O/S upgrade vs. Samsung performance

[wm4]

Paid-off Note 4 and S5 owners here, "not technically proficient."

Ever since the 8/8 O/S upgrade, our Verizon-flavored phones have become laggier and laggier in Internet response, and have slowed to a profound, glacial crawl.

This is true whether connected to our network or when using local data.

Cache partition wipes have been unproductive.

Haven't yet tried Hail Mary factory resets.

What in the name of all that's Holy is going on with these heretofore-reliable phones?
Any ideas?

TIA for your comments and suggestions.

 

[natehoy]

Odd that it would happen to both an S5 and a Note 4 simultaneously and not be reported here heavily, especially since it was a minor security patch as far as I know.

A couple of questions:

1. When the Internet slows down, are you on Cell data, WiFi, or can it happen on either?

2. Are you using a VPN (like OperaVPN) or any sort of connection manager, speedbooster, connection optimizer, etc software? (looking for an app that might possibly have a compatibility issue with the patch).


If it's happening primarily on cellular data, I'd take them to a Verizon store. It's been a while since I used Verizon but I know they are using SIMs now, and I know that on AT&T swapping out the SIM is the first thing they like to try, and a few times it's made a big difference.

If you are running any sort of connection optimizer, try uninstalling or disabling it and see if that makes a difference.

 

[wm4]

Thank you, Nate, for your suggestions and thoughts. And yes, I did expect to find a firestorm of complaints here and was surprised to see none.

It happens on both WiFi and cell data. Not using a VPN.

Your thought about a speed booster is interesting. As it happens, in late August, we added a NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Desktop WiFi Range Extender to improve performance in our rambling house.

It worked wonders for the signal strength throughout the house. However, our problems with Wifi lagging didn't show up until we 'd been using the extender for about two weeks...

Nonetheless, I'm going to test that possibility (after my wife quits using it for work from home later today), and see if the Nighthawk is the problem.

Thanks again for your help!

EDIT:

My wife just came down for a cup of tea, and now tells me that her own phone apparently resolved the problem by itself after four days. Fingers crossed.

Mine continues to lag very badly when, e.g., requesting bookmarked links, etc., yet I am somehow able to view, purchase, and download ebooks with no sweat. Weird: some data streams pass, others choke...

 

[natehoy]

Thank you, Nate, for your suggestions and thoughts. And yes, I did expect to find a firestorm of complaints here and was surprised to see none.

It happens on both WiFi and cell data. Not using a VPN.

Your thought about a speed booster is interesting. As it happens, in late August, we added a NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Desktop WiFi Range Extender to improve performance in our rambling house.

It worked wonders for the signal strength throughout the house. However, our problems with Wifi lagging didn't show up until we 'd been using the extender for about two weeks...

Nonetheless, I'm going to test that possibility (after my wife quits using it for work from home later today), and see if the Nighthawk is the problem.

Thanks again for your help!

The Nighthawk is a great line of products. Having said that, every experience I have had with a full-on wireless repeater/range extender has been somewhat... disappointing. Although not always practical, of course, running a wire and running a separate access point on a separate channel has always made me much more happy in the long run.

My thoughts on speed boosters were more in the direction of software that claims to "maximize your internet speed", which are usually.... how do I say this kindly? "less than helpful for anything but the ad revenue of the author" - just as a kind of "if you are running software that is claiming to speed up your phone, kill it with fire and see if that helps" sort of direction. They generally do more harm than good, with few exceptions reserved for special cases.

So, yeah, sounds like you are headed in a positive direction. Power down the Nighthawk and do a few repeated speed tests using the regular access point/router. Add the Nighthawk back in and make sure you are connected to it, then repeat the speed tests.

If both tests are equally dismal, unplug your modem and router (in some cases they are both the same thing), leave it/them unplugged for 5 minutes while you sip a nice glass of wine and ponder the wonder of existence, plug it all back in and see if that helps. If it doesn't, your service provider might have to come out and do some fixing.

This will not help the slowdown on cellular, but get the home WiFi fixed up and see if that helps first.

 

[wm4]

Thanks again.

It's a puzzler, ok.

Worse, within my phone settings, I deliberately connected to the "base" router signal itself, and not to the extender signal. No difference...and Mobile Data? And speed tests done through a phone app show no degradation at all...

And now, my wife's no-intervention "immaculate correction"...and my flawless experience in downloading ebooks...and the perfect, seamless ability of the little Roku box 60 feet and three walls away to capture and play videos without delay or mid-view buffering...

Well, the router will get a poor man's reboot, as you suggested, and then we'll unplug the extender, and then...I'll go out and buy one of the new "Mesh" systems...

But thanks anew!

 

[natehoy]

Worse, within my phone settings, I deliberately connected to the "base" router signal itself, and not to the extender signal. No difference...

Who do you use for Internet, and do they provide the modem? If a reboot doesn't fix things, call them. After 10 years with Comcast working fine, I suddenly had all manner of annoying problems. As it turns out, the splitter out in their box had corroded. A replacement of that and a $60 service fee later, and I was back in business.

 

[wm4]

Ah ha...the ISP is Cox...never thought to question their end, but you're right, could well be.

Will report back once we've gone down these paths

 

[wm4]

Well, I'll be hornswoggled. Rebooted the router; voila! Now works like llightning. How long? We'll see, but it's lookin' like that was the culprit.
Many thanks again to natehoy!

 

[natehoy]

Well, I'll be hornswoggled. Rebooted the router; voila! Now works like llightning. How long? We'll see, but it's lookin' like that was the culprit.
Many thanks again to natehoy!

Glad to hear it was that simple.

If it becomes a problem again and you are renting the gear from Cox, I'd call them and ask them to diagnose the equipment. If it's gear you are paying them a monthly fee for, they shouldn't charge you to diagnose or replace it (but I don't work for Cox and have never been a customer - so no promises).

I know Comcast charges me for everything, including replacing their wiring, because I own my own modem and they just blame everything - including corrosion out on the pole I cannot legally access - on "customer equipment failure". But not paying them $15 a month to rent a modem I bought myself for $65 feels worth it when they've only had to visit to fix stuff 2-3 times in the 12 years I've been a customer.

 

[wm4]

You know, the fix didn't last - the bad performance was revealed as a telling symptom, and the whole thing failed completely next day, like dead. The thing had only been in use 15 months.

Went down the street and bought a TP-Link dual band.

Plays nice with the Nighthawk extender, too. Happy signals now!