Wifi help

Princess Doris · Tuesday at 10:55 AM

We have had our 6.1 Ocean for over a year now and have never got to grips with the WiFi.
I have the wifi connect light on.
I have done a factory reset just to get back to the beginning.
I have installed the California on Tour app.
First problem. The vehicle will not connect to the app. I've tried numerous times.
Next issue.
If I do a wifi scan on my phone, I see 2 signals.
One is VW#### which is the number associated with our vehicle.
The second is the nickname of our vehicle that I must have set up when we first took ownership.
I cannot login to either of these two signals because both keep saying incorrect password.
How do I reset the passwords ?
Why do I see 2 signals from the vehicle ?
Why will the vehicle not connect to the app ?
Thanks in advance.

Aspire4969 · Tuesday at 5:25 PM

It’s not a very well implemented system unfortunately and I also have constant issues getting the California on tour app to connect successfully but the following may help….

Will caveat that I only have experience with iOS and not android.

The VW#### WiFi is the original van WiFi. You’d use this if using Wireless Apple CarPlay and I think if you were to buy a data plan then you’d use it for internet.

The California WiFi (probably the one you nicknamed) is the one the app uses and gives you control of the camping side. This is switched on and off using the WiFi button on the dash.

To connect to the California WiFi I believe it first negotiates over Bluetooth then attempts a WiFi connection so you don’t need to know the password.

Firstly, disable CarPlay on your phone if you have it configured (settings > general > CarPlay > disable the VW####) this is only temporary to stop your phone trying to connect to CarPlay WiFi all the time.

Secondly it helps if you are near the front of the van (ie drivers seat) and not surrounded by lots of other WiFi, especially your own home WiFi.

I’ve found the most successful attempts are made if I disable WiFi first on my phone. Open the California on tour app, ask it to connect. It’ll then pop up asking me if I want to connect to California-### wait 5-10 seconds before accepting then let it do its thing. 50/50 chance it’ll connect or just complain it couldn’t and you have to try again.

Also make sure you don’t have any VPN (especially on demand) configured on your phone as this will stop it connecting too.

HTH. It’s not full proof but has increased my chances of connecting.

Princess Doris · Tuesday at 6:12 PM

Thanks for the input. I'm not exactly a novice with these techie things but this has me beat. I guessed that the system was not exactly robust.
I have android and my wife has apple. Both phones connect easily for android auto and apple carplay through Bluetooth, but that isn't a problem.
It's the wifi side. I would like to be able to use the app, mostly for turning lights off at night time.
I will persevere.
Cheers

AdamsFamily · Tuesday at 10:50 PM

As you have read, its a real faff getting it to work, and its a pain to use. The App / WiFi don't hold a good connection unless you're on top of it.
But using it for the lights is one of the reasons I wanted the WiFi, but it seems that the WiFi goes to sleep once the ignition is off so its kind of pointless from what I can see - you've got to get up to take your keys out the ignition so you may as well use the overhead console to turn the lights off.
I gave up using it.

Princess Doris · Wednesday at 7:07 AM

Seems like I shouldn't waste anymore time on it ‍

deuteronomy78 · Wednesday at 10:25 AM

I managed to get it working fine, someone handily posted a guide up a month or 2 ago. It did help to disable private relay/ turn off limit ip address tracking and disabling rotating Mac Addresses on my iPhone though for the California network, but the app now works fine and is very handy.