Nexus S Has Terrible 4G Radio, Terrible Wifi Radio, and Wifi Tethering Crashes Data

**rinsf** · 05-10-2011, 06:41 PM

I just picked up a Nexus today, and it already has build GRJ22, which I understand is the latest update.

I am sitting in my office in downtown San Francisco, where last week I was running my entire office network (we had just moved and had DSL problems) off of a Clearwire WiMax Hotspot. The signal was excellent and constant, and we consistently got speeds of 6Mb or more.

I have my Nexus in the same location. It will intermittently get 4G, but only what appears to be a weak signal (at most 10% of the time), and then the signal will go away. Presumably this is the same Wimax signal as with the Clearwire modem.

I figure OK, the 4G doesn't work, so I'll use wifi. In the very same place where I receive a strong and constant wifi signal on my laptop, and a strong and constant signal with a Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V, the Nexus is incapable of using the same wifi signal.

Even though I don't need wifi tethering, it's enabled by default on the phone so I figure I'll try it out. As soon as the wifi tethering is turned on, the phone stops receiving cellular data. Not only is there no tether to the internet, but no apps on the phone that need to access the internet can do so until the wifi tether is turned off.

I'll skip the usual commentary - other than to say this phone seems to have some serious problems.

**rem_kujawa** · 05-10-2011, 06:57 PM

I'm seeing a lot of signal variation, I'm less than six feet from my airwaves.

**darealm** · 05-10-2011, 07:43 PM

I completely agree, and this has been widely reported in the forums. I'm taking back my phone to the place where I bought it to try to get a replacement and hoping that a new device will fix the problem. But I have my doubts...

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

**SFWD1934** · 05-10-2011, 08:02 PM

Yea mine seems to be odd acting as well. Not only that it takes forever to even get the signal so I can start using my wifi.

My EVO is always ready to go as soon as I unlock the screen.

May just take it back and wait and see. I also have the latest build.

Jason

**gabbott** · 05-10-2011, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by SFWD1934

Yea mine seems to be odd acting as well. Not only that it takes forever to even get the signal so I can start using my wifi.

My EVO is always ready to go as soon as I unlock the screen.

May just take it back and wait and see. I also have the latest build.

Jason

Out of curiosity, what is your wifi sleep policy set to? (it is under advanced in your wifi settings)

**tibbys** · 05-10-2011, 08:11 PM

Yeah the WiFi radio is pretty terrible compared to my evo, its very very low compared to my evo always being very high when im the same area of distance to the router. I sure hope there will be a fix for this..

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

**Trun** · 05-10-2011, 08:30 PM

It is absolutely terrible. My phone is less than two feet from my router and it dropped the connection twice in less than 5 minutes.

**tibbys** · 05-10-2011, 08:47 PM

i will note this though, when i had first purchased my Evo 4G, the radio issues were exactly alike to the Nexus S 4G issues...over time and OTA's they have perfected the the Evo Radios so maybe we can all have some hope towards the Nexus S 4G device or is this unlikely since its strictly a stock Google phone?

**QuasarZ** · 05-10-2011, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by tbistONE

i will note this though, when i had first purchased my Evo 4G, the radio issues were exactly alike to the Nexus S 4G issues...over time and OTA's they have perfected the the Evo Radios so maybe we can all have some hope towards the Nexus S 4G device or is this unlikely since its strictly a stock Google phone?

I agree. I had the EVO since launch and went through the poor signal issues. With an OTA update it seemed to fix it, along with time. I would assume if enough people complain and have issues there should be a solution soon like the EVO.

**FocusFreak** · 05-10-2011, 08:55 PM

That sucks. My 4G, WIFI and hotspot all work perfectly. My WIFI gets a pretty good signal even about 40 feet away and thru 3 walls.

**optimus** · 05-10-2011, 09:20 PM

My radios are horrible as well...

**maverick96** · 05-10-2011, 09:37 PM

Couldn't agree more, I have my Nexus S 4G sitting next to my iPhone 4 and the WiFi strength on the iPhone is at 100%, while the NS shows nothing. This is absolutely terrible!!! Glad I didn't port yet..

**Trun** · 05-10-2011, 09:42 PM

I currently have the phone sitting on top of my router, and it can't even connect to it...Slowly wanting to return the phone..

**NegativeCreep** · 05-10-2011, 09:53 PM

I figure I might as well chime in and say my wifi, wimax and cdma radios all work fine. It might even be slighty better than the wifi on my DX.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

**BlackHawkA4** · 05-10-2011, 09:55 PM

Everything seems to be working exactly the same for me as the epic did if not better. I feel like they are less signals but they also have less bars.

Nothing works any worse for me.

**tibbys** · 05-10-2011, 10:01 PM

Run a speed test, the results I received from my evo to my ns4g is absolutely embarassing for the NS4G..

Using the speedtest app from the market on both devices from SPEEDTEST.NET

Evo:
Ping = 39ms
Download: 10,684kbps
Upload: 5160kbps

Nexus S 4g:
Ping = 45ms
Download: 6380kbps
Upload: 4431kbps

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

**BlackHawkA4** · 05-10-2011, 10:05 PM

Where did you get the phone? The one I got from best buy wasn't full set up for me. I had to do it myself.

After i did prl and profile updates they said congratulations your phone is now active. Waited like 20 minutes and battery pulled.

When it came back on I did it again and it just said my prl or profile was updated this time. Seemed to be working better on 3g too.

**SFWD1934** · 05-10-2011, 10:09 PM

My wifi is always on. Never sleep.

Jason

**skinneejay** · 05-10-2011, 10:11 PM

Using the speedtest app from the market on both devices from SPEEDTEST.NET

Nexus S 4g:
Ping = 24ms
Download: 8.17mbps
Upload: 3.84 mbps

That's with my signal bar showing two bars. So it seems like mine is all good.

**SFWD1934** · 05-10-2011, 10:12 PM

As a matter of fact as I typed a response I had to wait because it dropped wifi. But my EVO was still solid.

Jason

**Trun** · 05-10-2011, 10:13 PM

Oh yeah, on my Nexus, I tested it twice. First time I got

5293 dn
1036 up
24 ms

Second time:

1760 dn
791 up
20 ms

Edit: Tested Evo twice.

First time:
9631 dn
1026 up
26 ms

Second time:
9634 dn
1031 up
20 ms

**tibbys** · 05-10-2011, 10:14 PM

the only thing i have faith in with this issue is like i stated earlier, the evo had major signal issues with wifi and 3g and OTA's fixed that right away...im keeping my fingers crossed for the same type of issue to be resolved with the nexus s...i love this phone!

**rc28a** · 05-10-2011, 10:18 PM

Im in the same boat, what gives?? I can't watch any of the Conan clips with out freezing either. It works smooth as butter on my Optimus LG.

Nexus fail?

**Mpaige** · 05-10-2011, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by gabbott

Out of curiosity, what is your wifi sleep policy set to? (it is under advanced in your wifi settings)

Hey thanks for the tip, I didn't know that setting was there.

**KSmithInNY** · 05-10-2011, 10:31 PM

For those complaining, why not complain to the ones that can fix it? Link above was posted earlier today in a different thread. If you are going there to complain, at least come with ammunition. Don't mention PRL's ... they don't have jack to do with the price of tea in China. I have this same PRL on 3 other sprint android phones and they are faster than the nexus in speed tests. PRL's only deal with non-native networks. Tell them we need a "baseband" update