Bad Wi-Fi Range

[darrylb1]

@darrylb, which apps in particular. I noticed some issues with streaming (pandora, last. fm, you tube). I haven't been able to replicate and after shutting off my airport express wifi and turning it back on things seem to working O.K. But I'm still watching those apps closely.

my issues have been with really any app that is connected, lastfm, appbrain, slacker, etc.

this issue comes and goes. lots of trouble earlier yesterday then i noticed lots of bars while stopped at a red light. later as i was driving( very slowly on a residential street) i picked up wifi after wifi continuously from my grocery store to my home about a mile and a half away. lots of bars all along the way. ( it seems like my whole town is on the net)

 

[Auzo]

After further analysis, I realized that I actually get speeds twice as fast when I'm right next to my router. Earlier, I reported that I got over 6000 kbps download speeds when on WiFi. However, when I go to my basement where the router is, I get over 12000 kbps download speeds. I must say that my last phone was a Blackberry 8350i on which I never tested speeds. For me, it was either on or off. So, in one sense, my EVO is working fine...I always get a signal anywhere in my house. However, I'm beginning to wonder if the connection strength should be more stable...more consistent. Who knows?

See that's the thing, People do their speed tests and think oh I'm getting 6Mbps and think oh that's good. But its all relative. If your internet connection's max speed is 6Mbps than sure you could have decent connection, but then your also not really testing your wifi link quality since 6Mbps is only 1/9 (11.1%) the maximum capacity of 802.11g. Since capacity and link quality are directly proportional you could probably have a very weak signal (say 25% signal strength) and still max that out.

What your seeing with your basement test is that wifi speed is dropping rapidly with small increases in distance and I believe that is what the problem is. It is dropping off at a rate that is not normal, and in my case unacceptable (lose the signal completely 1 room away).

Also I want to note that I have seen speeds as fast as 17.5Mbps (on a 20Mbps max connection) while touching my phone to the router, which even then still bounced between 2 and 3 bars signal strength, so our processors can handle at least that much throughput.

 

[Predator-1]

Having the same issue, folks! I sat my EVO on top of the router and only got 2 bars. This needs to be addressed SOON!!!

 

[ctwilliams]

piling on...

I activated the EVO today and am having the same WIFI problems. It will connect if I am very close (10-15 feet) but I can not even get a connection further away. The phone "sees" it but will not connect.

Three laptops and two iphones have NO problem.

27 days left to fix it or I am going to have to return it. (Poor sprint reception as well and the Sprint femtocell is 1xRTT only! New femtocell "airvana" is coming out but who knows when?)

 

[alxnet]

dang. i work in an environment where my office is a good 50 feet from the router with a few stainless steel walls between it and my stock evo. i get 2 bars and a solid wifi stream going. are you guys maybe loading 3rd party programs that are interfering with the wifi? maybe a case that you're using?

 

[Auzo]

Hmm... Your post makes me think that there could be some quality control issues with the hardware. I would be ecstatic to have that kind of performance. I am planning to give it another week or so for the stock level to stabilize before trying to exchange mine for a new one. Hopefully I will get a good one

I have no case on the phone yet, I do have a good number of apps installed but I don't see how they could be the cause of the problem.

 

[xlnja]

I heard that the strength bars show weak but that the actual connection is strong. Is that the case? If so, perhaps it is a software indicator issue.

 

[TheMobileWorx]

I am fairly confident that the froyo update should increase signal strength and stability in this new wifi chipset! It isn't horrendous, just not as good as it could be!

 

[thatwilsonguy]

I'll throw my hat in the ring just to build a larger base of people with the issue. I am not seeing horrible Wifi, but it is markedly worse than my Pre and other wifi devices. While typing this on my laptop in my basement I have 4 bars on PC, one on EVO, two on Pre.

I have also found the actual phone radio to get worse reception than my previous phones.

 

[Yourdogsdead]

I've been contacting HTC like crazy and they finally gave me a response.

Hi, I'm Victor, and I will be glad to assist you today. Thank you for bringing this to our attention where we can look into this issue with the device. At this time we have no information about any updates that will be released to help resolve this issue. If an update is released for your device you will get a notification on your device that an update is available for it. I do apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause you. If you have any other questions feel free to reply. You may also enjoy HTC Community - Join the HTC Mobile Phone Community Online, our customer-based forum, which has a plethora of information on HTC devices. I would also like to invite you to participate in a customer satisfaction survey located at HTC Online Survey. I hope you have a great day!

I responded:

This is a pretty widespread issue. As a potential owner of the HTC Evo 4g I would like to see some initiative taken by HTC to fix this issue. A patch or maybe just a press release acknowledging the issue would be fine. The Link given is just one of many complaints pertaining to the issue, please have a look into it.

I already gave them a link to this web address as well as mentioning the issue on their own forums.

 

[Justin V]

I'm seeing one or no bars only occassionally two even if standing next to my brand new home router. like others have mentioned though, even with one bar performance has been good. Sprint service has been similar here in CT where it seems it should be better according to their service map. Maybe Froyo will help the Wifi signal issue?

 

[npark]

Yeah I think it might be a display issue as well, I am getting the same problem with only like 1 bar for Wifi being downstairs and my router is upstairs, but if you do a speed test I am still getting 6598 download and 446 upload, which I think is awesome so i'm not to concerned it might be a display issue

I see some display weirdness too, and I'm not too tickled by this. Seems like some inconsistent display stuff.

People, stop freaking out! My connection speed seems fine. Unless you're going to take the time to post some substantive data, such as comparison metrics in every room to other devices blah blah, maybe you should just discount the display discrepancies and see if actual performance is affected.

 

[ctwilliams]

for me actually performance is impacted in that it can not connect because it thinks the signal is too weak. The two iphones next to it are fine.

People are posting numbers over on the HTC fourm....

 

[Darth Mo]

I see some display weirdness too, and I'm not too tickled by this. Seems like some inconsistent display stuff.

People, stop freaking out! My connection speed seems fine. Unless you're going to take the time to post some substantive data, such as comparison metrics in every room to other devices blah blah, maybe you should just discount the display discrepancies and see if actual performance is affected.

With all due respect, please read the entire thread before commenting.

Several people have documented deteriorated performance of data transfer. We're well beyond the possibility of the indicator being a little off.

 

[DisplacedMic]

I see some display weirdness too, and I'm not too tickled by this. Seems like some inconsistent display stuff.

People, stop freaking out! My connection speed seems fine. Unless you're going to take the time to post some substantive data, such as comparison metrics in every room to other devices blah blah, maybe you should just discount the display discrepancies and see if actual performance is affected.

no fewer than 15 distinct people have posted complaints about actual speed and connection issues - not just display issues.

i'm glad we can all stop freaking out that YOUR connection seems fine though

 

[barko12]

I am having zero wifi issues. 4G on the skirts of Chicago is another issue though.

 

[akarol]

I'd say that it hasn't yielded anything different than my Palm Pre and previous phones did. It's purely a display issue in my opinion. Maybe those 15 people are judging the book by it's cover and not actually digging through?

 

[Darth Mo]

I'd say that it hasn't yielded anything different than my Palm Pre and previous phones did. It's purely a display issue in my opinion. Maybe those 15 people are judging the book by it's cover and not actually digging through?

Once again if you read the thread you will find people have tested with multiple devices in hand and the EVO far underperforms them.

We're happy things are working fine for you but please respect that others have taken time to verify an issue instead of arbitrarily deciding what problems others may or not be having.

 

[akarol]

Once again if you read the thread you will find people have tested with multiple devices in hand and the EVO far underperforms them.

We're happy things are working fine for you but please respect that others have taken time to verify an issue instead of arbitrarily deciding what problems others may or not be having.

Meow! Could it be that those 15 people have defective phones or is that too unlikely to happen considering there were thousands of units sold and this is one of the most populated forums about it?

All I'm saying is that it might not be an issue with ALL EVOs... sowy!

 

[madigan5]

wifi

Mine is terrible...bring on FroYo and wireless N...hopefully that is the fix