Slow WiFi Speeds

[Trigati]

While iOS 9.2 doesn't have any major bugs, that can't really be said with 9.1, the version the iPad Pro was released with. But, Apple's engineers got down to fixing the bugs in 9.2. That's something I expect the Pixel's engineers are doing right now.

 

[Wildo6882]

While iOS 9.2 doesn't have any major bugs, that can't really be said with 9.1, the version the iPad Pro was released with. But, Apple's engineers got down to fixing the bugs in 9.2. That's something I expect the Pixel's engineers are doing right now.

I hope they are. And yes, 9.1 was buggy. But not to the extent of the bugs we're seeing on the Pixel. I'd buy one tomorrow if those bugs were fixed.

 

[cjp39]

As you said.. It is a bug. Or so we assume without any official word. They didn't make it with the thought of making this issue present since that would be bad for a WiFi only tablet.

Just remember to not jump on the bandwagon of a bug means they meant it that way or that they are doing nothing about it. No OS is perfect. I get you like iOS but they have had some major bugs in the past as well (remember the iPhone update that made the cellular part of the phone not work? I would say that is pretty big). The thing is they will work to fix issues. As for the other things that may not be bugs (such as how the OS performs) we can only hope they will listen to the feedback from the people using the device and make changes as necessary so we can have an awesome tablet.

They won't listen. My 7 went through something similar, I sent it in for "repairs", finally resorting to fixing myself:

Fixing Nexus 7 Touchscreen Issues in 3 Easy … | Nexus 7

Have a 9 now, had to return the first one as the light bleed was so bad the screen was near white....and it lags and freezes up.

These weren't isolated instances and really not even that bad compared to some issues others were having, like Lollipop essentially bricking the first 7. I like the idea of Nexus and these devices but if there going to just build **** for maximum profit, they can keep them.

 

[LinuxWeather]

Agree with all the opinions above ... but figured I'd post some anecdotes for folks sticking with the Pixel C RE:WiFi

(1) Had to replace my Netgear WNDR4300 as the PSU appears to have died ... Got a Linksys WRT1900 ACS as it was on sale

(2) With the Netgear 2.4 & 5.0 bands were separate, by default the Linksys had dual-band SSID broadcast

-- Noticed speeds degraded to 5-10Mbps when on second floor (~30' away) with router on first floor on both.

-- Changed the Linksys to separate SSIDs for 2.4 and 5.0 and saw an improvement on Pixel C to 10-15 Mpbs (ISP is max at 30Mpbs down).

-- Then setup "prioritized traffic" on my new Linksys for the Pixel C using the MAC address and my speeds are now 30Mpbs all over the house where previously it was 5 or less.

While this isn't proving much as it's not very scientific and I know using a speed test isn't the best bellwether, it does seem to imply that it's something in the kernel network layer or perhaps related to routers that may throttle down to the max speed of the slowest connected devices? I seem to remember reading something about 3-3 and 2-2 routers, need to look into that more.

Anyway, yes its not anything to mute the complaints, and in real world you obviously can't prioritize public WiFi networks for your device, but fwiw this has gotten my home network at least up to snuff.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[cjp39]

Agree with all the opinions above ... but figured I'd post some anecdotes for folks sticking with the Pixel C RE:WiFi

(1) Had to replace my Netgear WNDR4300 as the PSU appears to have died ... Got a Linksys WRT1900 ACS as it was on sale

(2) With the Netgear 2.4 & 5.0 bands were separate, by default the Linksys had dual-band SSID broadcast

-- Noticed speeds degraded to 5-10Mbps when on second floor (~30' away) with router on first floor on both.

-- Changed the Linksys to separate SSIDs for 2.4 and 5.0 and saw an improvement on Pixel C to 10-15 Mpbs (ISP is max at 30Mpbs down).

-- Then setup "prioritized traffic" on my new Linksys for the Pixel C using the MAC address and my speeds are now 30Mpbs all over the house where previously it was 5 or less.

While this isn't proving much as it's not very scientific and I know using a speed test isn't the best bellwether, it does seem to imply that it's something in the kernel network layer or perhaps related to routers that may throttle down to the max speed of the slowest connected devices? I seem to remember reading something about 3-3 and 2-2 routers, need to look into that more.

Anyway, yes its not anything to mute the complaints, and in real world you obviously can't prioritize public WiFi networks for your device, but fwiw this has gotten my home network at least up to snuff.

Posted via the Android Central App

That's positive news. I'm just miffed that for $500 I then have to figure out how to fix it.

Sent from my XT1585 using Android Central

 

[atg284]

Hummm...That makes me think it might be a software issue then. Lets hope we hear something from the developers next week. :-\

 

[Wildo6882]

Sounds like software, but I still gotta see a fix before I plop down my plastic on this bad boy.

 

[cjp39]

Sounds like software, but I still gotta see a fix before I plop down my plastic on this bad boy.

Ditto

Sent from my XT1585 using Android Central

 

[Trigati]

Totally anecdotal, of course, but I have an Asus RT-AC68U router. I have my Pixel connected on the 5 ghz band and haven't noticed any slowdown around my home (upstairs near the router or downstairs with floors and such in between) via Speedtest (again, probably not the *best* indicator). Play store downloads (ranging from 30 MB apps to over ~500 MB apps) are the fastest of all my Android devices (including my 6P) no matter where I am over the house as well. So, I too (given my honestly limited testing), would agree that it seems to be software related.

 

[atg284]

I returned mine today. I'm not going to gamble with a fix on a $700 tablet hybrid.

My rant at the end if anyone cares to read it. (I'm atgosu there):

https://productforums.google.com/for...Q/QY0xGoTMAgAJ

If I hear there is a wifi fix I may be back but, again, not going to chance it because I am not sure if it is software or hardware.

There is some good news though. Looks like the touchscreen issues is getting fixed soon:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/rRnzdN5lbRA;context-place=forum/nexus

One issue down (apparently)...How many more to go?

 

[Trigati]

Good to know about the touchscreen issue. I'll be honest in that, while I haven't checked the actual numbers recently, I just downloaded something tonight on my 5 GHz band with only half the WiFi signal icon filled through about 3 walls in my house (including a cinderblock firewall) and it was extremely fast. So, the WiFi on the unit I got (ordered on the 21st and shipped from Illinois) certainly doesn't seem to have an issue with speed.

 

[atg284]

Good to know about the touchscreen issue. I'll be honest in that, while I haven't checked the actual numbers recently, I just downloaded something tonight on my 5 GHz band with only half the WiFi signal icon filled through about 3 walls in my house (including a cinderblock firewall) and it was extremely fast. So, the WiFi on the unit I got (ordered on the 21st and shipped from Illinois) certainly doesn't seem to have an issue with speed.

You will not always have AC while traveling. Try it on N....

My AC signal is not the most powerful (for all devices) and the Pixel C had the weakest reception of all. That would introduce wifi drops. Even on AC though I noticed a significant lower download speed compared to say my Nexus 6P at the same distance.

 

[Trigati]

You will not always have AC while traveling. Try it on N....

My AC signal is not the most powerful (for all devices) and the Pixel C had the weakest reception of all. That would introduce wifi drops. Even on AC though I noticed a significant lower download speed compared to say my Nexus 6P at the same distance.

I'll give it a try on my 2.4 GHz network, but I do use it at times on a guest network (2.4 GHz) where I haven't noticed any issues so far. Still, I'll see how it feels here at home.

 

[atg284]

I'll give it a try on my 2.4 GHz network, but I do use it at times on a guest network (2.4 GHz) where I haven't noticed any issues so far. Still, I'll see how it feels here at home.

Thanks! I returned mine already but still curious. If it is still good then maybe it likes your network (and others around you) better than mine. But that would be odd because I tested my two Pixel C's at many different networks including public ones. Both were much slower and much less range.

Other than that the only thing I can think of is a hardware defect only affecting some but not all. This is a much more scary prospect because an update cannot fix that. There are a lot of reports about the wifi issue so if it is indeed a hardware defect a lot of people are going to be left high and dry after their return period. Today (Jan 22nd) is the last day for many.

 

[Trigati]

Thanks! I returned mine already but still curious. If it is still good then maybe it likes your network (and others around you) better than mine. But that would be odd because I tested my two Pixel C's at many different networks including public ones. Both were much slower and much less range.

Other than that the only thing I can think of is a hardware defect only affecting some but not all. This is a much more scary prospect because an update cannot fix that. There are a lot of reports about the wifi issue so if it is indeed a hardware defect a lot of people are going to be left high and dry after their return period. Today (Jan 22nd) is the last day for many.

It did look like the numbers weren't quite as good with the 2.4 GHz band, but I guess for me, that's the unimportant part of the story. Everything I wanted to do over the network (email, streaming media - Netflix, Youtube, HBO Go, etc) worked fine with no noticeable slowdowns, buffering or anything (and streaming was still in HD). So, while the numbers aren't quite as good, the ultimate effect was - it seem to didn't matter with real world usage. Anecdotal, I'm sure, but as long as it does what I want it to without any adverse effect, the numbers really become meaningless.

For others who have different WiFi usage scenarios, maybe returning until its fixed is best. For me, the WiFi does what I need it to without any noticeable problems, so I'm keeping mine. If Google does bring out a refresh or new batch of units with better WiFi before the warranty is up, sure, I might RMA it but I don't see any pressing need to right now.

 

[atg284]

It did look like the numbers weren't quite as good with the 2.4 GHz band, but I guess for me, that's the unimportant part of the story. Everything I wanted to do over the network (email, streaming media - Netflix, Youtube, HBO Go, etc) worked fine with no noticeable slowdowns, buffering or anything (and streaming was still in HD). So, while the numbers aren't quite as good, the ultimate effect was - it seem to didn't matter with real world usage. Anecdotal, I'm sure, but as long as it does what I want it to without any adverse effect, the numbers really become meaningless.

For others who have different WiFi usage scenarios, maybe returning until its fixed is best. For me, the WiFi does what I need it to without any noticeable problems, so I'm keeping mine. If Google does bring out a refresh or new batch of units with better WiFi before the warranty is up, sure, I might RMA it but I don't see any pressing need to right now.

Thank you for the extended testing.

I mainly bought this device to help with traveling needs so I will encounter faint wifi signals a decent amount. But really I just want a device that will perform on par with my other devices. That is not too much to ask considering one of the other devices is a Nexus 6P. The Pixel C does not perform to that level. I really feel like it is a software issue but I was not willing to gamble on a fix for a polished product in the hopes it would be on par with my other devices.

 

[Trigati]

Thank you for the extended testing.

I mainly bought this device to help with traveling needs so I will encounter faint wifi signals a decent amount. But really I just want a device that will perform on par with my other devices. That is not too much to ask considering one of the other devices is a Nexus 6P. The Pixel C does not perform to that level. I really feel like it is a software issue but I was not willing to gamble on a fix for a polished product in the hopes it would be on par with my other devices.

Totally get where you're coming from.

 

[atg284]

I know I returned mine but I will still be checking up on this to see if it ever gets fixed. Might try another one but not until I know the buggs have been worked out. Anyway, here is a much more thorough review compared to all the other android sites and it goes into detail about the large amount of issues this device has. The link goes directly to the software page but the whole article is well rounded:

Software - The Google Pixel C Review

 

[Birt]

I've not seen the wifi issue but there do seem to be problems with Bluetooth (for wifi, I'm running a Ubiquiti Edgerouter). My first Pixel C keyboard was not connecting reliably to the tablet, so I RA'd it. Unfortunately, the new one was not much better: keys still stuttered (repeated) and the keyboard disconnected in the middle of typing sometimes, but not always. While listening to Google Play tunes and sitting less than 2 metres from Bluetooth speakers, I put my hand behind the left side of the tablet and found that Bluetooth disconnected from the speakers almost immediately. Try it yourself...it happens to my speaker Bluetooth connection every time when covering the left side of the tablet with my hand, but only with the Pixel C (I've connected 5 other Android devices now to the Klipsch speakers with nary a problem). Since there seemed to be an issue with Bluetooth implementation, I tried reconnecting to the Klipsch from the Pixel C tablet about 3 metres (9 ft) away and found that the tablet would not connect at all! To make matters worse, touch fails unpredictably on the tablet for minutes at a time..., then suddenly resumes working. I checked CPU usage, but couldn't find any culprits. The apps I am running on the Pixel C are the same ones running flawlessly on my Nexus 10 tablet which connects to the same Bluetooth speakers from more than 5 metres distance with no static, drop-outs or disconnects.

 

[dogmanden]

Having read all the posts concerning wifi I called Google support & they claim there is no current issue regarding this!!! I explained what is on this forum. Rep.said regarding posts here to tell people with the problem to CALL GOOGLE SUPPORT!!!!!! So people please call !!!!!!