Today I had the disconcerting experience of my phone being unable to connect to my M3: Turns out that the car was parked in one of my state's many areas that lack ATT coverage. At first I thought it was a problem with my phone but I had full bars of 5G signal AND was connected to a decent wifi signal. I went through the steps suggested by Tesla:1) rebooting the phone; 2)Signing out of the app and logging back in; 3) Deleting and reinstalling the app. It wasn't until I was able to get into the car that I diagnosed the problem: I asked the car to navigate to a specific nearby location and it was unable to respond. Once I arrived at that location (several miles away) everything started working again. Is this something with which I'm going to need to learn to live - like Tesla Vision not working at night or in very bright sunlight - until they figure out a way to make it work and release an update?
Excellent diagnostic effort and explains why I always carry one of my Tesla RFID cards in my wallet. I had heard once of someone 'locked out' of their car after a cell phone service failure. Speculations, my cell phone service is T-Mobile which may explain why I have to reconnect frequently in my Model 3. It didn't do that in the first 2-3 years. Curiously, after 10 minutes, it frequently auto-connects. I've noticed some App functions like unlock and start work fine which I suspect are Bluetooth related. Yet the Bluetooth communication for making a phone call does not work initially. You've given me some ideas about testing functions of my iPhone App with: Bluetooth ON, WiFi ON - current default Wifi different networks, 5 GB vs 2.5 GB - current default WiFi same networks, 2.5 GB both Bluetooth OFF, WiFi ON Bluetooth ON, WiFi OFF Bob Wilson
The "phone as key" feature uses Bluetooth so a lack of cell signal won't keep you from unlocking and driving - but a broken or otherwise non-functional phone will. The next time I visit that particular location I'll attempt to park close to the building and try to connect the car to their guest wifi channel. ATT coverage in my state is pretty spotty. I wish Tesla had elected to use a system like Google Fi that combines three networks: T-Mobile, Spring and US Cellular or, at the very least, allowed for "roaming".
