How TF are people who live in apartments supposed to update?

[importon]

Is Tesla's mission to get everyone into an EV and FSD, or just the people who live in houses with a strong WIFI connection?

I live in an apartment building with no WIFI in the underground parking. I paid $15,000 for an additional software feature, and I pay monthly for Tesla premium connectivity. Out of all the data that comes with premium connectivity you'd think the software that runs f***n car would be a no-brainer. They are fine with me downloading literally terabytes worth of songs, and videos, but 1gb of the software that runs the car and keeps my $15,000 upgrade up to date is off limits??!

What is their plan moving forward for the millions of people who live in apartments?

 

[CaptUAL]

Why not just work a bit harder-Save up your bread, and Buy a house- Install WiFi in the garage- Don't forget to buy one with a pool

 

[JulienW]

Why not just work a bit harder-Save up your bread, and Buy a house- Install WiFi in the garage- Don't forget to buy one with a pool

I can't find a house with a high diving board like I have now.

 

[derotam]

Many SCs have wifi and the car connects automatically. Most in my driving area have them.

And even if they dont, charging would be a great time to hotspot your phone and let the car download at least part of the update!

 

[derotam]

I can't find a house with a high diving board like I have now.

View attachment 953740

You might need a wing suit to make it to that pool though.

 

[thefrog1394]

And you are sounding like it is a huge issue finding Wi-Fi.
My Wi-Fi in my garage can be flakey. When it does, I just take my phone to the car for a bit to do the download.
Starbucks, McDonalds, many locations have free WifI.
In an apartment, can you put an extender on your porch to reach the car?

No outlets on the front porch, and it's not really any closer than the window. Next step would be to get a longer ethernet cable + extension cord and put the router out in the front lawn.

In dense areas, wifi (especially 2.4Ghz) has very limited range because of interference from neighbors. There's effectively only 3 non-overlapping channels. 5Ghz WiFi has more channels available, but for some reason the early Model 3s have particularly bad 5ghz wifi antennas. Also, 5Ghz is far less able to penetrate walls, requiring an access point in a window or outside and with no bushes or trees in the way.

Regarding public wifi like Starbucks, etc. Has anyone here actually successfully connected and downloaded an update over one of these networks? Tesla can't connect to networks with a captive portal (any wifi with one of those screens that pops up requiring you to hit "I agree"). And most of these installations are not really designed with servicing the parking lot in mind. And like mentioned above, the Tesla antenna is substantially worse at picking up marginal wifi signals than my iPhone 13.

 

[ewoodrick]

No outlets on the front porch, and it's not really any closer than the window. Next step would be to get a longer ethernet cable + extension cord and put the router out in the front lawn.

In dense areas, wifi (especially 2.4Ghz) has very limited range because of interference from neighbors. There's effectively only 3 non-overlapping channels. 5Ghz WiFi has more channels available, but for some reason the early Model 3s have particularly bad 5ghz wifi antennas. Also, 5Ghz is far less able to penetrate walls, requiring an access point in a window or outside and with no bushes or trees in the way.

Regarding public wifi like Starbucks, etc. Has anyone here actually successfully connected and downloaded an update over one of these networks? Tesla can't connect to networks with a captive portal (any wifi with one of those screens that pops up requiring you to hit "I agree"). And most of these installations are not really designed with servicing the parking lot in mind. And like mentioned above, the Tesla antenna is substantially worse at picking up marginal wifi signals than my iPhone 13.

I believe that you can enter the captive portal information over a browser. Not all of them have captive portals.

Even in a dense urban area, just as you are not getting a good signal, the walls of a house are great at keeping everyone else's inside as well.
What about putting a Wi-Fi router or extender inside the wall next to the front porch. Maybe in the windows and if that doesn't work, near the window (Low E coatings can be problematic).
There are a number of solutions for getting Wi-Fi out of the house or just making the signal more directional. I use Ubiquity for a number of solutions. Ubiquiti - Rethinking IT

Not sure of anything about your place. But if possible, place one of ceiling mount Ubiquity routers powered by PoE on the porch and connect back to your network. Just one Ethernet wire and no power required on the porch.

 

[Supcom]

I believe that you can enter the captive portal information over a browser. Not all of them have captive portals.

Even in a dense urban area, just as you are not getting a good signal, the walls of a house are great at keeping everyone else's inside as well.
What about putting a Wi-Fi router or extender inside the wall next to the front porch. Maybe in the windows and if that doesn't work, near the window (Low E coatings can be problematic).
There are a number of solutions for getting Wi-Fi out of the house or just making the signal more directional. I use Ubiquity for a number of solutions. Ubiquiti - Rethinking IT

Not sure of anything about your place. But if possible, place one of ceiling mount Ubiquity routers powered by PoE on the porch and connect back to your network. Just one Ethernet wire and no power required on the porch.

If power can be arranged, one, or more mesh routers could be temporarily set up to extend the wifi to the car. But, that's a big hassle.

A friend with a house might be bribed with a six pack of adult beverages to let you connect to his wifi and he might provide nachos.

 

[ucmndd]

I keep thinking @importon is gonna come back, but then I realize he’s probably still looking for wifi.

 

[CT3PO]

Current Tesla download method allows one to not download, if you don’t want to update atm, by not logging on to wifi. I wouldn’t want updates to be downloaded automatically via Tesla network. It would then be forced, like Microsoft Windows, and that is annoying.

 

[Supcom]

Current Tesla download method allows one to not download, if you don’t want to update atm, by not logging on to wifi. I wouldn’t want updates to be downloaded automatically via Tesla network. It would then be forced, like Microsoft Windows, and that is annoying.

The new version may download automatically, but does not install until you schedule it. The may be some exceptions for a mandatory recall and, if you take your car in for service, Tesla will almost certainly install any pending updates.

 

[smogne41]

Current Tesla download method allows one to not download, if you don’t want to update atm, by not logging on to wifi. I wouldn’t want updates to be downloaded automatically via Tesla network. It would then be forced, like Microsoft Windows, and that is annoying.

Not totally true (unless recently changed). For the two years I was completely off of WiFi I got around 8 updates fully downloaded. I just refused to schedule them, and eventually they went away. The nag screen would stick around for about 2 weeks before they gave up. You can still avoid (almost) all updates by just not scheduling them, but some will download (at least in the US) over LTE. I have herd some people around here longer than I have that there are some updates that Tesla will force install even if you don't accept them, but that did not happen to me, even one or two recall-related ones. Some Canadian users report different behavior (no downloads over LTE) so it is not clear what he country-by-country policy is though.

 

[CT3PO]

The new version may download automatically, but does not install until you schedule it. The may be some exceptions for a mandatory recall and, if you take your car in for service, Tesla will almost certainly install any pending updates.

Well, for my 3, anyway, when not on wifi, it never downloads in the first place, so no nag to schedule install. I do get the occasional message please connect to wifi. 4 years, no downloads from Tesla mobile. So far, my experience is I can be in full control of updates. Note, things might happen differently here in Australia, as I note alternate experiences in the US. As with Apple, I never update just because there is a new one available, and usually then, only if I have a buggy issue. No stress, like I constantly read about.

 

[CT3PO]

is not clear what the country-by-country policy is though.

Will have to concede then that others have a different experience elsewhere. I do know, if you login to wifi briefly, for say, entertainment reasons, thinking you won’t be on logged in for long, and your way behind current release, Tesla will send you an update faster then a cat on a mouse.

 

[FOOLSLFDRVNG]

I had to set up an Orbi Mesh at my condo through brick walls.

 

[moa999]

I keep thinking @importon is gonna come back, but then I realize he’s probably still looking for wifi.

Or sitting in their condo parking lot watching Netflix, because why fork out for home internet.

 

[mjwojtukiewicz]

Or sitting in their condo parking lot watching Netflix, because why fork out for home internet.

Don't know how much internet is in Australia but I pay $50US for T-Mobile wireless internet. Download speeds vary from 200mbps to 400 depending upon time of day as they use same cell towers as voice

 

[JulienW]

Don't know how much internet is in Australia but I pay $50US for T-Mobile wireless internet. Download speeds vary from 200mbps to 400 depending upon time of day as they use same cell towers as voice

Our condo building has 300mbps internet included in the HOA fee (you can pay extra $50 for 1 gbps). Of course that doesn't help my car in the parking deck.