WiFi - connected but "page not available"

[The_Lion]

I wanted to give Android a try after having an iPhone for about 4 years now (1st generation iPhone). I decided to go with a used "China" phone - Hero h300 because I didn't want to splurge and find out that Android wasn't for me. So far I do like it but I am running version 2.2.1 (Froyo) and am having an issue with the WiFi connection. I'll initially connect and after a random span of time it will start failing to load pages when browsing or the market will report that there was an error (or lost connection) even though the phone still shows a WiFi connection.

I do not have a data plan and am using WiFi for connection and have setup the phone to use the WiFi instead of Sim data connection. I use WPA/WPA2 PSK security for the wireless network. If I turn off WiFi and turn it back on (on the phone), it will reconnect and work for a while but the problem comes back. So while I "surf" the internet or Market, I have to constantly turn the WiFi on and off.

What can I check or try to resolve this issue? I actually had bought this phone because the iPhone's WiFi was going loopy (it would just scan and scan and scan and never find any networks - even if it was literally sitting next to the wireless router) - so it's kind of ironic that the main problem I have with this phone turns out to be it's WiFi

Thanks

 

[Cellmeister]

Try putting your WiFi Router in "G" Mode

I don't know what WiFi AP / Router you have, but most phones use the low end / older WiFi chips and are not compatible with some "N" AP's, it will sometimes cause an erratic issue or will show it's connected but it won't work.

You can Google it for more info

Hope that helps

 

[The_Lion]

Thank you for the reply, I have a somewhat older US Robotics ADSL gateway that only has 802.11b & g so I don't have the "N". I'll be visiting the folks this weekend and I'll try using the phone with their D-Link router to see if it behaves the same or not.

Thanks again.

 

[PvilleComp]

Also try just WPA rather than WAP/WPA2. Some of the older phones, like the Hero, had issues with WPA2 as well as N.

I would also suggest that there is a big difference in hardware quality between what you are currently using and the new phones available today. I would not ding Android as a whole for the WiFi issue.

Hope this helps.

 

[The_Lion]

Thanks for that tip, I'll give it a try. I'm suspecting the WiFi chip in this phone is faulty - not going to ding Android for that. I actually am getting use to Android and like what it has to offer. Even with the faulty WiFi of the phone I've got a few widgets downloaded, some games and other apps that I have tried out.

As for the WiFi issue, it did work a bit better at my folks house but I did something to put the phone in Safe Mode and had a heck of a time trying to get it out of Safe Mode When I got home I changed the router from TKIP & AES to just AES and the phone worked perfectly for the rest of the night! Too bad day came Next day it was back to the way it behaved before so I thought "maybe it's the range"? I live in a two story house and the phone reports a "poor" signal down stairs but gets better signal upstairs where the router is located. But it still had issues upstairs.

I'll see if the WPA works out - thanks again for the help!

 

[The_Lion]

Nothing worked for me unfortunately, but I did find an app to help. I am using WiFi Fixer and it basically does automatically what I was doing - turning wifi off & back on to reconnect (re-associating is what it calls it). I had tried another app but it did not fix the issue which was too bad because it sounded like a run once and be done with it app

 

[Nimocone]

I was going to suggest Wifi Static if that didn't work for you. On my old Galaxy S, I had to use it to stay connected until I bought a new router. New router solved all my connection issues.