Transformer Prime Wifi...Good or bad?

[False_Aesop]

I don't seem to have any problems, while the wifi signal display always has fewer bars than my phone or laptop going into settings and checking the link speed always shows them at the same link speed.

 

[mikenzinbfe]

i had average signal strength when i first got mine a couple of weeks ago then with the update two, three days ago i forget, but i have since had all bars indicating optimum signal. i've taken it outside about 25' distant from the modem and was able to get my mail no problems this afternoon. side note i am so happy i tried the beta chrome, haven't used the others, opera or "browser" since.

 

[Pandawg]

It's better with the new update.

 

[Kmcferrin]

side note i am so happy i tried the beta chrome, haven't used the others, opera or "browser" since.

I liked the Chrome beta well enough, but like the other Google browser it still doesn't have an option to set the user agent to a desktop browser. I don't think it even has the option to request the desktop page on a page-by-page basis like the stock browser does. Is Dolphin the only one that has this simple feature? Dolphin is OK, but the menu bars on the sides that you slide to reveal suck. They always pop up when I'm scrolling on a zoomed page.

 

[scottysize]

I liked the Chrome beta well enough, but like the other Google browser it still doesn't have an option to set the user agent to a desktop browser. I don't think it even has the option to request the desktop page on a page-by-page basis like the stock browser does. Is Dolphin the only one that has this simple feature? Dolphin is OK, but the menu bars on the sides that you slide to reveal suck. They always pop up when I'm scrolling on a zoomed page.

I've never liked the Dolphin browser. You are correct. If Chrome comes out with a desktop always button, it will be my browser. Right now I'm still using the stock because I can go check the box for desktop site.

 

[WallaceD]

I liked the Chrome beta well enough, but like the other Google browser it still doesn't have an option to set the user agent to a desktop browser. I don't think it even has the option to request the desktop page on a page-by-page basis like the stock browser does. Is Dolphin the only one that has this simple feature? Dolphin is OK, but the menu bars on the sides that you slide to reveal suck. They always pop up when I'm scrolling on a zoomed page.

You know you can turn off those "menu bars on the sides", right? It's an option under "Dolphin settings" and once unchecked, swiping does nothing.

 

[danan]

What constitutes no problems with WIFI?

I ordered one and it has consistently slower download speeds and weaker signal, and weaker range than my hp touchpad but it works. So it isn't in anyway non-functioning but it is very clearly worse than every ipad, original transformer and hp touchpad that I have compared it to. It is also just simply a less consistent signal.

So if enough others could verify to me that the prime is getting download speeds as fast as the average good tablet out there, then maybe I would consider just exchanging it rather than returning it but from what I have seen, although most of them work fine, they don't seem to work great reception wise.

Am I wrong?

 

[Irix]

I found the WiFi reception to not be satisfactory. The lack of a plastic window on the aluminum screen backing causes the device to mostly radiate it's signal from the screen facing side. If you have the screen facing towards the base station it will get better reception. (There are some circumstances where you might find some multi-path reflections that are better than direct to the BSE, everyone's environment will differ)

Another major problem not discussed is the interference the Prime causes. Because it is not receiving well the prime will turn up it's transmit power causing it to walk over signals from other wireless devices. Ruining the SNR of your WiFi network.

A good analogy here is to picture 3 people standing in a room. All equal distance from one another, lets say 20 feet. Label person number 3 as the transformer prime. Persons #1 and #2 start in a conversation with one another talking quietly because they can hear one another well. Well #3 Mr. Prime can't hear well so he starts shouting back! Saying he can't hear. However now he's talking so loud #1 and #2 can't hear one another. So they too have to talk louder to hear one another. What started as a quiet conversation has turned into a shouting match because one person has hearing (reception) problems.

My point here is the degraded WiFi causes more than just bandwidth problems. It causes interference issues with other devices. I noticed my notebook would completely drop off the WiFi network when the Prime was anywhere near it. Interference like I described above where it just hammered the WiFi network's SNR. For that scenario I was 35-40' from the base station and 1 story away so lots of walls in-between. However the notebook was locked in at 39Mbit with good SNR, and the Prime was at 5mbit with the screen facing the base station.

EVERYONE has a prime with poor radio reception..... EVERYONE. Just because you can't perceive it (say you live in an apartment) doesn't mean the issue isn't there. It just means that your perception is it doesn't effect you, yet. But the question is will it ever? Hotel WiFi can have poor signal on even devices that get excellent WiFi reception. Do you want to be able to sit outside? I asked myself those questions and decided to return it.

If people continue to accept companies releasing products that are shoddy you will continue to get shoddy products rushed to market. It's pretty sad they announce the next generation prime that's basically the same with the proper WiFi plastic window less than 2 weeks after the Prime's official launch in late December.

Unless you cut a hole in the aluminum on the back side of the screen you'll never get proper reception. The way they designed the prime is equal to living life with an ear plug in one of your ears. You can still hear, but not as well as you should be able too and if you know anyone that's losing their hearing it's life altering in ways you might not expect (like I explained above in the analogy).

I returned mine... I do not support quantity over quality for something I plan on using every day and traveling with. I'll wait a few months and get the properly designed one...

 

[totfit]

No, not EVERYONE. My wifi is no issue at all and comparable with any device I have. I work in IT in a major school system and use mine on the wireless network at multiple schools and use it at my primary school to control imaging sessions from remote desktop. At home my router is upstairs and I have good reception from anywhere in the house and I don't have a fantastic router by any means. Just the standard one from the cable company which I recently switch to. No problem here.

 

[enthuz]

It's posts like these that give me hope. Thanks for posting a positive review.

 

[SteveISU]

I've only had it less than 24hrs but mine has had no issue with WiFI. My router is the one supplied with ATT Uverse, it's on the second floor, and I have full strength anywhere in the house. Just as good as anything else hooked up to my network.

I would suspect anyone who claims EVERYONE has issues is simply basing it off the fact that the design might not be ideal from an engineering standpoint, but functionally it works. In their mind it can work better, which is why they are knocking it, but it works nonetheless.

 

[redtooth]

I must have got reel Lucky because my prime has the best wifi of any device i have. Its even stronger than my Motorola photon which has exceptional radios. I will be taking it to china tomorrow so i will see how it does over there. I can pickup wifi at work in areas where others with laptops, I pads, cellphones and other tablets cant hold a signal. Like i said i may have just got Lucky. I'm probably due to cus i had a nexus s with the worst radios ever made.

 

[enthuz]

I've only had it less than 24hrs but mine has had no issue with WiFI. My router is the one supplied with ATT Uverse, it's on the second floor, and I have full strength anywhere in the house. Just as good as anything else hooked up to my network.

I would suspect anyone who claims EVERYONE has issues is simply basing it off the fact that the design might not be ideal from an engineering standpoint, but functionally it works. In their mind it can work better, which is why they are knocking it, but it works nonetheless.

So are you using G or N WiFi? I actually ask this of all replying. I'm just trying to see all of the factors involved...good/bad.

 

[badbrad17]

Well I was worried about the Wi-Fi signal as I ordered my Prime the first day I could pre-order it so I was worried if mine was going to have issues being first out of the gate. Although I do get what @SiGGy is saying I don't agree 100%. Connectivity is only a problem if you can't connect and I have never had an issue connecting to a wi-fi signal and doing what I need to do. My access point is in my basement in a 3 floor home and I sit in bed with my Prime and can always connect. Is it 4 bars strong? No! but does it download a 25mb file in less than 30 seconds? Yes! Can I surf the Internet without any problems? Yes! I also own the TF101 and get the same experience with both.

So anyone who is considering not buying the Prime because of so called wi-fi issues is missing out.

 

[SteveISU]

So are you using G or N WiFi? I actually ask this of all replying. I'm just trying to see all of the factors involved...good/bad.

My router is the 2wire 3800 that only supports G.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk

 

[Irix]

Well I was worried about the Wi-Fi signal as I ordered my Prime the first day I could pre-order it so I was worried if mine was going to have issues being first out of the gate. Although I do get what @SiGGy is saying I don't agree 100%. Connectivity is only a problem if you can't connect and I have never had an issue connecting to a wi-fi signal and doing what I need to do. My access point is in my basement in a 3 floor home and I sit in bed with my Prime and can always connect. Is it 4 bars strong? No! but does it download a 25mb file in less than 30 seconds? Yes! Can I surf the Internet without any problems? Yes! I also own the TF101 and get the same experience with both.

So anyone who is considering not buying the Prime because of so called wi-fi issues is missing out.

Why do you keep saying "so called"?

When they designed the prime with a solid piece of aluminum and no opening for the radio waves to get in through one side of the screen they hampered it's performance. To relate this to something most people understand it's like plugging one of your ears up and only being able to hear through one side of your head. Sure you can still hear, but not nearly as well.

So there is no "so called" here. They hampered the receive/transmit abilities of the device with this design. It's no coincidence they showed a newer designed unit with the wifi antenna's integration done better not even 2 weeks after these started shipping.

Just because your perception is you don't have an issue doesn't mean there isn't one. It just means you don't perceive one for your circumstance. And that's fine.

As an example: You said you can xfer 25MB in 30 seconds. That's not terrible, it's like 6.5Mbit a second. I would bet if you cut a 2.5"x 2.5" hole in center of the back side of your screen where the square antenna is you would see a significant performance increase.

I could only sustain about 1-3Mbit unless I aimed the screen side of unit back at the base station which then I could get 5mbit (or a tiny bit better, close to what you were seeing). However my 2 notebooks were doing 20+mbit at the same location (closer to 35mbit to be exact).

It's all perception like I said... and very circumstantial to ones environment. Your homes building materials, RF reflections, base station placement and do you happen sit with the screen facing the base station? Things like this will all be different from one person to the next. And can greatly effect ones experience.

I expect a *premium* device like this to perform like one. On everything else but WiFi it does. Like I said I'll wait a few months and get the next one.

I'm pretty sick of making excuses for premium products that are released prematurely. Don't release it if it's not ready... "good enough" is not what you pay a premium for. This isn't some oversight. They obviously already knew about this issue and had it fixed in another hardware design but someone decided not to apply the proper changes to this HW release. Probably for cost reasons but I bet mostly to gain xmas sales. It's actually rather disturbing that the company announces the fixed version of their premium product 2 weeks after they start shipping the one with the design flaw.

IMO what they should be doing is recalling all of them and replacing the antenna and screen backing. Hopefully the revised version maybe even has RX diversity.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'll go back into hiding now...

 

[deltatux]

My Transformer Prime has no WiFi issues at all, the reports that the WiFi is terrible is overblown imo. The thing is blazing fast. Maybe it's affecting a few units. I tested it against a TF101, and the two devices were head-to-head in terms of file transfer speed.

However, only in super high interference zones (like my college's networking lab which has like hundreds of WiFi equipment and Cisco equipment going off at once), is where my Transformer Prime show WiFi weakness against the older TF101, it has a harder time to connect to the school's main WiFi. The TF101 fares a lot better due to its plastic construction. Other than that, I see no drop in performance outside the network lab.

deltatux

 

[pmehrtens]

Hi this is an old conversation but did the problem of wifi dropping to 2Mb/s get fixed? I have exactly the same problem with my S4. Can fix it temporarily by toggling wifi (goes back to 32Mb/s) but them reverts to 2Mb/s after 15 mins or so. Phone is standard and I just did a factory reset with no improvement.