Help! Truck modem stops working/freezes up a lot, especially when using built in Alexa service with music (long post)

[tearitupsports]

The History: I have had the truck since January 2023 (lariat ER with large screen) and am at about 27k miles. The modem locking up has plagued me for the entire ownership experience. Usually the symptom is that the Fordpass app no longer shows real time updates (both old and new versions of the fordpass app). The locking up is intermittent. It might be down for a day or two, sometimes 20 minutes, etc. I tried all the original troubleshooting tools such as pulling fuse 32, but the only thing that consistently worked was going behind the rear passenger seat and disconnecting the modem cable a few seconds. Once I do that, the modem would work nearly flawlessly for about 2-3 weeks before it would start another downward decline. It is easy to tell when the modem is not working because I wont have the wi-fi icon when the truck stops, and often don't have the data (up/down arror) icon at the top of the screen either. Even if I do have the icons it may not really be working.

I have always had the Alexa linked in the truck and would use it on rare and random occasions to answer the kids silly questions. Recently I put a free trial of Amazon music unlimited on my account, and since the truck was already linked it works there too. The big issue is that after using it a bit (I will say between 10 and 30 minutes) it will seemingly lock up the truck modem. The noticeable symptom is that the music won't work, and the alexa wake command will respond with "I'm having trouble connecting to the internet." It is not just a spotty cell signal patch as it will not recover at all for the rest of the time the truck remains on.

This seems to have significantly escalated the issues I have always had, and still fails even after going through the full modem cable disconnect. Other things like Ford pass wont update correctly either (wont display that I'm fast charging when I am) or know the location of the vehicle.

Now sometimes this will work again when I turn off the truck and turn it back on again, but often this is not the case until the truck has been off for a while (like overnight).

Knowing how dealers work, it is unlikely they will spend hours to diagnose this issue, Even if it is happening at the moment I bring it there, it might magically go away by the time they get to looking at it.

As far as I know I have all the OTA updates. I just received the enhanced stability (24-xxxx) update which has certainly not enhanced any stability around the truck modem.

Has any one else seen this issue, and figured out how to solve it? Is it somehow possible to use a different communication device? I work in industrial automation, and use IOT cellular devices all the time, so I am fairly familiar with them. Is there someone at Ford engineering that could help?
I am about to drive from Texas to Maine and back and would like this not to be an issue the entire trip.

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[Ford Motor Company]

The History: I have had the truck since January 2023 (lariat ER with large screen) and am at about 27k miles. The modem locking up has plagued me for the entire ownership experience. Usually the symptom is that the Fordpass app no longer shows real time updates (both old and new versions of the fordpass app). The locking up is intermittent. It might be down for a day or two, sometimes 20 minutes, etc. I tried all the original troubleshooting tools such as pulling fuse 32, but the only thing that consistently worked was going behind the rear passenger seat and disconnecting the modem cable a few seconds. Once I do that, the modem would work nearly flawlessly for about 2-3 weeks before it would start another downward decline. It is easy to tell when the modem is not working because I wont have the wi-fi icon when the truck stops, and often don't have the data (up/down arror) icon at the top of the screen either. Even if I do have the icons it may not really be working.

I have always had the Alexa linked in the truck and would use it on rare and random occasions to answer the kids silly questions. Recently I put a free trial of Amazon music unlimited on my account, and since the truck was already linked it works there too. The big issue is that after using it a bit (I will say between 10 and 30 minutes) it will seemingly lock up the truck modem. The noticeable symptom is that the music won't work, and the alexa wake command will respond with "I'm having trouble connecting to the internet." It is not just a spotty cell signal patch as it will not recover at all for the rest of the time the truck remains on.

This seems to have significantly escalated the issues I have always had, and still fails even after going through the full modem cable disconnect. Other things like Ford pass wont update correctly either (wont display that I'm fast charging when I am) or know the location of the vehicle.

Now sometimes this will work again when I turn off the truck and turn it back on again, but often this is not the case until the truck has been off for a while (like overnight).

Knowing how dealers work, it is unlikely they will spend hours to diagnose this issue, Even if it is happening at the moment I bring it there, it might magically go away by the time they get to looking at it.

As far as I know I have all the OTA updates. I just received the enhanced stability (24-xxxx) update which has certainly not enhanced any stability around the truck modem.

Has any one else seen this issue, and figured out how to solve it? Is it somehow possible to use a different communication device? I work in industrial automation, and use IOT cellular devices all the time, so I am fairly familiar with them. Is there someone at Ford engineering that could help?
I am about to drive from Texas to Maine and back and would like this not to be an issue the entire trip.

Could you please send over a message with your VIN and estimated mileage? I would like to see what I can do to assist with your infotainment concerns on my end.

 

[Pod]

Let me know what if anything fixes this. Have the same thing on my Jan 23 as well. Modem is so spotty

 

[Heliian]

Contact your dealer, they may be able to see background failures and troubleshoot from there. If your connectivity is enabled, they can see error codes sent remotely.

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