MS Dropping Wifi Connection in Garage

[GregKo]

Hey folks,

I can connect my MS and MX to my home wifi but I must ask them to connect. They will not automatically do it when I pull into the garage. I am able to surf the web etc while connected to wifi. I called Tesla HQ and they confirmed that the car was connected via wifi.

However, after I close the door, go inside and then come back an hour later... they revert to their Lte cell connection. I open the settings and it shows the home network and connects upon my request again, but then drops it later just like before after I close the door.

I am using a new Linksys router and a Netgear range extender to get full bar signal strength into the garage, so signal strength is not the issue. The Linksys shows only 1 bar of signal strength in the garage, so the Netgear extender is really needed.

When the cars are connected to the weak Linksys signal (without the extender), both cars show up on the router's admin homepage as connected devises, however, when they are connected via the extender, they do not show up... I should mention that any devise, IE computer / iphone etc connected to the extender shows up as a connected devise in the routers admin page. Nevertheless, the cars are connected and I can surf on the cars browsers while connected...

I set this up to get quicker firmware updates, but its proving to be very difficult. Unless someone here has a simple solution, I think I'll just turn the wifi off in both cars and let them update over the cell network...

Really frustrated that a just about anything can connect to my router except these two cars! Thought?

Thanks
Greg

 

[Andyw2100]

Really frustrated that a just about anything can connect to my router except these two cars! Thought?

Have you tried deleting the network in the car, and starting from scratch? I've read that doing that has worked for some people.

 

[GregKo]

Yes, I did that several times. Someone at Tesla sent me this:

"It is possible that your vehicles are having trouble maintaining a WIFI connection due to a firewall on your home network.

One work around is to set up a static IP set to the vehicle’s MAC address and bypass the firewall. In order to do this you will need to contact your internet service provider and get some information.


The info needed below can be found in the links below from Linksys and Netgear

Linksys Official Support - Setting up a router with a Static IP account

How to enter a static IP address on a NETGEAR Router | Answer | NETGEAR Support "

Has anyone gone to this level of work to get connected?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Jlwine]

Sounds similar to issues going back to at least October. 8.0 Wifi issues?

 

[Andyw2100]

Yes, I did that several times. Someone at Tesla sent me this:

"It is possible that your vehicles are having trouble maintaining a WIFI connection due to a firewall on your home network.

One work around is to set up a static IP set to the vehicle’s MAC address and bypass the firewall. In order to do this you will need to contact your internet service provider and get some information.

Oddly, I had an issue with a wireless printer not consistently being found on my network. I wound up assigning it a reserved IP, and that solved the problem.

I guess I'm saying give that a shot. You shouldn't need to contact your ISP to do it.

 

[GregKo]

I have a MAC ID for each car, but the network assigns the IP address automatically. I can see what is assigned, but how would I change that?

 

[Andyw2100]

I have a MAC ID for each car, but the network assigns the IP address automatically. I can see what is assigned, but how would I change that?

I'm sure others more familiar with networking could help more, or explain it better, but as I recall, there was a way to reserve an IP address within the router configuration software. Normally the router will just assign devices a local IP based on the IP of the router. So if the router is at 192.168.1.1, it will start assigning IPs as 192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.3, etc. The same devices would have different local IPs each time they connect, depending on which ones are available at the time. I'm not sure, but this may be called dynamic IPs, or something like that. I set my printer to a certain local IP in that range, and then reserved it, so nothing else would be assigned to it. That may be called static IP, but again, I'm not certain.

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable in networking will correct my information, or fill in the gaps.

 

[brucet999]

Hey folks,

I can connect my MS and MX to my home wifi but I must ask them to connect. They will not automatically do it when I pull into the garage. I am able to surf the web etc while connected to wifi. I called Tesla HQ and they confirmed that the car was connected via wifi.

However, after I close the door, go inside and then come back an hour later... they revert to their Lte cell connection. I open the settings and it shows the home network and connects upon my request again, but then drops it later just like before after I close the door.

I am using a new Linksys router and a Netgear range extender to get full bar signal strength into the garage, so signal strength is not the issue. The Linksys shows only 1 bar of signal strength in the garage, so the Netgear extender is really needed.

When the cars are connected to the weak Linksys signal (without the extender), both cars show up on the router's admin homepage as connected devises, however, when they are connected via the extender, they do not show up... I should mention that any devise, IE computer / iphone etc connected to the extender shows up as a connected devise in the routers admin page. Nevertheless, the cars are connected and I can surf on the cars browsers while connected...

I set this up to get quicker firmware updates, but its proving to be very difficult. Unless someone here has a simple solution, I think I'll just turn the wifi off in both cars and let them update over the cell network...

Really frustrated that a just about anything can connect to my router except these two cars! Thought?

Thanks
Greg

What Linksys router are you using? My Linksys EA7500 can link seamlessly with a Linksys RE7000 extender. With this combination, one can actually join the network off the signal of one device and then move (think watching Netflix on a laptop) to the area served by the other without interruption or having to re-connect as with other brand (or Linksys non-seamless) extenders. With my extender mounted on the front wall of a room above the garage connected via power-line ethernet to a port on the router, I get full internet speed (for me that's 30Mbps) in the garage and 20 feet down the driveway; 15Mbps across the street.

With any extender in wireless mode, you lose half of the bandwidth of the signal it receives just because the device spends half its time "listening" and half time re-broadcasting the data.

An easy way to test what wifi throughput you actually have in the garage is to download the free ookla speed test app on your cell phone.

 

[GregKo]

Ok folks. Solution was right under my nose

If you car connects to your home wifi and you can surf the net on the car's screen, you are fine. Just because it bounces back to cell connection after you close and lock the car does not mean that it won't reconnect to your wifi when it wants to.

Got a message on my phone when I awoke this morning saying an update was ready for the X. I went and looked inside the car. As I opened the door, I noticed that it was connected to wifi. Great news. Updated the firmware. All is good.

 

[smilepak]

I been having that issue for months now. Each time I am in the garage the signal bounce between wifi and lte every few seconds. Making it difficult for the app to connect to the vehicle

 

[arcus]

What worked for me is to create a separate SSID for Tesla (no other WiFi device is connecting to it). Credit goes to DÆrik for mentioning this in one of his videos. YMMV.

 

[Sawyer8888]

What worked for me is to create a separate SSID for Tesla (no other WiFi device is connecting to it). Credit goes to DÆrik for mentioning this in one of his videos. YMMV.

There are a few threads on this topic and the advise arcus speaks to is exactly what I found on this forum, and it worked for me when I ran into this same problem shortly after purchase.

Just like the OP, my MS would usually disconnect from my home WiFi and revert to LTE. I created a separate WiFi login on the same home network, aptly named, Tesla (to enhance compatibility). Now my car connects when I pull into our garage and it stays connected. No other home devices use this separate login. For reasons explained in other forums, having multiple devices connected to the same WiFi login upsets the Tesla, so it defers to LTE in a fit of rage <-- exaggeration of course.

 

[smilepak]

What worked for me is to create a separate SSID for Tesla (no other WiFi device is connecting to it). Credit goes to DÆrik for mentioning this in one of his videos. YMMV.

Don't you need another router for that or access pt? How do you create a new ssid on the same route?

 

[arcus]

Sorry, should have been more specific: I have 2 APs in place, so the 2nd one is configured to accomodate Tesla exclusively.

 

[Sawyer8888]

Don't you need another router for that or access pt? How do you create a new ssid on the same route?

I have one router and I setup a "guest login" through the router settings. I named the guest login Tesla, however you can call it anything you want. Just be sure to use that guest login exclusively for your car and you shouldn't have any problems going forward (until the next Tesla firmware update - kidding, I think).

I have a Netgear Nighthawk router. Netgear has a website that allows you to login to your router and adjust settings.

If you need help setting up the guest login on your router, simply search the internet and YouTube.

 

[smilepak]

Sorry, should have been more specific: I have 2 APs in place, so the 2nd one is configured to accomodate Tesla exclusively.

Ah, ok. Thx

 

[CinRedMan]

I'm experiencing poor WiFi signal strength in my new wheels too and the router is about 30' away in family room, same level.
Wall between is load-bearing stick build, covered in drywall. Tesla barely registers a signal. Plan to use diagnostic tools tonight and measure signal strength on my iPhone, iPad and MacBook. If all three show good signal strength, then I will place a call into Tesla.