that bar? When you pull down to see notifications, is there one showing the Tesla app, listing your car? This indicates the app is running in the background and able to connect to the car.

Inside the Tesla app, it has features like viewing the car's state of charge %, operating Climate, and Controls like opening the charge port. These features work whether you're near the car or far away ("distant," "remote"), as long as both your phone and your car can connect to the internet via WiFi or cellular data.

A more expensive phone is not likely to get a more reliable internet connection unless that gets you 5G. Switching mobile service providers is another way that might help.

You can improve internet connections in the garage by moving your router closer or installing a WiFi repeater or extender. Yes, moving the router could impact the computers in the house.

To evaluate those possibilities, I'd take the phone around the house and look at the WiFi signal indicator or at an app like WiFi Analyzer. You might want to get a friend to help you work through these tests and possible changes.

Ahh! My simple mind is beginning to absorb some of this. THANKS AGAIN! Yes, when I pull down the "notification shade" (never knew that's what it was called), the Tesla app. is there in all it's glory. I've used this many times and it is almost always there.

My phone is a 5G one and my carrier is T-Mobile......been with them since they were VoiceStream back in the early/mid 90's. I've never had a problem with them or their service.....only the phones but, the problem is always my technology block, not the phone's.

I think you're correct that moving the router may help, at least somewhat. If I move it to the dining room and put it on top of the China Cabinet, it'll be just about in the center of the house and maybe not adversely affect anything except, hopefully improve the signal for the garage (Tesla) and security light/camera. I'll look into having that done.

I've loaded the WIFI Analyzer and I'll check it out sometime today. I do have a couple WIFI repeaters plugged into the wall and they show up in the WIFI connections, but don't seem to do anything. I am sure that is me also.....not knowing how to set them up. It comes up like the Wall Charger and says, "Connected without internet." What is the significance of those comments on both units?
The WIFI Analyzer shows my router to be between -21 and -34 dBm (whatever that is) when I am right next to it and when I am at the door going to the garage, it reads, -66 to -68 dBm. One item, "Setup" seems to run in the -50's to -60's dBm all the time. What is that and why is it's signal more consistent? Oh, I think the speed of the router is, 65 Mbps, if that matters.

A few other questions along these "technology" lines, if you don't mind. Anytime I go anywhere near the Gen III Tesla Wall Charger in the garage, my phone automatically switches its WIFI connection from my router to the Wall Charger. Is this normal and necessary? If it's not always normal or necessary, how do I stop it from doing that? When/why is it necessary? The reason I ask this is only for convenience. Every time I go back in the house and try to access anything requiring WIFI, it hunts for a while and then says something like, No or lost WIFI connection. Then I have to go into the settings and manually reset the connection to my WIFI router. Why doesn't it automatically switch back to my router when in the house? Thanks again for your help and guidance.

 

[Transformer]

@KnightRiderKit I haven't tried WiFi repeaters or a Tesla Wall Charger, but it sounds like all 3 of them are waiting for you to connect over WiFi (one at a time) to set up router access, that is, to select your router's WiFi (SSID) and give it the WiFi password. One or more of those devices could be broadcasting that "Setup" SSID.

Until you do the setup, all 3 of them might actively cause problems if your phone and/or car connects to them since they can't route data through to your router and thus to the internet. "Connected without internet" means your phone is connected to one of these WiFi signals but can't reach internet that way since it's a dead end.

You could tell your phone to "forget" the Wall Charger's WiFi SSID, but it's better to do the setup. Do find their instruction manuals, online or offline.

A WiFi signal > -70 dBm or so should suffice.

 

[KnightRiderKit]

Once again, thank you.....some good info. for me to research and "attempt" to straighten out. It may be a while, as I'll be out of town for a week or two. When I get time I'll have at it and report my findings.

 

[KnightRiderKit]

I'll give that a try too.

 

[KnightRiderKit]

OK, I am back and am pretty sure the lack of quick access to the Tesla app. is related to my home WIFI system strength and/or dBm rate, whatever that is. In our travels we stayed at several hotels that obviously had good WIFI setups. Several of them would allow connection to the app. in less than 5 seconds.

Anyway, I finally replaced my router/modem with a new 5G T-Mobile setup and that has helped a little, but mostly in data transfer rates and not too much in signal strength. I find it strange that the T-Mobile app. shows the signal to be weak (2 out of 5 bars), but one WIFI intensity meter shows the signal strength to always be above 80% and much of the time around 100%, with a link speed of 390 Mbps and a dBm of -59. The other one (shows all the WIFI networks near me) indicates a dBm -42. I did notice that mine is set on Channel 1 and the fastest ones are on Channel 11. Is there a way to change the channel and will that do any good? I also noticed that some of the other local networks appear to change channels frequently and randomly. Why is this and what is the benefit?

Oh, I did put an extender on the T-Mobile router and it appears to help to varying degrees, usually less than -10 dBm and as much as about -25 dBm. This does seem to help too. Is there a more effective way to make improvements to anything/everything to increase the strength, speed, and I guess dBm?

 

[Transformer]

Is there a way to change the channel and will that do any good?

Yes, if you can log in to your router's admin webpage you can pick which channels to use for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi. This will help if that avoids overlapping with the signal from nearby WiFi routers and repeaters.

In the 2.4 GHz frequency band, it's highly recommended to use the control channels 1, 6, and 11 only since that avoids partial frequency overlaps. Using the same control channel as another router is better than partially overlapping due to the way 2.4 GHz WiFi handles interference. (5 GHz WiFi handles it better.)

I also noticed that some of the other local networks appear to change channels frequently and randomly. Why is this and what is the benefit?

Possibly that's just the usage coming and going for different routers or different bands of the same routers with the same SSIDs.

Did you get those repeaters and the Tesla wall charger fully connected to the internet?

 

[KnightRiderKit]

Yes, if you can log in to your router's admin webpage you can pick which channels to use for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi. This will help if that avoids overlapping with the signal from nearby WiFi routers and repeaters.

In the 2.4 GHz frequency band, it's highly recommended to use the control channels 1, 6, and 11 only since that avoids partial frequency overlaps. Using the same control channel as another router is better than partially overlapping due to the way 2.4 GHz WiFi handles interference. (5 GHz WiFi handles it better.)



Possibly that's just the usage coming and going for different routers or different bands of the same routers with the same SSIDs.

Did you get those repeaters and the Tesla wall charger fully connected to the internet?

Thanks, I'll look on their web page. I am guessing they have it defaulted to Channel 1, do you think that is correct? I have the repeater connected to my phone and the home computers only, so far. I have never been able to figure out how to get internet access with the wall charger. It always shows, "connected without internet" and always has a very strong signal....stronger than most of other the surrounding routers. How do I connect it to the internet? Will more than one repeater do any good, as I have one more? Which password do I use for the repeaters, the same one that is used for the router or ?

 

[Transformer]

Thanks, I'll look on their web page. I am guessing they have it defaulted to Channel 1, do you think that is correct? I have the repeater connected to my phone and the home computers only, so far. I have never been able to figure out how to get internet access with the wall charger. It always shows, "connected without internet" and always has a very strong signal....stronger than most of other the surrounding routers. How do I connect it to the internet? Will more than one repeater do any good, as I have one more? Which password do I use for the repeaters, the same one that is used for the router or ?

Channel 1 is a likely default.

It sounds like you got the WiFi repeater working now.

I don't have a Tesla Wall Charger but here are its setup instructions and its connection instructions. This says connecting it to the internet will let it automatically receive firmware updates.

It also says the Wall Charger broadcasts a WiFi network for 5 minutes after being turned on or after one holds the button on the handle of the charging cable. So even if it's not connected to the internet, after 5 minutes it won't get in the way of other devices trying to connect the the internet via WiFi.