Very slow WiFi

[RapidTurtle]

Anyone notice very slow WiFi on their S20? I have a plus, and the WiFi is very slow sometimes, and others it seems ok. I just got the phone last week and noticed a lot of buffering. Did a speed test and was only getting 2 mbps down. It also happens to me at work. I've done the network settings reset, reset the router. (Fairly new netgear nighthawk)
Any ideas would be appreciated. I've also read of some others with the problem, but no solution yet.

 

[Mike Dee]

Is it with certain sites or totally random?

 

[B. Diddy]

Does it also happen in Safe Mode?

 

[RapidTurtle]

Seems random. Noticed when watching some YouTube, the videos were taking a while to load and buffering. Tried speed test, and sometimes I get around up to 60 Mbps. Others it's like 2. Also noticed sometimes speed test starts slow, even when I get good speed, and then speeds up. Sometumes it's normal. Everything else on the network is fine. Wife's iphone pulls down 140 MBPS, laptops are good. I also went into router settings and made sure phone was set to high priority.

 

[RapidTurtle]

I'll have to try safe mode.

 

[RapidTurtle]

Same thing in safe mode. I've had the phone for a little over a week now, and remember when it was updating, the updates took forever. Googled the problem, and seems like quite a few others have the same problem, with no fixes listed. Have any of u ever done a speed test when connected to wifi? Just curious if I got a lemon, or it is that wide spread.

 

[RapidTurtle]

I'll have to try a few speed test at work today, to test on a different network.

 

[B. Diddy]

Since it happens both at home and at work, and in Safe Mode, it sounds like a firmware or hardware issue. This is unlikely, but if you have case on, try taking it off in case some material in the case is blocking signal.

You can also try wiping the cache partition: https://www.t-mobile.com/support/de...5g/wipe-cache-partition-samsung-galaxy-s20-5g. If none of that helps, then try a factory reset. Ultimately, you may just have to talk to Samsung about warranty repair or replacement.

 

[Bryce Alvord]

Yes! I'm having the exact same issue. Take a look at this, I scheduled a speed test to run every 15 minutes using the speedcheck app. This is the log showing the inconsistent metrics but the logs on my Samsung A8 tablet are totally stable to expectations over 48 hrs

 

[RapidTurtle]

I did a factory reset last night. Was getting 60 to 80 MBPS last night on wifi. Not to shabby, and I can live with it. Woke up this morning, and went to download my Sirrus app, and low and behold, it took over 5 minutes. Did a speed test, and was rocking all of 1.4 mbps. Needless to say, the phone is going back to Best Buy.

 

[Gayle Lynn]

I spent a whole day rewiring coax, surge filters, grounding rod. Last October I put in modem a netgear ax wifi6. Recently netgear added option to bond 2.4 and 5.0.

ISP has been busy statewide upgrading as they repair and replace equipment knocked out by 90+ mph winds. Last year and again in spring multiple close lightning strikes disrupted service.

I pay for 200Mbps but usually see 60/20 yet other times 250/40 - and yes sometimes very very low numbers that reset modem and router clears up. That takes 5 minutes plus to get both back up.

Suffering for over a year with erratic numbers. Luckily even my older iPhone X is doing excellent. Overall I trust my Samsung Note and S-series. But even Apple pushed out modem update that seemed to help.

One scary incident - when setting up a new Note 20 I could not authenticate when connecting to wifi router until after update and copy from other phone. Thankfully cable to cable works, no need to rely on wifi or eat up all my cellular data plan to restore.

I needed all the current updates to phone. I usually hold off buying for a few months until most issues have been addressed.

I was ready to get out my older router, or spring for newer ax capable wifi router. Make sure Nighthawk firmware is current, you probably did that. It isn't obvious where in their mobile app.

Sometimes complaining to ISP seems helpless but they are working on backbone.

 

[eddie rivera2]

my 20 plus get 360 up and 340 down, bit I have notice that on youtube it has been buffering lately.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I have a netgear router and I get slow downloads on its WiFi. Sometimes about 20Mbps but on my cable router I get 200Mbps. I don't use the netgear any more with my S10+

 

[RapidTurtle]

Returned the phone yesterday, and decided to get a new one in it's place. At Best Buy, they tested the phone, and it was dog slow on their WiFi, so no problems with the exchange. So far,my new S20 plus is doing great on my WiFi here at home. This morning, I got a download speed of about 120 MBPS, so I'm a happy camper. Thanks to all of you who chimed in with ideas for a fix!!

On Gayles problem with ISP's, we went through hell and back last year with our ISP. Speeds were great until 5 PM to 11 PM, then it became unusable. We couldn't even use youtube tv without it buffering all of the time. It was fine before 5 PM though, so it was driving me crazy. I know you loose some speed at peak times, but we were paying for 200, and getting around 10 at night. During the day, it was 200 or close to it. When calling, I always got a low level help desk person, who had to go through all of the troubleshooting steps. Usually about a 45 minute ordeal. After the 4th tech visit, they finally admitted the problem was on their end. The network was overloaded, and they had to "split a node", for the area. From my understanding, that takes an area, and makes it into two networks instead of one. The tech said everyone in the area was complaining, so I guess that finally helped. The whole ordeal took around 3 months to finally get fixed.
We talked to some neighbors, and found they were having the same problems, so they called also. Check with some people around you, and get them to call and complain if they are having problems. It could be the same type of thing. You have to figure all of the video streaming these days, and people working form home, has to be putting a strain on ISP's networks.

 

[Mike Dee]

Returned the phone yesterday, and decided to get a new one in it's place. At Best Buy, they tested the phone, and it was dog slow on their WiFi, so no problems with the exchange. So far,my new S20 plus is doing great on my WiFi here at home. This morning, I got a download speed of about 120 MBPS, so I'm a happy camper. Thanks to all of you who chimed in with ideas for a fix!!

On Gayles problem with ISP's, we went through hell and back last year with our ISP. Speeds were great until 5 PM to 11 PM, then it became unusable. We couldn't even use youtube tv without it buffering all of the time. It was fine before 5 PM though, so it was driving me crazy. I know you loose some speed at peak times, but we were paying for 200, and getting around 10 at night. During the day, it was 200 or close to it. When calling, I always got a low level help desk person, who had to go through all of the troubleshooting steps. Usually about a 45 minute ordeal. After the 4th tech visit, they finally admitted the problem was on their end. The network was overloaded, and they had to "split a node", for the area. From my understanding, that takes an area, and makes it into two networks instead of one. The tech said everyone in the area was complaining, so I guess that finally helped. The whole ordeal took around 3 months to finally get fixed.
We talked to some neighbors, and found they were having the same problems, so they called also. Check with some people around you, and get them to call and complain if they are having problems. It could be the same type of thing. You have to figure all of the video streaming these days, and people working form home, has to be putting a strain on ISP's networks.

Glad you got it taken care of.

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Thanks. Schools get out around 3 pm and for us, that's when I'd have trouble. Netflix especially. If anything happens on weekend, it may not be right until Monday.

I looked around, Google, and found a lot of complaints about Netgear Nighthawk Wi-Fi 6. I'd never had trouble in nearly 20 years going back to DSL days - until now. Trouble dropping off, logging in, with their latest model firmware.

Would think even low level tech would have customers history of what was done previously and save an hour. They had to inspect inside (pre-COVID) before they'd touch the damaged box on utility pole.

Lightning crippled a modem so now
I keep spare modem and routers on hand.