Transformer Prime Wifi...Good or bad?

[DeadlyDa]

Had my Prime for 2+ weeks, and have used WiFi in quite a few places here in NYC. Works great for me...so does GPS.

Mind you, I'm not saying others are misstating things when they say they have issues, clearly some do. However my T-Prime has as good or better Wifi capabilities than either my work notebook (Dell), my Asus G53W gaming notebook, or my HTC HD2 (running CM7).

Maybe I'm just lucky? I've got the latest OTA update (9.4.2.11), if that matters.

 

[RoscoeDpG]

cant complain speeds are great even at a short distance and only prob i have had is when idle sometimes the wifi drops out but not always, will go days fine and one day will just disconnect but i got toggle on screen and back on with no prob so not huge deal for me

 

[eubanksja]

I tested the wifi strength of my TP and my Bionic. Both are very close in signal strength. I love my prime, no issues to date.

 

[Relddem]

I've had mine since Christmas, pretty sure it was before any major OTAs. The first day or two I had some internet connection drops similar to what Whitenack describes above--I wouldn't lose wifi but the internet connection would drop and the fix was just switching wifi on and off. That seemed to get fixed with the first OTA (pre-ICS).

I also Kmcferrin makes a good point--there's a difference between signal strength and speed. The signal strength indicator on my prime also did tend to seem a bit low at first, but I've never had a problem with it stuttering too much on pageloads or losing the signal altogether. In my room, where I use it most frequently, is the furthest point in my house from a wireless source (we have a repeater in the middle of the house upstairs, so I get great signal throughout the upstairs even though the router is downstairs in the front of the house). I would generally get 1-2 bars on the signal strength indicator before ICS and since the more recent OTAs I'm usually at 2-3 bars, but I haven't noticed any significant difference in performance. For reference, my computer's signal strength indicator is always strong, but my Xbox (which is a few feet away from my computer, further from the router, and stuffed in a corner behind my TV) tends to lose the signal occasionally (to the point where if I was an online gamer I would be forced to move it, but its fine for getting updates and DLCs and even streaming video).

 

[WallaceD]

I will second what eubanksja just said. I compared my Wi-Fi signal (using Open Signal Maps) on both my Prime and my Bionic. They are what I would term "very similar" in strength.

Although the signal strength meter on my Prime rarely reads anything other than two bars, I have no Wi-Fi issues.

Note that I have NOT upgraded to ICS. I'm running the stock Honeycomb 2.6.36.3 kernel. (I did install one firmware update prior to ICS, but that's it.)

 

[Renthal]

jrz5024, 802.11 wireless comes from an access point, not a router. In other words, it makes no difference how close to the router you are at your office.

 

[Pronixx]

my wifi sucked before the update. Now it works fine.

 

[movielover76]

I had a lot of problems with wifi, which caused me to return the tablet, range wasn't so much the problem but the speed dropped off like a brick when I moved away from the router, based on reports that the speed is fine regardless of distance, I suspect that the problem was all of the interference, I can see 7 aps which aren't mine from my bedroom in an apartment, but all of my other devices handle it much better so it didn't cut it for me. I went from 20mbps in the same room as the router, to 5 in the next room and 1 - 3mbps 2 rooms away.

 

[Kmcferrin]

jrz5024, 802.11 wireless comes from an access point, not a router. In other words, it makes no difference how close to the router you are at your office.

Kinda pedantic there. Many people have broadband routers (basically a NAT device) that incorporates a wifi access point. People generally refer to them as "routers", and since they are technically the gateway that routes between two networks (public and private) the term is accurate.

Anyway...after picking up my TP I did a quick test around the house. My router with integrated wifi is on the second floor on one end of the house. I've got strong signal across both floors and even in my basement lab on the opposite end of the house from the router. I compared it to my Moto Droid 2, and the TP generally shows the same number of bars or one fewer than the D2 does. However, the D2 shows several other APs in the neighborhood with very weak signals and the TP doesn't see them.

GPS signal seems non-existant, even outdoors. I couldn't see even a single satellite. That being said, I may be missing an update. After unboxing I got the ICS update, then a firmware update for the camera. It doesn't show any other updates available.

 

[phoneturf]

I was about to return mine to Best Buy yesterday after having it a little more than a week due to the poor wifi performance. All over my house, I can stream netflix with my old Nook Color but the Prime stuttered so badly it was unusable in most of the house. But, when I went to Best Buy I instead got a wife extender to see if that made a difference and give it one more chance before returning it since I love it otherwise. Luckily, the extender works beautifully. Full wifi (and netflix streaming) all over the house, so all is good. The extender cost $70 so that stinks, but it does give me better performance on a couple other computers in the house, too.. As far as GPS, mine was marginal until I got the latest update, which made it completely useless.

I wish Asus would just hurry and release the bootloader unlocker so we can get some tweaked roms since I have much more faith in xda devs to get the best performance out of a device than any manufacturer. I bet that once this happens we will have a rom which provides decent GPS within a few weeks.

 

[jrz5024]

Ran some further tests, and I can happily report zero issues with Wi-Fi at home. My apartment is tiny, so I couldn't test any real distance, but sitting 10-20 feet away from my router yielded speeds of nearly 20MB down / 10mb up with latency of ~10ms on Verizon Fios. No noticeable issues with connection I can see.

I have a theory that the supposed connection issues may be more perceived than actual. I did notice that I would randomly lose 1-2 bars even when I didn't move and was sitting close to the router. But when I opened up wi-fi settings, it would uniformly read as an "excellent" connection, and my speed didn't seem to be affected.

The BB salesman said he heard the wi-fi problems were only in the first production batch, and that Asus has fixed the problems. FWIW it sure seems like mine works just fine. Doesn't make the GPS any less worthless though =P

jrz5024, 802.11 wireless comes from an access point, not a router. In other words, it makes no difference how close to the router you are at your office.

Uh, there are these things called wireless routers. They transmit a wi-fi signal. Perhaps you've heard of them. They look like this:

 

[jayhawk2366]

Yes, I was thinking that the wi-fi issues were with the first batch that they sent out. I received my prime yesterday from BB and noticed no wi-fi issues at all. I didn't run any physical tests or anything, but the speed of web browsing was up to par for me and running netflix and youtube videos I had no stutters.

 

[Kmcferrin]

But, when I went to Best Buy I instead got a wife extender to see if that made a difference

Sounds like an interesting product. What does it do, exactly?

 

[Rogue58]

I'm happy with my Prime.

 

[totfit]

No major issues here at all. I get decent performance and reception and even get pretty decent bars at times from neighbors wifi's. Granted, it is not the best I have ever seen, but by no means the worst either.

 

[ouchyoung]

I bought the prime from BB the day before yesterday, and find it is really a tab in good performance and happy to use except I browse the web with it. I can hardly get connected to WIFI when I am sitting in my office, the signal drops to only one bar or zero, webpages are hard to be opened. While at the same position, my laptop (apple) and cell phone (Samsung) can both connect to the router without any problem. The laptop show full to 4 bars and the cell phone shows 1 to 2 bars, they can both open webpages smoothly. Moreover, I got lost on road because of the bad GPS equipped on this pad. It lost connection with the satellites suddenly and can not connect to them again. I have to get out the car in the chilling wind to get the pad re-connected to satellites and then sit back into the car watching the PAD lost the connection again. Finally I used the google earth on my cell phone to navigate when I finally find the celluar signal. I've decided to return this pad tomorrow.

 

[totfit]

I have had no issues with wifi. It is not the greatest reception I have ever had on a device, but about average. Does much better than my new work phone a Motorola Commander.

 

[Bamm83]

I bought the prime from BB the day before yesterday, and find it is really a tab in good performance and happy to use except I browse the web with it. I can hardly get connected to WIFI when I am sitting in my office, the signal drops to only one bar or zero, webpages are hard to be opened. While at the same position, my laptop (apple) and cell phone (Samsung) can both connect to the router without any problem. The laptop show full to 4 bars and the cell phone shows 1 to 2 bars, they can both open webpages smoothly. Moreover, I got lost on road because of the bad GPS equipped on this pad. It lost connection with the satellites suddenly and can not connect to them again. I have to get out the car in the chilling wind to get the pad re-connected to satellites and then sit back into the car watching the PAD lost the connection again. Finally I used the google earth on my cell phone to navigate when I finally find the celluar signal. I've decided to return this pad tomorrow.

Forgive me if I come across as an ass, but what are you doing relying on GPS with your tab when you have a "Samsung cellphone?" Just asking. Yes, I wish the Prime had exceptional GPS like it was advertised to have, but honestly, most everyone with a tab is techy enough to have a sufficient cellphone. And most if not all phones have reliant GPS. TeleNav for example has a feature which allows for GPS to still work even without a cell signal. Sprint phones have it preinstalled. Not sure if the market has it available.

 

[theduke]

My wifi is real bad....if i leave out the room with my rooted bionic plugged in the wall to charge i lose my connection...but with my ipad1 i can go outside and still have a connection. Luckily i have my wifi on my phone so it go wherever i go. Asus need to get this together ASAP...
Also i only get two bars when i have my prime and phone next to each other....never had full bars yet.

 

[scottysize]

My wifi is real bad....if i leave out the room with my rooted bionic plugged in the wall to charge i lose my connection...but with my ipad1 i can go outside and still have a connection. Luckily i have my wifi on my phone so it go wherever i go. Asus need to get this together ASAP...
Also i only get two bars when i have my prime and phone next to each other....never had full bars yet.

Maybe you got one of the first ones that shipped. I've heard that those had WiFi problems.