Poor wifi performance

**orangeman** · 07-18-2012, 12:00 AM

I just received my Nexus 7 today and was liking it until I took it up to my bedroom where every device I own has gotten at least 75% strength. I got to the door with full signal, literally took 4 steps inside the door, and the signal is totally gone. Has anyone else experienced such flaky performance with their wifi?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

**kevin_stevens** · 07-18-2012, 12:05 AM

http://forums.androidcentral.com/sea...archid=4979353

KeS

I don't care what device your message was sent from.

**1812dave** · 07-18-2012, 12:41 AM

We got two N7's today. Both drop off the wifi signal pretty darn abruptly as I walk them away from the router. I repositioned my router (upwards, off of the top of a 4 drawer metal file cabinet, by about a foot) in order to get useful reception in our bedroom and living room. Seems that little bit of movement of the router did the trick. Otherwise, I was very unhappy with the wifi performance in our home. I haven't yet tried them out on the deck or in the front yard, but I might check out the wifi coverage tomorrow. the N7's did show the SSID's of several of my neighbors' wifi's so that shows that the N7 can pull in a signal from more than 75 feet, but I doubt it would be a usable connection, of course.

EDIT: I movEd my router upwards above the metal cabinet That it sits on and got far better reception. n7 pretty much works everywhere in my home now

**pounder001** · 07-18-2012, 06:38 AM

Hmmm, I was questioning my N7's wifi as well yesterday as it took forever to download the free Transformer movie (3+ hrs) but I wasn't sure if this was normal for a movie that size as my only other comparison was my iPad3, which down loaded movies much quicker.

**gburns** · 07-18-2012, 08:13 AM

Agree, the wifi strength was noticeably lower than my other devices. kinda surprised since this is a wifi only device, think that would have a stronger area. maybe a software update in the future?

**Donatron** · 07-18-2012, 11:39 PM

My Nexus 7 also has really poor WiFi performance. It has gotten to the point where I don't even bother trying to use it anymore. It works well if I'm in the same room as my router. But my desktop is that room as well, so I might as well just use that. I've barely had it a day, and already it's become nothing more than a paper weight.

Aside from this thread, I haven't been able to find many owners complaining about WiFi performance. So we might just have defective units. I think I'm gonna call customer service to see if I can get a replacement.

**molinap1** · 07-19-2012, 12:32 AM

My Nexus kept losing access to the Internet, but it wasn't disconnecting from the wifi. I found that it was having intermittent outages every minute or so for about 10 seconds. I ran a continuous ping to confirm it. I did a complete wipe and reset up the nexus again and the problem was gone.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

**E_man** · 07-19-2012, 12:38 AM

Very strange. Like I said in the other thread, the wifi strength on this is one of the best I've used in mobile, and I've used a lot from more than a few OS's.

**aponteg22** · 07-19-2012, 12:45 AM

I haven't had any problems with connection, but performance is a bit inconsistent, and is especially noticeable when streaming videos and movies. I couldn't watch a movie on Netflix tonight without it buffering and switching between resolutions at several points throughout. At first I thought it was my modem, but when I ran a speed test, the results were incredibly high.

As I'm typing, I have the Transformers movie downloading in the background, and it is extremely quick (about 25% complete in 5 minutes). I'm not sure what's wrong since everything else works briskly, except for streaming.

**ShaggyKids** · 07-19-2012, 05:14 AM

I haven't had a problem with it that I can tell. It's worked the same as my phone when I take it upstairs.

Sent from my AWESOME Nexus 7 via Tapatalk 2

**ejraney** · 07-19-2012, 05:53 AM

Mine has been great so far. I took it to work yesterday and our wifi router is in the middle of our building, and I had no issues sitting in my office and that's with concrete blocks, metal studs and all kinds of electronic equipment in between.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

**cvbusa** · 07-21-2012, 10:14 AM

The WiFi signal strength on my Nexus 7 is definitely at least 2 bars lower than my other devices at home, at a friend's house & at work ... sure hope this is a firmware issue or OS issue that can be fixed soon. Charles.

**comdatcom** · 07-22-2012, 03:50 AM

I was having similar issues- nexus 7 getting 20 db less signal than RAZR sitting next to it. The issue was with the back of the nexus being very slightly loose. The back cover pops in place. The cover contains the buttons for power, volume and the WiFi antenna. The hardware in the back cover is connected to the main unit via contact points instead of wire. if its loose at all you may notice poor WiFi performance. I unsnapped the cover a little bit and then resnapped it into place. I now have excellent WiFi signal where before it was dropping out and was lower than my other devices. I think this happened when I knocked it off the coffee table. The back cover was seperated from the screen on the upper left corner by about 1/8 inch. I used the unit for several hours before I even noticed the gap. Hope that helps your issue.

**dboy9119** · 07-22-2012, 02:36 PM

I just got my Nexus 7 and it definitely has an issue with WiFi. It gets noticably less signal than any other device in my house and it isn't my router. I have an N router with 3 antennas on it. I can get coverage with my laptops and my other tablets, and phones almost at the back of my house 300 feet away.
The nexus 7, 30 feet in the same room. At 30 feet I get 1 signal bar and it is pretty useless at that point.
I hope Google acknowledge the issue and either suggets a workaround.

**dboy9119** · 07-22-2012, 02:39 PM

I also hope the other user (comdatcom) isn't suggesting we fix our own Nexus 7, if it has been badly assmbled !
I also checked my device and it looks very nicely assmbled. I think whether it is a contact issue or something else, Google/Asus fix it quickly.

**scollins#CB** · 07-23-2012, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by comdatcom

I was having similar issues- nexus 7 getting 20 db less signal than RAZR sitting next to it. The issue was with the back of the nexus being very slightly loose. The back cover pops in place. The cover contains the buttons for power, volume and the WiFi antenna. The hardware in the back cover is connected to the main unit via contact points instead of wire. if its loose at all you may notice poor WiFi performance. I unsnapped the cover a little bit and then resnapped it into place. I now have excellent WiFi signal where before it was dropping out and was lower than my other devices. I think this happened when I knocked it off the coffee table. The back cover was seperated from the screen on the upper left corner by about 1/8 inch. I used the unit for several hours before I even noticed the gap. Hope that helps your issue.

This was my issue. Popped the back into place and went from "Poor" to "Excellent" signal strength.

Thank you!

**EJT** · 07-23-2012, 11:23 AM

Weird. My router is in my office in the southwestern corner of my house. I can use my N7 in my back yard, 75 yards from the router, outside, in the farthest possible place from my office in the far northeastern corner of my yard. Granted, the signal is week out there, but it works.

The only place in my house I have iffy wifi is in my garage addition..........but EVERY device I own has that problem. I wonder if this effects some devices but not others (as do most of the defects we see). I will say that I've had the same problem with streaming HD video as a poster above mentioned though. I can literally be sitting next to the router at my desk, and video will buffer. That one I can't explain, as Speedtest shows 20-30mbps.

**cusinndzl** · 07-24-2012, 10:00 AM

I had some issues with my WiFi signal so tried out different WiFi channels and found that changing the channel to 1 sped things up a bit. Other devices seemed to work fine on the other channel.

**mfldmike** · 07-24-2012, 10:25 PM

Did any of you try changing the DNS server address on the device to something from OpenDNS or Google's servers

Google's Servers:
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

I know it's helped me in the past, even with my iOS device.

**kambomambo** · 07-29-2012, 04:46 PM

I'm having the same problem - says 'good' instead of 'excellent' when about eight feet away and pretty much disappears when in my bedroon - a total of only 30 feet away. Reception definitely weaker than other devices. I'm not bold enough to flip off the cover, instead I think I'll ask for a replacement - which someone else, on another thread on this forum, has already done. Maybe it's an iphone type issue - although I hope not.

**OnTheSnap** · 07-29-2012, 08:36 PM

I had the same issues and decided to see if I could fix it myself. And I did!

I pulled the back cover off. It was very easy and I was able to use my short finger nails to pop the back off. the back cover has 3 integrated antenna's that connect with the main body using spring contacts. Each antenna is labled - "GPS", "NFC", "Wifi". I bent the Wifi spring fingers up 10 degrees or so. This allowed them to make better contact with the antenna on the back cover.

Problem solved. No more connectivity issues at all.

Note that prior to this fix, I had good signal strength. It was just taking forever to load pages. Like packets were getting malformed or something.

So if you have wifi problems, give this a shot. Its low risk IMO.

**Jalee2012** · 07-30-2012, 01:46 AM

I noticed a wifi issue at church today, I normally take my playbook, but today I decided to try my nexus 7 for my bible/notes. The bible program I use needs the internet, so today when I tried to sign on, it told me I had no bars, which is strange because on my playbook I get 3 or 4 bars inside and 2 or 3 bars outside the building. The pastor was able to use the internet so I know it was working.. and my wifi works at home inside and outside, so don't know what the issue was today.

**GiantJay** · 07-30-2012, 04:26 AM

My wifi is great way better than my Epic 4g Touch.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

**kambomambo** · 07-30-2012, 02:01 PM

OnTheSnap - you are absolutely diamond. I followed your instructions and it has done the job perfectly. Reception is now 'excellent' in the same room and I get a decent signal (2 to 3 bars) where I previously had nothing in my bedroom.

One other thing that illustrates the extent of the imporvement is that I can now see 20 visible networks whereas previously there were just three visible. Excellent piece of advice and extremely grateful. Thanks for the clear and simple advice. I no longer need to think about returning it.

Originally Posted by OnTheSnap

I had the same issues and decided to see if I could fix it myself. And I did!

I pulled the back cover off. It was very easy and I was able to use my short finger nails to pop the back off. the back cover has 3 integrated antenna's that connect with the main body using spring contacts. Each antenna is labled - "GPS", "NFC", "Wifi". I bent the Wifi spring fingers up 10 degrees or so. This allowed them to make better contact with the antenna on the back cover.

Problem solved. No more connectivity issues at all.

Note that prior to this fix, I had good signal strength. It was just taking forever to load pages. Like packets were getting malformed or something.

So if you have wifi problems, give this a shot. Its low risk IMO.

**epohs** · 08-09-2012, 08:09 AM

Originally Posted by comdatcom

I was having similar issues- nexus 7 getting 20 db less signal than RAZR sitting next to it. The issue was with the back of the nexus being very slightly loose. The back cover pops in place. The cover contains the buttons for power, volume and the WiFi antenna. The hardware in the back cover is connected to the main unit via contact points instead of wire. if its loose at all you may notice poor WiFi performance. I unsnapped the cover a little bit and then resnapped it into place. I now have excellent WiFi signal where before it was dropping out and was lower than my other devices. I think this happened when I knocked it off the coffee table. The back cover was seperated from the screen on the upper left corner by about 1/8 inch. I used the unit for several hours before I even noticed the gap. Hope that helps your issue.

Thank you so much! This was exactly my problem. My WiFi strength jumped from barely one bar to full strength as soon as I resnapped the back.