losing iPhone internet connection

[wynants]

Hey all, 

I have a problem that i can't solve, or maybe there is no solution? When i 'm in the car i connect my car with my Iphone 's internet trough hotspot tethering .

But every time i get out of the car, for a short stop, refuel or whatever the connection is broken and i have to go trough the whole process of reconnecting.  This means selecting te iPhone's network, tapping in the password etc.. and the same goes for the connection with My lexus account. I can't find a way to make the car remember the settings and reconnecting automatically ( as is the case with BMW) someone found a work-around or is this one of the Lexus idiosyncrasies i have to live with? 

[SH20]

Is internet auto connection switched to on?    Route:  Setup-Online-Internet Auto connection On/Off ?      I understand what you are experiencing as the  little wi fi logo in the top right hand corner of your screen doesn't light up even though signal strength might be showing 1,2,3 or more bars lit up.     It's the only explanation I can think of.   Sorry if you already know auto internet must be switched to on.   

[SH20]

Went out to my car today to see if the two new travel journeys I sent to my car a couple of days ago would download via the system's internet connection of my phone. 

I turned off my phone's  wi fi connection that  I use at home  and then turned everything on my phone that connects me to the car via my phone.  I turn on hotspot, blue tooth, blue tooth tethering and roaming data.  Not really sure if all 4 functions are needed but I turn them all on anyway. 

As soon as I reversed out of the garage  the wi fi connection was made and  a couple of signal strength bars was visible.   The system immediately began to download the two new journeys  thus proving the fact the auto internet connection was on and doing it's job.     However because of your comment I will specifically check now when i make the next journey I undertake  to see if I lose the connection should I stop, turn the car off, leave the car, lock the car and then come back to it so as I can witness if the wi fi connection re connects automatically.    I'll let you know.

[wynants]

perfect, i'll wait wat happens ! 

[Habu]

Mine works normally.  I enter the car and it detects my iPhone's hotspot immediately.  I stopped the car, locked it up and when I came back the hotspot was found again.

[SH20]

Jean, interesting !!!!        I did exactly what I said.    Following on from first thing today. I went out and connected my phone for the first time using hot spot, blue tooth and roaming data  and connected the wi fi via my phone.     Drove to the shops  with the wi fi icon lit up and a good signal strength showing   all ok and functioning.

Stopped the car after 10 mins turned off and locked it.   Came back out and started normally only this time no wi fi icon lit up.  Signal strength was showing 2 bars  but no wi fi icon lit up.   

Decided to check my phone first and for some reason the hot spot  had turned off.    I turned it back on and immediately the wi fi icon lit up  and all was back to normal.   Not sure why my hot spot turned off.  I will contact  Lexus tech help tomorrow  and ask if they can suggest why a smart phone can turn off the hot spot.       

I am to make a journey tomorrow  so once I start the car for the first time and connect I will monitor during the 2 hour trip if my phone maintains the wi fi connection or if the phone switches off the hot spot function by itself.     What a load of bother technology is. 

 

[wynants]

yes it it, i noticed even something more weird ! i entered my car and automatically my hotspot on my Iphone turned itself on WEIRD ! but it made no connection with the multimedia, i still had to go in the menu, select the Iphone network and enter the pasword ! spooky 🙂

 

[Andy B]

17 hours ago, SH20 said:

Jean, interesting !!!!        I did exactly what I said.    Following on from first thing today. I went out and connected my phone for the first time using hot spot, blue tooth and roaming data  and connected the wi fi via my phone.     Drove to the shops  with the wi fi icon lit up and a good signal strength showing   all ok and functioning.

Stopped the car after 10 mins turned off and locked it.   Came back out and started normally only this time no wi fi icon lit up.  Signal strength was showing 2 bars  but no wi fi icon lit up.   

Decided to check my phone first and for some reason the hot spot  had turned off.    I turned it back on and immediately the wi fi icon lit up  and all was back to normal.   Not sure why my hot spot turned off.  I will contact  Lexus tech help tomorrow  and ask if they can suggest why a smart phone can turn off the hot spot.       

I am to make a journey tomorrow  so once I start the car for the first time and connect I will monitor during the 2 hour trip if my phone maintains the wi fi connection or if the phone switches off the hot spot function by itself.     What a load of bother technology is. 

 

Hi Steve, 

I have an Android phone - not an apple one - so not sure if the following would apply but it may help you. There may be a hotspot setting on your phone that is automatically turning off the hotspot if it detects no active connection after a certain period of time - for example, 5 minutes. This may explain why, when you returned to the car, the phone's hotspot was off. Might be worth checking your phone's settings for this.

On a related note, there are apps (at least for Android phones) that automatically turn on the phone's hotspot when it detects that a Bluetooth connection has been made to the car. Therefore no need to turn on the hotspot manually every time. Not sure if such apps exist for apple phones as the operating system is a lot more restrictive.

Hope this helps.

[SH20]

Thanks Andy, useful to know about the auto disconnect on Android phones which is what I have. I'll have a look in settings on my Samsung J3.

 

Jean why not send an enquiry to Lexus UK regarding this issue you have about entering your password etc every time you need to connect.  Their main website  has an option list on the right hand side of their main web page.    Click on the envelope and then click on technical issues where you will see an option to ring a number or send a written enquiry.   I use it regularly if I'm stuck over something about the ES.  

Lexus UK came back to me and here is what they say about the issue we have on wi fi connections

Good morning Steve,

Thank you for your email, and I hope you are enjoying your ES. 

I can honestly say there has been nothing reported to us at head office about our multimedia systems disconnecting from cellphones once a connection or 'handshake' has been established, but I have 
noticed a pattern amongst Iphone user's running the latest iOS13 whereby their phones will randomly disconnect and will need to be manually connected again. I believe apple have acknowledge this bug in their software and are issuing an update in the form of iOS 13.2     

I suppose this is only relevant to you if you are using an apple Iphone. Outside of this, I cannot say, my advise would be to remove your connection from the car and establish it again. 

Please let me know if you're running an Iphone or an Android phone, and I hope this information has been helpful for you. 

Kind regards

Amar
 

Amar Selli
First Line Customer Support

 

[SH20]

Hi Andy,  yes you're right there is a  time out setting using the hotspot function on an Android phone.    I've now set my phone to never time out when hot spot is used.            Maybe iphones have similar.

Thanks for the help

Steve

 

[Andy B]

No problem Steve - happy to help. 

Be careful with the setting of "no time-out" though as having the hotspot constantly on will have a big effect on Battery drain. 

[wynants]

i had contact with the techie of my dealer, he said they know about these issues, and Toyota is working on an update to fix it (but i won't hold my breath) 

[Klas]

Hello all, I have this same issue on my 2019 ES. Its drivning me crazy to have to redo the connection every time I start my car. The phone hotspot is stored as favourite, but it doesn’t work. So after a while I have dozens of hotspots registered... as every time I connect my phone as a hotspot, the car creates a new favourite and adds it to the list. BTW, does the internet connection work with Bluetooth connection, too? As sometimes I don’t seem to have a connection via hotspot, but I can load POIs via google?

[Dapprman]

Just seen this thread - as some one else has surmised, the problem lies with the way apple have implemented Bluetooth and their power saving functions, not the car.  If there's nothing connected to the phone after a period is turns off it's listener to save power.  This can also cause cookies containing the encrypted connection keys to be cancelled on the phone side, which is why you have to re-authenticate.  I doubt apple are interested in fixing this as it's been a 'feature' for a good few years now.  While I'm not an Iphone user I have gone through the settings for a friend (who was tethering another phone off is - just don't ask about Pokemon Go and multiple accounts 😉 ) and there is no option to disable the time out.

Note the same problem does not exist with WiFi as the security is not as a strong, being just a password key.  On my latest Android phone I did note that either OnePlus (7 pro) or the latest release of Android has a WiFi hotspot idle time out by default, however this can be disabled.

[dorelgin]

The issue can be both with the phone and your internet connection. Have you considered trying a signal booster? You can read more about it here https://www.myamplifiers.com/

[Ian J. Parsley]

Just as a general rule, if you're not sure whether it's your Lexus or your Iphone that is the issue - it's your Iphone!