This phone definitely has weak wifi antenna

[mclasser]

I've noticed the wifi antenna on this thing is definitely weaker than other phones. Speed tests confirm that my phone gets nearly 25-50% slower internet speeds than my friend's HTC Evo Shift and Ipod Touch. They get full wifi bars in certain places in my house where I get 1/3 to 2/3 bars at best. Despite it's glitches and issues here and there, I still like my phone though and enjoy the pure Google experience. Now if they would only roll out ICS sometime soon....

 

[jeffrok]

I agree with this.. I'm hoping it's software related, and not hardware, because I've been dealing with this since day 1 since owning the phone. I get "good" reception with my various wifi devices in my living room, except for my phone, which gets 1 "dot" at times, sitting in the same room.

 

[TropicalSammich]

Ditto

 

[JoeMcJoe]

Yep.

I wonder if all Samsungs are like this? The Galaxy Nexus too maybe?

 

[kevincwelch]

You can't compare bars and lines among phones or devices.

If you want to make a claim, do something half-way scientific.

Post the actual dBm values for your devices.

Do some speed tests using validated sites and include transfer speeds, ping, and jitter.

 

[jeffrok]

Ok, how's this for "scientific", and thus is as scientific as I'll get.. I'll be sitting in three same room as other devices that show a "good" connection when mine has a fair to poor connection, and while surfing the internet or playing a multiplayer game on my phone, the connection to the remote servers will drop, causing me to have to refresh my web page or restart my game. It's a crappy antenna.

 

[jeffrok]

Here's a speedtest.net test, to make you happy.. One room away from my router, on a 12+Mb connection:

Test Date: Mar 17, 2012 8:34:34 am
Connection Type: Wifi
Server: Arlington Heights, IL
Download: 6608 kbps
Upload: 1014 kbps
Ping: 145 ms

External IP: xxxxxxxxxxxx
Internal IP: 192.168.1.134
Latitude: 43.03064
Longitude: -88.00265

A detailed image for this result can be found here:

http://www.speedtest.net/android/154561095.png

 

[jeffrok]

Same test, ran 15 feet away (30 total feet from router):

Test Date: Mar 17, 2012 8:40:26 am
Connection Type: Wifi
Server: Vernon Hills, IL
Download: 4155 kbps
Upload: 1010 kbps
Ping: 55 ms

External IP: xxxxxxxxxx
Internal IP: 192.168.1.134
Latitude: 43.03063
Longitude: -88.00272

A detailed image for this result can be found here:

http://www.speedtest.net/android/154563084.png

 

[jeffrok]

Same test ran from my laptop, sitting in the exact same spot and position as when I was testing from my Nexus S:



14Mbps, and a lower ping time..

 

[LarboJohnson]

I tested my Nexus vs. my EVO 3D, about eleven feet from my router. Though the interesting thing is that I'm running a Sense build on the Nexus... Hopefully it's software related, but knowing Samsung, this isn't the first of their phones to have radio/wireless issues.

 

[jeffrok]

Well, yours are at least better than mine.. the one where I got 14Mbps on my laptop and 4Mbps from my phone, I was sitting about 30 feet and 2 rooms away from my router.

 

[kevincwelch]

Same test, ran 15 feet away (30 total feet from router):

Test Date: Mar 17, 2012 8:40:26 am
Connection Type: Wifi
Server: Vernon Hills, IL
Download: 4155 kbps
Upload: 1010 kbps
Ping: 55 ms

OK, good. Some data finally. Where's your comparison phone?

Same test ran from my laptop, sitting in the exact same spot and position as when I was testing from my Nexus S:

Are you honestly comparing the wifi antenna in a cell phone to that of a laptop computer?

I tested my Nexus vs. my EVO 3D, about eleven feet from my router. Though the interesting thing is that I'm running a Sense build on the Nexus... Hopefully it's software related, but knowing Samsung, this isn't the first of their phones to have radio/wireless issues.

Now this is a much better comparison. Obviously the Evo is faster in this one image, but I challenge anyone to tell the difference between the two speeds when the transfer rate is as high.

My issue with the OP's statement and the confirmatory lip service to follow was that there's no data offered up to support the claims.

You can't make that claim by seeing how well your phone transfers over wifi 15 to 30 feet away. What was the signal strength? How was your router set up? How much EM interference was between the two devices? How many walls between devices? WHere's your comparison standard? Decibels?

Come on...

 

[jeffrok]

No, you come on.. This is about comparing wifi devices in general, from equal distances.. I'm not going to get all technical in my tests, because the everyday Joe isn't going to either.

The fact is that my laptop and my Roku devices report "good" antenna signal, and my Nexus S has "poor" signal from the same distance; it even drops connection. That's the fact. I don't need ping, jitter, or speed tests to tell me my cell phone doesn't work as well as my other devices do.

I don't need to use a comparison PHONE.. I've had other phones in my house in the past, and while I don't own them anymore, I can attest to the fact that I could use them from a greater distance without problems.

Why are you being such a staunch supporter of this phone, when I clearly have had my problems with its wifi? It's not a big deal to me; I'm just posting what I know. You can't disagree with my observations, because they're mine.. Go ahead and post YOUR results with phones and other devices if you'd like.

 

[kevincwelch]

Why are you being such a staunch supporter of this phone, when I clearly have had my problems with its wifi?

I think you misinterpreted what I said on both accounts. I'm neither defending nor supporting the phone. Rather, I'm just asking for some numbers.

Furthermore, I never rebutted your wifi dismay in any post.

Maybe I think on a different level, but ones observations do not make facts. So, I object to any blanket statements without at least some level of evidence.

...and that's all I got to say about that...........

 

[Wranglerspace]

I believe I can relate to each person's point of view from the posts above. Kevin - you prefer black and white results so as to not have baseless comments. Jeff - you feel it's a waste of time to go about getting such results that Kevin would prefer to see. I can understand this as I don't have a comparison phone nor do I feel like doing qualitative tests (and yes I'm very familiar with speedtest - a great tool;-) I do know that my Nexus S is very very weak at finding a wifi signal. I am comparing it to my previous devices which were HTC phones (way back to the retired HTC Mogul brick!) that all ran awful Microsoft OS & a Blackberry Curve. Until I picked up this Nexus S when it came out I had no idea smartphones could work so smoothly...but that's another story. My Nexus S can not pickup my local library's wifi signal ANYWHERE in the building. I never had a problem picking up wifi with the HTC or Blackberry phones at any place in the library. It's a small inconvenience but one I will trade for the low SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) rating it receives. Maybe this is related, maybe it's just a coincidence but my other phones had SAR ratings from over 1.0 to the near maximum of 1.6. The Nexus S per the FCC has a SAR rating of .64 watts per kilogram (of flesh). Kevin I have zero facts to back up the correlation I guess I've drawn, but it does make me feel a little better when I can't get my wifi to connect.

 

[axne1]

Issues with the Galaxy Nexus (Wi-Fi)

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