WiFi Hot Spot Hack for always on?

[Desertdweller]

I have activated the AT&T WiFi hot spot. Has anyone found a way to keep the wifi hotspot active when the truck is off? I just had a BlackVue Dr900X dash cam with park mode that will record and notify me if someone bumps the vehicle. The problem is you need an internet connection to get a notification in real time. If the Hotspot was on, that would allow an instant notification. Otherwise the only other option is a separate $169 Blackvue module and another Sim card with a monthly fee.

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[mattbar1]

I have activated the AT&T WiFi hot spot. Has anyone found a way to keep the wifi hotspot active when the truck is off? I just had a BlackVue Dr900X dash cam with park mode that will record and notify me if someone bumps the vehicle. The problem is you need an internet connection to get a notification in real time. If the Hotspot was on, that would allow an instant notification. Otherwise the only other option is a separate $169 Blackvue module and another Sim card with a monthly fee.

Hey any luck with this?

 

[Merccat]

it would be a cool feature to enable and I don’t think it would be any excessive drain on the battery considering a portable hot spot lasts all day on a tiny battery. Maybe shutoff after 12 hours to be safe?

There is one concern I would have with an active hotspot: hackers. I could see potential to find an exploit that somehow gets them access to your hotspot where they then either commit crimes using your truck as a point of origin or somehow access some part of the trucks software.

 

[Desertdweller]

it would be a cool feature to enable and I don’t think it would be any excessive drain on the battery considering a portable hot spot lasts all day on a tiny battery. Maybe shutoff after 12 hours to be safe?

There is one concern I would have with an active hotspot: hackers. I could see potential to find an exploit that somehow gets them access to your hotspot where they then either commit crimes using your truck as a point of origin or somehow access some part of the trucks software.

I'm not that happy with AT&T and their lack of coverage so I'm looking to just ditch the Ford Hotspot and install an always on Verizon Hotspot.

 

[Merccat]

I'm not that happy with AT&T and their lack of coverage so I'm looking to just ditch the Ford Hotspot and install an always on Verizon Hotspot.

I think that is probably a better solution.

It would be nice if they wouldn’t lock us into one carrier, but I get that’s probably the terms of the deal that allows them to offer some of the free stuff to us. Wonder if someone down the road will figure out an unlock.

 

[Skier167]

I think that is probably a better solution.

It would be nice if they wouldn’t lock us into one carrier, but I get that’s probably the terms of the deal that allows them to offer some of the free stuff to us. Wonder if someone down the road will figure out an unlock.

I am planning on looking into this. If the SIM card is removable on the modem then I don’t see why the device couldn’t be unlocked and perform a sim swap to use another carrier. I’ve been in the cellular industry for 20 years so it’s plausible to use another carrier it just all depends on the modem. I’m trying to find the model number of the modems they use so I can look at a tech sheet on it but only coming up with ford’s part number.

 

[Bravo36]

Keep digging brother. You may strike gold. That would be wonderful to have choices on carriers.

 

[CommoSGT]

I am planning on looking into this. If the SIM card is removable on the modem then I don’t see why the device couldn’t be unlocked and perform a sim swap to use another carrier. I’ve been in the cellular industry for 20 years so it’s plausible to use another carrier it just all depends on the modem. I’m trying to find the model number of the modems they use so I can look at a tech sheet on it but only coming up with ford’s part number.

It uses the

I am planning on looking into this. If the SIM card is removable on the modem then I don’t see why the device couldn’t be unlocked and perform a sim swap to use another carrier. I’ve been in the cellular industry for 20 years so it’s plausible to use another carrier it just all depends on the modem. I’m trying to find the model number of the modems they use so I can look at a tech sheet on it but only coming up with ford’s part number.

It uses the MDM9650 chip, I thought I saw somewhere that they were using eSIM. The backbone to allow the connections to Ford may be a locked down tunnel with no way to get there from other carriers. Just my 0.02 worth

(Former Nortel employee)

 

[Skier167]

It uses the

It uses the MDM9650 chip, I thought I saw somewhere that they were using eSIM. The backbone to allow the connections to Ford may be a locked down tunnel with no way to get there from other carriers. Just my 0.02 worth

(Former Nortel employee)

That’s what I’m afraid of. I found another thread in the f150.com forum that talked about Ford using att for all there communications between the truck and Ford servers. If you could change carriers, that’s very big if, I would believe it would be at the expense of not having a connected truck for fordpass and updates away from local WiFi. I will keep the att service more than likely so I have a different carrier than my cell phone for internet and kids iPad

 

[CommoSGT]

@Skier167 I plan to do some Wireshark and other network snooping when my truck finally gets connected. From what I have seen so far, it looks like the GW and TCU aren't setup correctly. The issues I am seeing make me think of the dead of night mistakes I have seen some engineers make. Load a router and do all the configuration and routing tables...then rebooting before you remembered to do the commit or save memory.

Does anyone know what the current TCU and GW files are for a functioning F150?

 

[Desertdweller]

I am planning on looking into this. If the SIM card is removable on the modem then I don’t see why the device couldn’t be unlocked and perform a sim swap to use another carrier. I’ve been in the cellular industry for 20 years so it’s plausible to use another carrier it just all depends on the modem. I’m trying to find the model number of the modems they use so I can look at a tech sheet on it but only coming up with ford’s part number.

That would be great!

 

[Burnsie3435]

Hello, I just wanted to revive this thread to see if there was anything that anyone found for keeping the hotspot on.

I have the Powerboost, so I shouldn't really even need to run the engine, but if I leave it parked for too long with the engine running, it shuts itself off.

I want to use the hotspot to stream YoutubeTV to a smart TV while tailgating football games. So I am near the truck, but not in it, and not driving anywhere. Its a pain to have to go turn the truck back on and get the TV connected again every so often.

I blew through the 3GB free trial pretty quickly and had to switch to my cell phone hotspot, which drained the battery more than I would like. I am not going to pay for the hotspot, unless there is a way to actually use it the way I want to.

Does running the Propower generator let the truck and therefore the hotspot stay on?

 

[Madman]

Hello, I just wanted to revive this thread to see if there was anything that anyone found for keeping the hotspot on.

I have the Powerboost, so I shouldn't really even need to run the engine, but if I leave it parked for too long with the engine running, it shuts itself off.

I want to use the hotspot to stream YoutubeTV to a smart TV while tailgating football games. So I am near the truck, but not in it, and not driving anywhere. Its a pain to have to go turn the truck back on and get the TV connected again every so often.

I blew through the 3GB free trial pretty quickly and had to switch to my cell phone hotspot, which drained the battery more than I would like. I am not going to pay for the hotspot, unless there is a way to actually use it the way I want to.

Does running the Propower generator let the truck and therefore the hotspot stay on?

Yes! That’s the reason those folks in Texas were able to power their homes during last winter’s massive power outages.

I used it on Saturday to program my coffee maker set it to brew espresso shots for my softball team between morning playoff games. It was on for ~2 hours with tailgate and doors locked. When done, we got a jolt to power us thru game 2.

 

[Snakebitten]

Does running the Propower generator let the truck and therefore the hotspot stay on?

With a Powerboost you would simply leave the truck running, which would only require about 3 minutes of actual motor running time per hour.
Obviously I wouldn't want to be sitting next to the exhaust outlet, but a Powerboost is the current ultimate tailgater truck!

To keep the truck at the lowest runtime possible, reduce the HVAC load on the battery since you won't be sitting in the truck. If the weather is nice enough, just leave the windows down a little to keep the interior from getting too hot.

As for Ford choosing AT&T, there's just as many folks that benefit from that than those that don't. I happen to live in a strong AT&T area so luck of the draw. And the second time since my previous F150 had the same feature.

And I have never had bad luck when traveling on major thoroughfares in recent years either.

My favorite camping spot, where I might stay a month or longer at a time also has a big fat AT&T cell on the adjacent mountain. I get more bandwidth than the campground WiFi provides.

 

[Desertdweller]

Hello, I just wanted to revive this thread to see if there was anything that anyone found for keeping the hotspot on.

I have the Powerboost, so I shouldn't really even need to run the engine, but if I leave it parked for too long with the engine running, it shuts itself off.

I want to use the hotspot to stream YoutubeTV to a smart TV while tailgating football games. So I am near the truck, but not in it, and not driving anywhere. Its a pain to have to go turn the truck back on and get the TV connected again every so often.

I blew through the 3GB free trial pretty quickly and had to switch to my cell phone hotspot, which drained the battery more than I would like. I am not going to pay for the hotspot, unless there is a way to actually use it the way I want to.

Does running the Propower generator let the truck and therefore the hotspot stay on?

I ended up dumping the AT&T hotspot for the Verizon Jetpack 8800L which I plug into the USB port. It will stay up for a while, but in the end it always discharges and shuts off. I don't think the USB port stays on constantly. That being said it does what I wanted it to do which is stay on long enough for a overnight stay at a hotel or while having dinner and being able to get a real-time incident notification. I swap the front camera between my Aston Martin and the F-150 and it works out well with a quick change BlendMount in each.

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