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[Q] Best Wi-Fi performance

Been playing around a bit with my phone and came across this option wondering what exactly does it do. First I'm assuming it's an HTC only option because I'm not seeing it on other manufactures forums (so if it turns out to be worth it I know I've got to stick with HTCs). Second by enabling the option in increasing performance is it more tailored for receiving data from the AP only or if the phone is AP (tethered, hotspot) would I get any performance gains (range, speed)? Lastly while tethered does the manner matter? If I've enabled tethering by any means would it make any difference. Is it the kernel, wifi antenna, or app have anything to do with it. Does it need to be written to specifically take advantage of the feature? Basically even if enabling it does anything what's the point if I'm just going to be wasting battery at the end of the day because it's an HTC only feature that no one is coding for.

I was wondering this too on my mytouch 4g!
Sent from my myTouch 4G using XDA App

I enabled it on my phone and the ping/jitter goes down considerably when I ping my phone from my Desktop, versus having the option unticked..
interesting...
EVO3D GSM

Does the wifi on phones have a cap on data speeds? At school, we have a 700 down and 500 up connection and when I hook my phone up with wifi, it goes to like 27 down and about 20 up at the most. Not that I need that type of speed but something that I found interesting and was curious about.

ix sik pro xi said:
Does the wifi on phones have a cap on data speeds? At school, we have a 700 down and 500 up connection and when I hook my phone up with wifi, it goes to like 27 down and about 20 up at the most. Not that I need that type of speed but something that I found interesting and was curious about.
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It is most likely due to alot of people using the same connection at once.

zelendel said:
It is most likely due to alot of people using the same connection at once.
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What happened was, I did a speedtest on my laptop and got the high results and right after did it on my phone. I did a couple tests, not just one and they were all around the same, and there were no anomalies.

I found one thing it does, on my mytouch 4g slide, if the screen was off, wifi would barely work. Skype, iheartradio, etc would stop streaming until I turned it on. I have no idea what it actually does though. Eg. if wifi was even slowed down to 1mbps, streaming should still work, so they are doing something crazy. PS my wifi is set to always on. Weird.

wing_addict_usa said:
I found one thing it does, on my mytouch 4g slide, if the screen was off, wifi would barely work. Skype, iheartradio, etc would stop streaming until I turned it on. I have no idea what it actually does though. Eg. if wifi was even slowed down to 1mbps, streaming should still work, so they are doing something crazy. PS my wifi is set to always on. Weird.
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very old thread, unrelated phone. When the phone goes in sleep or screen is off, most downclock the cpu to save energy, this will reduce network transfer speeds. Depending on settings, some will actually disconnect during screen off.

Cheap fix for WiFi Death Grip in Landscape

Go into your WiFi settings and hit the menu key. It will bring up an advanced settings menu. There is a box that you need to check. It's called "Best WiFi Performance". Once I checked this box, my WiFi signal stayed strong when holding it in Landscape. I tested this 2 rooms away from my router. I haven't noticed a decrease in battery performance either.

Nice, works well.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

This might have helped... maybe. I said in the main thread about deathgrip I saw no change but maybe I was wrong. If it does help, it doesn't help a ton for me. This is easy for me to test at work where our wifi is not the greatest and it's easy to lose a signal. I still lose all bars with true deathgrip (which I would never use) but lose 1 or 2 bars while using it in my normal landscape mode. Pretty much the same thing I saw before turning on the boost but maybe I drop two bars less now. Too iffy for me to tell.
Wonder what the added power drain is by using this.

I'm wondering if an invisibleshield for the HTC Sensation will fix this problem, because I remember it did so with the iPhone 4. Hrmmm. Any thoughts?

this method doesnt seem to help my device at all... man, im sooo bummed about this issue....

digiholic said:
This might have helped... maybe. I said in the main thread about deathgrip I saw no change but maybe I was wrong. If it does help, it doesn't help a ton for me. This is easy for me to test at work where our wifi is not the greatest and it's easy to lose a signal. I still lose all bars with true deathgrip (which I would never use) but lose 1 or 2 bars while using it in my normal landscape mode. Pretty much the same thing I saw before turning on the boost but maybe I drop two bars less now. Too iffy for me to tell.
Wonder what the added power drain is by using this.
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Click to collapse
did u notice any changes in battery life after using the boost?

Hitting walmart for a replacement. I thought I could handle the issue but I can't and its unacceptable. And this time, I'm checking for EVERY possible bug that has been found before I exchange it. Only bummer is that I put a screen protector on the sensation I have now. I have to use the last screen protector now
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

Jackasaur said:
I'm wondering if an invisibleshield for the HTC Sensation will fix this problem, because I remember it did so with the iPhone 4. Hrmmm. Any thoughts?
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The problem with the iphone 4 was that your finger would bridge the gap between the 2 antenna and ground it, thus reducing the signal.
The problem with the sensation is your hand is blocking the antenna, so adding a case/cover may actually block even more signal.

This only helps a tiny bit.

I've tried this option, not to fix the "death grip", but to improve overall WiFi performance, and it seemed to drain my battery quicker than normal. Also didn't seem to really help.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

Doesn't help. I still lose 1-2 bars in landscape. Oh, and you can also try putting alu foil between the contacts of the cover and the phone (that didn't work for me either, but it did for someone else)
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e

My WiFi is absolutely terrible. I have a case on, and if I put my sensation face up on my wooden table, the wifi will die. If I put my hand anywhere near the upper-back, such as in landscape mode, the WiFi dies. This is with Wifi on best performance and when I normal get 2-3 bars of service.
Also, my wifi constantly cuts out even if I leave it in a position that should have signal. For example, in the 2 minutes I took to write this post, I turned wifi on and placed the phone face down on the table. This should be the best way to keep the signal. One minute later, I checked the phone, and the wifi was dead. This basically makes wifi calling absolutely useless.
I'm really beginning to get pissed of because of this. This isn't a death grip issue. This is just a plain utterly crappy wifi signal issue.

thanks for this, it did help a bit.

Bsketball said:
My WiFi is absolutely terrible. I have a case on, and if I put my sensation face up on my wooden table, the wifi will die. If I put my hand anywhere near the upper-back, such as in landscape mode, the WiFi dies. This is with Wifi on best performance and when I normal get 2-3 bars of service.
Also, my wifi constantly cuts out even if I leave it in a position that should have signal. For example, in the 2 minutes I took to write this post, I turned wifi on and placed the phone face down on the table. This should be the best way to keep the signal. One minute later, I checked the phone, and the wifi was dead. This basically makes wifi calling absolutely useless.
I'm really beginning to get pissed of because of this. This isn't a death grip issue. This is just a plain utterly crappy wifi signal issue.
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Get a new back cover from HTC (they give one for free under the warranty), but don't mention the WiFi problems. Just tell them it's loose or something. Here's the number.
888-617-1113

aNYthing24 said:
Get a new back cover from HTC (they give one for free under the warranty), but don't mention the WiFi problems. Just tell them it's loose or something. Here's the number.
888-617-1113
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Would the back cover certainly solve my issues?

Bsketball said:
Would the back cover certainly solve my issues?
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It might. Worth a shot. Its free so what can it hurt.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

scmurphy13 said:
I've tried this option, not to fix the "death grip", but to improve overall WiFi performance, and it seemed to drain my battery quicker than normal. Also didn't seem to really help.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
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This.
If you use an app like wifi analyzer and you toggle the option you can see what it's doing is sending more power to the wifi antenna/chip. Your signal is stronger with it on but it definitely makes the battery drain faster, it did for me so I leave it turned off.
It even says in the option that it will decrease battery life. Can't get clearer than that.
Sent from my thumbs to your eyes using a Sensation 4G

Especially after the update this option actually cause a huge battery drain and it doesn't improve performance much.

jrwingate6 said:
It might. Worth a shot. Its free so what can it hurt.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
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Alright, have a new battery cover coming in. Let's hope this one works better. Does the battery cover really have much of an effect on signals though? I don't see how it could without a redesign...

Bsketball said:
Alright, have a new battery cover coming in. Let's hope this one works better. Does the battery cover really have much of an effect on signals though? I don't see how it could without a redesign...
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I don't know but there has to be something going on if my new Sensation doesn't have the problem but my other 3 did.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

Death Grip and wireless mode.

So, I've been afflicted with the death grip issue at home something fierce. If I hold the phone in landscape mode as if I were to type with my thumbs, the wifi cuts out. It doesn't seem to matter how close I am to the wifi router or if I turn on Wi-Fi best performance. At home, the network is configured to use 802.11g for compatibility with some older devices.
At work, I run an 802.11n network (I'm the IT Director). While I've got much better access points and better line of sight, I have similar sorts of distances. With 802.11n the death grip issue seems less significant. The network never drops out completely (I lose maybe a bar) although network *traffic* seems to stall to a degree. This is true even if I go into other rooms where I don't have great line of sight.
I'm still doing some surreptitious testing (since I have work to do, too) but I thought I'd ask the rest of you if you're having seriously issues with the death grip, what mode is your wifi in? 802.11g or 802.11n?

I really haven't had this problem, when I hold it in landscape it goes down 1 bar but comes right back,I'm starting to think its device related ,just like the HD2 some of them had wi-fi issues and it was just the hardware couldn't do nothing about it but exchange the device

I used to have this issue until I changed the wifi performance to maximum and out a gel skin case on. Now mine doesn't even drop a bar from 2 rooms away.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App

How do you set the WiFi to maximum?
Thanks in advance

adamtheluck said:
How do you set the WiFi to maximum?
Thanks in advance
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Menu/settings/wireless settings/wifi settings/menu/advanced settings/set wifI on maximum performance.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App

jrwingate6 said:
Menu/settings/wireless settings/wifi settings/menu/advanced settings/set wifI on maximum performance.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
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Thank you

I would notice the signal go down when I held it in landscape but it never dropped completely but last night I got the real effect of it. I was streaming a movie from my computer and viewing it on my sensation using splash top (only about 15-20 feet away from the roiter) Everytime I held the sensation and touched the "death grip" spot my video would stutter.. Tried setting the wifi to max performance and I have the tmo gel case on.
I guess one difference between this and the Iphone antenna-gate is that if HTC does consider it a problem and does fix it, they only have to replace the back cover and not the whole phone
I heard someone said foil on the outside helps out the issue, but it looks really ugly. Wonder if we can come up with a fix that can be done on the inside of the cover. Maybe attach more wiring to the connections or something..
Wonder if those cheap cell phone singal booster on the inside cover would help out at all.. hey if foil did then maybe one of the will shrugs

I just have to say I don't think this "death grip" is a hardware issue .... I think it is a software issue. I had a g2 and flashed cyanogen ... Worst WiFi reception ever. Went for a more stock based Rom and bingo! Also I noticed if you turn off mobile networks from the task bar and turn on WiFi, you will have superb WiFi...
On the sensation of course. Lol
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

jrwingate6 said:
Menu/settings/wireless settings/wifi settings/menu/advanced settings/set wifI on maximum performance.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
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I gave you a thanks for this

jrwingate6 said:
Menu/settings/wireless settings/wifi settings/menu/advanced settings/set wifI on maximum performance.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
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Thanks for the tip!

Trying to Figure out the Wifi-Death Grip Issue
Something Odd happened to me, i wanted to share with the rest of the comments here because i have not been impressed with my Sensation's performance so far. I have had the normal low volume and the erratic sense speeds along with what Phil showed when trying to use the carousel, but nothing was more annoying as with the wifi issue. I got it five feet from my router and i have two routers and one is open and one has PS2K. I tried it with and without the cover and behold i lost my signal when i held it in landscape or put it lying flat. I decided i needed to go to a T-mobile and complain about it, but while i was waiting to be attended, i went ahead and started playing with the sensation they had on display. To my surprise i could not duplicate the issue at all, I checked their version and went to the advanced setting under wifi and it was no put on maximum performance. I pulled out mine and as you could imagine, i could not duplicate the issue anymore. I was puzzled because although i lost some bars, it remained connected and i did not lose the signal completely or as easily when i was at home. I decided not to look like a fool and when across the street to a Best-Buy, and logged onto their open network and had no issue again i tried to put the death grip on it, put it in landscape or lay it flat on it's back and although i was looking some bars, i could not duplicate what was going on at my house. I went back home and reset my routers and the issue is still there. So from what i can tell, i think we may need to find out if this issue is with some routers only or with the encryption used.
FYI: I have a N1, IPad2, HD2, MY3G and don't have any wifi or death grip issues with any one of them so i am seriously leaning to a software issue.
Whatever, the issue i can see Why Phil and a lot others do not see this issue and i can understand why a lot of us are experiencing the issue. Hope something is found out soon.
Routers i use:
DLink (DIR 601) Open network
Ambit WPA2-PSK
(i have tried changing channels and updating firmware on both routers)

Juice Defender, Green Power faulty

I've purchased both Juice Defender and Green Power, and though I've gotten better battery life when I use the respective apps, they both suffer from the same problem. When the lockscreen is on for an extended period of time, the mobile network will not refresh. The only way to get 3G or 4G back is to restart the phone.
Some have said that toggling airplane mode will fix the problem, but that causes one of two things to happen for me: 1) the entire cell network shuts off and the mobile network remains dormant 2) the only way to fix the mobile network is to keep airplane mode ON (which makes zero sense, since airplane mode should shut down all networks).
The latest version of Green Power supposedly fixed the api mobile networks switch, but I don't see any change. This problem has been mentioned for more than a year in various forums, but it never seems to get fixed. Without being able to auto-toggle the mobile networks, these apps are materially worthless.
Does anyone have a solution?
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

you could manually turn the wifi and data off yourself?

I had the same problem and found no solution. I just uninstalled them.
Sent from my Droid Charge running GummyFroyo 1.9.1

Here's a screen cap... Airplane mode on, but wifi also stays on. Same occurs with mobile networks. Makes no sense.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

Sort of defeats the purpose. I want automation so i don't have to think about it. Don't understand why it randomly won't reconnect.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

well until they figure out how to control it on our 4G phones Im not sure...If had JD work for moments while on 4G only...then it wont re engage if it needs to switch to a 3G mode...I then tried it forced to 3G only and same sometimes it does and other times it doesnt..eventually it will get fixed Im sure...but in the mean time just use either for wifi control only or go straight manual control

It's a shame this doesn't work yet. I found it made all the difference in the world for battery power on my fascinate. Mainly because I work in a building with poor reception. JD made the issue moot.
Now I have to remember to turn data off and on as needed throughout the day. If I forget, my battery's dead in 8 hours. If I remember, I can get 20+ hours out of it. No wifi option at work, btw.
Even better would be if this could be tweaked in the kernel somehow. I understand not all phones suffer this battery drain with a weak signal. Wonder what the difference is.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

bgorrell said:
It's a shame this doesn't work yet. I found it made all the difference in the world for battery power on my fascinate. Mainly because I work in a building with poor reception. JD made the issue moot.
Now I have to remember to turn data off and on as needed throughout the day. If I forget, my battery's dead in 8 hours. If I remember, I can get 20+ hours out of it. No wifi option at work, btw.
Even better would be if this could be tweaked in the kernel somehow. I understand not all phones suffer this battery drain with a weak signal. Wonder what the difference is.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App
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I wonder why juice defender and green power both screw up airplane mode. My phone's settings say airplane mode is off, but the toggle switch says it's on and it turns off my cell signal. I can't figure out how to get airplane mode to completely shut off without restarting. The fact that both Juice Defender and Green Power have the same issue controlling the mobile network leads me to believe it's an OS issue, not an app issue. If this is the case, we're not likely to see a fix anytime in the near future.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App

Bump. Does anyone have a fix yet?

I think this issue could possibly go deeper than this. Over the last two days, I have had issues with going from full bars in a known coverage area to Searching for Service. Eventually, it will reconnect to the network, but mobile data never comes back. It seems to be worse when I have GPS toggled on, but I can't seem to single out the root cause. I don't use JD or Green Power or any other "battery saver" so something deeper is going on I believe. It's worth exploring anyway and I thought it may help track down a solution.

GPS acting strangely

I use GPS very frequently and yesterday on the way home from work a couple minutes into my trip the GPS started acting up. At some points GPS signal would be lost and at other points when it could acquire a signal it would be a wrong position and the arrow in maps won't move. What do you think the problem is?

I've tried GPS Tool as well to no avail.

Here is an example of what happens. Only way to get a GPS signal now seems to be to hold my phone up to the windshield for a couple of seconds...
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

my 2 cents
Samip430 said:
Here is an example of what happens. Only way to get a GPS signal now seems to be to hold my phone up to the windshield for a couple of seconds...
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
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damn.. ive had it act up pretty badly before and had to go back to factory stock and remod all over again..
make sure you have high accuracy on... and there is a trick you need to do too..
google play services location or something..
try turning it to low accuracy,,, then off,,, then on, then high accuracy a pop up will come up and you need to agree..
if you do not agree or click anywhere the pop up goes away, if you have xposed or other modules same thing the pop up might not come up.
when you agree to it your accuracy is amazing, its a feature of google now so turning that off and on might fix it too...
having it on kicks ass it literally tracks how far I walk , I walk like 10 miles a day for my security job.. it tells me exactly where I parked my car...
other issues could be weather, but if you have another gps enabled device not showing this issues its likely a phone setting or toggle m8 !