No LTE in garage, cannot preheat car via app :-( (RESOLVED)

[whitex]

So I finally confirmed my fears, there is no Verizon coverage inside my garage with its door closed. This means the app cannot connect to the car if I for example want to pre-heat it. It is one of my primary usecases for the app.

Did anyone find any way (besides moving to Russia, where Porsche allows WiFi for internet access) to use WiFi or PLC communications to give the car internet access while in a garage without LTE coverage?

RESOLUTION: installing a Verizon LTE Extender solved this and another problem (see post #14).

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[driver69]

So I finally confirmed my fears, there is no Verizon coverage inside my garage with its door closed. This means the app cannot connect to the car if I for example want to pre-heat it. It is one of my primary usecases for the app.

Did anyone find any way (besides moving to Russia, where Porsche allows WiFi for internet access) to use WiFi or PLC communications to give the car internet access while in a garage without LTE coverage?

You can set up preconditioning through PCM inside air con settings. Once done it’ll start preheating the car when you unlock it, considering it sits inside a garage and no stranger can access it is a great solution.
Moving to where? ?

 

[DerekS]

You could put a microcell in your garage.

 

[JustWatching]

Something like this

Cell Phone Signal Booster for Verizon and AT&T | Up to 4,500 Sq Ft | Boost 4G LTE 5G Signal on Band 12/13/17 | 65dB Dual Band Cellula... https://a.co/d/bjfH7pP

 

[dtich]

What is the rationale for no WiFi in the car in NA/EU/etc?

 

[whitex]

You could put a microcell in your garage.

Something like this

Cell Phone Signal Booster for Verizon and AT&T | Up to 4,500 Sq Ft | Boost 4G LTE 5G Signal on Band 12/13/17 | 65dB Dual Band Cellula... https://a.co/d/bjfH7pP

I am looking at this femto-cell:
https://www.verizon.com/products/verizon-lte-network-extender/

The benefit over cellular extender is its backend is my internet rather than actual LTE.

The other alternative from Verizon is below, a little big for my driveway.

 

[OzzieT]

T-Mobile reception in your area? Samsung dual SIM phone (unlocked) to handle Verizon & T-mobile service? A lot cheaper and easier than a femto-cell or signal extender.

 

[whitex]

T-Mobile reception in your area? Samsung dual SIM phone (unlocked) to handle Verizon & T-mobile service? A lot cheaper and easier than a femto-cell or signal extender.

How will the phone provide internet to the car?

 

[W1NGE]

T-Mobile reception in your area? Samsung dual SIM phone (unlocked) to handle Verizon & T-mobile service? A lot cheaper and easier than a femto-cell or signal extender.

That won't work - the issue is the PCM LTE service and not the phone.

 

[W1NGE]

What is the rationale for no WiFi in the car in NA/EU/etc?

We have no idea but could be for regulatory reasons, power management, other.

 

[whitex]

We have no idea but could be for regulatory reasons, power management, other.

Tesla has been doing this for a decade in the US, so no regulatory excuse.

 

[W1NGE]

Tesla has been doing this for a decade in the US, so no regulatory excuse.

Appreciate that but the PCM is obviously capable and so there has to be a fundamental issue to not provide it. Why single out Russia as the only country where Porsche make it available?

It can't be cost driven as we can assume all PCMs are the same and so a software switch to enable is all that is likely needed. Perhaps its 12v power drain protection (yes, another guess!). Other Porsche non-EV PCMs support external hotspot connectivity afterall.

Fortunately, I have no need for it (ever) and rarely off grid where no LTE reception is available.

 

[whitex]

Appreciate that but the PCM is obviously capable and so there has to be a fundamental issue to not provide it. Why single out Russia as the only country where Porsche make it available?

It can't be cost driven as we can assume all PCMs are the same and so a software switch to enable is all that is likely needed. Perhaps its 12v power drain protection (yes, another guess!). Other Porsche non-EV PCMs support external hotspot connectivity afterall.

Fortunately, I have no need for it (ever) and rarely off grid where no LTE reception is available.

Or it could be that Porsche couldn’t monetize the connectivity service in Russia, be it due to lack of coverage, on inability to make deals with Russian cell companies (sanctions perhaps)? In the US LTE connectivity is a monthly subscription, so recurring revenue, perhaps worth protecting.

 

[whitex]

Updating this thread with a RESOLUTION.

Installing the Verizon LTE Extender (which is a Verizon femto-cell, Verizon seemingly being the vendor of choice for Porsche in USA - at least for my Taycan) solved my connectivity problem. Taycan now shows all 5 bars in a closed garage.

It also solved another problem I discovered at a later time. If I got into the Taycan with my iPhone, the WiFi connection switched to CarPlay, meaning iPhone needed to get LTE for connectivity. Being in a holster on my belt, inside the thermal and noise insulated Taycan, which was parked inside the garage, I didn't even realize my phone lost connectivity completely. I was sitting in the garage waiting for my wife to come out, and she was messaging me but my phone was not getting messages. I got all her messages after I started driving few minutes later.

 

[vroomer]

I have an AT&T microcell at home, will the car work with that?

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