Car autoconnects to WiFi at supercharger?

[Nubo]

Was using the browser while supercharging and had some strange pauses and "internet not available" messages. It's a good cell-coverage area so I wasn't sure what the problem was. Phone was fine. Then I discovered the car was connected to WiFi. This was a surprise since I had only ever set it up to connect at home. I began to suspect the WiFi as the cause of my "internet not available" issues, either due to hacking or router problems, so I turned it off and Voila!, no more problems.
I never allow any of my personal devices to connect to random public WiFi as it's a terrible security risk, and yet there doesn't seem to be any way to restrict this behavior on the part of the vehicle. What the heck?

 

[jcanoe]

Your Tesla Model Y vehicle was hacked by Tesla. Tesla is rolling out Starlink satellite internet connectivity at Supercharger locations. Perhaps you encountered one of the early installations of the service.

Tesla expands deployment of Starlink satellite internet systems at Supercharger stations

 

[ModelNforNerd]

A Tesla is programmed to always connect to their network when in range. Find a service center with superchargers to test this theory.

 

[shyboy]

I have no premium connectivity and recently when i was on a road trip, and stopped for charging, I noticed that my Netflix was streaming fine while charging.
Again I have no premium connectivity and car shouldn't have internet.

 

[Tonedog77]

yup tesla is adding wifi to superchargers to lessen data on ATT, been happening for awhile now

 

[Watts_Up]

Maybe Supercharge.info could add a Starlink information to indicate which Supercharger has WiFi available?

 

[DanDi58]

Maybe Supercharge.info could add a Starlink information to indicate which Supercharger has WiFi available?

I believe that the Supercharge details function in the car's navigation indicates whether there is WiFi at a supercharger location. I.e., when you click on the Supercharger icon, the box that pops up.

 

[Nubo]

A Tesla is programmed to always connect to their network when in range. Find a service center with superchargers to test this theory.

A service center is a somewhat different situation. What I'm worried about is people sitting at superchargers, using the browser to conduct personal business, unaware they are connected to a foreign WiFi. But the car should not connect to any WiFi network without the owner's explicit knowledge and consent, imho. This could be in the form of settings, but the default should not be to connect.

 

[ucmndd]

A service center is a somewhat different situation. What I'm worried about is people sitting at superchargers, using the browser to conduct personal business, unaware they are connected to a foreign WiFi.

If you’re worried about Tesla spying on your “personal business” while connected to Tesla’s wifi network, I’d suggest not using your Tesla car to conduct personal business. Tesla doesn’t need you to use their wifi network to know what you’re doing on the browser in your Tesla car.

 

[gaswalla]

A - who’s doing any serious work on the car’s browser
B - if your work is so sensitive, just use your own device or at least a hotspot.
C - people should be appreciative of being able to use high-speed Wi-Fi for free with a seamless connection from Tesla/starlink

 

[ucmndd]

Use some of the tinfoil from your hat to wrap the passenger side mirror where the wifi antenna is. Problem solved.

 

[Tronguy]

FWIW: When on a trip from NJ to FL and back last year, I was feeling slightly sad since the version of FSD-b on the car was a bit out of date and there wasn't any reasonable way to get an update, or at least not until we got back to NJ.

Imagine my surprise when, pulling into a Supercharger in the wilds of South Carolina somewhere, the car connected to a Tesla-branded wifi! Went and got the download, I was now slightly less sad . (The SC was at something like a Wa-Wa.)

I've also noticed this kind of connectivity at relatively new Superchargers in CT and MA over the past few months. So, yeah, Tesla appears to be providing wi-fi to punters using their Superchargers.

 

[Nubo]

Use some of the tinfoil from your hat to wrap the passenger side mirror where the wifi antenna is. Problem solved.

Or you could put your tinfoil somewhere else. I should have known better than to raise such an issue amongst Tesla fanbois. Maybe educate yourselves on data security. Maybe not, I don't care.

 

[Fourdoor]

Was using the browser while supercharging and had some strange pauses and "internet not available" messages. It's a good cell-coverage area so I wasn't sure what the problem was. Phone was fine. Then I discovered the car was connected to WiFi. This was a surprise since I had only ever set it up to connect at home. I began to suspect the WiFi as the cause of my "internet not available" issues, either due to hacking or router problems, so I turned it off and Voila!, no more problems.
I never allow any of my personal devices to connect to random public WiFi as it's a terrible security risk, and yet there doesn't seem to be any way to restrict this behavior on the part of the vehicle. What the heck?

I had this on my recent road trip, and it freaked me out until I figured out what was going on. I was having crappy connectivity and when I looked I noticed that the wifi symbol was on instead of the LTE, I thought I must have accidently turned on my phone hotspot, but no, it was Tesla Wifi! If I wasn't paying for the LTE connection, this would be better than nothing, but the connection sucked.

Keith

 

[jcanoe]

I doubt that many people check their email or banking using the Tesla browser when your phone is right there but who knows. Tesla adding Starlink internet connectivity at Supercharger stations is a good thing. You can download Tesla updates, stream videos and music and in the future it may be possible to play multiplayer games while Supercharging.

 

[ucmndd]

Or you could put your tinfoil somewhere else. I should have known better than to raise such an issue amongst Tesla fanbois. Maybe educate yourselves on data security. Maybe not, I don't care.

Appropriate that you chose to chose to ignore my first post pointing out the very real technical oversights with your concern and respond to the joke instead.

Your concerns have no defensible justification on the basis of data security. Tesla pwns your car and can see absolutely everything you do in it (literally if you want to get into a discussion about the cabin camera). Automatically connecting to a wifi network they also control changes the implications to your privacy and data security not one bit.

 

[eagle_eye]

I love it! Mine connects to teslawifi_mercury at the super charger near me and it can download updates during that time since my wifi signal is not strong enough to reach the car (apartment complex).

 

[Videomatic3]

yup tesla is adding wifi to superchargers to lessen data on ATT, been happening for awhile now

this is pretty awesome, the other great thing is although rare some of these supercharging locations have spotty att coverage. would be nice to be able to connect our phones too

 

[Tronguy]

this is pretty awesome, the other great thing is although rare some of these supercharging locations have spotty att coverage. would be nice to be able to connect our phones too

Been to a number of these SCs over the last four years or so; it’s not a new phenomenon. Unfortunately for your cell phone idea, it’s a secure SSID connection with a Tesla name in it that the car can autoconnect to; but the password isn’t something that’s not a Tesla knows. Kind of like how the car will connect to the wi-fi at a service center.

Useful for watching movies in a Tesla while parked and charging, or doing some NAV follies. I’ve even downloaded and installed a Tesla car update. But hooking up a cell, laptop, or tablet? Nope.

Hm. Never thought about it, but I wonder how the Tesla wi-fi will work when non-Tesla, NACS/adapter equipped cars start showing up? Probably won’t, but who knows?

 

[Videomatic3]

Hm. Never thought about it, but I wonder how the Tesla wi-fi will work when non-Tesla, NACS/adapter equipped cars start showing up? Probably won’t, but who knows?

Good point. Would be nice if they made an open wifi for us to pay with the stupid app. Maybe let us have access through the app? My phone now automatically connects to my energy gateway through the tesla app even though I told it to forget the password.

I'm hoping that with 2025 and older cars it's just fully integrated with the car like how it is with teslas though. Anyone who buys a car now with hopes to use a tesla charger later shouldn't be buying those off brand cars yet