If you're not getting OTA updates, try this...

[Borchelt]

About a month ago, my truck had not had an OTA update since 9/23. I needed the garage space for a woodworking project so I moved the truck out to the driveway away from the WiFi signal. On day 3 a new update came in. I thought "Great..finally getting them" . Back in the garage and back on WiFi. No more updates. Turned the WiFi off with the truck in the garage and immediately got an update after a day. My only conclusion is that somehow, while the truck connected to my Wi-Fi, a setting on the router prevented my updates.

Try turning the WiFi off in the truck and see if the onboard modem will work. Worth a shot for minimal effort.

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[Cobraman428]

I believe most OTA updates are done over Cellular and only a few require wifi. Others with more knowledge can correct me on this.

 

[rugedraw]

I believe most OTA updates are done over Cellular and only a few require wifi. Others with more knowledge can correct me on this.

Correct. The only updates that require wifi are the config only OTAs of which (to the best of my knowledge) Ford has only released 3 of them.

 

[2Lazy2P]

At our house we have no cell connection except cellular over WiFi. The OTA’s usually start when we’re parked at the grocery store.

 

[Borchelt]

Correct. The only updates that require wifi are the config only OTAs of which (to the best of my knowledge) Ford has only released 3 of them.

I trust @rugedraw on all things F-150 so I'll defer to his description. I guess in my case my logic assumed Correlation was indeed Causation....rookie mistake

 

[Brent@ANParts]

I had similar issues back when I had a Tesla. Could never get the updates to work over WiFi, had to leave the car by a supercharger and let it connect that way. Not surprised to hear other brands having this issue with OTAs.

 

[Lefty665]

Why did you enable wi-fi on your truck in the first place? You can turn it off in the truck without shutting off your home wi-fi in the garage.

 

[Borchelt]

Why did you enable wi-fi on your truck in the first place? You can turn it off in the truck without shutting off your home wi-fi in the garage.

Yeah..I turned off the trucks scan for Wifi...unclear wording on my part

BTW saw you had a 64 442, My first car was a 66 442...loved it

 

[Juiceman_210]

At our house we have no cell connection except cellular over WiFi. The OTA’s usually start when we’re parked at the grocery store.

This!!! Lately, when the wife takes the truck to Whole Foods, boom an update downloads. Don’t know why it tends to happen there.

 

[PaulGrun]

I'll add to the speculation here...(not to say that most posts here are highly credible, just saying that mine is just pure speculation).
I believe it is true on cell phones that the phone will default to the wifi connection if one is available instead of using the available cellular network (I'm talking about data here, not voice).
I have noticed that if I connected to a restricted wifi network, it is frequently the case that a website I am trying to visit will not load ... even though there is a strong cellular signal. But if I shut down the wifi, forcing the phone onto cellular, it loads immediately.

For example, this happens pretty reliably in an airport when connected to either the airline's wifi network, or the crappy "free wifi". Webpages won't load at all, or load veeeeery slowly. Disabling wifi solves the issue immediately.
I wonder if that's what's going on with the OP's garage wifi. Even though most OTAs load via cellular, the presence of a valid wifi network is preventing the truck's networking system from connecting to the mothership via cellular.

Just idle speculation, but maybe not too far off the mark.

 

[Lefty665]

Yeah..I turned off the trucks scan for Wifi...unclear wording on my part

BTW saw you had a 64 442, My first car was a 66 442...loved it

Neat. F150s are nice, but Ozmobile 442s rule! OTOH, my fuel injected, supercharged 6 banger truck has more horsepower and torque than my muscle car. Go figure. Years ago that power was only in our dreams.

 

[SilverPigeon]

Most OTAs seem to download via cellular, and some can download via wi-fi. However, ALL OTAs to date have only ever been triggered via cellular. It's the reason I've never had an OTA, ever. Because of locality, my TCU cannot ever connect to our cell networks.

 

[TopOMichXL]

How can one tell when their truck has received an update?

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

How can one tell when their truck has received an update?

You will get an alert on FordPass

 

[rjinaz]

My house has terrible AT&T service, 1 bar if you're lucky. I have never recieved an OTA update while parked at home. Like seriously... never.
The only way I get updates is when I park somewhere with good service and I'm there for a while.
Or I fire up FDRS.

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