WiFi and LTE Keeps Flipping

[dacyberguy]

Looking to see if anyone has experienced the issue I'm having. Have a MS AP2 that I took delivery on in late December. When I park in my garage, it switches to WiFi initially, then disconnects and goes to LTE and keeps flipping back and forth, each time disconnecting Bluetooth in the process. Very annoying

Last week, I replaced the router from a Netgear N600 to and Netgear AC1750. Same issue.

I had our local Tesla Ranger out 2x to see if there is a hardware issue. They replaced my display yesterday wondering if there was perhaps a short and I still have the same issue. Engineers and Ranger are stumped.

Thought maybe Tesla and Netgear didn't play well together and swapped out the Netgear router with an ASUS AC1900 this morning. Same problem. The car is only 30 feet away from the router (if that) through drywall (only a 20 year old home). Added a WiFi extender this afternoon just in case the signal was weak, and still the same problem.

Odd thing is that if I connect to my mobile's hotspot, it stays connected. Tried connecting to my neighbor's WiFi (although weak, it still held). Do I just resign to a possibility my car resides in my own personal Bermuda Triangle or has anyone had a similar issue and been able to resolve?

I'm worried I'll miss or be delayed in receiving the new updates since Wifi is wonky.

 

[pilotSteve]

Some threads here that indicate Tesla prefers older 802.11 protocols like B more than newer N. Search for "wifi won't connect".

 

[andrewket]

What's the IP range of your home network?

 

[Patrick W]

Yep, same here. Back and forth between LTE and wifi (when it connects to wifi at all).

Earlier this week I installed a wifi extender on the wall in front of the car about 1.5m from the car's wifi antenna. Measured the signal strength at the antenna and it's very strong. But the car continues to drop wifi for LTE.

Oddly if I keep the driver door open the car seems to stay with wifi but obviously not a real fix.

Rang the Tesla help desk. They said once in the garage and on wifi it should stay on wifi as long as a wifi signal is present.

I've an appointment at the local service center in a few days. Hopefully they will find and fix what wrong.

 

[andrewket]

The SC won't be able to help you guys. There is something about your home network that the car doesn't like.

1. Are you running DHCP?
2. What is the IP range of your home network?

 

[Patrick W]

The SC won't be able to help you guys. There is something about home network that the car doesn't like.

1. Are you running DHCP?
2. What is the IP range of your home network?

Sorry but I don't know what any of that means. But I can say that I didn't seem to have the same problem with my previous S (a 2015) parked in the same place. The only difference then was I did not have the extender.

This, BTW, is the range extender I am using. The car does hook to it and stayed hooked for a while but eventually drops off. AC750 - WiFi Range Extender

 

[dacyberguy]

The SC won't be able to help you guys. There is something about home network that the car doesn't like.

1. Are you running DHCP?
2. What is the IP range of your home network?

Yes. I am running DHCP.. IP Range is 2 to 254

Any ideas?

 

[andrewket]

Yes. I am running DHCP.. IP Range is 2 to 254

Any ideas?

I'm more interested in the third octet. It's likely 192.168.x.y. What is X?

The reason I ask is tesla has an IP network within the car, and there have been reports that if your home network is using the same IP space as the car that the routing doesn't work properly. The result is nothing works when connected to wifi, which could cause the constant disconnect and reconnect cycle that you describe.

 

[boonedocks]

I never had this issue until .114 firmware. As of that install it started flipping as you described and I reported on here weeks ago. It was definitely something introduced in that firmware.

 

[mtavel]

So what is the IP space that the car uses internally?

I had issues using my new Google Wifi access points where the car would connect, but Slacker would not stream, and web pages would not load in the in-car browser. Every other device on my home's Google Wifi mesh network worked perfectly.

My Google Wifi is using the 192.168.86.XXX range (subnet cannot be user configured). I had to set up a separate Wifi hotspot in my garage with an ethernet run straight back to my modem using a Netgear N300 using the 192.168.0.xxx range. This worked, but I don't know if it is because of the IP range (I would think that is unlikely) or whether it is related to something the Google Wifi system is doing.

 

[zelig2]

My ASUS RT-68U router was not liked by my car. I've seen posts with theories but the changes I made still didn't work. The only thing that worked for me was to grab an old router (Apple Airport Extreme) and have the running with another network just for the car. That router is next to my Asus. In the future I plan to get a 2.4GHz only access point and mount in in the garage near the car.

 

[dacyberguy]

I'm more interested in the third octet. It's likely 192.168.x.y. What is X?

The reason I ask is tesla has an IP network within the car, and there have been reports that if your home network is using the same IP space as the car that the routing doesn't work properly. The result is nothing works when connected to wifi, which could cause the constant disconnect and reconnect cycle that you describe.

My IP range is pretty standard out of the box settings. 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254. Lease time is set at 86400. Think I should try changing the third octet to something more unique?

 

[BerTX]

Lots of people have had issues due to the location of the router. The antenna on the car is in the passenger side mirror, If your router is located anywhere else besides the passenger side, it can cause issues. Also, having the router located above the car can be an issue.

If the car is parked such that the drivers side is facing the router, just try either putting your range extender to the passenger side of the car, or even more simply, pull the car into the garage the opposite way from normal.

It seems ridiculous that you can pick up strong signal with every other device you own, but the car in the same place doesn't reliably connect. Moving the wifi signal source to the passenger side has worked for dozens of people, though, and it is an easy thing to try.

 

[dacyberguy]

My ASUS RT-68U router was not liked by my car. I've seen posts with theories but the changes I made still didn't work. The only thing that worked for me was to grab an old router (Apple Airport Extreme) and have the running with another network just for the car. That router is next to my Asus. In the future I plan to get a 2.4GHz only access point and mount in in the garage near the car.

I mentioned in my original post that I could connect to my neighbor. He is running an Airport Extreme and as I mentioned, it maintained connection. I've tried three routers already, with the two most recent being ACxxxx routers. My original was an N router. All three have backwards compatibility with b a/g n protocols.

 

[dacyberguy]

Lots of people have had issues due to the location of the router. The antenna on the car is in the passenger side mirror, If your router is located anywhere else besides the passenger side, it can cause issues. Also, having the router located above the car can be an issue.

If the car is parked such that the drivers side is facing the router, just try either putting your range extender to the passenger side of the car, or even more simply, pull the car into the garage the opposite way from normal.

It seems ridiculous that you can pick up strong signal with every other device you own, but the car in the same place doesn't reliably connect. Moving the wifi signal source to the passenger side has worked for dozens of people, though, and it is an easy thing to try.

The range extender is literally 2-3 feet from the right front fender (including vertical height. At this point, I'll try anything to try to hone in on the actual issue.

I'm grateful to everyone on the thread lending their expertise and suggestions. Hopefully we can find the issue, solve, and gain insights together as well.

 

[BerTX]

The range extender is literally 2-3 feet from the right front fender (including vertical height. At this point, I'll try anything to try to hone in on the actual issue.

I'm grateful to everyone on the thread lending their expertise and suggestions. Hopefully we can find the issue, solve, and gain insights together as well.

Probably not that, then! Although you did say the RE worked better than the router alone. If the router is on the other side, you might still try reversing the car's position and connect directly to the router.

 

[andrewket]

My IP range is pretty standard out of the box settings. 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.254. Lease time is set at 86400. Think I should try changing the third octet to something more unique?

Nope, 192.168.1.0/24 is perfectly great. You can rule that out as the problem.

 

[Lbkmxp100d]

Yep, same here. Back and forth between LTE and wifi (when it connects to wifi at all).

Earlier this week I installed a wifi extender on the wall in front of the car about 1.5m from the car's wifi antenna. Measured the signal strength at the antenna and it's very strong. But the car continues to drop wifi for LTE.

Oddly if I keep the driver door open the car seems to stay with wifi but obviously not a real fix.

Rang the Tesla help desk. They said once in the garage and on wifi it should stay on wifi as long as a wifi signal is present.

I've an appointment at the local service center in a few days. Hopefully they will find and fix what wrong.

I have noticed if I reverse my vehicle into my garage the display shows a stronger wifi signal. I have no idea why this would be but it does work. Seems like Tesla could use better wifi antenna and it would make since to install so they can push more software updates through wifi and not LTE. Whenever there is an expected update I always back my car in to get a better wifi signal for update. It is kinda annoying since my wall charger is set up for pulling my car straight in.

 

[f-stop]

I have noticed if I reverse my vehicle into my garage the display shows a stronger wifi signal. I have no idea why this would be but it does work. Seems like Tesla could use better wifi antenna and it would make since to install so they can push more software updates through wifi and not LTE. Whenever there is an expected update I always back my car in to get a better wifi signal for update. It is kinda annoying since my wall charger is set up for pulling my car straight in.

The Model S' wifi antenna is located inside the passenger-side side view mirror housing. Is your wifi router closer to the right side of the car when you back into the garage? If so, that might explain the stronger signal in that case

 

[BrokerDon]

Add my vote for Tesla upgrade their WiFi to also offer the significantly newer & faster 5.0 GHz 802.11ac. Sadly the ONLY slower "vintage" 2.4GHz 802/11 bgn devices are our NEWEST devices:

• 2015 Tesla Model S P85F
• eMotorWerks WattBox 200 (digitally logs our Tesla HPWC charging)
• Ecobee3 thermostat

To get our Tesla to reliably connect I had to configure an 802.11 ac bgn 2.4 & 5.0 GHz ASUS RT-AC66U router as a range extender, connect it via Cat 5eEthernet, and install it 20' from our Tesla's passenger mirror since our Linksys EA7500 802.11 ac bgn 2.4 & 5.0 GHz couldn't maintain a reliable 2.4 GHz bgn connection to our Tesla even though it was only 50' away.

All our other WiFi devices (Apple iPhone 7 & & Plus, iPad Air 2, and iPad 3, connect via the faster 5.0 GHz 802.11 ac fine. Seems crazy our otherwise state-of-the-art Tesla only offers "legacy" WiFi