Updated FordPass app

[Dad]

I assume truck is like my cell phone. When in range of an approved Wi-Fi connection that's what it uses when out of range it uses cellular and searches for an approved WiFi connection. At home my 5g cell signal strength is weaker than my 4g Lte wifi router signal so .my phone switches to wifi! If I turned wifi on in truck my phone would revert to truck cellular wifi if it's got a weaker 5g or 4g LTE than my cell phone. Right now my phone is connected to 5g Ulta capacity so if I activate phone wifi and shared to truck it would have super duper wifi connection.

I recall an option of the truck being a WiFi connection in of itself. Not sure if that was a Ford or 3rd party provider option. In any event, I did not subscribe at the time I purchased the truck.

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[Bilbo_B]

I recall an option of the truck being a WiFi connection in of itself. Not sure if that was a Ford or 3rd party provider option. In any event, I did not subscribe at the time I purchased the truck.

Yes. Mine has this feature provided by AT&T but I'm not opting to add another monthly bill to my expenses. I also don't do Sirius Satellite.
https://www.ford.com/support/category/fordpass/fordpass-connect-wifi-hotspot/

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I tested WiFi staying connected from truck.

It doesn't.
I didn't watch all night if it woke up and checked for radio updates, but it dropped off the WiFi AP's list pretty quick after locking the truck. Meaning it turned it's wifi off.
If it's off the list there is no remotely reaching it from the WiFi system.

I believe for security they set it up like other services are setup with cell carriers - Ford has a secure connection from only the ATT network to their network and the system dealing with telematics and access from FordPass app for remote check and starting.

Just like cell carriers have to setup a system for your phone's voice calls to come in from the internet if you have that option enabled (via your home internet provider and wifi the phone connected to), Ford would need to do the same if they wanted the option of Truck to connect via WiFi to the same system - betting they aren't spending the money.
The app already has a secure connect to that system, via several levels of security I'm hoping.

I don't connect but people having trouble downloading update are being told to go to McDonald's or get closer to their home router. Should not be a problem for truck to connect through my phones data plan?

I recall an option of the truck being a WiFi connection in of itself. Not sure if that was a Ford or 3rd party provider option. In any event, I did not subscribe at the time I purchased the truck.

As I understand it the truck provided wifi was originally installed using a chip which could piggy back a portion of the trucks bandwidth for user access to a separate billing account with ATT (Think of a dual sim card router). The dual sim card router was not available in necessary quantity so Ford apparently installed a single sim router and rebated $20 credit for trucks without that capability. I have not checked wifi capability of both my trucks but if I can search for wifi with both them I could purchase a router with a sim card of my choice (or my cell phone wifi share) and connect to data vendor I want think T-Mobile for video streaming!). I'll check out.

 

[Bilbo_B]

I don't connect but people having trouble downloading update are being told to go to McDonald's or get closer to their home router. Should not be a problem for truck to connect through my phones data plan?
As I understand it the truck provided wifi was originally installed using a chip which could piggy back a portion of the trucks bandwidth for user access to a separate billing account with ATT (Think of a dual sim card router). The dual sim card router was not available in necessary quantity so Ford apparently installed a single sim router and rebated $20 credit for trucks without that capability. I have not checked wifi capability of both my trucks but if I can search for wifi with both them I could purchase a router with a sim card of my choice (or my cell phone wifi share) and connect to data vendor I want think T-Mobile for video streaming!). I'll check out.

I may not be using the terminology correctly but here's how I gather it.
AT&T offers three months for free as a hook to have your vehicle turn into a WIFI hot spot for a small radius around the car... like 25 Ft. Which will work as long as the car's system is on. I was just on the AT&T page and they offer plans that seemed to start at $10/month (if you're already an AT&T wireless customer) and go up from there. So, you can connect your phones and screens up to the truck's WIFI router. I'm really not sure if you can use other suppliers like T-Mobile or Verizon but I don't think so unless, you can hack the system.
This option is listed on the widow sticker of my 2022 Mav. as :"
FORDPASS™ CONNECT 4GWI-FI
HOTSPOT TELEMATICS MODEM"
Personally, my phone is connected with a cable and the data provides all that I need to get my maps and such. I don't need too much info streaming while I'm driving around.

Separately, You can also connect your vehicle to a local WIFI to do things like update your vehicle's system. I had to move my Mav. to the back yard to connect to the home WIFI on the other side of the house to update my system and this took about 1/2 hour max.....probably really ten minutes to download the update. I could have went to McD's or the local library if my home WIFI wasn't strong enough. There's free wifi at locations if you're somewhere near civilization.
Anyway, it works good enough most of the time but lately, i've gotten warnings that I have to update my Android but in order to do that, I've had to buy a new cell phone because the old one stopped updating 4 years ago. with the Android 8 and they've moved up to 14 or 15 now. So, I got my money's worth out of that old, cheap phone.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I tested WiFi staying connected from truck.

It doesn't.
I didn't watch all night if it woke up and checked for radio updates, but it dropped off the WiFi AP's list pretty quick after locking the truck. Meaning it turned it's wifi off.
If it's off the list there is no remotely reaching it from the WiFi system.

I believe for security they set it up like other services are setup with cell carriers - Ford has a secure connection from only the ATT network to their network and the system dealing with telematics and access from FordPass app for remote check and starting.

Just like cell carriers have to setup a system for your phone's voice calls to come in from the internet if you have that option enabled (via your home internet provider and wifi the phone connected to), Ford would need to do the same if they wanted the option of Truck to connect via WiFi to the same system - betting they aren't spending the money.
The app already has a secure connect to that system, via several levels of security I'm hoping.

I am referring to getting a faster better signal to download the update while truck is connected to Wi-Fi. Plus if truck when on can automatically connect to your separate other carrier wifi in addition to its own ATT cell signal then you could install apps, etc accessible through additional network data plan.

 

[HeyBales]

I may not be using the terminology correctly but here's how I gather it.
AT&T offers three months for free as a hook to have your vehicle turn into a WIFI hot spot for a small radius around the car... like 25 Ft. Which will work as long as the car's system is on. I was just on the AT&T page and they offer plans that seemed to start at $10/month (if you're already an AT&T wireless customer) and go up from there. So, you can connect your phones and screens up to the truck's WIFI router. I'm really not sure if you can use other suppliers like T-Mobile or Verizon but I don't think so unless, you can hack the system.
This option is listed on the widow sticker of my 2022 Mav. as :"
FORDPASS™ CONNECT 4GWI-FI
HOTSPOT TELEMATICS MODEM"
Personally, my phone is connected with a cable and the data provides all that I need to get my maps and such. I don't need too much info streaming while I'm driving around.

Separately, You can also connect your vehicle to a local WIFI to do things like update your vehicle's system. I had to move my Mav. to the back yard to connect to the home WIFI on the other side of the house to update my system and this took about 1/2 hour max.....probably really ten minutes to download the update. I could have went to McD's or the local library if my home WIFI wasn't strong enough. There's free wifi at locations if you're somewhere near civilization.
Anyway, it works good enough most of the time but lately, i've gotten warnings that I have to update my Android but in order to do that, I've had to buy a new cell phone because the old one stopped updating 4 years ago. with the Android 8 and they've moved up to 14 or 15 now. So, I got my money's worth out of that old, cheap phone.

This is it exactly - and still on the 24MY - from all the dealership stickers I was going thru when I was searching for the in-stock trucks.

The ability to split up what data is for normal telemetrics going out the ATT cell connection and what data is from the truck providing a WiFi connection to devices is easy.
But I never saw the plans with rate limit, so they probably just meshed it together and didn't worry about the smallish amount of data the truck sent up.

Cradlepoint is a good example - it has a cell connection backhaul, just like the truck. With it you can use whatever carrier SIM you desire (or 2 for backup). With the truck it's only ATT.
The Cradlepoint then is like your home cable "modem" - has a backhaul, can plug a few ethernet cables in to it, and of course it provides WiFi. (this is the T-Mobile home service operation, using that faster spectrum from Sprint as cell backhaul)
The truck's cabled ethernet is the truck system itself hardwired to it, the WiFi is the other devices.

Vast majority of carriers and other systems (unless truly corporate and security desired) - usually try to offload the data the first chance they get.
So I'm sure Ford receives the telemetrics data (probably thru vpn), and has ATT handle the wifi data like any cell modem in an ipad or laptop - off to the general internet asap.

Also it's been mentioned in other threads - the update is only the infotainment system, so limited usefulness.

 

[HeyBales]

I am referring to getting a faster better signal to download the update while truck is connected to Wi-Fi. Plus if truck when on can automatically connect to your separate other carrier wifi in addition to its own ATT cell signal then you could install apps, etc accessible through additional network data plan.

From the infotainment system option regarding Updates, and Auto-updates - using the wifi connection is the only option for that.

And that is probably totally because of the speed they desire to not take forever over a cell connection (or maybe their deal with ATT is limited data quantity too - nothing like multiple download attempts getting almost all the data and then fail - restart download).

So I'm betting if your truck connects to a WiFi that is ultimately just provided by your cell carrier (home or phone) as backhaul - it defeats the whole increased speed desire.
It'll probably time-out.

Then again - their deal with ATT seems to be only for 4G from what's said in the manual, even says if ATT decides to make network changes you may be outta luck with that personal usage option mentioned. But your home or phone backhaul could be 5G and fast enough to get those updates.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

From the infotainment system option regarding Updates, and Auto-updates - using the wifi connection is the only option for that.

And that is probably totally because of the speed they desire to not take forever over a cell connection (or maybe their deal with ATT is limited data quantity too - nothing like multiple download attempts getting almost all the data and then fail - restart download).

So I'm betting if your truck connects to a WiFi that is ultimately just provided by your cell carrier (home or phone) as backhaul - it defeats the whole increased speed desire.
It'll probably time-out.

Then again - their deal with ATT seems to be only for 4G from what's said in the manual, even says if ATT decides to make network changes you may be outta luck with that personal usage option mentioned. But your home or phone backhaul could be 5G and fast enough to get those updates.

My T-Mobile HOME INTERNET router usually has 4g LTE active because I am six miles to 5g tower and the 4g LTE two strength bar signal will simultaneously run 3 TV 3 cell phones and one laptop with its multiple frequency Wi-Fi. I do think that the home internet Lte has enough bandwidth to get job done but I may get drops during the last three or four days of my billing month. T-Mobile home Internet devices are rationed based on cell tower capacities. I had a seven month wait for my router four years ago. My only other option in my remote location is Hughes net or Rise (line of sight to relay tower) which are both more expensive. I am well pleased with my $50/mo unlimited 4g LTE.

 

[HeyBales]

My T-Mobile HOME INTERNET router usually has 4g LTE active because I am six miles to 5g tower and the 4g LTE two strength bar signal will simultaneously run 3 TV 3 cell phones and one laptop with its multiple frequency Wi-Fi. I do think that the home internet Lte has enough bandwidth to get job done but I may get drops during the last three or four days of my billing month. T-Mobile home Internet devices are rationed based on cell tower capacities. I had a seven month wait for my router four years ago. My only other option in my remote location is Hughes net or Rise (line of sight to relay tower) which are both more expensive. I am well pleased with my $50/mo unlimited 4g LTE.

That was very smart of T-Mobile to use that frequency for that service. Lots of it and plenty of speed.
Sprint got it from deal with Nextel way back, tried to use it in mix with phones but it's so high it just didn't work well in places that needed to get thru walls or such. Total failure for their attempted Push-To-Talk network.
So you need to figure out who is in your tri-cell area sharing - and convince them to use something else... .

So is ATT network seen that far out?
Curious how bad signal is that truck may be trying to connect to or find (this may have come up in other thread) - because that uses more power, trying to connect with radio maxed out.
But you have Remote start key fob right?

 

[MakinDoForNow]

That was very smart of T-Mobile to use that frequency for that service. Lots of it and plenty of speed.
Sprint got it from deal with Nextel way back, tried to use it in mix with phones but it's so high it just didn't work well in places that needed to get thru walls or such. Total failure for their attempted Push-To-Talk network.
So you need to figure out who is in your tri-cell area sharing - and convince them to use something else... .

So is ATT network seen that far out?
Curious how bad signal is that truck may be trying to connect to or find (this may have come up in other thread) - because that uses more power, trying to connect with radio maxed out.
But you have Remote start key fob right?

Have one lariat with remote start and wife has no problem remote starting but I don't remember if it was inside metal garage with metal roof or in front of it. Truck has no trouble connecting to ATT as we are leaving. Also have XLT connects at least when metal door is open. Ford remote recall software updates are done in drive and tech uses his router on cab of truck in driveway. So signal is apparently adequate this far out. I worked pipeline right of way in Texas and it was common for oil workers to carry two or three different carriers phones for "who has the signal here". I carried a Cingular phone as they had relatively good contracts for roaming providers. The catch was you had to use more non roaming minutes per billing month than roaming minutes or pay extra per roaming minutes. So when I was in a non roaming area I would call my wife's phone at home and she could listen to my TV all night with me snoring to balance my roaming time. Was great until Cingular died off. FYI when I was working South Texas along the border I had to check to see if who my carrier was before making a call because Mexican towers might be connected and if so charge $2/ minute roaming. Had to cycle phone off and on to get back onto carriers network.

 

[Dad]

I don't connect but people having trouble downloading update are being told to go to McDonald's or get closer to their home router. Should not be a problem for truck to connect through my phones data plan?

As I understand it the truck provided wifi was originally installed using a chip which could piggy back a portion of the trucks bandwidth for user access to a separate billing account with ATT (Think of a dual sim card router). The dual sim card router was not available in necessary quantity so Ford apparently installed a single sim router and rebated $20 credit for trucks without that capability. I have not checked wifi capability of both my trucks but if I can search for wifi with both them I could purchase a router with a sim card of my choice (or my cell phone wifi share) and connect to data vendor I want think T-Mobile for video streaming!). I'll check out.

Thanks for the explanation and your upcoming research. I should read up the manual to see if there's any reference to this.

 

[NextTruck]

Oil Life is is under Service/Vehicle Health

I get that but I do my on service and could enter those records. Those I entered until the update are listed but no option to continue.

 

[billbillw]

I get that but I do my on service and could enter those records. Those I entered until the update are listed but no option to continue.

Yep, you have to go to Ford's website to enter/upload receipts now. I do the same. I liked it better when I could snap a photo with the phone, and do it directly with the app.

 

[Headbanger]

My iPhone app updated yesterday and still shows both percent and range.

 

[Carlitos_92]

My iPhone app updated yesterday and still shows both percent and range.

Sounds like you were able to skip Ford's silly interim version altogether. Lucky.

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