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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.
Click to expand...
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
Click to expand...
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
I have looked far and wide for a fix to my plagued Nexus S GPS and WiFi Signal problems. I tried GPS Test and erased all cached AGPS data. NO Towers show up. Left phone sitting there next to my window for more than 30 minutes.
Wifi Signal is always one bar while my iPod, Samsung Focus, HP Veer all get three to four bars. Including different SIM cards all recently new.
I've always tried the no battery cover trick to no end. Flashed several radios for my I9020A that i bought at best buy and nothing has helped.
I'm on 2.3.4.
Any ideas before I return this phone as a defective and give another a try?
As for the GPS, this is some sort of issue with the phone. There have been videos on YouTube explaining that it's something to do with the back cover they chose: they found that the GPS signal was stronger with the back cover removed. Not too practical.
I too have issues while using Navigation (on a bus...or even in a car sometimes...it must have a lead lines roof or something) with the Nexus S that weren't present in the Nexus One (which could lock onto satellites in a basement :what. This looks like something you can try to DRM, but it may not improve.
As for the Wifi signal, how far are you from the access point? What wireless technology are you setting up on your access point? (802.11a, b, g, or n?). If it's n? Are you trying to use the phone with a 5ghz N router? Finally, is there anything between your router and the phone that could cause interference?
- chris
Thanks for the reply chris.
I have major issues even outside. the most accurate I've seen the phone pinpoint is 2500 meters accuracy with clear skies and such.
As for my router, its a BHN SBG6580. Basically Motorola Surf Board. It's supposed to go up to N. No There isn't any kind of interference otherwise my other devices wouldn't pick up a good signal right?
Please will anyone suggest anything I really like my nexus s and it's My first real Android coming from window phones and the iPhone 4
Okay so interesting find. If I tether my nexus s to my iPod my iPod can locate itself within 20 meters where as my nexus can't locate itself with about a huge margin error where I should be. My iPod gets GPS from my Nexus S giving off wifi
Does this mean it could be an android bug causing his problem ?
That's odd. It looks like Google knows where the phone is (err..where the access point with the ESSID of your phone is) but the phone isn't picking up on it.
There's a program on market called GPS Toolkit (something like that) that has an option to refresh your AGPS cache this may help you get a fix more quickly. If this doesn't work out, it may well be worth it to get the phone replaced. Oh...and if you're not using stock firmware....give that a try as well.
If none of that works, and you're not able to resolve your wireless issues, you may want to consider taking the phone back or RMAing it. This combination of issues sounds a bit strange.
- chris
Thanks again for the reply Chris.
It looks like I'm going to bring it back to stock how I got it and return it for an exchange or just wait or for another AT&T phone that is actually decent. By the way it is on the stock ROM just rooted.
If the replacement if I do get one issued still has the problems I am at lost then. I had tried GPS test from the market and the one you mentioned without any resolve to my problem
Hey gang,
Any Note 5 owners experiencing any wifi connectivity issues? I've found that the connection becomes completely unresponsive if I lose a single bar of wireless signal, and even during regular usage with full signal, the wifi connection will just drop off and reconnect back to the access point. I took a Galaxy Note 2, a Nexus 6, and the Note 5 to one of the spots where 1 bar drops, the Note 2 and Nexus 6 have no issues and still get 120Mbit on Speedtest. The Note 5 just times out until I get the signal back up to full strength.
I've made sure Smart Network Switch is disabled, and I don't see anything to disable any Wifi optimizations so I'm guessing that isn't an option anymore.
Regards,
--Henry
I haven't had any issues with my note 5 so far... have you tried rebooting the router? Every week or two I have to do that with my router cuz of weird stuff like that.
dandroid7 said:
I haven't had any issues with my note 5 so far... have you tried rebooting the router? Every week or two I have to do that with my router cuz of weird stuff like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately a router reboot does nothing, and I had a feeling it would do nothing since all the other devices are on wireless perfectly fine. Only the Note 5 has issues.
The router isn't a slouch either, it's an Asus RT-N66U so it's not some kind of cheapy wireless router
Bummer...
Yup major issues thought it was just me
Sent from my SM-N920T using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
WiFi issues here with an Asus router as well. My Nexus 6, Note 4, S6, and G3 are fine on 2.4ghz / 5ghz but my Note 5 seems sluggish on either speed and eventually drops out entirely until I cycle the WiFi connection
Sent from my SM-N920T
You would think that with Samsung being the reputable company they are, they would ensure their devices weren't plagued by these issues.
I'm on the fence about returning the note 5, the wifi drops out so much that I'm not going to settle with paying a big chunk of change just to have a faulty device.
Haven't seen any WiFi drops here. I rely on WiFi Calling while at the office and it held stable both Friday and today. Browsing seemed fine too.
I'm having the same issue. The connection doesn't drop, just becomes unresponsive. I have to toggle it to get it back.
Unfortunately, just because they're the same model does not mean the exact same parts were used to make them.
It may be that some phones were built with a router from a bad batch/supplier, while other sm920t are without the fault.
It may be worth a shot to do a warranty replacement. You can do it as many times as you need to get a properly working device, even. I dont think theres a charge, and if it is it's negligible. If you're the type to think you shouldnt have to pay for their mistake (like me...) you could probably convince customer service to credit the fee. Just remember to be nice... customer service is a crappy job, so you'd be surprised how far they'll go to help the people whom brighten up their day :-]
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
somewhereslowly said:
Unfortunately, just because they're the same model does not mean the exact same parts were used to make them.
It may be that some phones were built with a router from a bad batch/supplier, while other sm920t are without the fault.
It may be worth a shot to do a warranty replacement. You can do it as many times as you need to get a properly working device, even. I dont think theres a charge, and if it is it's negligible. If you're the type to think you shouldnt have to pay for their mistake (like me...) you could probably convince customer service to credit the fee. Just remember to be nice... customer service is a crappy job, so you'd be surprised how far they'll go to help the people whom brighten up their day :-]
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile charges shipping on warranty swaps, which is usually around $6.95.
Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk
I had gotten a replacement today, and it has the exact same Wifi connectivity issues. New device cannot maintain a stable connection. Even my old, crappy Galaxy S2X is able to hold a connection better than the Note 5.
It's really sad, I had high hopes for this device but it seems like Samsung completely dropped the ball on this one. Looks like I'm returning it and looking for an alternative.
I am connected at home and office - i do not experience any issues. I have terrible cell reception at my desk which is why I use the WIFI
HankChill said:
I had gotten a replacement today, and it has the exact same Wifi connectivity issues. New device cannot maintain a stable connection. Even my old, crappy Galaxy S2X is able to hold a connection better than the Note 5.
It's really sad, I had high hopes for this device but it seems like Samsung completely dropped the ball on this one. Looks like I'm returning it and looking for an alternative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dunno bud... my WiFi speeds are remarkably fast. I only pay for 75down/75up.
My WiFi seems to be working ok... I pay for 100 mbps down and 10 mbps up...
My wifi problems seem to have disappeared for now.
drbveb88 said:
I dunno bud... my WiFi speeds are remarkably fast. I only pay for 75down/75up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh it's not that it's not fast -- it's extremely fast! The problem is that the wifi constantly drops, even in the same room as the router, the wifi drops connection and then reconnects, interrupting anything that I was currently doing.
Hmmm, that's no good. I haven't had that issue with the note 5. if I did have that issue, I would try to turn airplane mode on, shut down the phone and boot to stock recovery, wipe cache, reboot, turn wifi on and see if that helps - not saying it will, but if it isn't working right to begin with, it isn't going to make it any worse.
Just a thought...
Additionally, I have had that problem periodically ( not with the note 5 cut its only a few days old), though it usually affects multiple devices, not just one device at my house. When it happens, even rebooting the router and modem doesn't always help. There have been a few times that I have called my cable provider and they "re provisioned" the modem while I was on the phone with them. After that, the problem seemed to go away for many months. The issue was actually the cable modem, not my router.
I posted in the generic Note 5 thread on wifi issues. Im having the similar problems maintaining a stable connection on both work and home networks. Home 5ghz N wpa2 psk, work 5ghz N eap-fast/peap, and work hotspot 2.4ghz open. All networks exibit the same behavior, the note has trouble initially connecting, where it try and drops several times. A bit later it will show the popup that it connected to network name. Any queries seem to be extremely slow or time out. I have manually set my DNS servers to googles with no change in behavior. Wireless calling effectively doesn't work while this is going on. Im going to get a replacement phone tomorrow, but this seems more like a software or driver issue. My nexus 6 had no issues connecting to these networks. My note 4 did exibit connection stability problems on my home network, even though the AP is barely 15 feet away. Im heading to my Aptment in texas this weekend, I have ubiquti AC wireless APs set up there, will see if AC connectivity is at least solid.
Asus routers tend to not play nicely with Samsung devices unfortunately, I have an asus router as well and I have had multiple samsung devices that are unable to maintain a stable connection as well. Something that I have done to make it less annoying is turn off wifi power saving mode. If you don't know how open your dialer and dial *#0011# then go to wifi at the top right. Usually helps the issue. Also I only have my samsung devices connect to my 2.4ghz network instead of the 5ghz.
Hey guys, got my Moto X Play delivered on Tuesday and so far I'm loving nearly every aspect of it, the camera and the large battery are definitely an improvement over the Moto X 2014 that I upgraded from. However, one issue that seems to keep bothering me is the wifi. Basically it seems to constantly drop the connection for no reason at all, my Internet at home is provided by virgin media and the virgin hub is in modem mode and I'm using a TRENDnet router to broadcast wifi. No other devices in the house seem to have any issues connecting with this setup.
The moto x play seems to connect fine to both the 5ghz and 2.4ghz networks but after a couple of minutes they just seem to loose signal. The wifi icon in the status bar doesn't change to imply that this has happened but chrome or Netflix, etc will just get very unresponsive. The phone has been restarted several times since I got it, I have also tried 'forgetting' the network and re-entering the password (on both 5 and 2.4ghz) and I have also tried the setting in lollipop to change the wifi type from auto to 5ghz only and to 2.4ghz only but nothing seems to have any effect. Does this sound like teething problems that could settle down to anyone else or does it sound like a faulty device?
Has anyone else had any issues with this phone?
I had these issues when I bought my tablet and thought maybe it was the tablet. Then I tested the tablet at my brother house who had different service provider and it worked fine.
So maybe give it a go at a resturant or a friends house and see what happens.
P.S I was with Virgin Media aswell when I had these issues no idea if they are connected.
Sent from S3 via Tapatalk App.
Thanks Geordie Affy, i'm actually going to be at my parents this weekend so i'll give it a go on there and see if the situation improves
Hoping it settles down as i really don't want to go to the effort of returning it to amazon
Its most likely your router not your phone causing these issues.
No problem ... keep us posted [emoji106]
Sent from S3 via Tapatalk App.
Ok so, bit of an update.
We had a visit to the mother in laws last night and i tested this issue with their wifi (provided by BT, using all original BT equipment) and still got the same issue. I'm concerned now that this is a problem with the handset.
Any other thoughts on what could be causing it or what i could try to cure it?
Another bit of info i've discovered recently is that even on 5ghz when connected to wifi the phone really seems to struggle to multitask (from a web perspective) i.e. if i'm updating apps on the play store i can't successfully browse the web on chrome and vice versa.
jhaedee said:
Ok so, bit of an update.
We had a visit to the mother in laws last night and i tested this issue with their wifi (provided by BT, using all original BT equipment) and still got the same issue. I'm concerned now that this is a problem with the handset.
Any other thoughts on what could be causing it or what i could try to cure it?
Another bit of info i've discovered recently is that even on 5ghz when connected to wifi the phone really seems to struggle to multitask (from a web perspective) i.e. if i'm updating apps on the play store i can't successfully browse the web on chrome and vice versa.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to confirm that I have wifi issues too. Just received my device and wifi it's not working. I never had any issues with other devices in my house and I have lots of them. Phone seems to be scanning indefinitely.
Have a look if you have the same exclamation mark over the wifi icon?!
Any updates on your device so far?
No, mine is even more frustrating in that the icon remains the same whether I'm connected or not. I've spoken to a guy at Motorola on live chat this morning and as I'd done all the things he had suggested already he recommended doing a factory reset. At least that's one of the big advantages of this phone is that I can backup all my stuff to my sd card and eject it before reseting. Should make it a whole lot easier.
The only thing that seems to have made any kind of difference, and really, it could just be coincidence (as I don't know how these things work at a scientific level) but I reset the router this morning I. E. Turned it off waited a minute or two and turned it back on again and that seemed to improve things slightly. In fact I thought it had cured it as this morning I was unable to even get through one song on Spotify but since the reset I managed to get through an album and a b8t before the connection borked. Since then the signal had dropped out once or twice but not on the same scale as before.
Debating whether to bother with the factory reset now...
I somehow got my wifi working but now I am browsing and whole browsing experience no matter what website I am in is stuttering and lagging .Simple browsing in Google Play store remains the same jerky ,same thing observed on facebook app.
Even my friends Sony M works much smoother. I have tried both H+ 4g and wifi performance very inconsistent. Don't know what to think
Wifi is definitely slower on my Moto X Play than it was on my Galaxy S6. Just going by memory (which could be wrong), I want to say that my LG G3 and Galaxy S5 had better wifi than the X Play too. I only had it for half a day, but the 3rd gen Moto G even seemed better.
I do have an odd issue with the wifi that is annoying but easily fixable (thankfully). Every time the phone boots up, I get the exclamation mark over the wifi icon and it just runs off my mobile data. If I toggle the wifi off and back on, then it connects properly to the wifi and no more exclamation mark. I have to do this every time I restart the phone though.
Hopefully an update will fix this.
How odd it is . I was playing with Moto G 3 gen and it was smoother that Moto X play.
What I am now finding strange is at my parents the wifi has seemed fine! However amazon are already sending me a replacement unit today. Not sure what to do now.
jhaedee said:
What I am now finding strange is at my parents the wifi has seemed fine! However amazon are already sending me a replacement unit today. Not sure what to do now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I thought it would be the case. Had issues like this but never figured out why it happened tbh. Fortunarlely after a couple of months we changed our internet to BT and worked a treat (Minus BT going down haha)
Sent from S3 via Tapatalk App.
I've had issues with this as well. Appears to be connected but no data transmits while every other device works fine. Only happening on one old router not all. May have something to do with Motorola dropping the "ac" WiFi standard on this phone. More annoying is the phone being slow to pick up a cellular signal after leaving WiFi. I've had this happen often and for as long as 5 minutes.
I got my Motorola x play about two weeks and I've just noticed a few Wi-Fi issues. I'm connecting it too the super hub router provided by virgin media on the 5ghz signal and it was fine when I noticed if I held the phone by the top half in the palm of my hand instead of the bottom half, the signal strength shown by the icon in the top right hand corner would drop by half. Is anyone aware if the phones Wi-Fi aerial is on the upper reaches of the phone?
I too have noticed this. Thought it was all in my head which is why I hadn't mentioned it previously lol.
I haven't so far been able to replicate the issues you guys are facing with WiFi. Performance seems to be in general at least on par with my late Galaxy S4.
Sent from my XT1562 using XDA Free mobile app
This could also be a Android 5.x issue. I'm facing similar problems on my LG G2 running SlimLP. WiFi and also cellular seems to be dropping for no apparent reason and I have to manually reconnect. Interestingly though, my Nexus 7 WiFi 2013 doesn't have these issues running UberCM 5.1.1.
other problems with WiFi.
I have this strange problems. See if someone else has the same.
I used googled maps for GPS me to destination. When I am driving WiFi cut off and the phone use data. When I am arrive at destination. I go to McDonald. The phones can't connect to free WiFi at McDonald's. Even this is a saved network. I turn off then on the WIFI, still not connect.
Everything is smooth and perfect except Wifi.
I can found close wifi networks (Mobile hotspots created by other phones) but if I try to connect it just saves them, cannot connect to any wifi networks.
And the strength is too low. It is unable to find my room's wifi ...!!
So I am just totally unable to use wifi in my Pixel :/
Also I turn on Hotspot on my Pixel, it turns on but I cannot find it from other devices.
Also upgraded from 8.1.0 to 9.0 but still same issue.
Without Wifi its so miserable experience Any Solution?????
Yeah, same issue. It's a hardware thing. If you've dropped your phone either the cable came loose or the PCB board is off. I threw mine before (long story) but can't use wifi nor Bluetooth without being close to what I'm connected to.
I just don't feel like fixing it considering the pixel can break by repair. Plus, my 6p is my DD anyway
Dang, I gave my sister this phone and this problem just appeared. Time to look for a new phone for her.
Ok, being real for a second, this worked and I know it is a VERY BAD workaround but can help in a pinch.
I bought a refurb pixel on woot. Took a while to get it because it was sent to a friend's PO box and then brought to mexico, ergo no warranty.
Unboxed it and had this exact same issue; little to no signal on very few wifi hotspots and just "saving"
Seeing as this might be hardware related as @creep138 mentioned, I tried the following:
PRESS considerably hard on the point that the antenna connector should be.
After a couple of seconds of force and massaging, wifi came on and connected.
I KNOW this is a bad idea, I KNOW this might cause several issues on the long run, but if you have it sitting in a drawer doing nothing because of this issue, give it a try.
For reference this was done on a Verizon Black Pixel. The small one. and the point to apply pressure to is about half an inch below the camera and flash module.
Hope this helps
minhaz.sourav said:
Everything is smooth and perfect except Wifi.
I can found close wifi networks (Mobile hotspots created by other phones) but if I try to connect it just saves them, cannot connect to any wifi networks.
And the strength is too low. It is unable to find my room's wifi ...!!
So I am just totally unable to use wifi in my Pixel :/
Also I turn on Hotspot on my Pixel, it turns on but I cannot find it from other devices.
Also upgraded from 8.1.0 to 9.0 but still same issue.
Without Wifi its so miserable experience Any Solution?????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Status update:
After doing what I have already described, that helped to connect to the wifi at my workplace. Nonetheless I didn't have suck luck with my home wifi.
After reading here and there, some users reported the device connecting to 5Ghz wifi no problem. My work is indeed 5Ghz and my home is 2.4
After unpacking and installing a 5Ghz capable router, the pixel connected no problem to it (after applying the aforementioned pressure)
Hope this helps