Firmware updates only over WiFi?

[sevenout]

Are firmware updates only delivered over WiFi or are they sent over LTE as well? I haven't had my MS for very long (about a month) so I haven't been able to determine how they get delivered. I have the car connected to my home WiFi but the signal strength in the garage is not very good so that may impede the delivery of any software updates if it only works over WiFi. Currently on 2017.34.

 

[DrivingRockies]

Are firmware updates only delivered over WiFi or are they sent over LTE as well? I haven't had my MS for very long (about a month) so I haven't been able to determine how they get delivered. I have the car connected to my home WiFi but the signal strength in the garage is not very good so that may impede the delivery of any software updates if it only works over WiFi. Currently on 2017.34.

My understanding from a while ago was both. But significantly slower over LTE.

 

[mknox]

My understanding from a while ago was both. But significantly slower over LTE.

And even slower on my poor old 3G equipped car!

But seriously, I seem to get updates no problem over my 3G connection. I had heard that Tesla was going to "prioritize" delivery to those on WiFi, but I don't seem to notice any difference.

 

[David99]

The car prefers WiFi and according to Jason it will give car that are connected to WiFi priority. But at the same time, there is always a long period of time over which updates are rolled out. I often saw people post here getting their update and I didn't get my update for a week or so even being connected to WiFi most of the time.
I think newer cars are updated first, then older ones. Either way, you will get your update eventually. Don't worry.

 

[chillaban]

2017.34 is pretty recent and it's what 80%+ of people have. New updates roll out slowly and I wouldn't expect to get those initially, just like how you don't expect to get a winning lottery ticket just because you heard of someone else getting one.

 

[Mirlen]

From looking at these I'd say 36 is about to go 'mainstream'. You'll see little trickles and then a rapid ramp-up when it REALLY starts to be pushed out.

 

[boaterva]

I thought 17.36 was dying, but the last couple of days, it started taking off again.... hard to tell when they trigger a gusher (like 17.34!)!

 

[arcus]

Until I fixed my WiFi issue in the garage recently I was at the mercy of LTE (or slower) all this while. I've been getting the patches within 1-2 weeks before someone first posted about getting one. I consider this normal.

I think it is more related to how Tesla is distributing their updates rather than your connection speed. Sure, the car connected to WiFi will download the patch faster, but I doubt it has any effect on the priority.

 

[bob_p]

We were getting updates pretty frequently on our new S 100D (delivered in March) - until Hurricane Harvey.

We moved our S 100D into a parking garage for a week, to keep it above potential flood waters, and put it into deep sleep mode.

And since then, we haven't seen any updates - stuck on .32

Wonder if it's possible that once you miss a release because you aren't connected by WiFi or the car is in deep sleep mode, that you get dropped from the update list...

 

[arcus]

Wonder if it's possible that once you miss a release because you aren't connected by WiFi or the car is in deep sleep mode, that you get dropped from the update list...

It doesn't drop you from the list. As you now, deep sleep mode's intention is to cut down on the "vampire loss" and part of it to shutdown the communication devices (Bluetooth/3G/LTE). Once your car is "awake" again you should be able to resume all communication.

I don't know how the actual download of the patches works in Tesla, but considering the size of the packages I assume they must have some intelligent transfer protocol in place to allow suspend/resume of the download on an unreliable networks or in case your connectivity is interrupted.

 

[mknox]

I think newer cars are updated first, then older ones. Either way, you will get your update eventually. Don't worry.

My February 2013 build Model S seems to get updates earlier than a lot of folks I know... and over 3G. Not always, but most of the time. But yes, it will come when it comes and you will eventually get it.

 

[Knightowl]

I was told by my tesla ranger that when updates go out priority is given to cars connected on wifi vs the in car cell connection.

 

[bob_p]

Will give Tesla a call about the firmware updates tomorrow - and see if they can push the latest update to our 100D.

It's possible they tried to push the release to our car while it was parked in the garage during our evacuation from Houston - and because the update failed, they haven't tried to resend the updates.

 

[mknox]

I was told by my tesla ranger that when updates go out priority is given to cars connected on wifi vs the in car cell connection.

Yeah, I was told this too. It has just no been my experience for some reason.

 

[David99]

Yeah, I was told this too. It has just no been my experience for some reason.

I guess I don't care about updates any more anyways. At the age of my car firmware updates aren't so exciting any more. The last 4 didn't even have release notes because there was nothing updated for the old cars.

 

[futurem3owner]

I tried to use my phone as a WiFi hotspot and see if my car will get the latest 2017.36 software update but no success. Is there a certain time of day that notifications for software update come through or is it whenever you’re connected to WiFi?

 

[apacheguy]

Actually, wifi doesn't influence when the vehicle gets the message of a pending firmware update. It does, however, influence when the car downloads it. There is a "wait until" parameter set to like 2-3 days and the download will begin at the expiration of that timer if the vehicle hasn't connected to wifi.

 

[mknox]

I guess I don't care about updates any more anyways. At the age of my car firmware updates aren't so exciting any more. The last 4 didn't even have release notes because there was nothing updated for the old cars.

No kidding. I was hoping at least for something like the long awaited (and probably never coming) phone audio integration (not the simple Bluetooth connection we have now with no way to control the phone from the 17").

 

[David99]

I was at the service center today regardring a few issues and they asked if I was connected to WiFi hinting that it does make a difference how fast firmware/software updates are pushed to the car.