Rubbish Wifi?

[ProfessorK]

Hi folks, anyone else having trouble connecting their Model 3 to their Wifi? I've parked outside the house and it's giving nonsensical DHCP lease errors, even though I have plenty of room on our network. The router isn't even seeing the car, so it's almost as if it's not connecting properly. The car is parked on the curb, I think it's roughly 8 meters away.

I've got to go back to the service station on the 1st, because of some build issues (condensation on one of the cameras, too). Wondering if the Wifi is just crap on the model 3 or if it could be an issue.

 

[NewbieT]

Try parking the other way around, with the left wing mirror pointing towards the router.

 

[ProfessorK]

Try parking the other way around, with the left wing mirror pointing towards the router.

Left wing mirror was already pointing towards it

 

[Adopado]

Hi folks, anyone else having trouble connecting their Model 3 to their Wifi? I've parked outside the house and it's giving nonsensical DHCP lease errors, even though I have plenty of room on our network. The router isn't even seeing the car, so it's almost as if it's not connecting properly. The car is parked on the curb, I think it's roughly 8 meters away.

I've got to go back to the service station on the 1st, because of some build issues (condensation on one of the cameras, too). Wondering if the Wifi is just crap on the model 3 or if it could be an issue.

Similar story here. I ended up re-purposing an old router to use as an extender via ethernet and Powerline to the garage to provide a wifi access point. Needed to locate the Zappi hub there too so it killed 2 birds with one stone. The wifi access point is now just a few feet from the car but even though successful the car still does not get a "full" signal (unlike any other device in the same location) and just occasionally will throw up the kind of errors you describe. I'm quite impressed by the car's ability to hang onto a usable mobile data signal when on the move in challenging country areas but it does seem to have weak wifi reception.

 

[webbah]

Try also setting up a DHCP reservation for the M3 on your router

 

[WannabeOwner]

anyone else having trouble connecting their Model 3 to their Wifi?

Does it connect to a hotspot on your phone? That might help rule out a fault on the car's wifi gubbins.

with the left wing mirror pointing towards the router

On the Model-S the right wing-mirror has the antenna, is if left-mirror on the Model-3?

 

[MrBadger]

Make sure your wifi channel is in middle of the pack. I changed mine from 1 to 6 (might have been 5) and haven't seen the dhcp error ever since. Its not always the strongest, but now have adequate wifi enough to do software updates etc.

 

[mick4545]

Does it connect to a hotspot on your phone? That might help rule out a fault on the car's wifi gubbins.



On the Model-S the right wing-mirror has the antenna, is if left-mirror on the Model-3?

Yes, left mirror on Model 3.

 

[Adopado]

Yes, left mirror on Model 3.

Previous info said the M3 antenna was in the right mirror. Is it now confirmed as being in the left? Do you have a source?

 

[WannabeOwner]

WiFi Guide and Troubleshooter for Tesla Vehicles | TeslaTap

"The vehicle’s WiFi antenna is in the right side mirror housing on both LHD and RHD vehicles."

They have an Android "WiFi Meter app" too, which might help.

Possibly helpful:

Poor WiFi Reception | Tesla (confirms Right Mirror)

I did read one message that said his WiFi only worked if he did NOT fold the mirrors ...

 

[NewbieT]

“The vehicle’s WiFi antenna is in the right side mirror housing on both LHD and RHD vehicles." Tesla lTap also show a picture stating S/X.

RHD vs LHD perhaps?

Twitter

 

[WannabeOwner]

I think it very unlikely they would create parts specifically for RHD where not explicitly relevant to driving position.

People in LHD countries may well say "Drivers side" ... rather than "Left side" (We're no different in that regard of course)

But could be ...

 

[NewbieT]

I think it very unlikely they would create parts specifically for RHD where not explicitly relevant to driving position.

I agree. If you zoom in the part code also ends -LHS

 

[WannabeOwner]

I agree. If you zoom in the part code also ends -LHS

yes I did see that, and its a left-hand-side mirror by looks of it too (i.e in relation to car body).

Not sure why they would bother ... is it a RHD car? ... or did Tesla switch Left/Right for all cars at some point in manufacture? (I assume answers to that weren't obvious from the twitter post?) ... if so then maybe still-not-sure.

 

[MrBadger]

Only anecdotal evidence, but on couple occasions I bothered to take notice of wifi strength, I seemed to get stronger signal if parking slightly at a right slant. My WAP is on right side of the car. I interpreted this as cars wifi antenna is in left/passenger mirror and gets a slightly better line of sight if parked tilted towards the WAP. However, wifi is a wonderful thing and it bounces off of certain surfaces causing all sorts of confusion.

Unfortunately, I think I recently discarded an old wifi signal finder that I once had.

 

[Tonybvi]

My car hardly ever connected to wi fi even though our phones / iPads picked up good signal so I lashed out £60 odd on a Nova Mesh wifi system. Easiest thing in the world to set up and with the strategically placed mesh units (window sill, garage, etc) the car picks up a full signal just about everywhere on our long drive or inside the garage. Well worth the investment.

 

[ProfessorK]

Does it connect to a hotspot on your phone? That might help rule out a fault on the car's wifi gubbins.

Good shout, I’ll have a try tomorrow!

My car hardly ever connected to wi fi even though our phones / iPads picked up good signal so I lashed out £60 odd on a Nova Mesh wifi system. Easiest thing in the world to set up and with the strategically placed mesh units (window sill, garage, etc) the car picks up a full signal just about everywhere on our long drive or inside the garage. Well worth the investment.

I’ll have a look at that. My garage and driveway is about 10 to 15m away from the router as it’s detached.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

I’ll have a look at that. My garage and driveway is about 10 to 15m away from the router as it’s detached.

To get decent wifi to our garage (which is around 25m from the router in the house, at the end of the garden) I am currently using an additional access point, that's hard wired, and powered by PoE. I've fitted the AP in the loft at the end of the house closest to the garage, but found that the wall of the house and that of the garage still attenuated the signal a fair bit. The solution was to install a directional wifi antenna to the AP, pointed at the garage. This made a massive difference to the signal strength, and wifi speed in the garage (or the garden) is now easily as good as that anywhere else in the house.

 

[marvin28]

Does it really need wifi?

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Does it really need wifi?

In my case it definitely will, as we have no mobile 'phone signal here, so any overnight software updates will have to use a wifi connection.