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Does "WiFi" on helps to save battery?

I saw several posts suggesting that leaving WiFi on where you have WiFi connection helps you to save the battery which I'm finding pretty strange. I thought WiFi actually drains battery faster then anything else. Are savings due to the fact that WiFi is more efficient then 3G or does it actually holds true that it saves battery?

All things being equal, Wi-Fi uses less power than 3G. Wi-Fi radio waves don't have to go as far, so they're easier to generate. When Wi-Fi is on, 3G is off, so you'll save power if you're actually transferring data.
A lot of programs will initiate data transfers by themselves when connected to Wi-Fi though, so perhaps that is why some will notice higher drain when Wi-Fi is on.
Also, if Wi-Fi is left on and you are on the move, your battery will drain since your phone is constantly searching for available networks.
Unless you've changed the settings, however, when your phone's screen it off it switches back to 3G to handle data.

artisticcheese said:
I saw several posts suggesting that leaving WiFi on where you have WiFi connection helps you to save the battery which I'm finding pretty strange. I thought WiFi actually drains battery faster then anything else. Are savings due to the fact that WiFi is more efficient then 3G or does it actually holds true that it saves battery?
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Yes, as Scotty said above me...
ScottyNuttz said:
All things being equal, Wi-Fi uses less power than 3G. Wi-Fi radio waves don't have to go as far, so they're easier to generate. When Wi-Fi is on, 3G is off, so you'll save power if you're actually transferring data.
Also, if Wi-Fi is left on and you are on the move, your battery will drain since your phone is constantly searching for available networks.
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This however, is untrue. At least for me. I run the leaked 2.2 and my WiFi is always on at home, my data connection is never active. I check this by dialing *3282# and hitting send.
ScottyNuttz said:
Unless you've changed the settings, however, when your phone's screen it off it switches back to 3G to handle data.
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Click to collapse

When I have wifi switched on I lose around 5 to 10% an hour. With it off I lose 1 to 2%. I don't have anything set to sync differently via wifi. I only have a few apps that sync data and those are set to do so every 4 hours or so.
I have tried leaving it both on and off overnight to test this and every time I've left it off I woke up with a full battery. If I leave it on I have to charge again in the morning.
When I'm going out I turn wifi off so that my phone isn't constantly searching for signal.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

miztaken1312 said:
This however, is untrue. At least for me. I run the leaked 2.2 and my WiFi is always on at home, my data connection is never active. I check this by dialing *3282# and hitting send.
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In the Wi-Fi advanced settings (Hit Menu when in the normal wi-fi settings), there is a Wi-Fi Sleep Policy (which specifies when to switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data)
By default, my device was set to 'When screen turns off'. the other options were 'Never when plugged in' or 'Never', I switched mine to 'Never'. You should notice that when you turn your screen on, the wifi icon doesn't show up right away. Of course, I'm on 2.1, so this may be different in 2.2, but check it out.

For me, I get no cell signal in the building at work so I need to keep wifi on. If I turn it off my battery drains fast from the 3g radio constantly trying to lock on a signal.

It depends in the quality of your 3G connection, but all things equal I have seen that using WiFi instead of 3G does save battery, when the WiFi is connected of course. Anytime a radio is constantly searching for a signal or trying to hold a weak signal, power usage tends to go up.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

ScottyNuttz said:
All things being equal, Wi-Fi uses less power than 3G. Wi-Fi radio waves don't have to go as far, so they're easier to generate. When Wi-Fi is on, 3G is off, so you'll save power if you're actually transferring data.
A lot of programs will initiate data transfers by themselves when connected to Wi-Fi though, so perhaps that is why some will notice higher drain when Wi-Fi is on.
Also, if Wi-Fi is left on and you are on the move, your battery will drain since your phone is constantly searching for available networks.
Unless you've changed the settings, however, when your phone's screen it off it switches back to 3G to handle data.
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Click to collapse
Check out Y5 Battery Saver.
This app turns your wifi on/off based on the cell towers that you are on. You just connect to wifi, enable the app, and it remembers what cell towers you were on while you were in range of that wifi location. as soon as you are off of those towers, it turns off wifi. to add new wifi locations, just disable the app, connect to the hot spot, and re-enable the app.
This gives you the best of both worlds. you get to save battery while you are using wifi and when you are out of range it doesn't continually search for new wifi networks to connect to.

ScottyNuttz said:
In the Wi-Fi advanced settings (Hit Menu when in the normal wi-fi settings), there is a Wi-Fi Sleep Policy (which specifies when to switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data)
By default, my device was set to 'When screen turns off'. the other options were 'Never when plugged in' or 'Never', I switched mine to 'Never'. You should notice that when you turn your screen on, the wifi icon doesn't show up right away. Of course, I'm on 2.1, so this may be different in 2.2, but check it out.
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Whenever I turn my screen on, my wifi icon is right there. No delay in it showing up. I don't remember ever changing the sleep policy when I updated so I believe this is the default behavior for 2.2

drwx said:
Check out Y5 Battery Saver.
This app turns your wifi on/off based on the cell towers that you are on. You just connect to wifi, enable the app, and it remembers what cell towers you were on while you were in range of that wifi location. as soon as you are off of those towers, it turns off wifi. to add new wifi locations, just disable the app, connect to the hot spot, and re-enable the app.
This gives you the best of both worlds. you get to save battery while you are using wifi and when you are out of range it doesn't continually search for new wifi networks to connect to.
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+1 on Y5. There are a few other apps in the market that claim to do the same thing, but I think Y5 is by far the easiest to set up and works really well. Nice little utility so you don't have to keep remembering to turn off the wifi manually when you are out of range.
Now if I could just find a app that does the same for my bluetooth when it is near my car....but that I think is much harder to do without it actually polling.

Wifi icon not green.

I'm having problems with my wifi icon not connecting to the Google servers.
My 3g icon is fine and goes green, but when I connect to my wifi, it stays white and I cannot access any applications tthat require data connections.
Has anyone had similar problems?
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App

This only happens to me when I'm using a hotspot somewhere. I'll have to load a webpage and click to connect. Only time.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G via XDA Premium

I've had that happen to me a few times... just put it in airplane mode for 10 seconds and take it back out. Fixes it for me at least

grifforama said:
I'm having problems with my wifi icon not connecting to the Google servers.
My 3g icon is fine and goes green, but when I connect to my wifi, it stays white and I cannot access any applications tthat require data connections.
Has anyone had similar problems?
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
Sounds like your router is not passing along the internet connection. Try restarting your router.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

I get that on my home network once in a while. It'll connect to the internet, but not want to cooperate with Google's servers. Then 3G will work fine. Not really sure what the deal is. Probably some issue with Comcast's local servers, I dunno.

what mode do u use for your wifi? i was having the same problem and it was driving me crazy since i would keep getting errors like "disconnected" and "no active network connections." i switched from WPA2 Personal to WEP and now I'm not having problems anymore.
on a side note, does anyone know if i need to do something special to get WPA2 to work better and not keep disconnecting?

baldwin69 said:
what mode do u use for your wifi? i was having the same problem and it was driving me crazy since i would keep getting errors like "disconnected" and "no active network connections." i switched from WPA2 Personal to WEP and now I'm not having problems anymore.
on a side note, does anyone know if i need to do something special to get WPA2 to work better and not keep disconnecting?
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Every wifi network I use is wpa.
In the advanced wifi options, is your wifi sleep policy set to 'never'?
Sent from my Google Nexus S 4G via XDA Premium

i have it set to never when plugged in. but if the screen is on, shouldn't it not make a difference?

baldwin69 said:
i have it set to never when plugged in. but if the screen is on, shouldn't it not make a difference?
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Just set it to 'never'.
Sent from my Google Nexus S 4G via XDA Premium

it sounds like you dont have a data connection at the moment. check your internet via a desktop/laptop. also try unplugging your router then plugging it back in.

well my data works on my laptop and ipod touch - never with any problems. so it's strickly an android problem. but now that i've changed to WEP i haven't lost data connection at all today. the bars turned white twice, but i didn't lose connection like i did with WPA. very strange.

Wifi issues

Currently on stock ROM, not rooted. My wifi seems to stop connecting intermittently. The Network appears to be present when checking but it won't connect to it for 5 minutes at a time. The wifi sleep policy is also set to never

ryandoubleu said:
Currently on stock ROM, not rooted. My wifi seems to stop connecting intermittently. The Network appears to be present when checking but it won't connect to it for 5 minutes at a time. The wifi sleep policy is also set to never
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try to remove the battery for a few minutes...if it doesn't work try to access another wifi because your router might be the problem.

nope....
battery pull definitely didnt help. I went ahead and adjusted my network router for dual band to see if that helps at all

Also have WiFi issues
I run into that as well. It says I am connected, even gives me an IP, but all my data still seems to go over the cellular network..
Very frustrating at home.

SeanMVent said:
I run into that as well. It says I am connected, even gives me an IP, but all my data still seems to go over the cellular network..
Very frustrating at home.
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Click to collapse
You can use Juice Defender to automatically disconnect data when you're on WiFi... I've been using it for months and it has worked flawlessly. You can also go into Menu... Settings... Wireless and network....Mobile networks... and manually uncheck "Use packet data" (this is what allows mobile data to connect).

I had these problems also I talk to one of the geek squad guys at best buy he told me that samsung products have problems with some routers because samsung products like to keep the same ip address which my conflict with other wifi products. So I bought a new router that was stronger and assigned my phone an ip address and that solve my problem.
Sent from my Xoom using xda premium

[Q] Is Nexus 5 supports wifi roaming/ changing AP?

Hi,
like in subject is our N5 supporting wifi roaming/changing access point based on signal strength? I have two access points with the same SSID but on different channels. My laptop is switching between AP from upstairs and downstairs and iPhone 4S I had before N5 was switching too. Unfortunatly Nexus is not... Is it supported by our phone or not? Is it at all supported by Android OS?
BTW I wanted to ask another thing related with wifi. I changed wifi option "Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep" to "Never" but it's not turning off when I put my phone in to sleep. How long does it take to turn of wifi after locking phone? Could you check Is this option working for you guys?
Thanks for all answers, Zibiksior

Anyone?
Sent from my Nexus 5

hello and sorry to be late but i didn't actually had nothing to say but i'd had the same issue.
Yesterday frustrated by the roaming not working i tried to set wifi network frequency on n5 wifi advanced settings to 2.4ghz only and volià, wifi romaing seems to work correctly: as i change the room n5 suddenly changes ap without loosing connection.
can anyone confirm?

https://groups.google.com/a/googlep...forums.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer
This is my experience so far..

Riekr said:
hello and sorry to be late but i didn't actually had nothing to say but i'd had the same issue.
Yesterday frustrated by the roaming not working i tried to set wifi network frequency on n5 wifi advanced settings to 2.4ghz only and volià, wifi romaing seems to work correctly: as i change the room n5 suddenly changes ap without loosing connection.
can anyone confirm?
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Click to collapse
I will check it today at the evening and report back.
EDIT. Nope its's not working for me. @Riekr what Rom are you using?
Sent from awesome Nexus 5

Stock ROM, anyway I'll check further as it seems to switch from one ap to another but not vice versa. Please also check that all parameter are the same except the channels (as per specs) and that the channels does not overlap with WiFi analyser (to improve performance)
Inviato dal mio Nexus 5 utilizzando Tapatalk

Riekr said:
Stock ROM, anyway I'll check further as it seems to switch from one ap to another but not vice versa. Please also check that all parameter are the same except the channels (as per specs) and that the channels does not overlap with WiFi analyser (to improve performance)
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Yes I have the same configuration. The same ssid and pass in both AP's. Only chennels are different and not overlapping also. I'm using now purity rom with Linaro kernel.

Did you manage to fix this? I'm having the same issue.

zibiksior said:
BTW I wanted to ask another thing related with wifi. I changed wifi option "Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep" to "Never" but it's not turning off when I put my phone in to sleep. How long does it take to turn of wifi after locking phone? Could you check Is this option working for you guys?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That option does work and will switch over to your data connection when the phone is asleep. There is an option in the WiFi settings called "scanning always available" which will prevent the WiFi chip from ever truly disabling itself however.

From what I can tell my Nexus 5 changes fine, however I have only tested it on the same router.
I believe "Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep" to "Never" only turns the Wi-Fi off if there is not an active connection currently using data, otherwise things would get dropped packets, etc. Correct me if i am wrong though.

WiFi keeps disconnecting after the nougat update.

So far I love the nougat update. The main problem I have now is the WiFi disconnects when I turn off the screen. Really annoying because I listen to music a lot at work and ever since then the music will stop randomly so the wifi will have to connect again. Rebooting does nothing and I don't want to hard reset the phone to see if it will fix it. I have already gone through 3 different note 5 because of stupid problems. it seems like a battery saving thing. the old update power saving feature used to do the same thing and wouldn't let background apps use data when the phone was off and now its doing it on all the power settings. Not sure what to do.

first off, make sure your wifi is set to stay on always during sleep (at least just to test to see if that fixes things). That said, I've experienced this too (even with that setting set to "always") and hopefully I've fixed it but need more time (and others seeing this issue) to verify the fix and actually I really don't have a fix, just a work around.
I think what's going on is that wifi is being subjected to the battery optimization/power saving stuff and is disabled or whenever when the screen goes off. I've turned off all "power saving stuff" and now wifi seems to stay on.
---------- Post added at 09:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:27 AM ----------
This seems to be a pretty broad issue with Nougat updates, on many device models. Some have suggested disabling the advanced wifi setting "smart network". I just did that and will see how it goes.

Yep same problem here and I have tired nearly everything but smash the phone so far.

I gave up trying to fix it. Nothing is working and I'm not wiping the system just for that. Mostly only happens at work on that wifi. Home doesn't really disconnect much.

painball64 said:
I gave up trying to fix it. Nothing is working and I'm not wiping the system just for that. Mostly only happens at work on that wifi. Home doesn't really disconnect much.
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I'm thinking it happens for me when the phone tries to swap between to wifi access points of the same ssid... like at hotels and work.

Might be right but I know it has something to do with it going to sleep when my screen shuts off. I have the always on turned on but it only happens when my screen is off and I turn it back on

painball64 said:
I gave up trying to fix it. Nothing is working and I'm not wiping the system just for that. Mostly only happens at work on that wifi. Home doesn't really disconnect much.
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I tried a factory reset to fix the Wi-Fi issue. It did nothing except waste my time. I've been with the Note series since the 2 and I'm done with them. I seem to also have some issue with the damn things. I've never been on IOS but I'm ready to take it for a spin.
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app

skunkle88 said:
I tried a factory reset to fix the Wi-Fi issue. It did nothing except waste my time. I've been with the Note series since the 2 and I'm done with them. I seem to also have some issue with the damn things. I've never been on IOS but I'm ready to take it for a spin.
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app
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It's not your phone that's causing the problem it's Nougat itself and that and other reasons are exactly why I downgraded back to MM 6.0.1.. I have the firmware if you want to try that.

MrMike2182 said:
It's not your phone that's causing the problem it's Nougat itself and that and other reasons are exactly why I downgraded back to MM 6.0.1.. I have the firmware if you want to try that.
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Thank you for the offer but I'm just gonna ride this out till September. Also thank you for being so helpful in the forums! I see you helping others all the time.
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app

MrMike2182 said:
It's not your phone that's causing the problem it's Nougat itself and that and other reasons are exactly why I downgraded back to MM 6.0.1.. I have the firmware if you want to try that.
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Click to collapse
Hello Mr Mike,
I'm to the point I can no longer stand this issue. I'm constantly getting an exclamation mark beside my wifi. The thing that boggles me the most is I don't see very many complaints when researching this issue. Am I missing something simple? I also know it's not my router. My wife has an S7 edge, my son uses my old Note 3, and my daughter has an eclipse tablet. None of those devices have this issue. I also know that nothing associated with wifi is set up to sleep. I'm at a loss!
I would hate to roll back to marshmallow but I'm seriously considering it! I'm constantly streaming music and this issue has made this a nightmare.
Any help to fix this would be greatly appreciated!!
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app

skunkle88 said:
Hello Mr Mike,
I'm to the point I can no longer stand this issue. I'm constantly getting an exclamation mark beside my wifi. The thing that boggles me the most is I don't see very many complaints when researching this issue. Am I missing something simple? I also know it's not my router. My wife has an S7 edge, my son uses my old Note 3, and my daughter has an eclipse tablet. None of those devices have this issue. I also know that nothing associated with wifi is set up to sleep. I'm at a loss!
I would hate to roll back to marshmallow but I'm seriously considering it! I'm constantly streaming music and this issue has made this a nightmare.
Any help to fix this would be greatly appreciated!!
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have "smart network switch ebabled"? If you have no need for your mobile data to be enabled then disable it for as long as you're going to be near the Wi-Fi network so you can still receive texts and other stuff.. Just as a sort of test to see if your mobile data is fighting with your Wi-Fi data.. Also how many devices are connected to your Wi-Fi at the time the drop usually happens? For instance if I'm using most of the Wi-Fi data, like say your speeds capped at 10MB and your wife is downloading using almost all of the speed and then other devices will not be able to use that data and your phones going to think the Wi-Fi network is being slow and rather drop it altogether.

MrMike2182 said:
Do you have "smart network switch ebabled"? If you have no need for your mobile data to be enabled then disable it for as long as you're going to be near the Wi-Fi network so you can still receive texts and other stuff.. Just as a sort of test to see if your mobile data is fighting with your Wi-Fi data.. Also how many devices are connected to your Wi-Fi at the time the drop usually happens? For instance if I'm using most of the Wi-Fi data, like say your speeds capped at 10MB and your wife is downloading using almost all of the speed and then other devices will not be able to use that data and your phones going to think the Wi-Fi network is being slow and rather drop it altogether.
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Click to collapse
I've tried enabling and disabling smart switch and I have the same issue. I just tried forgetting the network and setting wi-fi back up fresh (after a factory reset, logging into my Samsung account sets up my Wi-Fi from previously saved settings). So far I haven't I disconnected.
The wife and kids do use some data, but not enough to warrant the issues I've been having. Once again thanks for a quick response. I will report if resetting the connection works.
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app

skunkle88 said:
I've tried enabling and disabling smart switch and I have the same issue. I just tried forgetting the network and setting wi-fi back up fresh (after a factory reset, logging into my Samsung account sets up my Wi-Fi from previously saved settings). So far I haven't I disconnected.
The wife and kids do use some data, but not enough to warrant the issues I've been having. Once again thanks for a quick response. I will report if resetting the connection works.
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app
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Click to collapse
Enable developer options and under Network make sure nothing is on.. I don't know much about your type of setup but I have internet through the cable company but I use my own modem and Wi-Fi network built into it and manually control what devices can use, like what amount of speed, the IP address it can use and so on so I don't really have any issues like that.. I even have it setup so it's a white list type setup so nothing can be connected unless I personally add that devices MAC address.. Neighbors always trying to get free internet!!

Hey just found something. There's a way to check to see what's making the wifi disconnect. For me it is my gear s2. Goto wifi settings and under advanced, scroll to bottom and control history is there. I clicked on it and it said gear s plugin turned my wifi off. So I went and disabled the wifi setting on my watch and made sure to turn sync wifi profiles off also. It seemed to help at home but at work it's still happening but less often. I don't think this is the culprit for most but I have seen an improvement at least for me, it seems.

The only solution I've found is to stop buying Samsung. I went 3 months without sensors working and now my wifi is garbage. So long Samsung!
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app

MrMike2182 said:
Enable developer options and under Network make sure nothing is on.. I don't know much about your type of setup but I have internet through the cable company but I use my own modem and Wi-Fi network built into it and manually control what devices can use, like what amount of speed, the IP address it can use and so on so I don't really have any issues like that.. I even have it setup so it's a white list type setup so nothing can be connected unless I personally add that devices MAC address.. Neighbors always trying to get free internet!!
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Click to collapse
So I think I've narrowed the issue down. Yesterday I had a pool party and used a Brookstone speaker I have that plugs into the 3.5mm jack (I usually connect to several Bluetooth speakers I use). I did not have one single issue. Is it conceivable that using Bluetooth is causing my Wi-Fi issues? If so, any ideas on a fix?
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app

skunkle88 said:
So I think I've narrowed the issue down. Yesterday I had a pool party and used a Brookstone speaker I have that plugs into the 3.5mm jack (I usually connect to several Bluetooth speakers I use). I did not have one single issue. Is it conceivable that using Bluetooth is causing my Wi-Fi issues? If so, any ideas on a fix?
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app
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Click to collapse
It could yes since a lot of them use 2.4GHZ like Wi-Fi does but it's usually unlikely that Bluetooth would cause your Wi-Fi to get messed up because Bluetooth uses AFH which basically identifies bad channels (i.e. those that are already in use) Bluetooth technology nowadays uses what’s called spread-spectrum frequency hopping. That is, they rotate between 70 randomly chosen frequencies within their range, changing 1,600 times a second. That makes it unlikely that two devices will share the same frequency. But if you have your Wi-Fi unit in a spot where it has to pass between a bunch of walls before it gets to you that could also cause a problem since Wi-Fi signals don't like traveling through walls and other objects.

MrMike2182 said:
It could yes since a lot of them use 2.4GHZ like Wi-Fi does but it's usually unlikely that Bluetooth would cause your Wi-Fi to get messed up because Bluetooth uses AFH which basically identifies bad channels (i.e. those that are already in use) Bluetooth technology nowadays uses what’s called spread-spectrum frequency hopping. That is, they rotate between 70 randomly chosen frequencies within their range, changing 1,600 times a second. That makes it unlikely that two devices will share the same frequency. But if you have your Wi-Fi unit in a spot where it has to pass between a bunch of walls before it gets to you that could also cause a problem since Wi-Fi signals don't like traveling through walls and other objects.
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Click to collapse
Only 1600 times a second lol. Thanks, I'm going to try setting up a repeater to widen my signal.
Sent from my SM-N920V using XDA-Developers Legacy app

I'm pretty sure it's the new "app power monitor" battery saver that comes with Nougat. You can disable it by going to Battery> Advanced Settings> App power monitor > OFF. I recently tried it and it worked instantly and consistently.
It looked like a good idea... basically, it was an official Android version of "Greenify", only it repeatedly turns off wifi. What a joke. I turned that off, and now my wifi is stable, instead of turning off every 5 seconds.
Where do we go from here? I still want the battery savings... I guess I'll go back to Greenify and Package Disabler Pro...

I'll try that out thanks