Wifi signal is weak inside the car but its strong outside the car

[Eswar M]

In my garage, speediest on iPhone shows very good speed (40mbps) but when i test it inside the car it drops to less than 1mbps. Router is inside the home diagonally above the garage (15-20ft).

Does it mean i need to get a range extender for my garage to boost the signal for garage ? has anybody experienced this ?

 

[sdorn]

In my garage, speediest on iPhone shows very good speed (40mbps) but when i test it inside the car it drops to less than 1mbps. Router is inside the home diagonally above the garage (15-20ft).

Does it mean i need to get a range extender for my garage to boost the signal for garage ? has anybody experienced this ?

I believe the car is designed to block radio signals (the windshield for sure). That might be part of the issue.

 

[lolachampcar]

Faraday' cage

 

[Polyport]

How many bars does the wifi symbol show on the 17" screen when you connect your Tesla to your Wifi? If you get connectivity, you don't need a range extender. As far as I know the antenna for Wifi is in the right side mirror (so not inside the car).
Also, even if the speed is slow, it'll still be enough to download the occasional updates. The car downloads any available updates and only when they're completely downloaded does it show you that an update is available for install, so you're not waiting longer for an install with a slow internet connection than with a fast one.

 

[mrElbe]

The OP is not talking about the car connectivity, rather iPhone connection within the car in the garage.

 

[Polyport]

The OP is not talking about the car connectivity, rather iPhone connection within the car in the garage.

He might, but since it was his first post (which implies that he's at the initial "lets make sure my car has everything it needs" stage) and since people don't typically often sit in their car in the garage using their phone, I assumed he was worried about his car not getting good wifi. I could be wrong.

 

[mspohr]

In my garage, speediest on iPhone shows very good speed (40mbps) but when i test it inside the car it drops to less than 1mbps. Router is inside the home diagonally above the garage (15-20ft).

Does it mean i need to get a range extender for my garage to boost the signal for garage ? has anybody experienced this ?

Only if you sit in your car in the garage and browse on you iPhone.
The car itself has an external antenna located in the driver side mirror so it should receive the WiFi signal just fine. You can run a (non-flash speed test from the Tesla browser) to check it.

 

[Eswar M]

Forgot to mention. The actual problem is tesla wifi is SINGLE bar. I was troubleshooting it and tested the the signal strength with iPhone.

I want to know what i can do to improve the tesla wifi signal reception.

 

[Polyport]

Forgot to mention. The actual problem is tesla wifi is SINGLE bar. I was troubleshooting it and tested the the signal strength with iPhone.

I want to know what i can do to improve the tesla wifi signal reception.

Single bar is fine. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the download speed doesn't really matter much, it'll still download any updates. No need to add any wifi infrastructure. As @mspohr suggested, you can run a non-flash speed test on the car's browser if you're curious. But as long as you can pull up any webpage in the car's browser, it'll be good enough for downloading updates.

 

[Eswar M]

Single bar is fine. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the download speed doesn't really matter much, it'll still download any updates. No need to add any wifi infrastructure. As @mspohr suggested, you can run a non-flash speed test on the car's browser if you're curious. But as long as you can pull up any webpage in the car's browser, it'll be good enough for downloading updates.

Sometimes its so weak that it takes lot of time to open a web page. Just tried the non-flash speed test in tesla browser and I see 2mbps download speed. Would that be fine for it to download updates?

 

[Polyport]

Sometimes its so weak that it takes lot of time to open a web page. Just tried the non-flash speed test in tesla browser and I see 2mbps download speed. Would that be fine for it to download updates?

I don't get any faster speeds with my car and I get my updates just fine. Your car has all night to download, while it's parked. Also remember, it doesn't require wifi to download updates, it will use 3G/LTE, too. (For map updates, happening once in a blue moon, it will strongly prefer wifi, though)

 

[Eswar M]

I don't get any faster speeds with my car and I get my updates just fine. Your car has all night to download, while it's parked. Also remember, it doesn't require wifi to download updates, it will use 3G/LTE, too. (For map updates, happening once in a blue moon, it will strongly prefer wifi, though)

Thanks for the information @Polyport !

 

[doubleohwhat]

Also keep in mind that Tesla throttles the download speed of updates. I have an access point directly above the car and we have a gigabit connection. However, the map update that came through the other day downloaded at almost exactly 8mbps.

Basically I wouldn't worry about making sure the car has a speedy connection because it's most likely not going to use it anyway.

 

[Dstrohl]

In my garage, speediest on iPhone shows very good speed (40mbps) but when i test it inside the car it drops to less than 1mbps. Router is inside the home diagonally above the garage (15-20ft).

Does it mean i need to get a range extender for my garage to boost the signal for garage ? has anybody experienced this ?

I cant speak from experience in terms of how much this impacts (or doesn't impact) updates, but I will say that if you are testing from your phone, and if your access point is newer than 4-5 years, it is very likely that even if you have the same signal levels on both, your phone is going to be faster. The Tesla's do not use any of the standards or frequencies that newer systems support (though supposedly the Tesla hardware supports them). For example, the iPhone has supported the "ac" standard since version 6, 5Ghz frequencies since version 5, and has supported "n" since version 4. I don't know if the Teslas' can handle "n" or not, but they definitely do not handle 5 Ghz channels or the "ac" standard. (at least mine doesn't show any of my 5Ghz access points)

 

[lunitiks]

Only if you sit in your car in the garage and browse on you iPhone.
The car itself has an external antenna located in the driver side mirror so it should receive the WiFi signal just fine. You can run a (non-flash speed test from the Tesla browser) to check it.

Njet. Passenger side mirror.

 

[bkp_duke]

Njet. Passenger side mirror.

Actually, both mirrors.

 

[BerTX]

I put in a range extender. $18 from Amazon. I like to use the nav to plot trips to different places, and look for new Supercharger availability. I also use the Tesla app to change charge settings and climate control. It's painfully slow or impossible for me with a weak wifi connection.

I do use other tools for trip planning, but I like verifying it in the car and having the first leg of the trip already entered in the nav to look at it and verify it isn't doing something stupid.

 

[lunitiks]

Actually, both mirrors.

That's GSM. Wifi only right mirror

 

[Eswar M]

Also keep in mind that Tesla throttles the download speed of updates. I have an access point directly above the car and we have a gigabit connection. However, the map update that came through the other day downloaded at almost exactly 8mbps.

Basically I wouldn't worry about making sure the car has a speedy connection because it's most likely not going to use it anyway.

I got a NETGEAR genie (only 2.4GHz) to test out how much i can give to Tesla. You are right. Non flash speed test download speed came around 8mbps. I was thinking of getting a little higher speed one thinking that Tesla can take more than 8mbps. But if the download speeds are throttled then then i will keep it.

 

[Eswar M]

I put in a range extender. $18 from Amazon. I like to use the nav to plot trips to different places, and look for new Supercharger availability. I also use the Tesla app to change charge settings and climate control. It's painfully slow or impossible for me with a weak wifi connection.

I do use other tools for trip planning, but I like verifying it in the car and having the first leg of the trip already entered in the nav to look at it and verify it isn't doing something stupid.

Yes. Having better wifi speed in garage really helps. With poor wifi reception, I have to wait to enter destination into nav until i get onto street which is inconvenient and not safe.