2023.02.05 update caused bandwidth issues with our household internet

[godfodder0901]

I was not actively doing an download or updating to the truck at the time. I had installed the latest Rivian software the day before and after that noticed the very slow internet service on the rest of our devices. That slow service persisted for 2 days, then I started investigating. I sat in the truck and repeatedly ran speed tests while turning the R1T wifi on and off. I consistently had 25 MbPS with it off and often, but not always, 1 or less with it on.

Granted 25 Mbps is not great but after this most recent software update it seemed to be especially slow.

The question is though, why is the truck sending/receiving so much data when there is no update in progress and no app running on my phone and just parked in the garage?

Were you accidentally or automatically connecting to the truck's Hotspot?

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[CommodoreAmiga]

Were you accidentally or automatically connecting to the truck's Hotspot?

Hotspot would go over cellular — not OPs home WiFi/ISP.

 

[DanSexton]

I have seen the same behavior. After driving around for the day and returning home the truck connects to your internet and uploads a huge amount of telemetry data via a connection named "u-blox AG" that you can find on your home internet. Since most people have a much smaller upload bandwidth than download it will quickly saturate it and bring your home internet to its knees. Last I looked it uploaded 8 Gig after driving it around for the day and returning home.

I use my mesh management tools (eero) to just block the connection and then unblock it before I go to bed.

 

[bael]

I regularly see the truck wake up and send of 40-50MB every couple of hours. It’s been parked for the last 2 days not plugged in and still that amount. A 15 minute drive can generate 300 or so. Just depends. This has been steady and hasn’t changed with any version of software.
when I first got the truck, it uploaded 50GB that evening!

 

[Madsen203]

Insane amount of energy and data waste these trucks bring. 25mbps is slower than starlink. Sounds like you live in the woods. We have a 800mbps connection and never feel lag. I’d disable wifi in truck or use forget network and it should resolve the issue for you.

 

[Budman]

Insane amount of energy and data waste these trucks bring. 25mbps is slower than starlink. Sounds like you live in the woods. We have a 800mbps connection and never feel lag. I’d disable wifi in truck or use forget network and it should resolve the issue for you.

Yes. I will only turn on wifi when an update is expected.

 

[Riviot]

Insane amount of energy and data waste these trucks bring. 25mbps is slower than starlink. Sounds like you live in the woods. We have a 800mbps connection and never feel lag. I’d disable wifi in truck or use forget network and it should resolve the issue for you.

Welcome to beta testing. With only ~25k vehicles on the road, Rivian is still in the learning phase. This data helps improve Driver+, the nav system, and a suite of other features people complain so hard about.

 

[usofrob]

In order to see what's really happening, you'll need to do a little more investigation. The truck could be using all your download bandwidth, or it could be broadcasting a signal over Wi-Fi to interfere with your other devices. The easiest thing to do might be to log in to your Wi-Fi router, and look to see what device is using the bandwidth. You could also download a Wi-Fi detector onto your phone to see if the Rivian is using the same Wi-Fi channel as you for something. Or you can just turn off the Wi-Fi on the Rivian and wait for another update.

 

[vinsonr]

These trucks seem to upload about 35GB of data per month, and might have an end of month big batch.

This graph shows my truck's wifi activity over the last week, 5.08GB down, 7.37GB up. The blue peak is the OTA update, less than 5GB.

The truck connects to wifi very regularly and uploads data at a slow pace.

Occasionally it uploads a significant amount, might be at end of month. I picked it up Dec 16th and it had uploaded 18.4GB by Jan 1 with a big spike at the end of Dec. Dec 20th was my first OTA update.

The data in these graphs is very smoothed. The periods of uploading above show up like the single low and wide purple bit below.

I also saw a significant amount in early Feb, shown below. The delay from end of Jan was likely due to my truck not connecting to wifi for a few days until I realized it and did a reset.

 

[vinsonr]

Hotspot would go over cellular — not OPs home WiFi/ISP.

I don't believe so. I just did a speed test from my phone connected to my truck which was on wifi and here's the traffic from my router logs:

 

[godfodder0901]

Hotspot would go over cellular — not OPs home WiFi/ISP.

Right, but the evidence of the slowdown was described as a speed test. If OP was unknowingly connected to the truck hotspot while conducting the 'truck Wi-Fi on' portion of the test, and he lives in an area of poor AT&T coverage, it would stand that his speed test would indicate a slow down while the truck Wi-Fi was 'on'.

 

[Budman]

Right, but the evidence of the slowdown was described as a speed test. If OP was unknowingly connected to the truck hotspot while conducting the 'truck Wi-Fi on' portion of the test, and he lives in an area of poor AT&T coverage, it would stand that his speed test would indicate a slow down while the truck Wi-Fi was 'on'.

I started this thread, and to answer a point a few brought up; I was attached to my house router 5G signal. We have poor internet options in our neighborhood, the bandwidth coming into my router is only 50mbps. That has to be shared across all our devices. When the Rivian was uploading its data or whatever it was doing it pretty much shut down everything else.

 

[jpa5635]

I started this thread, and to answer a point a few brought up; I was attached to my house router 5G signal. We have poor internet options in our neighborhood, the bandwidth coming into my router is only 50mbps. That has to be shared across all our devices. When the Rivian was uploading its data or whatever it was doing it pretty much shut down everything else.

I've spent quite a bit of time tracking the network activity of my truck and can definitively say that the truck doesn't transfer data at a rate that would effect your wired internet speed. At best the truck uploads at hundreds of kilobit speeds. What you're likely seeing is either crowded wifi channels or a weak signal at the truck which is causing hella retransmissions. I have dedicated an access point to our EVs to avoid just this sort of issue.

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