Jimrpa

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Are OTAs delivered over WiFi or cellular? I thought I saw someplace that the actual OTA payload is delivered over cellular, even if Wi-Fi is evailable?
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mpshizzle

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Are OTAs delivered over WiFi or cellular? I thought I saw someplace that the actual OTA payload is delivered over cellular, even if Wi-Fi is evailable?
When Ford sends out the update they can choose if it requires wifi or not. So far none of them have had that box checked, so they've been delivered over cellular
 

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When Ford sends out the update they can choose if it requires wifi or not. So far none of them have had that box checked, so they've been delivered over cellular
When its not checked, it can download over cellular or wifi. It seems to prefer wifi if its connected though. All of my updates have downloaded on my wifi.
 

Jimrpa

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When its not checked, it can download over cellular or wifi. It seems to prefer wifi if its connected though. All of my updates have downloaded on my wifi.
Thanks @mpshizzle and @benk016 I had a selfish reason for asking. I was wondering if the reason for multiple deployment failures could be tied to availability of cellular and/or Wi-Fi? I found that, during the 1.7.1 deployment, my Wi-Fi was having an odd issue. Long story short, a stupid router my HVAC contractor installed bridges my home network over to my neighbor’s network and all my traffic was flowing through their (unreliable) comcast connection and not my Verizon FiOS connection.
 

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Thanks @mpshizzle and @benk016 I had a selfish reason for asking. I was wondering if the reason for multiple deployment failures could be tied to availability of cellular and/or Wi-Fi? I found that, during the 1.7.1 deployment, my Wi-Fi was having an odd issue. Long story short, a stupid router my HVAC contractor installed bridges my home network over to my neighbor’s network and all my traffic was flowing through their (unreliable) comcast connection and not my Verizon FiOS connection.
It could have been an issue. I would have thought it would have downloaded on cellular when you were not at home though.
 


Jimrpa

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It could have been an issue. I would have thought it would have downloaded on cellular when you were not at home though.
Yea, that’s what I was thinking too. However, I have a suspicion that Ford tries to send out these updates at specific times - say 9:00 PM every Tuesday or something. In that case. I’d be out of luck. In any event, I’ve temporarily fixed my network problem, so that should not be the reason for the 2.3 failure.
 

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Yea, that’s what I was thinking too. However, I have a suspicion that Ford tries to send out these updates at specific times - say 9:00 PM every Tuesday or something. In that case. I’d be out of luck. In any event, I’ve temporarily fixed my network problem, so that should not be the reason for the 2.3 failure.
Mine have always come between 2pm and 4pm during the week. No idea if that is just a coincidence or what.
 

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There seems to be a lot of confusion around OTA. What updates are out, how they work, and how to know what you have. So I thought I'd make a guide to help clear things up.

1) What do the numbers mean?

Power Ups (OTA updates) are numbered, but the numbers mean nothing. They might as well be named Sharon, bill, and Tim. They can come in any order and do not (necessarily) depend on each other.

2) Can the updates be installed by the dealer (or FDRS)?

Short answer: no. Some of the updates (but not all) are also available via FDRS. But the few that are there are not numbered or labeled in the same way as the OTAs.

3) Can I force an update?

No. Unlike app updates, they are not available to go "fetch". We are totally at Ford's mercy here. They will specifically send an update to your car, and it has a limited time window to download and install it.

If you do not have automatic updates turned on, the car will prompt you to start the update or schedule it. But again, only when Ford specifically sends it to your car.

4) How do I know which updates I have?

There's no good way to tell. If your car has had an update, the most recent one will show under "software updates" on your sync screen. Beyond that, only your dealer can access the update history for your car.

Here's a list of what updates have been released so far (as of the writing of this post, this only applies to cars built before June 2021. Newer cars have not yet had any updates)

1.4.0 - Added Securialert
1.6.0 - Nothing you'd notice
1.7.1 - Sync update, added notes
2.1.0 - Nothing you'd notice
2.3.0 - Sync update, added some games and update scheduling abilities.


----Edit-----
While there's no OFFICIAL way to get more info about updates, it has been discovered that hidden in the Ford website you can get a bit more detail on the latest update push for your car. The easiest way to access this is via an iOS widget developed by @tonesto7

Details Here
2) Can the updates be installed by the dealer (or FDRS)? Yes, they are made available to dealers at the same time pushes to vehicles start.
 
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mpshizzle

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2) Can the updates be installed by the dealer (or FDRS)? Yes, they are made available to dealers at the same time pushes to vehicles start.
As of right now 1.7.1 is the most recent OTA software on FDRS.

There are newer updates that have become available on FDRS, but they are not OTA updates. 2.1.0 and 2.3.0 are not yet in FDRS as far as I know
 
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mpshizzle

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I'd like to add a section addressing how auto updates work, but I want to fact check this first. Can any ford employees or anyone in the know (such as @breeves002 @benk016 @Ford Motor Company) fact check this for me?

Q: What is the difference between Auto updates and the update schedule?

A: There are two kinds of updates that can be sent out.
1) smaller updates that can be installed on the fly while you're driving​
2) larger updates that require your car to be parked for several hours​
The installation process is as follows if you have Auto updates turned on:

For smaller updates - it will install as soon as it can (probably the next time you drive the car). Scheduling does not apply to these updates.

For larger updates - since these require your car to be parked for several hours, it will wait until your next scheduled time. If you do not have a schedule it will not automatically install. As of power up 2.3.0 there is a button that will allow you to install immediately rather than waiting for the next scheduled time.

As of the writing of this post, there have not yet been any large updates that require a schedule
 

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I'd like to add a section addressing how auto updates work, but I want to fact check this first. Can any ford employees or anyone in the know (such as @breeves002 @benk016 @Ford Motor Company) fact check this for me?

Q: What is the difference between Auto updates and the update schedule?

A: There are two kinds of updates that can be sent out.
1) smaller updates that can be installed on the fly while you're driving​
2) larger updates that require your car to be parked for several hours​
The installation process is as follows if you have Auto updates turned on:

For smaller updates - it will install as soon as it can (probably the next time you drive the car). Scheduling does not apply to these updates.

For larger updates - since these require your car to be parked for several hours, it will wait until your next scheduled time. If you do not have a schedule it will not automatically install. As of power up 2.3.0 there is a button that will allow you to install immediately rather than waiting for the next scheduled time.

As of the writing of this post, there have not yet been any large updates that require a schedule
Not 100% sure on auto versus schedule. I think they force you to schedule updates that require you to not use the car during the update.

Larger updates actually can be done while driving the car as well, its just specific modules that the car needs to be off for - ones that can't do an ABA swap. ABA swap works by uploading the new software to the "B" storage partition of a module while the "A" storage partition is operating. Once it is ready it flags ready. When the module reboots it makes the "B" storage now the "A" storage which makes it active as the new update. Modules with large software files like the IPMA have this ability.

Needing the car to be parked or not just has to do with the modules being updated. If they support ABA swap then no problem no need to park it. The ones that need to be flashed the old fashioned way by the GWM require the car to be parked.

Read more here: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/ota-updates-technical-info.4923/
 
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mpshizzle

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Not 100% sure on auto versus schedule. I think they force you to schedule updates that require you to not use the car during the update.

Larger updates actually can be done while driving the car as well, its just specific modules that the car needs to be off for - ones that can't do an ABA swap. ABA swap works by uploading the new software to the "B" storage partition of a module while the "A" storage partition is operating. Once it is ready it flags ready. When the module reboots it makes the "B" storage now the "A" storage which makes it active as the new update. Modules with large software files like the IPMA have this ability.

Needing the car to be parked or not just has to do with the modules being updated. If they support ABA swap then no problem no need to park it. The ones that need to be flashed the old fashioned way by the GWM require the car to be parked.

Read more here: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/ota-updates-technical-info.4923/
Ok so it sounds like I was right for the most part, but maybe rather than calling them large or small updates it would be better to just call them updates that require the car to be parked or not?
 
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mpshizzle

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2) Can the updates be installed by the dealer (or FDRS)? Yes, they are made available to dealers at the same time pushes to vehicles start.
Not sure how I missed this before, but I just added it to the original post
 
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mpshizzle

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I just cleaned up the original post, added some information about auto updates, and added info about failed updates. If anything needs a correction let me know
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