[First off if there's an existing thread on the topic please feel to merge - I searched but did not find anything.]
Happy owner of a 2017 S, now with MCU2. WiFi signal reaching my garage at home's always been a challenge and I'm starting to rethink my WiFi strategy, which in part lead me to create this thread.
I do - or did - a fair amount of travel prior to COVID. Picked up a HooToo travel router a few years ago to share WiFi among my devices on the road and found it very practical. Basically the travel router acts a bridge between the network which may require authentication (think the WiFi at a hotel where you have to sign in with your room number / name - xfinity is another example) and whatever devices you may have - an iPhone, tablet, and laptop in my case. By having the travel router act authenticate to the public network and then connecting your actual devices to the router, you don't have to in turn re-authenticate each individual device to the public network. Very useful.
What does this have to do with a Tesla, you ask?
The browser in the car is "limited" [cough!] in its ability to load authentication / "click YES to sign on" / etc. pages when connecting to a public network. By having the car connect to a travel router via wifi, connecting the travel router to the public wifi for internet access, and then having the travel router create a bridge between the two networks allows a workaround to allow the car to connect to networks it may not be able to do so otherwise for lack of the ability to authenticate credentials with the built-in browser in the S.
Have not yet tried this beyond toying with my existing HooToo router (couldn't get the car to connect to the HooToo oddly enough, but whatever) but placed an order for RAVPower AC750 and will start playing around with it in earnest this week when it comes in. Of note is the router has a built-in battery which should provide power for a few hours to the router if the car is not providing power and then charge up when the car is providing power (I know people can tap various "always-on" power sources but that's a little too much for what I'm willing to do).
Curious to hear what others have done and/or their experience in using a travel router to connect their Teslas to WiFi networks they would not otherwise be able to do so.
Happy owner of a 2017 S, now with MCU2. WiFi signal reaching my garage at home's always been a challenge and I'm starting to rethink my WiFi strategy, which in part lead me to create this thread.
I do - or did - a fair amount of travel prior to COVID. Picked up a HooToo travel router a few years ago to share WiFi among my devices on the road and found it very practical. Basically the travel router acts a bridge between the network which may require authentication (think the WiFi at a hotel where you have to sign in with your room number / name - xfinity is another example) and whatever devices you may have - an iPhone, tablet, and laptop in my case. By having the travel router act authenticate to the public network and then connecting your actual devices to the router, you don't have to in turn re-authenticate each individual device to the public network. Very useful.
What does this have to do with a Tesla, you ask?
The browser in the car is "limited" [cough!] in its ability to load authentication / "click YES to sign on" / etc. pages when connecting to a public network. By having the car connect to a travel router via wifi, connecting the travel router to the public wifi for internet access, and then having the travel router create a bridge between the two networks allows a workaround to allow the car to connect to networks it may not be able to do so otherwise for lack of the ability to authenticate credentials with the built-in browser in the S.
Have not yet tried this beyond toying with my existing HooToo router (couldn't get the car to connect to the HooToo oddly enough, but whatever) but placed an order for RAVPower AC750 and will start playing around with it in earnest this week when it comes in. Of note is the router has a built-in battery which should provide power for a few hours to the router if the car is not providing power and then charge up when the car is providing power (I know people can tap various "always-on" power sources but that's a little too much for what I'm willing to do).
Curious to hear what others have done and/or their experience in using a travel router to connect their Teslas to WiFi networks they would not otherwise be able to do so.
