Bad Wi-Fi Range

[Y2Dre]

I'm glad I read this thread. I only get 1-2 fluctuating bars when I'm on WiFi at home...but, I never thought to to a speed test to check until now. For me, it looks like a display issue as well. Here are my results:

3G: 764 kbps down; 394 kbps up
4G: 1146 kbps down; 801 kbps up (I get better 4G coverage outside)
WiFi: 6350 kbps down; 3181 kbps up

Note: I'm in the Chicagoland area and the best 4G signal I've seen so far since I've had the phone was 3925 kbps down and 34 kbps up...and that was inside a hotel.

 

[anon(22913)]

Quite obviously the wi-fi is bugged. I hope they can fix it with a software update. I lost connection to my wi-fi with the EVO in the same location my Pre had almost a full signal. Unacceptable.

 

[horadin]

Checking in with poor signal quality. A little frustrating for such an amazing phone.

 

[Auzo]

I would like to note that 802.11g at 100% should give us a Data Capacity of 54Mbps, It used to be that the internet speeds were so slow that it was trivial compared to the speed of the wifi so that even with a week signal you could still saturate your internet connection. Internet speeds are much quicker now but but most won't saturate the wifi capacity.

With that said if you post speed results it will also help if you add your max internet speed. So we can see how your speed compared relative to your max speed. So in my case 3 feet away getting 10Mbps one would think thats good, but with my max internet speed twice that it means I am hitting a wifi link quality wall. In fact checking my router's connected device status list it shows that my EVO has a signal strength of 20% to a max of 50% 3 feet away so its not just a display issue with my EVO.

 

[Darth Mo]

I'm glad I read this thread. I only get 1-2 fluctuating bars when I'm on WiFi at home...but, I never thought to to a speed test to check until now. For me, it looks like a display issue as well. Here are my results:

3G: 764 kbps down; 394 kbps up
4G: 1146 kbps down; 801 kbps up (I get better 4G coverage outside)
WiFi: 6350 kbps down; 3181 kbps up

Note: I'm in the Chicagoland area and the best 4G signal I've seen so far since I've had the phone was 3925 kbps down and 34 kbps up...and that was inside a hotel.

Is your 4G connection stable (I'm near Chicago too)? I usually have two "arches" and the speed is fine, but randomly the 4G will just drop out completely while sitting in the same spot.

It's not a huge deal, but I'll be sitting waiting for a browser page to load only to see that it's switching down to 3G and that takes a little while.

 

[Dexter505]

Yep wifi range is extremely poor. Good to know it wasn't just me.

 

[Darth Mo]

I would like to note that 802.11g at 100% should give us a Data Capacity of 54Mbps, It used to be that the internet speeds were so slow that it was trivial compared to the speed of the wifi so that even with a week signal you could still saturate your internet connection. Internet speeds are much quicker now but but most won't saturate the wifi capacity.

With that said if you post speed results it will also help if you add your max internet speed. So we can see how your speed compared relative to your max speed. So in my case 3 feet away getting 10Mbps one would think thats good, but with my max internet speed twice that it means I am hitting a wifi link quality wall. In fact checking my router's connected device status list it shows that my EVO has a signal strength of 20% to a max of 50% 3 feet away so its not just a display issue with my EVO.

I get 13.5 Mbps down on the EVO WiFI if I stand right by my router, so you have some more overhead there. I have a 30 Mbps connection and my desktop with a very good signal comes pretty close to maxing that out.

I doubt any cell phone at this point has the power to push up to speeds that high. My Pre had slightly lower speeds than the test I just did with my EVO, so I'd say the 10 - 15 Mbps range is good for a cell phone.

 

[eyecon82]

I am also noticing this. I downloaded "wifi scanner" and it is showing very LOW levels

 

[Auzo]

I get 13.5 Mbps down on the EVO WiFI if I stand right by my router, so you have some more overhead there. I have a 30 Mbps connection and my desktop with a very good signal comes pretty close to maxing that out.

I doubt any cell phone at this point has the power to push up to speeds that high. My Pre had slightly lower speeds than the test I just did with my EVO, so I'd say the 10 - 15 Mbps range is good for a cell phone.

You're absolutely right, but without knowing exactly what the max rate the hardware of the cell phone can handle you can't rule out the wifi link as the culprit.

You got me thinking though so I decided to try it out. Even being inches away from the router it was hard to keep the max 3 bars lit (sometimes it dropped back down to 2) but i was able to get a max speed of 17337, which is almost my max internet speed. This seems to show that the phone's hardware can handle at least up to that, meaning that its definitely the poor reception degrading the signal and lowering the speed.

 

[eyecon82]

issue related to Wifi strength are usually hardware related...this could be bad......

perhaps it has weak antennas?

 

[Darth Mo]

issue related to Wifi strength are usually hardware related...this could be bad......

perhaps it has weak antennas?

I considered that. Perhaps they skimped on the WiFi radio in favor of the 4G radio, but I don't want to start any rumors.

Nonetheless, there's no denying this is an issue.

 

[Auzo]

issue related to Wifi strength are usually hardware related...this could be bad......

perhaps it has weak antennas?

Thats exactly what I am worried about, especially since I have the same signal weakness issues with my Bluetooth and since they both use the 2.4GHz band I am assuming they are sharing an antenna.

 

[Yourdogsdead]

I really hope they didn't cut corners with the antenna. Can anyone get a numerical value for their signal strength? Perhaps it's just showing on the phone badly.

 

[knights_09]

I thought it was only my phone too. I took it to the Sprint store and they told me they really had no way of telling what it is but they can't do nothing about it. All my devices in my room get full strength but on my EVO the only way for me to get full strength is to stand right in front of the router once I start moving back the signal goes down.

 

[Auzo]

I really hope they didn't cut corners with the antenna. Can anyone get a numerical value for their signal strength? Perhaps it's just showing on the phone badly.

Numerical as in power level or in percentage?

My router has a section that lists the signal level % for each device and it is corroborating what my EVO is showing. It shows between 25-50% signal level when i'm in the same room as my router and I get 1-2 bars on my EVO.

 

[anon26174]

I noticed too a lack of "bars" for my Wi-Fi signal compared to my laptops, so I did a speed test.

Got just over 10-11 Mb/s on my PC via wireless and 8-9 Mb/s on the EVO so a little weaker, but nothing too significant. Still, definitely a less strong and consistent signal from room to room, because in another it started to drop to 6-7 Mb/s.

I get about 4-5 Mb/s on 4G in my apartment on a so-called "fair" signal, which isn't too shabby.

 

[Y2Dre]

Is your 4G connection stable (I'm near Chicago too)? I usually have two "arches" and the speed is fine, but randomly the 4G will just drop out completely while sitting in the same spot.

It's not a huge deal, but I'll be sitting waiting for a browser page to load only to see that it's switching down to 3G and that takes a little while.

I haven't been able to REALLY test the 4G connection this weekend...however, I can provide you with the following:

Around my house in Matteson (South Suburbs), I get around 1-2 bars consistently. Yesterday, I was in Elmhurst (West Suburbs) and got 2-3 bars consistently - that was where I got the faster 4G speed I shared earlier. I'll be in the city later this week and expect (hope) to get better speeds.

I can honestly say that this is not what I expected. But, it is still lightyears faster that what I came from. And, that will always be enough for me.

 

[Darth Mo]

I haven't been able to REALLY test the 4G connection this weekend...however, I can provide you with the following:

Around my house in Matteson (South Suburbs), I get around 1-2 bars consistently. Yesterday, I was in Elmhurst (West Suburbs) and got 2-3 bars consistently - that was where I got the faster 4G speed I shared earlier. I'll be in the city later this week and expect (hope) to get better speeds.

I can honestly say that this is not what I expected. But, it is still lightyears faster that what I came from. And, that will always be enough for me.

Heh, small world. I'm down the road a bit in Homewood.

When I tried the speed test (Speakeasy) at a little after 5:00 this morning, I got 8.73 down, .90 up on 4G.

I just tried it again and got 3.23 down, .52 up. Looks like network congestion plays a big part in speeds, but it looks the potential is there. I probably won't be up that early tomorrow to try again, but I did try a couple times this morning and got about that same result so it wasn't a fluke.

While speeds aren't what they were touting yet, we at least get simultaneous voice and data so that's a plus.

 

[cheebahawk1]

I really hope this is a mere software glitch. Something with the Evo not showing correct signal strength. Or something HTC can easily fix via OTA

I checked in WiFi settings & it seems like whether signal is at 1 bar or 3 bars, it says "fair" for signal strength.

Do u guys notice a significant drop in speed? Because I don't notice anything between one bar and three.

 

[Darth Mo]

Do u guys notice a significant drop in speed? Because I don't notice anything between one bar and three.

I am. 13.3 Mbps next to the router, 0.15 Mbps or a dropped signal 40 ft away in another room.

I just set it to use 4G until this gets sorted out.