Nexus Wifi Assistant

[PGrey]

I just installed today (manual OTA flash), and have this enabled, on Nougat, the actual-final release from the images.

However, my battery is draining about 2-3 times faster than before my update. I know there's the usual "post upgrade work" when a bit more drain is expected, but I think it's mostly coming from the WiFi Assistant.

I do have my WiFi set to turn off, when it's asleep and not plugged in (charging). However, I'm seeing a LOT more WiFi cycles, in the Google services, than I ever have before, and "keep awake" cycles.

I wonder, I would assume the "sleep setting for WiFi" would have precedence over the "WiFi Assistant", but perhaps that's a bad assumption?
Maybe, since it thinks I want to be able to use random, public WiFi connections, it's searching, even when it should be sleeping?

Anyone know, or see this behavior as well?

 

[PGrey]

Hmm, I'm pretty sure it's actually my Bluetooth, via the "Android OS" process, it appears to be a "bug" of sorts in 7.0, currently. I have tons of packets sent via Bluetooth, it appears to be trying to negotiate constantly, I'm getting tons of "keep awake" packets for the BT radio.
I tried some of the tricks, like excluding my Bluetooth service from Doze, but none seemed to help, only disabling Bluetooth seems to stem it.

Hopefully it'll get addressed, fairly quickly...

 

[PaulQ]

Oh wow.... It's there. I got it.

But.... can someone expand on why you would want to be on an open WiFi network? What makes an open network a good option? What kind of strict standards are we talking about? No fraudlent actvity detected in the past x days?

 

[PGrey]

Oh wow.... It's there. I got it.

But.... can someone expand on why you would want to be on an open WiFi network? What makes an open network a good option? What kind of strict standards are we talking about? No fraudlent actvity detected in the past x days?

You're not truly on an open network, that's the point of the VPN functionality...
If you're secure-tunneled, it's a whole different ballgame.

 

[PaulQ]

You're not truly on an open network, that's the point of the VPN functionality...
If you're secure-tunneled, it's a whole different ballgame.

So Google creates some sort of VPN on the open network that Nexus phones can access?

 

[maxburn]

Yes.

 

[renegad3]

So Google creates some sort of VPN on the open network that Nexus phones can access?

No, google creates the VPN, they use the open public network to connect you to it, securely.

 

[jimmiekain]

Has anyone seen this actually connect yet?

 

[renegad3]

Has anyone seen this actually connect yet?

I have on my project fi n6, but not yet on my 6p, though I really dont pay much attention to it, as it rarely found a network on my n6

 

[puch96]

Has anyone seen this actually connect yet?

I had mine connect last night when I went out to a restaurant. It found a D-Link open wifi and after about a minute or so, I got connected and the key symbol showed up on my notification shade showing that it was using VPN.

 

[Eric The Duke]

I was able to get my first wifi assistant connection last night. It's a cool feature, but I doubt it will be of much use. I think Google came up with this as a way for people on Project fi to save on the amount of cell data they use. There just aren't enough open networks out there to make this useful in my opinion. I think I'd rather leave my wifi off in order to save battery life than leave it on in hopes of getting a wifi assistant connection.

 

[LeoRex]

There just aren't enough open networks out there to make this useful in my opinion.

Yeah, that's the rub.... the feature requires a completely open, drop-your-pants type network... running into an open WiFi portal without a capture portal or some means of landing page or 'Enter your email' challenge. I mean, there's zero reason to turn it off unless it becomes a nuisance and, to be honest, any network that meets the criteria to allow this.. yeah, I wouldn't want to be connected to it without a VPN either.

 

[mogelijk]

I was able to get my first wifi assistant connection last night. It's a cool feature, but I doubt it will be of much use. I think Google came up with this as a way for people on Project fi to save on the amount of cell data they use. There just aren't enough open networks out there to make this useful in my opinion. I think I'd rather leave my wifi off in order to save battery life than leave it on in hopes of getting a wifi assistant connection.

It can be very useful. For example, I had a family member in the hospital and was spending most of my day there, and it would automatically connect to the hospital's guest WiFi network while I was there. I've connected at a couple of different Chick-Fil-A's, I'm thinking it may connect at most of their stores (was on a trip, so this was at stores several hundred miles apart). I'll agree, that there aren't enough open WiFi locations but it is nice when you find one.

I would hope that Google is working on a way to make it work with sites that have some type of landing page, it would make it much more useful.

 

[PaulQ]

I have a ton of mobile data on our family plan.... is there any advantage to joining one of the WiFi networks if I don't need to save data? I thought VPNs can slow things down a bit. Which is more likely to be faster?

 

[LeoRex]

I have a ton of mobile data on our family plan.... is there any advantage to joining one of the WiFi networks if I don't need to save data? I thought VPNs can slow things down a bit. Which is more likely to be faster?

Well, a VPN does introduce latency and slow data rates a bit.... how much depends on the VPN, obviously. I haven't been able to test it out at all, but I suspect that Google might have rolled out at least some halfway decent VPN hubs so as to make it not suck.

As for whether to use it if you don't care about saving data.... for me, its all about power. Pushing data over an LTE connection does draw a fair bit more juice than over a good WiFi connection, and if I can have some reasonable expectation that the WiFi connection isn't some George Miller inspired post-apocalyptic security wasteland, I'm all for it.

 

[ttrimmer]

The Wi-Fi Assistant worked for about an hour a week ago and hasn't worked since. I've enabled and disabled the settings and rebooted numerous times without a fix. I've kind of given up and started using Opera VPN now. A lot of Google's services have been very buggy on my phone lately.

 

[anon(847090)]

I have a ton of mobile data on our family plan.... is there any advantage to joining one of the WiFi networks if I don't need to save data? I thought VPNs can slow things down a bit. Which is more likely to be faster?

i dont think the purpose of the feature is to just save data but also to protect the user from open network threats

 

[Trigati]

Has anyone seen this actually connect yet?

Mine connects all the time to wifi networks. I like not having to set up manual connections.

 

[naash89]

i still dont have the networking option in the settings under google
i am on september security patch as well

 

[mogelijk]

i still dont have the networking option in the settings under google
i am on september security patch as well

Just to be clear, this isn't under the Google app. It is in the device settings (gear icon on the pulldown menu or Settings app), go down to "Google" and then "Networking". I'm guessing you know that but just want it it be clear.

I would also ensure that the Play Store shows all your Google apps up to date.