Fix Carwings app on smart phones in US?

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jlsoaz

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
Messages
849
Location
Southern Arizona, USA
At the Phoenix meeting I don't remember if it was part of the main presentation but I do think I talked about this with one or more people afterward, including both Nissan reps and fellow drivers. We discussed that several of us have had a few basic issues with the cell phone app. The Nissan reps hadn't had any problems but they are using the app in Tokyo and perhaps that has something to do with it?

I was at a restaurant yesterday, waiting for a Blink charge to finish and trying to use my android phone to check the charge status and, unfortunately, it was just useless. I don't think it ever successfully updated, over three hours and several attempts. Could this be my own lack of savvy about cell phones or a bad connection or something else? Absolutely. However, it seemed at the Phoenix meeting that there might be other drivers out there who have had some difficulties with using cell phone/Carwings tie-in here in the US, so maybe it would be an easy win for Nissan to look into this and see if anything can be ironed out?
 
I've only had my Leaf for less than a month, but I have had no problems with the CarWings app on my phone. It updates quickly, gives me an accurate charge status, and when I remotely request to turn on the climate control it does it.

Their web page is a different story. For some reason, when I ask for updates, it takes a LONG time to get them, much longer than on the cell phone app.

I wouldn't rule out a bad cell connection though. Nissan USA uses AT&T Wireless for CarWings, so if their service is spotty where the car is parked, you can expect unreliable CarWings service too.
 
RonDawg said:
I've only had my Leaf for less than a month, but I have had no problems with the CarWings app on my phone. It updates quickly, gives me an accurate charge status, and when I remotely request to turn on the climate control it does it.

Their web page is a different story. For some reason, when I ask for updates, it takes a LONG time to get them, much longer than on the cell phone app.

I wouldn't rule out a bad cell connection though. Nissan USA uses AT&T Wireless for CarWings, so if their service is spotty where the car is parked, you can expect unreliable CarWings service too.

Thanks, maybe that's the issue. I have a Verizon cell and I guess it takes both AT&T and Verizon to work properly, each time.
 
Not sure what the topology is. Do CarWings requests from North America have to route back to servers in Japan? Just wondering if response times could be improved if most communication could be kept in the local market through more infrastructure. I have no plans of driving to Japan. :)
 
I gave up on the official app after the most recent update and switched to a third party app on my Android phone. The app is Leaf Manager and is free (Ad supported with an option to pay to get rid of ads). One thing I asked the developer to do, and they did immediately, was to add the ability to issue commands (charge on/climate on) while the app is going through the login process, so I can pop open the app, click start climate control, and close it without waiting for the stupid thing to finish logging in. Saves a bunch of time...
 
zarwin said:
I gave up on the official app after the most recent update and switched to a third party app on my Android phone. The app is Leaf Manager and is free (Ad supported with an option to pay to get rid of ads). One thing I asked the developer to do, and they did immediately, was to add the ability to issue commands (charge on/climate on) while the app is going through the login process, so I can pop open the app, click start climate control, and close it without waiting for the stupid thing to finish logging in. Saves a bunch of time...

Thanks I'll have a look.

If you're finding that a change in apps helps, then maybe this is an indication that the problem (for some of us in the US) is not always the cell phone connection but perhaps (sometimes) in the app itself?
 
Nubo said:
Not sure what the topology is. Do CarWings requests from North America have to route back to servers in Japan? Just wondering if response times could be improved if most communication could be kept in the local market through more infrastructure. I have no plans of driving to Japan. :)
Actually, I think the requests ARE sent to the Japanese server, and the local servers just filters if you belong to US, Canada, Europe, Australia etc

At least, I, as a European user can log into the Japanese server (either using my leaf manager app, or using the official android app from the Japanese play store), however doing so, will lock me out of logging into the European (iphone) server until my active session with the Japanese server times out (about 2 hours or so).

In Europe they however added a local server that is used by android app, which seems to be local, and independent on the server in Japan (except it keeps the username/password etc in sync somehow)
This server has its own set of data stored for when data was last read from the car, while the iphone server and the japanese server shares the same data.

Dont know if American users also can log directly into Japanese server, but my guess is they can.
 
gyathaar said:
Nubo said:
Not sure what the topology is. Do CarWings requests from North America have to route back to servers in Japan? Just wondering if response times could be improved if most communication could be kept in the local market through more infrastructure. I have no plans of driving to Japan. :)
Actually, I think the requests ARE sent to the Japanese server, and the local servers just filters if you belong to US, Canada, Europe, Australia etc

[...]

Dont know if American users also can log directly into Japanese server, but my guess is they can.

I don't know the answer as to what signal goes where. If there is some issue of sending data overseas and waiting for a response, then maybe that would explain something. I am recalling a discussion at the Phoenix Town Hall with one of the three Tokyo-based executives. They do drive Leafs but didn't seem as familiar with Carwings issues as I might have thought. I don't want to say they weren't aware of issues but there was perhaps an element of them also using Carwings as drivers, and not have quite the same issues. Perhaps this geographic location difference would explain some or all of the difference?
 
jlsoaz said:
If you're finding that a change in apps helps, then maybe this is an indication that the problem (for some of us in the US) is not always the cell phone connection but perhaps (sometimes) in the app itself?

The short answer is: no. While I use the "Leaf Link" app almost exclusively, all roads lead back to CarWings, and it doesn't really matter WHERE the server resides (although it's Japan) as long as the comm links are UP. After all, this stuff travels at the speed of light :geek:
In fact, CarWings response time has been better than ever based on whatever they "fixed" after the (major) CarWings outage a couple of months ago.
 
RonDawg said:
I wouldn't rule out a bad cell connection though. Nissan USA uses AT&T Wireless for CarWings, so if their service is spotty where the car is parked, you can expect unreliable CarWings service too.
It would be interesting to get some stats from folks where Carwings does or doesn't work well for them like these:

- smartphone OS platform, version #, carrier, phone model (e.g. iOS 6.1 on AT&T iPhone 5, Android 4.1.1 on AT&T Samsung Galaxy III, etc.)
- Nissan Leaf app version (currently see 2.2.2 on https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nissan-leaf/id407814405?mt=8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aqsmartphone.android.nissan&hl=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
- whether AT&T coverage is known to be good/bad in your area (http://www.nissanusa.com/electric-cars/leaf/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; mentions "CARWINGS™ requires compatible 2G GSM/GPRS cellular network...")
- your geographic area
- specific problems being hit

That would be a lot more actionable than just random problem reports and others saying they have no problem. (I used to test software for a living and always hated bug reports w/insufficient info that we couldn't repro or where we had to take lots of shots in the dark to attempt to repro, sometimes in vain.)
 
Stanton said:
jlsoaz said:
If you're finding that a change in apps helps, then maybe this is an indication that the problem (for some of us in the US) is not always the cell phone connection but perhaps (sometimes) in the app itself?

The short answer is: no. While I use the "Leaf Link" app almost exclusively, all roads lead back to CarWings, and it doesn't really matter WHERE the server resides (although it's Japan) as long as the comm links are UP. After all, this stuff travels at the speed of light :geek:
In fact, CarWings response time has been better than ever based on whatever they "fixed" after the (major) CarWings outage a couple of months ago.

Hi Stanton: Do you know that CarWings response time is better than ever for everyone or just for you and a few others? Is there a way to see some indication of this somewhere? If your knowledge is just for your experience, or yours and a few others, then why state it as though you can speak for everyone's experience?
 
Addendum: this whole thing may seem like beating the issue to death, so let me add that I am not particularly bothered "that" much by Carwings not working consistently for me, I just suggest that as a smart business play, maybe it's something Nissan should get on top of and investigate what percent of users are having real reproduceable problems, and if they really are, then address it. So, again, I'm trying to be meticulous to go through the exercise, not because I think this particular issue is hyper-critical.

cwerdna said:
RonDawg said:
I wouldn't rule out a bad cell connection though. Nissan USA uses AT&T Wireless for CarWings, so if their service is spotty where the car is parked, you can expect unreliable CarWings service too.
It would be interesting to get some stats from folks where Carwings does or doesn't work well for them like these:

- smartphone OS platform, version #, carrier, phone model (e.g. iOS 6.1 on AT&T iPhone 5, Android 4.1.1 on AT&T Samsung Galaxy III, etc.)
- Nissan Leaf app version (currently see 2.2.2 on https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nissan-leaf/id407814405?mt=8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aqsmartphone.android.nissan&hl=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
- whether AT&T coverage is known to be good/bad in your area (http://www.nissanusa.com/electric-cars/leaf/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; mentions "CARWINGS™ requires compatible 2G GSM/GPRS cellular network...")
- your geographic area
- specific problems being hit

That would be a lot more actionable than just random problem reports and others saying they have no problem. (I used to test software for a living and always hated bug reports w/insufficient info that we couldn't repro or where we had to take lots of shots in the dark to attempt to repro, sometimes in vain.)

Hi, not that I think it's going to catch on, but to carry out the exercise insofar as possible, for me.

- smartphone OS platform, version #, carrier, phone model (e.g. iOS 6.1 on AT&T iPhone 5, Android 4.1.1 on AT&T Samsung Galaxy III, etc.)

- Samsung Galaxy SIII, Android, version 4.1.1 per a look at my phone just now, carrier: Verizon (the best coverage at my house, and also throughout many parts of the county where I regularly drive).

- Nissan Leaf app version (currently see 2.2.2 on https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nissan-leaf/id407814405?mt=8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aqsmartphone.android.nissan&hl=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
2.2.2

- whether AT&T coverage is known to be good/bad in your area (http://www.nissanusa.com/electric-cars/leaf/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; mentions "CARWINGS™ requires compatible 2G GSM/GPRS cellular network...")

Roughly, AT&T I would estimate to have coverage not as good as Verizon coverage, but perhaps not the worst in the area. I have had visitors to my house who have been able to carry out cell phone conversations without interruption on AT&T. Outside my house, I'm not sure what the latest is on AT&T around here.

It's perhaps worth noting that my house is partially underground. The garage is conventional (wood roof) but concrete walls.

I do have Carwings update issues outside the house as well , but as of right now I don't know how to answer the important question of what percent of update attempts don't work out, outside the house.


- your geographic area

Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Some limited driving in Pima County, Arizona

- specific problems being hit

- Sometimes updates cannot be done, or they may take more than a few minutes. It's not quite clear to me why they would need more than 10-20 or 30 seconds, but generally when I hit update I am pleased if I can get them back in a few minutes. I have not been meticulous noting if the problem is worse at my house or outside the house, nor have I kept a stop-watch on any,... these are all my impressions.

- I just performed an update and did not keep a stop-watch, but it seemed to take place in about a minute. This meant I did not reproduce the problem (everything seemed to go well), but it does illustrate that the issue is sporadic - sometimes the app seems to work very well, and sometimes not so much.

- As a seemingly separate issue, the app seems to hang on my phone a lot, meaning that I will touch the icon and it will just seem to not start up properly, and-or I will have to go in and hit "end" the application in the task manager. From there I can start it back up readily and that is usually part of the process of trying to coax an update out of it.

- Not a novice wintel computer user, but I am a total novice smart phone user.

----end summary------

The "Leaf Manager" 3rd party app that someone recommended the other day is one that I have now bought and used and it seems to work. I also just performed an update with that, and it seemed to go well (under 1 minute I'd say). Overall, my undocumented impression is I may get a bit more reliability out of it, though there have been a few times when I tried to get an update from that app that didn't work out.

Overall, I don't start by assuming that my issues with CarWings extend beyond me except that it seems clear both from comments on the discussion boards and from direct conversation at the Phoenix Town Hall that some (impossible for me to estimate what percent how many, could be relatively small) other users seem to have similar issues.
 
jlsoaz said:
The "Leaf Manager" 3rd party app that someone recommended the other day is one that I have now bought and used and it seems to work. I also just performed an update with that, and it seemed to go well (under 1 minute I'd say). Overall, my undocumented impression is I may get a bit more reliability out of it, though there have been a few times when I tried to get an update from that app that didn't work out.
I need to do some optimizations in that part of the leaf manager code... it simply gives up if there is no update on server after 20 secs... the official app tries several times for up to a few minutes if there is no update available yet (unfortunately the apps has to poll the server to check when update is available after it sends the update request)
I think in most cases (more than 95%) the update is available in less than 20 secs
 
Ever since they had a major outage several weeks ago and it started working again, i have had zero issues and fairly quick response times of 30s.
 
mkjayakumar said:
Ever since they had a major outage several weeks ago and it started working again, i have had zero issues and fairly quick response times of 30s.

Maybe Nissan is in process of being responsive on this issue. I'll try to keep track a bit if the CarWings app seems like it's working a bit better on my end.
 
mkjayakumar said:
Ever since they had a major outage several weeks ago and it started working again, i have had zero issues and fairly quick response times of 30s.

Same here.
 
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