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External antenna/signal boost?

Hello! I'm looking for a way to boost my signal. I've noticed that when I have under 3 bars (and even if it bounces up to 3 and back down) my battery drains quicker than it can charge. At work as long as I have 3+ it will charge faster but if I'm at a different spot and its under 3 it drains. Also, it heats up (usually hangs out around 98.6 degrees but sometimes it'll go 105+). My main reason for wanting a boost at home is because I tether to play games when my sisters hog the house connection. So I'm looking for a cheap way to boost my signal. Small repeater sort of thing or something. To my understanding the little spots under the cover allow you to plug in external antennas, so where can I find everything for that? (And yes I saw that people can't get signal back after)
THANK YOU

Mechachu said:
Hello! I'm looking for a way to boost my signal. I've noticed that when I have under 3 bars (and even if it bounces up to 3 and back down) my battery drains quicker than it can charge. At work as long as I have 3+ it will charge faster but if I'm at a different spot and its under 3 it drains. Also, it heats up (usually hangs out around 98.6 degrees but sometimes it'll go 105+). My main reason for wanting a boost at home is because I tether to play games when my sisters hog the house connection. So I'm looking for a cheap way to boost my signal. Small repeater sort of thing or something. To my understanding the little spots under the cover allow you to plug in external antennas, so where can I find everything for that? (And yes I saw that people can't get signal back after)
THANK YOU
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We used to live in an AT&T dead spot (yeah, yeah, who doesn't?) and ended up putting a powered wireless repeater in the house with an external antenna on the roof. I believe the manufacturer was Digital Antenna. They're not cheap, but the wired versions (if you can live with that) are a bit cheaper.

As long as you have high speed internet at home get an Airave. It puts up a tower in your house and processes everything over your home internet connection. 5 bucks a month i believe.
http://support.sprint.com/support/device/Sprint/AIRAVE_by_Sprint-dvc1230001prd/?id16=airave
Problem solved.

I thought about airwave but people ten to not pay the internet from time to time xD and does the signal crap out if people use the internet? Its only a 768 connection (country ftl) and people tend to netflix and cam -_-

Mechachu said:
I thought about airwave but people ten to not pay the internet from time to time xD and does the signal crap out if people use the internet? Its only a 768 connection (country ftl) and people tend to netflix and cam -_-
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Click to collapse
The airrave uses your internet connection for 3G data and voice calls. If your internet is slow to begin with and ppl are hammering it all day long the airrave won't work well for you. Also, it doesn't hand calls off to the real cell network, so if you're on the phone and you leave your house the call will drop. If you have good signal outside and bad signal inside, one of those repeaters is the way to go - but it ain't cheap.

Dang ok. What about something like the Wilson Magnet Mount Cellular Antenna at Radioshack? (Its on the site. Id link it but you need 8+ posts >.<)

I'd just limit your sisters ip address/mac address with a QOS policy, so that she can't hog all the bandwidth. (would be done at your router)
I've heard and seen on this board some nasty results from connecting external antennas to the connection point behind the battery cover. Do a search in the forums to see, I can't remember exactly off the top of my head.

Ya I only saw a couple people mention problems and it seemed to be things that they had only heard

Whatever you do DO NOT CONNECT an EXTERNAL ANTENNA to the CONNECTION POINT.
So far, everyone on this forum who has tried so with a Galaxy S has ended up with some permanent baseband (or whatever is responsible for the gsm/cdma part) corruption. What ended up happening was that the internal antenna would turn off. In some cases it meant that they could only call with the external antenna plugged in, and in other cases is meant that neither the external or internal antenna would work. (note: This has happened only on captivate and vibrant so far, so I am not sure what will happen on CDMA but.... Better safe than sorry right!?).
oh and sorry for the large font.... It catches your eye... ~_~

krackers said:
Whatever you do DO NOT CONNECT an EXTERNAL ANTENNAto the CONNECTION POINT.
So far, everyone on this forum who has tried so with a Galaxy S has ended up with some permanent baseband (or whatever is responsible for the gsm/cdma part) corruption. What ended up happening was that the internal antenna would turn off. In some cases it meant that they could only call with the external antenna plugged in, and in other cases is meant that neither the external or internal antenna would work. (note: This has happened only on captivate and vibrant so far, so I am not sure what will happen on CDMA but.... Better safe than sorry right!?).
oh and sorry for the large font.... It catches your eye... ~_~
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lol I did that when i got my first smart phone, the htc touch. Thankfully back in those days sprint would fix any problem or give you a new phone no questions asked for 55 dollars. ( I used to find inventive ways to break my phone. Like the mentioned external antenna, or a homemade battery back)

I'm interested in a solution to this as well, preferably something that doesnt have a monthly fee attached.
In my basement, I get about 1-2 bars of service, and sometimes nothing at all. Is very frustrating to receive texts up to an hour late.

talk about ad placement
This came up right under the latest post in this thread:
Tri Band Yagi 700Mhz - 2500Mhz 9dBi
Our highest gain directional tri/multi antenna - for 700-2500mhz networks (including Verizon LTE, Sprint/Verizon/AT&T/Alltel 3G, and more).
LINK
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Thank jebus for adfree android and adblockplus for firefox...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

[Q] Nexus S extremely poor wifi

Hello there,
i know that this topic has been already debated several times but I couldn't find any solution to it.
I'm running MIUI 1.8.19, android version 2.3.5, kernel version 2.6.35.7-g3cc95e3, baseband I9023XXKB3.
Wifi signal is extremely weak, few meters away from any router and the connection becomes extremely unstable making the wifi experience a total nightmare.
I've been previously tried NSCollab and also different baseband configuration files but nothing seems to get things better.
For what is worth (even though the wifi is bad anywhere and with any router) my router is a Linksys WRT150N running on DD-WRT.
The Nexus S wifi thing seems to be a little bit controversial. Some users seem having no problem with it, some other experience the same problems i do.
Question #1: is that a hardware, software or both kind of problem?
question #2 : is there any workaround that would allow me at least to comfortably browse the internet from my bedroom (5-6 mts away from my router) without getting disconnected every other 30 sec?
Thank you in advance,
D.

You kept a phone that can't hold a wifi connection over a distance of 5m? I'd have returned it on day 1.
It's normal that the distance of WIFI on smartphones is less than say a laptop or pc, but 5m is definitly not normal.
Verify w/ other wifi networks, same problem = return it. If not, bad luck, might be the combination of your phone + the router not working properly.
You can try changing radios to see of that improves your situation, for some it did.

Yes, it is normal having a weaker wi-fi but my blackberry has no problem at all. it is the nexus and it seems to be quite a widespread problem around the globe.
Well i was abroad on business and couldnt return it. Just looking for clues....

I know that netarchy's kernel uses updated wifi drivers, you can try flashing that and see if it does anything.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

Hi there,
i tried several kernels: netarchy, matrix and also installed MIUI and also tried the MIUI Brainmaster ROM. Same result: in my bedroom the wifi signal score a miserable -85/90 db. Is there any kernel out there optimized for wifi? I mean, it seems that the wifi weakness on the nexus S is a common problem.
Thank you in advance.

It sounds as though you have a hardware problem or a router problem. I have to go to a room in the other side of my house to get -90 db and even then it doesn't disconnect. I have to get about 200 feet away before it disconnects.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Also it might have something to do with interference on whatever channel you are connecting on but I don't really know enough about wireless networking to help you troubleshoot that.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

What i'm wondering is wheter Samsung uses different wifi chipset on the same phone cause i'm not the only one complaining about it. just google "nexus s weak wifi" and you'll see hundreds of people with the same problem.
still wondering if there's a software solution to it.

caravaggio971 said:
What i'm wondering is wheter Samsung uses different wifi chipset on the same phone cause i'm not the only one complaining about it. just google "nexus s weak wifi" and you'll see hundreds of people with the same problem.
still wondering if there's a software solution to it.
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Click to collapse
It has been documented that the Nexus S uses an under powered wifi chip. The chip uses less power but with that comes a weaker signal.

mine seems to be weaker than average...

Yours does seem weaker than normal, but no nexus s has decent wifi range.
What I have done is purchase 2 old linksys wrt54gl routers, have them both loaded up with DD-WRT and then link them (bridged mode or WDS if you prefer) and situate the routers in either end of my house. I have a decent sized 3 bed detached house, with a 70ft garden, I can now get a reliable wifi connection near the end of my garden on my nexus, where as previously I couldnt get to the back door

Might be an old thread, but I just traded my trusty HD2 for a Nexus S and god I hate the WIFI reception on this thing.
I am on stock 2.3.4 Rooted with KD1 radio and 2.6.35.14(Pete's) kernel. Tried just about anything out there, and nothing worked out.
Being a Pure Google experience phone, I was expecting a lot more happening for this phone, but it seems that my 2009 released HD2 was way better for all it had to offer.
Subscribing to this thread!

WIFI is fine for me, same as with HTC Desire, and stronger than iPhone 3G...

Its terrible on my Sprint Nexus.
Where I have an Ipod touch and a LG Optimus, they get an 'excellent' connection anywhere in the house. The Nexus drops the connection all the time, shows a 'poor' 5Mbps connection.
Will swapping the phone do any good?

OK.
I bought my Nexus S yesterday and I was soooo disappointed because of its poor wifi reception... But...
I am a network Administrator and a few minutes ago i just couldn't beleive that about 10 meters away from our Cisco Antennas i had about 89db signal so i started playing... and guess what i now have 55dbs at the same spot! What i found out is that Nexus S doesn't work well with High Frequencies so I disabled channels 8-13 and my AP had to work on the low channels and BAM! everything works fine now (My phone is in stock FW)
I hope I helped

Gorbi_gr said:
OK.
I bought my Nexus S yesterday and I was soooo disappointed because of its poor wifi reception... But...
I am a network Administrator and a few minutes ago i just couldn't beleive that about 10 meters away from our Cisco Antennas i had about 89db signal so i started playing... and guess what i now have 55dbs at the same spot! What i found out is that Nexus S doesn't work well with High Frequencies so I disabled channels 8-13 and my AP had to work on the low channels and BAM! everything works fine now (My phone is in stock FW)
I hope I helped
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Click to collapse
Awesome tip! Thank you so much

I found this channel number which it uses to make no difference to the wifi performance.
I tried channels 1,6,11, no difference.
The phone just has poor wifi.
As a note, usually I don't use the low channel '1', as this gets interference from microwaves more than the upper channels.

just bought a Nexus and and experiencing heavy wifi issues.
I tried changing AP channel but doesn't fix.
Testing signal strenght with a LG Optimus one for comparison:
1- LG: -72db. stable
2- Nexus S: -85db web pages loading fails quite often.
Tomorrow my NS will return to the store. Bye Bye

Slow internet after screen replacement

Hi,
I recently replaced my broken screen with a new one. After assembling back the phone I noticed that my internet is very slow. I ran the speedtest and it said my ping was 1182ms and download/upload about 0.03mbs/0.02mbs. Wifi works perfectly.
Anyone know why does this occur? Any ideas how to fix it?
Thanks
Edit: So the 3G/GSM connector was poorly attached. I added some electrical tape to secure it. Now it works!

Hi!
I have the same problem. I have a noob question.. Which one is a 3g connector? Could you please post some pictures. Thanks in advance!

I have this same issue but it's my wifi that's slow and reduced speeds and LTE works fine on a Samsung S21 Ultra. Repair shop said it works and that's good enough they can't see the issue despite me having video proof of my S21 Ultra and a family members s21 ultra next to each other running very different speeds, 4 mbps vs 75 mbps right next to each other

1981sdp said:
I have this same issue but it's my wifi that's slow and reduced speeds and LTE works fine on a Samsung S21 Ultra. Repair shop said it works and that's good enough they can't see the issue despite me having video proof of my S21 Ultra and a family members s21 ultra next to each other running very different speeds, 4 mbps vs 75 mbps right next to each other
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is your N5 stock android?
check the cables and contacts on the back cover. there's a thread on here about a GPS fix that also work for the Wifi signal.

Really slow and spotty wifi?

Will I get OTA updates if I don't put a SIM in? I'm on C432B126 right now and I think the seller that installed it for me messed it up, I'm not getting supercharge or fast charge with the included charger just normal charging and wifi has been really slow and spotty, I've tried everything to fix the wifi issues but it's still the same, can someone shed some light on this, thanks.

gtrm said:
Will I get OTA updates if I don't put a SIM in? I'm on C432B126 right now and I think the seller that installed it for me messed it up, I'm not getting supercharge or fast charge with the included charger just normal charging and wifi has been really slow and spotty, I've tried everything to fix the wifi issues but it's still the same, can someone shed some light on this, thanks.
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Click to collapse
I am assuming you are using 5ghz wifi. Some phones have issues with high channel >48 5ghz wifi (my lg v20, mi max and the mate9). If you use 2.4ghz only the wifi will improve. However, if you want to use 5ghz goto your router wifi channel settings and set to either channel 36 or 48. Just note the lower channels have poorer wall penetration compared to channel 150+. If you got a large house consider a solution like Google wifi. If you are still getting very poor wifi, then you may have a faulty phone (dislodged antennae maybe).
To get supercharging you will need to use the original charger + CABLE.
Try using the ampere app to see how fast your phone is charging. Anything over 2 amps I would say it is good enough unless you are in a hurry.

azukayx said:
I am assuming you are using 5ghz wifi. Some phones have issues with high channel >48 5ghz wifi (my lg v20, mi max and the mate9). If you use 2.4ghz only the wifi will improve. However, if you want to use 5ghz goto your router wifi channel settings and set to either channel 36 or 48. Just note the lower channels have poorer wall penetration compared to channel 150+. If you got a large house consider a solution like If you are still getting very poor wifi, then you may have a faulty phone (dislodged antennae maybe).
To get supercharging you will need to use the original charger + CABLE.
Try using the ampere app to see how fast your phone is charging. Anything over 2 amps I would say it is good enough unless you are in a hurry.
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Click to collapse
I tried both 2.4ghz and 5ghz with no luck and I only get normal charging speeds with the included charger+cable, no fast charge or supercharge, charging to full takes nearly 3 hours.

gtrm said:
I tried both 2.4ghz and 5ghz with no luck and I only get normal charging speeds with the included charger+cable, no fast charge or supercharge, charging to full takes nearly 3 hours.
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Click to collapse
Then take to a service centre, probably a faulty charging port/electronics and dislodged wifi antennae.

The WiFi on the Mate 9 is the best I've ever used.
I'm sitting in my car outside the house to send this, and I've never been able to do that with any other phone.
Have to disagree about 5G channels. The higher frequencies are absorbed more by building materials. That's why 5G generally covers less than 2G. If anyone finds the top channels are better than the lower ones it will be due to antenna variations in the router or the handset.

RR-99 said:
The WiFi on the Mate 9 is the best I've ever used.
I'm sitting in my car outside the house to send this, and I've never been able to do that with any other phone.
Have to disagree about 5G channels. The higher frequencies are absorbed more by building materials. That's why 5G generally covers less than 2G. If anyone finds the top channels are better than the lower ones it will be due to antenna variations in the router or the handset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard Huawei phones in general have great signal as well, perhaps I just got a bad unit. I'm sending mine back for an exchange since it'd really be an excellent phone without these two issues.

I had been thinking of adding a WiFi extender to provide coverage when I'm working in the garage. I don't need to now - the Mate 9 works fine in there.

Having a similar problem and I'm thinking it's an incompatibility issue with my Asus N55U. Every other device in the house connects at full 300mbit over 5ghz and 150mbit at 2.4ghz to my modem but my Mate 9 maxed out at 72mbit over 2.4ghz and 150mbit over 5ghz.
The big problem is the 5ghz wifi drops to 7mbit within a few seconds, doesn't matter where in the house I am, yet it always says excellent signal. 2.4ghz stays at 72mbit but my internet is 100mbit fibre so it's still not ideal.
I've tried different 5ghz channels (right now on 40), tried N-only, 20 and 40mhz, changing wifi names, changing security type and factory resetting the phone. Nothing has worked, I get an intermittent 50KB/s to 400KB/s from the phone at 5ghz, yet I connect my laptop to the 5ghz, get a solid 300mbit and download at 11MB/s with the same distance to the router.
Going to purchase a new router and hopefully this will resolve the issue otherwise I'll be sending the phone back.

I had the same problem (about wifi) I did lots of test with my mate 9 , 2 p9lite and my ipod 5g just my mate 9 had low results sometimes half download and upload than the other devices and always a really high ping 3 or 4 times more than the other devices. I wrote to amazon and also to huawei for describe this problem and they decided to replace it so I will receive the new one tomorrow. Them said nobody report this issue about a software error so they think this is an hardware factory problem. Hope you can solve it asap like me

zuuus said:
I've tried different 5ghz channels (right now on 40), tried N-only
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I assume you're running DD-WRT? Try channel 36 and NA-Mixed.
Sent from my MHA-L29 using XDA Labs

Did the new router fix your problem?
zuuus said:
Having a similar problem and I'm thinking it's an incompatibility issue with my Asus N55U. Every other device in the house connects at full 300mbit over 5ghz and 150mbit at 2.4ghz to my modem but my Mate 9 maxed out at 72mbit over 2.4ghz and 150mbit over 5ghz.
The big problem is the 5ghz wifi drops to 7mbit within a few seconds, doesn't matter where in the house I am, yet it always says excellent signal. 2.4ghz stays at 72mbit but my internet is 100mbit fibre so it's still not ideal.
I've tried different 5ghz channels (right now on 40), tried N-only, 20 and 40mhz, changing wifi names, changing security type and factory resetting the phone. Nothing has worked, I get an intermittent 50KB/s to 400KB/s from the phone at 5ghz, yet I connect my laptop to the 5ghz, get a solid 300mbit and download at 11MB/s with the same distance to the router.
Going to purchase a new router and hopefully this will resolve the issue otherwise I'll be sending the phone back.
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I am having the same symptoms that you are on my Mate 9. Did you buy a new router, and did it make any difference in the wifi performance of the Mate 9? If so, could you please share which router you are using? Thanks.
---------- Post added at 04:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:34 AM ----------
olomarco said:
I had the same problem (about wifi) I did lots of test with my mate 9 , 2 p9lite and my ipod 5g just my mate 9 had low results sometimes half download and upload than the other devices and always a really high ping 3 or 4 times more than the other devices. I wrote to amazon and also to huawei for describe this problem and they decided to replace it so I will receive the new one tomorrow. Them said nobody report this issue about a software error so they think this is an hardware factory problem. Hope you can solve it asap like me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi just wondering if your replacement mate 9 was any different as far as Wi-Fi goes compared to the one you posted the problems about. I have 2 mate 9's with similar symptoms (10 times higher ping and 3-4 times slower transfer speeds compared to laptops and other Wireless A/C phones), so just trying to figure out whether they are all going to have this problem or if I happen to have defective units that would be fixed by replacement.

I am having the same symptoms that you are on my Mate 9. Did you buy a new router, and did it make any difference in the wifi performance of the Mate 9? If so, could you please share which router you are using? Thanks.
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Click to collapse
I ended up buying a Linksys WRT1900ACS router, the Mate 9 now connects at 433Mbit to that even though my other devices connect at near 900Mbit. Still, my internet connection is only 100Mbit so 433Mbit is fine, and certainly better than 7Mbit.
But in case you were wondering the Oreo update didn't fix the issue, so I'm guessing it's a hardware issue. Haven't really bothered investigating it further after getting the new router.

wifi quality - midrange vs flagship phones

Has anyone observed a difference in wifi speed and signal strength between midrange and flagship phones? I just bought a Samsung Galaxy A71 to replace my Asus Zenfone 3, both midrange. Neither of them achieve the same wifi speeds across my house as my wife's iphone XR. Is the integrated antenna lower quality on midrange phones? We have 300mbps internet (can hit that speed wired) and an ac3200 router, in one weak point of my house the two android phones get around 75-80mbps on a speedtest whereas my wife's iphone gets 150-200mbps. Haven't done a test from the backyard as yet, but I know my asus can't connect to our 5ghz wifi and falls back to 2.4ghz, wouldn't be surprised if the samsung is the same.