# Software Updates from Tesla



## cfickett (Apr 3, 2016)

I am a Model 3 reservation holder and will be living in a location where my car will be parked outside of the range of any wifi. Will I still be able to receive software updates via the built in LTE in the car? I am hoping that it will only take longer and still be able to receive the updates.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Chris


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

yes, wifi isn't required (at least on the current cars), but may give cars priority over the on-board cell signal (there's some mixed reports on this)


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## teslaliving (Apr 2, 2016)

The car downloads updates in the background by any internet connection it can get. It uses wifi if it has access to it, otherwise the built in LTE (or 3G for me). 

I have my car connected to Wifi at work (from the parking lot) and at home in the garage, but I've gotten new software update notices while it was sitting at an airport. (Note that as tempting as it may be, drive home first before installing that shiny new update, you'll thank me for that later).


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## AEDennis (Apr 10, 2016)

teslaliving said:


> ...(Note that as tempting as it may be, drive home first before installing that shiny new update, you'll thank me for that later).


Now, now... the more adventurous of us have done this in the middle of thousand mile roadtrips.


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## Badback (Apr 7, 2016)

It is best to install updates on a 'quiet' network, like your home WiFi is at night after you go to bed. A busy network, like public networks can sometimes drop a bit or two because of all of the switching going on, other radio noise in the environment and low signal strength. This will not necessarily result in corrupted firmware because of file verification but may result in very long update times if several tries are needed to get it right.


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## AEDennis (Apr 10, 2016)

Badback said:


> It is best to install updates on a 'quiet' network, like your home WiFi is at night after you go to bed. A busy network, like public networks can sometimes drop a bit or two because of all of the switching going on, other radio noise in the environment and low signal strength. This will not necessarily result in corrupted firmware because of file verification but may result in very long update times if several tries are needed to get it right.


Of course... But, outside of visiting the service center directly and having them forced a released FW onto the car (at their discretion)...

Tesla software updates just "magically appear" so, even if the file took a long time to download, you never know until it's ready to be installed (and all verification that it goes through is presumably complete.)


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

Don't worry. The updates are downloaded in the background and stored for staging in the car over LTE, G3 or WIFI, whichever is available. Just remember that depending on the size of the update that is can take up to 2 hours to perform the update so your car is immobilized during that time. Best to schedule them overnight when you're sleeping.

Since our car will live outside I installed one of these outdoor WIFI extenders on the house. It's powerful, I can get internet all the way down the street


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## AEDennis (Apr 10, 2016)

TrevP said:


> Don't worry. The updates are downloaded in the background and stored for staging in the car over LTE, G3 or WIFI, whichever is available. Just remember that depending on the size of the update that is can take up to 2 hours to perform the update so your car is immobilized during that time. Best to schedule them overnight when you're sleeping.
> 
> Since our car will live outside I installed one of these outdoor WIFI extenders on the house. It's powerful, I can get internet all the way down the street
> 
> View attachment 875


@TrevP perhaps you can lower your Internet costs by becoming your neighborhood ISP! 

I just let our cars use the best available Internet for itself... Whether the wifi or the mobile connection...


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## Ron Miller (Jul 31, 2016)

Badback said:


> It is best to install updates on a 'quiet' network, like your home WiFi is at night after you go to bed. A busy network, like public networks can sometimes drop a bit or two because of all of the switching going on, other radio noise in the environment and low signal strength. This will not necessarily result in corrupted firmware because of file verification but may result in very long update times if several tries are needed to get it right.


Hmmm . . . using Ookla Speedtest, I find that LTE on my phone is up to 5 times faster than Wi-Fi in my house. Even with only "2 bars," it's 50% faster than Wi-Fi is at the same distance from the router as the car would be in the garage.

My Internet connection is 28Mbs but over Wi-Fi, either g or n, I measure only about 8-9Mbs. With 2 bars of LTE I get 14Mbs and with 5 bars, I've measured it up to 90Mbs, so I'm not positive that using LTE would result in "very long update times." It might be quite a bit faster, depending on location, but I don't think it would be slower.

Not that it matters in the end


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## Michael Russo (Oct 15, 2016)

Ok, y'all IT experts out there... what does this tell ya? 

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/844186892379869184


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## Marco Papa (Dec 13, 2017)

Badback said:


> It is best to install updates on a 'quiet' network, like your home WiFi is at night after you go to bed.


Model 3 does snot have WiFI support at this time. All Software Updates must be done using LTE. WiFi support will eventually be available, after a Software Update.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Marco Papa said:


> Model 3 does snot have WiFI support at this time. All Software Updates must be done using LTE. WiFi support will eventually be available, after a Software Update.


Nit: If you park your car at a Tesla service center, the Model 3 can (and does) connect to the service center's wifi network. It will download any updates available if you do so.


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## Badback (Apr 7, 2016)

Marco Papa said:


> Model 3 does snot have WiFI support at this time. All Software Updates must be done using LTE. WiFi support will eventually be available, after a Software Update.


What @garsh said.


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## Runt8 (May 26, 2017)

garsh said:


> Nit: If you park your car at a Tesla service center, the Model 3 can (and does) connect to the service center's wifi network. It will download any updates available if you do so.


So really all it's missing is the UI for connecting to a WiFi network. Can't say I'm surprised that this is the case.


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## Brett (Aug 1, 2017)

Runt8 said:


> So really all it's missing is the UI for connecting to a WiFi network. Can't say I'm surprised that this is the case.


Actually, I'd be willing to bet that what's missing is a firewall (with testing) to prevent people trying to hack into thier cars through WIFI. Currently it can only connect to sources they control and can ensure aren't malicious. They probably want to make sure it's bullet proof before they "turn on" the WIFI selection interface.


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## MGallo (Oct 29, 2016)

Badback said:


> What @garsh said.


Ditto. My 3 just started a software update. Maybe it adds Wi-Fi. ;-) I can't find anything online about it. It's saying it will only take 45 minutes so I'll report back in a little bit.

Update: So now my car says that it's running v8.1 (2018.14.13 9e3b7ff)
Looks to have added Chill acceleration mode.

There is a reference to it on TMC.
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/2018-14-13-update.113533/


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

MGallo said:


> Ditto. My 3 just started a software update. Maybe it adds Wi-Fi. ;-) I can't find anything online about it. It's saying it will only take 45 minutes so I'll report back in a little bit.
> 
> Update: So now my car says that it's running v8.1 (2018.14.13 9e3b7ff)
> Looks to have added Chill acceleration mode.
> ...


if you go over to the software & firmware section, there are dedicated threads for each release (including 2018.14.13 )


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