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There are big threads on this on the Andrioid Central and HTC user forums. Many folks are experiencing terrible wifi performance. My experience is typical; right next to my router I can pull 13Mbps+ (via speedtest), but if I go into the next room or anywhere else in the house my signal drops to one bar and thoroughput plummets to <1Mbps. Both my iPhone and iPad work great around the whole house.
No problems here. In fact, I've been very pleased with the wifi, 3G, and 4G coverage I have here compared with the wifi and 3G I had with my Hero. My speeds are also markedly better. I was pulling 1.9Mbps with 3G yesterday and at that point, I don't think I have any reason to complain about service.
No problems with mine either. Maybe Apple is trying to discredit other products while they are running... lol
i thought i was the only one seeing this, i walk a few steps away from my router and it drops to zero or just one bar. i guess it works best with a wireless N router
My Evo's wi-fi reception isn't as horrible as some claim it to be, but it is noticeably weaker than that of my Touch Pro. When I go downstairs, I drop down to one or two bars, where as my Touch Pro stays at a solid three bars.
Try and take your router out of dual/tripple band mode and run it on only G or N and see how it does.
I've noticed running with backwards compatibility messes a lot of phones up.
i'm having the same issues...
running a linksys 802.11/b/g/n router
seeing the same issues with my ipad, but not with my old iphone
can this be remedied with a simple hack to the os? or would it be totally hw related?
YoungAceAtlanta said:
i thought i was the only one seeing this, i walk a few steps away from my router and it drops to zero or just one bar. i guess it works best with a wireless N router
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Click to collapse
Same for me man, its terrible. Mine isnt rooted or custom rom'd yet though so well see whats up when they start hax0rin the phone a lil more.
Chriscic said:
There are big threads on this on the Andrioid Central and HTC user forums. Many folks are experiencing terrible wifi performance. My experience is typical; right next to my router I can pull 13Mbps+ (via speedtest), but if I go into the next room or anywhere else in the house my signal drops to one bar and thoroughput plummets to <1Mbps. Both my iPhone and iPad work great around the whole house.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YoungAceAtlanta said:
i thought i was the only one seeing this, i walk a few steps away from my router and it drops to zero or just one bar. i guess it works best with a wireless N router
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Poor Wi-Fi performance would be a dealbreaker so how much of a reality:rumor is this?
I would have to take Sprint up on their 30-day Satisfaction Guarantee-return policy if this issue is not resolved..
BTW, N I've heard will not be supported until 2.2
YoungAceAtlanta said:
i thought i was the only one seeing this, i walk a few steps away from my router and it drops to zero or just one bar. i guess it works best with a wireless N router
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Click to collapse
I have a wireless N router. Someone on one of the other forums says that Android 2.1 only runs G wireless anyway, although I'm not knowledgeable enough on that yet to confirm that it's true.
Mine is also bad i get 10 to 15ft away and it drops to nothing.
rickgomez2003 said:
Mine is also bad i get 10 to 15ft away and it drops to nothing.
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Click to collapse
mine drops to * to 1 bar when I go around the house, but it's still working and never disconnects so I don't really care.
-edit- our router sucks too btw so I'm not surprised.
Evo wifi
I just got my Evo as we were heading to Mexico for vacation. My whole family has (including me) and iphone but I had my Evo with me when we went to a restaurant to eat. The restaurant had wifi coverage but we had to get a password to access. Accessing the wifi with the EVO is a bit more time consuming than the iphone but I didnt care about that. What i DID care was everyone else was saying..CONNECTED as my EVO was still searching. It did find the signal about 15 seconds later. Now the frustrating part. My signal kept dropping while my family, with iphones kept bragging about their signal never dropping. Finally the signal dropped totally from my EVO and I had to use my wifes iphone. I love the EVO and want this phone to work for me. Im not an Iphone fanboy either. I feel like this is something that will be fixed with an update.
wfhowell said:
I just got my Evo as we were heading to Mexico for vacation. My whole family has (including me) and iphone but I had my Evo with me when we went to a restaurant to eat. The restaurant had wifi coverage but we had to get a password to access. Accessing the wifi with the EVO is a bit more time consuming than the iphone but I didnt care about that. What i DID care was everyone else was saying..CONNECTED as my EVO was still searching. It did find the signal about 15 seconds later. Now the frustrating part. My signal kept dropping while my family, with iphones kept bragging about their signal never dropping. Finally the signal dropped totally from my EVO and I had to use my wifes iphone. I love the EVO and want this phone to work for me. Im not an Iphone fanboy either. I feel like this is something that will be fixed with an update.
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Click to collapse
If it isn't fixed I don't see how I can get-keep the EVO..please keep us updated on this issue..
SMARTPHONEPC said:
If it isn't fixed I don't see how I can get-keep the EVO..please keep us updated on this issue..
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Click to collapse
aww, see I came from an android phone without wifi, so i'm used to not being able to rely on it lol.
Mine's just OK. I do get coverage throughout the house, even 2 floors up (router in basement). But when I'm sitting right next to the router, literally 2 feet, I do not have full bars. (1 shy). Can't really complain too much, but I do wish it was better.
Speedtest
Next to router: 9438 down, 3996 up
1 floor up: 4492 down, 4102 up
Wifi reception for me is pretty awful, only the "dot" comes on with no circumferential bars when I'm at home and I get no signal at all when I'm at work (where both my laptop & iPhone 3G do fine). This is looking like a deal breaker for me.
Gary
Here in Puerto Rico the vast majority of houses are built in concrete... My EVO's WiFi seems to fare worse than my iPod touch's WiFi (which in turn fares worse than my netbook's). In the family room, with one room and one concrete wall in between me and the standard G router, I get a signal and it works fine.
With two concrete walls (one room and a bathroom) in between me and the router signal is borderline but it still seems to work, tho I'm often seeing just a dot. With three concrete walls in between me and the router (two rooms and a bathroom in between) I get no signal whatsoever.
Under those same conditions the iPod touch would ocasionally get a signal in certain corners of that room while the netbook's never had trouble getting a signal unless I go to the far end/corner of the room. I'm not terribly worried about it since I'd use the WiFi the most in the family room but it's a bit troublesome, hopefully it's improved w/an update.
I can confirm EVO wifi is much worse then my TP. I'm trying to move my router to a more central location now to accommodate it. :-\ hopefully we'll get N in 2.2 it's not a deal breaker, just an annoyance.
You can always make a directional antenna focuser out of a soda can too, it sounds ghetto but actually works... There was an article about it on MaxiumPC about a year ago.
Anyone noticed weaker range for your nexus one with FRF91? I used to be able to pick up my Wifi router everytime I come to the drive way now I can't after the update. Does the new radio affect wifi too?
NexusX said:
Anyone noticed weaker range for your nexus one with FRF91? I used to be able to pick up my Wifi router everytime I come to the drive way now I can't after the update. Does the new radio affect wifi too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you holding the phone the same way?
Chopes said:
Are you holding the phone the same way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He said Nexus One..not iPhone.
Yeah, I have noticed that I have a harder time connecting to networks when I don't have a very strong signal (when I am not very close to the access point). Seems worse than before. And worse than my G1.
Its a small price to pay for the overall awesome update, but In my house I only get 3 bars. Up until 91 I could get the full 4 bars. Its definitely worse for me.
I've been with android since the g1, and every firmware update has been 3 steps forward and 1 step back. But hell that's still a net gain so I'm happy. Now if the next firmware update drops me to 2 bars right next to my router....
im with you on this one. My router is on the main floor and when im next to it i get the 2 and on occasion 3 bar symbol. Go upstairs and my bars drop to 1 bar firm! I did just come off of the 85b and nothing was different then either. Maybe its time for a new router. Im gonna buy an up to date router and see if its different. Is yours possibly old?
Well this is a universal problem, with my hosp wifi network as well as my home and my gf. So yeah... oh well, I am still happy but still boosting the Wifi range might be good.
I am a tad torn:
Things the A500 does well-
1. Build
2. USB host
3. Display (sans the extreme angles) holds up IMO to IPS displays for color and brightness.
4. Most of the apps are not shallow bloatware, compared to other devices.
5. Rooting is mega easy
6. UI and response of display
7. Battery life
8. Seems efficient in sleep mode
9. Great sound quality for a tablet
Still, the one major area for me is the wifi. Things the A500 does not do well:
1. Reception is the weakest of any of my devices except the sucktastic' Archos A5. My gTablet blows the A500 away for range and stability of connection.
2. No adhoc (why do OEMs keep screwing this up?) the only way to get it for now is risking hosing the device through modding. Most users would like it to work without that risk.
3. A brand new highly pushed device (most main retailers are going to carry it) Honeycomb tablet with no 5ghz support?!
4. The wifi seems to toggle with signal strength, since it will go from one to two bars and then disconnect and reconnect. I wonder if there is a kernel issue and screwed up power management?
It seems the other stuff on the A500 works so well, it makes the wifi stick out like a VERY sore thumb.
I have tested two routers with very good ratings for range and work well even with my weak N900 (another weak wifi radio device). My router is in my basement due to my office, but in an open and central area to upstairs. A PS3, 360, Wii, three laptops, gTablet, PSP, Droid 1, Incredible and iPod 4 all work fine and maintain connection upstairs. Upstairs, I have to be nearly above the router to get a good and stable signal with the A500.
added:
The A500 seems to need a mW level increase with the wifi radio.
I have a Netgear WNDR3700 and have very good signal .. router on 2nd fl and signal is good downstairs.. it's a more expenisve router but very good and you can load DD-WRT if you want, but the FW with it is very nice..
i don't get it.... i had a gtablet for 7 days and it's wifi sucked compared to my a500, which seems to be the opposite to what everyone else is saying.
granted, the gtab and iconia's wifi both suck compared to my archos 101's wifi, but i like the a500 so much better overall.
Wifi is GREAT here. I have a WRT610N.
Hmm. A few of us here so far aren't having problems. It's probably your unit.
In my case it's around the same power as the GTablet. I live in a 2k sq ft. apt and I get -1 bars at the farthest point from the router in my apt. The problem with increasing the transmit or receive power too much is that you get unnecessary drain on the battery...same thing with adding 5ghz support.
5ghz is also a pretty troublesome bandwidth. My phone is dual band and has trouble with SO many wifi n 5ghz networks. Even on mine as the only device using it currently, it works like night and day between 2 different firmware revisions, likely because of interference and overlaps with other people's wifi and how each fw. handled it.
People think wifi n 5 is better than 2.4 but in fact it's only better when there are very few people using it. Not only does it give you less range, but it's also more prone to interference than 2.4 or G. 2.4 N is a pretty strong balance and as long as you aren't forcing 300Mbps mode (channel bonding), I really don't understand why you're getting such a weak signal or disconnects. Wifi N is great for performance when it works how it's supposed to. It has a lower floor for noise and a wider spectrum but all in all, it's not worth the trouble (if you have any). 2.4 at least works in a more solid fashion, interference or not. I think this is why many suppliers just choose to stick with it vs. dual. Though I agree it's VERY nice to have the option. But necessary? Nah.
Try exchanging it. I don't think 'weak wifi' is general of the a500s.
No probs with wifi works all over the house no worries.
Personally my biggest gripe is the length of the power lead, shockingly short what would it have cost them to add 4 feet of wire to make it more usable. My vega has fantastic cable length...
________________________________________________________________________
ZTE Blade - Rooted OC 729mh - CM7 RC2 V/nice
Advent Vega - Rooted OC 1.4gh - Corvos5 rom gorgeous smoooth and qqquick
Iconia A500 - Rooted - HComb Sweet
i too have great wifi connection...my house is over 3,000 sqft and is made of concrete and brick. i use a cicso valet wireless n router and have at least two bars of signal when my tab is on one end of the house and router is on the other end. it has a better signal then my gtab, droidx, and the wifes new iphone 4. not sure why you are having issues as my tab has nevrr even lost connection once since the day i bought it. if you already have played with the settings on your router you might want to consider that you have a faulty wifi module in your tab.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
I have a linksys wrt610n in my basement. My wife gets very good wifi connection all through the house and even on the 2nd floor. On top of that she gets a good connection on the front porch and back patio outside.
Wifi is as good as my ipad and iphone with this device. It never drops and works all throughout the house and yard. Posting from from front porch right now. On wifi analyzer I am picking up networks several houses away.
So maybe a bum radio then?......
I have the Netgear WNR3500L router and, believe me, the A500 finds the signal everywhere in my 2500 sqft house. I actually had more trouble with my g tablet whenever it went to sleep. Wifi would disconnect and then reconnect constantly even if I set it to "Never Sleep" in the settings.
WiFi is great for me, too. I can go outside, across my yard with no apparent signal loss.
My first A500 must have had a wifi issue, since not having the problem with my second one. Strange.
I now have also moved my router to a more central location (out of basement) so all of my devices have a good signal. I was should have done this a long time ago. Apathy I tell ya!
Had the same problem with my Acer Netbook. Had to replace the card inside with one from eBay. I am not surprised this is an issue for some of us.
I wasn't too pleased with their customer service then and I don't expect this problem to be fixed with software.
Only problem for my A500 was in my bedroom where I get 1 bar on my PCs and notebooks, and even my Droid has some issues. So I set up a range extender and have no issues anywhere in the house now.
At work and out on the road I've had no problems with hotspots anywhere.
I got online and foudn a guide on how to tweak my Dlinik router for best performance.
I changed the security to WPA2 and st it to the best channel according to the WiFi Analyzer app on the Market.
I then made sure that only N or N/G was set and allowed for a wider band (40/20 mhz?)
Don't choose channel 1 as it can interfere or be interfered with other wireless radios being too close to that channel.
Can't remembered if I did anything else but I now can have the tablet up two floors and I maintain the signal.
Looks like its a keeper after all.
decent wifi signal
I'm on mynsecond a500 after returning one due to a bad hdmi connector. Wifi has been okay on both. Mostly two and three bars and only down two one bar when outside and farthest away from the router.
In fact right now I have two bars and am connected and posting from the a500 in a hotel. It has the same signal strength as my laptop.
My problem was not the signal as much as the stability of it. If three to four bars, the connection was stable and did not lose connection. One to two bars was very unstable and would cut out about every five minutes or so, when tested with a few routers.
The second A500 is stable at low bar signals.
I have had my TF for six weeks now and I have to say that my experience with the wifi connection is awful. My eeepc picks up loads of signals that the TF does not see and I have lots of connection problems when I travel. I have read that this is to do with USA channel restrictions which if true is bulls**t as i bought the TF in the UK and travel in Europe! For a non three G tablet wifi is essential.
Is there anything that can improve the wifi performance?
Actually I am finding it seems to beat my iphone, ipods, iPad, and my wife's Dell laptop. Saying that because when I sat in the living room with my iDevices I pretty much couldn't connect to the router all the way across the house period, it would connect but basically be worthless. My wife's laptop is almost hte same, she gets crappy speeds in the living room. I find that my Transformer shows like a 65% signal in the living room and I get great speeds. My Playbook while I had it for 2 weeks also was noticabely better at connecting to my router and speed from the living room.
My gut says to get ahold of another TF and try it. You may have a defective unit.
I've had no problems with wifi on mine. Admittedly, I am in the US.
roundhay said:
I have had my TF for six weeks now and I have to say that my experience with the wifi connection is awful. My eeepc picks up loads of signals that the TF does not see and I have lots of connection problems when I travel. I have read that this is to do with USA channel restrictions which if true is bulls**t as i bought the TF in the UK and travel in Europe! For a non three G tablet wifi is essential.
Is there anything that can improve the wifi performance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm. i have to say the wifi on my TF is much better than on my laptop and on my phone. Maybe you have a dodgy unit
Actually the Wifi on my TF is has a better range then my notebook which has a intel 5300. My router is sitting downstairs in the living room, and I am able to stream (Plex) to my bedroom which is one floor above.
dorino1 said:
You may have a defective unit.
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Click to collapse
I agree.
I had the GTab, the Archos, the Elocity A7, twice the Nook Color, plus the MyTouch and Samsung Galaxy S phones... and my TF has the best wifi connectivity of them all.
It connects quickly and stays connected. Today, in fact, I had to go to a local hospital and the TF connected automatically to the hospital's open wifi without my intervention.
mine is nearly flawless,but remember your not gonna see 5ghz signals because the TF is 2.4 only
My router is on the second floor of my house & I have no issues in my basement.
I'll be traveling next week so it might be a different story in a hotel.
agreed my TF is far better than my htc phone in wifi connectivity
Mine is good enough, but I did notice a bit of a dropoff in signal strength from the wifi driver in 3.0 to the driver in 3.1.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
The TF seems to favor some router channels over others. Try changing channels ( take it off auto).
My wifi actually worked very well on STOCK but now that i am on custom rom, it is much worse...
Before, i got very high signal from my router but it is not more the case.. I am waiting for on update of the wifi version....
It is not just your Tablet. No need to RMA at all.
The radio in the Transformer is just not that good.
mamaroro said:
My wifi actually worked very well on STOCK but now that i am on custom rom, it is much worse...
Before, i got very high signal from my router but it is not more the case.. I am waiting for on update of the wifi version....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My experience with custom ROMs is from mixed to poor... something always breaks. I would go back to stock.
Since updating to HC 3.1, my wifi has been horrible. Actually, it seems to get worse after every update that asus has pushed. It's not really an issue at home but when I'm at work and I can't move closer to the router, it's a problem.
It used to be TF 3.0 >> iphone 3gs > dell mini 9hackintosh with Leopard OS
now, Dell mini 9 snow leopard > iphone >>TF 3.1
I haven't had any issues with reception. It had a weird connection issue when trying to access my friend's tethering (unrooted, he pays Sprint for it). But I think it was actually the software one one end or the other, not the actual device.
I have a UK TF too and my wifi works brilliantly.
So far i have used it in UK, Germany, Switzerland and Czech and haven't had any troubles.
I set the router to channel 13, and my HTC Desired picked it right up, but the Transformer didn't. I then reduced it to channel 12, still no luck - then i reduced it to 11 and then the Transformer could see it.
Use the 'WiFi Analyser' app to check out the best wifi channels available in your area and to ensure that you aren't using overlapping channels from other equipment and neighbouring signals.
You'll be surprised when you see that the 'auto' selecting wifi hardware will almost always select the same channels which just get overloaded with interference.
Does anyone else have issue with the strength of the wireless radio on these. My signal is absolutely terrible. My phone gets better signal by A LOT. I am on the latest update not rooted.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
is the iconia slower than u r phone when surfing?
xceebeex said:
Does anyone else have issue with the strength of the wireless radio on these. My signal is absolutely terrible. My phone gets better signal by A LOT. I am on the latest update not rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep
In my back yard, the A500 cant 'see' my AP but my HD2 can (albeit only 1 bar BUT it is still usable)
Yup mine sucks as well... much worse than any of my phones.
I even tried put a copy of "iwconfig" into /system/bin
and then downloaded "Wifi txpower" from the market.
This gave me some control over the power output of the wifi card.
Except that my card was already at full power, so it did'nt improve anything,
I can at least lower power to conserve battery now...
I think a hardware mod to the internal antenna is what is really needed, although I don't think it's been done yet...
What specific versions are you running?
I keep signal (3-4 skulls) outside my flat and in the lift for about 2 floors.
Nothing wrong with the antenna (located at the lower lt corner of the tab).
Moscow Desire said:
What specific versions are you running?
I keep signal (3-4 skulls) outside my flat and in the lift for about 2 floors.
Nothing wrong with the antenna (located at the lower lt corner of the tab).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean what versions am I running? I have the latest 3.2.1 running and the wifi has never been good. If I had known it was going to be this bad I might have returned it. I think I am outside my return window though since I bought it on Thanksgiving.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Bad, has been bad, and always will be (in my opinion). I have several of these and they are worse than other models. I've tried several ROM's and they don't make a difference. So therefore, I've come to the belief that it's the hardware.
TD
timmyDean said:
Bad, has been bad, and always will be (in my opinion). I have several of these and they are worse than other models. I've tried several ROM's and they don't make a difference. So therefore, I've come to the belief that it's the hardware.
TD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is what I was afraid of. I am not sure if I should try and sell this and get something else or just deal with it, but it is certainly annoying and makes it pretty useless when it can't pick up wireless.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Are there any other tricks that might get the wifi working better? Can rooting and installing a different ROM help?
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
aw crap, I was hoping for a software fix :/
My reception is abysmal. My laptop gets 4 out of 5 bars from my laptop, my crappy phone gets full bars of wifi, and my tab gets... 1-2 bars. It fluxuates from which way I hold it if I get any reception in the bathroom at all.
The first unit I bought had a defective Wi-Fi but was able to exchange it where I bought it for a functioning unit. Unfortunately, the new one is not spectacular but it does indeed work around my home, upstairs, downstairs and outside though the signal is pretty poor.
Must be a short or overly shielded antenna. My Droid X cellphone has excellent reception and three laptops have excellent reception albeit with multiple internal antennas.
Need to find an A500 tear-down online to see what it looks like inside to see what the antenna arrangement is. If it's somehow modifiable then it can likely be improved though you'll have to take it apart
Or search for a USB Wi-Fi that is usable with Android and this device!
Sounds like a design flaw to me.
qhorque said:
Must be a short or overly shielded antenna....
Need to find an A500 tear-down online to see what it looks like inside to see what the antenna arrangement is. If it's somehow modifiable then it can likely be improved though you'll have to take it apart....
Sounds like a design flaw to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I was thinking.
Here's a teardown...
xxx.techrepublic.com/photos/cracking-open-the-acer-iconia-tab-a500/6279615?tag=nl.e101
xxx.techrepublic.com/blog/itdojo/acer-iconia-tab-teardown-easy-to-service-3g-ready/2861?tag=nl.e101
I think this is where the Antenna is located...
xxx.techrepublic.com/photos/cracking-open-the-acer-iconia-tab-a500/6279615?seq=47
I can't post links yet, so just replace the xxx with www
Yeah, that looks like it and it looks like it's strung out along the top in landscape (or right in portrait). It's a bit away from the edge of the case but not buried too deep. It looks like a standard antenna length as compared to a laptop. Interesting that it's weak. Maybe the WLAN card is just a crappy performer. I'll have to look up that part number and see what its specs are.
Seems someone found a fix.....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1418875
~Sent from my Droid SuperCharge~
I just tested my a500 and HTC Rezound with wifi analyzer to compare and in the same location my rezound was at -40db and the a500 was at -65db so this is obviously a signicant issue.
Try setting the 11G channel number on your wireless router to something different. I had big problems with mine when the router was set to auto. I changed it to channel 6 and it started working great.
Not sure if the antenna is more sensitive to certain channels than others.
spike1969 said:
Try setting the 11G chann el number on your wireless router to something different. I had big problems with mine when the router was set to auto. I changed it to channel 6 and it started working great.
Not sure if the antenna is more sensitive to certain channels than others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I doubt that is the issue since the channels are so close in frequency. Either way, neither my router nor access point are broadcasting on channel 11.