I know this was a big topic of discussion regarding the Intl Version. My wifi range is weak on both 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz. I have an Apple Airport extreme which broadcasts both channels simultaneously so I have tried both networks.
My (now my wife's) iPhone 4 gets 75% signal nearly 45 feet away on 2.4 ghz while my Galaxy S2 has 25% or 1 bar.
I have used wifi analyzer to hop on the channel with the least interference so it's definitely not the router.
My iPad2 on 5ghz network has all the bars at the same range while Galaxy S2 remains 1 bar on 5ghz.
Is this pretty standard wifi performance for this device?
I've noticed this as well. MY iPhone had a better wiring signal. Will a new radio fix this maybe? I remember having the same issues on my HTC Fuze...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
LonghornNTX said:
I know this was a big topic of discussion regarding the Intl Version. My wifi range is weak on both 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz. I have an Apple Airport extreme which broadcasts both channels simultaneously so I have tried both networks.
My (now my wife's) iPhone 4 gets 75% signal nearly 45 feet away on 2.4 ghz while my Galaxy S2 has 25% or 1 bar.
I have used wifi analyzer to hop on the channel with the least interference so it's definitely not the router.
My iPad2 on 5ghz network has all the bars at the same range while Galaxy S2 remains 1 bar on 5ghz.
Is this pretty standard wifi performance for this device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Odd, my friend brought over his iPhone4 a few days ago. We placed both phones on the counter next to each other and ran a speed test. My SG2 was over 10mbps on WiFi.... his was under 5.
I didn't test distance though...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
You can't rely on a software-indicated signal bar.
Connect both phones, and slowly walk away from the router until the signal in each drops. That will give you a better idea of real range for each.
joeybear23 said:
You can't rely on a software-indicated signal bar.
Connect both phones, and slowly walk away from the router until the signal in each drops. That will give you a better idea of real range for each.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very true.. I stop short of saying the iPhone is 'lying' to you, but they have notoriously been very loose with their reporting of 'strength'. I have done wave form analysis for over 20 years as a ham radio operator, and, as a wireless network fanatic building wireless links at 1/4 mile for very remote areas of a state park. I had both the 3g and the 4 and both were lots of bars, but dropped very quickly when walking away. I do like the idea of the wi-fi analyzer app, but even it has a delay built in that might make it a little misleading.
Hey guys,
as we have so many open questions on Wifi perfomance I decided to do some personal research about it.
I am using the following devices:
ASUS Transformer Prime:
German model, 32GB, gray
Updated to .33 firmware
HTC Desire HD
German one, did not have any Wifi issues to date
Running a custom Sense 3.5 ROM from the based on HTC Sensation XL
I tested the Wifi performance all the time with an app called Speedtest.net
Additonally I used an app called Wifi analyzer to measure the strength of the signal.
My internet connection is a ADSL 32/1 line, this means I can get download speed of 32Mbit/s and upload speeds of 1Mbit/s.
To have a good range of values different distances to the router were tested.
Here are the results:
Directly beneath the router:
TF Prime:
Ping: 15-25
Download: 20-30Mbit/s
Strength: [-40] - [-52] (shows full reception)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Desire HD:
Ping: ~30
Download: 10-15Mbit/s
Strength: [-40] - [-50] (shows full reception)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One room away, wifi needs to travel through walls:
TF Prime:
Ping: 15-25
Download: 14-24Mbit/s
Strength: [-58] - [-70] (shows 3/4 reception)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Desire HD:
Ping: ~30
Download: 8-12Mbit/s
Strength: [-60] - [-70] (shows full reception)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Two rooms away, wifi needs to travel through walls:
TF Prime:
Ping: 15-25
Download: 8-24Mbit/s
Strength: [-65] - [-80] (shows 1/2 reception)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Desire HD:
Ping: ~30
Download: 6-12Mbit/s
Strength: [-70] - [-80] (shows 3/4 reception)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thoughts on the data
One thing I did notice was the rather large fluctuation of the Prime's signal. The signal quality changed a lot even when holding the device still.
This happened to the DHD too, but not as extreme.
Another thing is that the signal quality of the Prime is highly influenced by the direction you hold the device. AnandTech said the same in their review and it seems it's true. Again, my DHD doesn't show this behaviour.
You do have to note, that the Wifi on the Prime was always faster compared to the my phone, so I don't see an issue with the speed.
I could not make a real range test yet, but with the .29 firmware my DHD outperformed the Prime on the Wifi range. The DHD connected to networks which weren't seen by the Prime at all.
I am going to test the range with the new .33 update (which seemed to improve Wifi for me) in the next days.
Another quite heavy point is the not about the Wifi speed in general but more about the usage itself.
Coming from a 1 Ghz singlecore phone, everything is way faster on the Prime, especially the market.
Working with the Android market on the Prime is super painless. Everything opens instantly, no long loading times (almost none at all).
On my phone everything takes ages to load (even things only related to Wifi, like the thumbnails)
So compared to my phone "internet" is way faster on the Prime.
Conclusion
In my opinion the Prime's Wifi is perfectly fine. It may suffer a bit under the metal backplate, but ASUS solved this problem with the second Wifi antenna quite good.
The only thing which we should be concerned about is the range. But I do have to say that Wifi range can be easily tweaked via software (yes this is true)
So maybe we can tweak the range after having custom kernels.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask
Nice post. My results weren't nearly as good as yours. My Prime was somewhat on par with my Galaxy Nexus (still a little slower, though), but got killed by my iPad 1. I'm starting to wonder whether the iPad 1 simply has a beast of a WiFi radio and outperforms other mobile devices. I'll try to post detailed test results when I get a chance.
thanks, good test you ran also. I was gonna say the same thing that even though the signal strength went down as you moved further away, it didn't directly affect the speed of it at all. in fact Prime consistently held faster speed rates. I've noticed the very sensitive fluctuations in wifi signal strength in prime also depending on how you hold it. Regardless this has still never affected the experience or speeds seen going into the Prime. I did a similar test against my ipad1 and yielded similar results. no matter the range or if prime showed a lil weaker signal strength, it didn't affect the download and upload speeds. in fact. even with prime having the weaker signal strength, it still pulled the faster speeds.
glad to hear we will be able to tweak the range through software. also having the dual antennaes could give us a major advantage over the other devices in the end as far as range goes. I did try your one simple test before you mentioned on the wifi switching antennaes things. as I covered both up signal dropped. then covered only one and then the other and so on. so the switching of wifi antennaes does seem to work pretty well. Custom kernels could use all of this to the advantage of Prime.
---------- Post added at 09:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 AM ----------
nyijedi said:
Nice post. My results weren't nearly as good as yours. My Prime was somewhat on par with my Galaxy Nexus (still a little slower, though), but got killed by my iPad 1. I'm starting to wonder whether the iPad 1 simply has a beast of a WiFi radio and outperforms other mobile devices. I'll try to post detailed test results when I get a chance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it may of been you I told of how my ipad1 test comparison was the opposite. that the Prime showed dramatic increase in wifi speeds and was on par with the range, for the most part. what I can say is that Ipad signal strength seemed more stable while Prime was sensitive and fluctuated. regardless though even with a slightly lower signal strength the prime wasn't affected in terms of speed. it still in fact pulled substantial faster speeds than my ipad1 regardless of signal strength. strange but true. you would think with lower signal strength it would affect speeds but it didn't with the Prime.
demandarin said:
thanks, good test you ran also. I was gonna say the same thing that even though the signal strength went down as you moved further away, it didn't directly affect the speed of it at all. in fact Prime consistently held faster speed rates. I've noticed the very sensitive fluctuations in wifi signal strength in prime also depending on how you hold it. Regardless this has still never affected the experience or speeds seen going into the Prime. I did a similar test against my ipad1 and yielded similar results. no matter the range or if prime showed a lil weaker signal strength, it didn't affect the download and upload speeds. in fact. even with prime having the weaker signal strength, it still pulled the faster speeds.
glad to hear we will be able to tweak the range through software. also having the dual antennaes could give us a major advantage over the other devices in the end as far as range goes. I did try your one simple test before you mentioned on the wifi switching antennaes things. as I covered both up signal dropped. then covered only one and then the other and so on. so the switching of wifi antennaes does seem to work pretty well. Custom kernels could use all of this to the advantage of Prime.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I did that too, works wonderfully.
In kernel sources you can adjust up to what reception levels Wifis are still displayed as connectable. We had that problem with a Desire HD update were HTC screwed something so it connected only to way stronger Wifi than before.
Kernel devs fixed this
Issues
I did hear about while reading an article that the prime had issues with its productions models.
one reviewer had 2 before his 3rd finally worked. However im looking forward to testing this beast out come the 12th!
Thanks for making my decision easier
I've done the same test, however with my prime
I get about 20 mbps in the same room as the router
5 mbps one room over
and 2 - 3 mbps max three rooms over, I also often get disconnects in this room.
I can deal with slightly less range, but the speed dropoff was killing me.
Now that I know my unit is obviously defective, I can exchange it for a new unit
If I can get a good unit with results like that I will be satisfied.
When I did some tests on mine, router in living room, Prime on second floor at the furthest point, so probably like 50 feet goign through the floor and a bunch of walls, I was transferring data TO the Prime via FTP at about 2.7MB/sec (Megabytes) That was on .29
movielover76 said:
I've done the same test, however with my prime
I get about 20 mbps in the same room as the router
5 mbps one room over
and 2 - 3 mbps max three rooms over, I also often get disconnects in this room.
I can deal with slightly less range, but the speed dropoff was killing me.
Now that I know my unit is obviously defective, I can exchange it for a new unit
If I can get a good unit with results like that I will be satisfied.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the exact same experience as you. However, I'm not so sure that the Prime is "obviously defective" if you have these types of issues. The last thing I want to do is return my brand new device and wait to find a new one, or RMA it and wait to receive a new one, and then still have the same problem.
I wish Asus would say something if they did in fact make a Wifi change since their earliest models. If they'd confirm this, I'd be more than happy to exchange my Prime for another one, but I can't see going through the whole exchange process with no guarantee that I'll see any type of improvement.
EDIT: It appears that those of us noticing issues with the WiFi range don't have defective units. Check out this review, which discussed the speed comparison between a confirmed defective unit and a non-defective one:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5178/an-update-on-transformer-prime-battery-life-wifi-issues
Basically, the defective unit wouldn't pull more than 2 Mbps anywhere. It wasn't strictly a range issue - the thing just was capped at about 2 Mbps. The non-defective unit fixed this cap of 2 Mbps, but still had issues where the device downloaded slower than other devices at a further distance from the router (the example the reviewer used was that his original Transformer would get 34-37 Mbps, while the non-defective Prime would get 10-16 Mbps in the same location).
So for those of you considering exchanging your Prime because of poor WiFi range, I think you'll be disappointed to have the same issue with your replacement.
nyijedi said:
I'm having the exact same experience as you. However, I'm not so sure that the Prime is "obviously defective" if you have these types of issues. The last thing I want to do is return my brand new device and wait to find a new one, or RMA it and wait to receive a new one, and then still have the same problem.
I wish Asus would say something if they did in fact make a Wifi change since their earliest models. If they'd confirm this, I'd be more than happy to exchange my Prime for another one, but I can't see going through the whole exchange process with no guarantee that I'll see any type of improvement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I agree that I can't prove it beyond reasonable doubt, the reality is I live in a fairly small apartment, it can't be more than 30 feet, admittedly through a few walls from my router to my bedroom, every other wireless-n device I get still gets near 20mbps in my bedroom, and other people are reporting much better results and I can't imagine they are in a house or apartment meaningfully smaller than mine.
So the performance is not acceptable when I paid for a premium android tablet, I'll exchange it and hope it gets better, if it doesn't I'll just return it.
A tablet is useless without wifi, I'm willing to accept a little bit of range problems, but Wireless-N speeds at 30 feet max like I'm getting is just not acceptable.
In that article he never mentions still experiencing the sharp drop offs I'm experiencing, and theirs nothing saying that everyone who has wifi issues has exactly the same issue, his first unit was probably preproduction, which would likely have different issues than the production models
Maybe it will fix it maybe it won't but it won't hurt trying. I'd rather take a chance and try to get a better unit.
Diamondback2010 said:
Conclusion
In my opinion the Prime's Wifi is perfectly fine. It may suffer a bit under the metal backplate, but ASUS solved this problem with the second Wifi antenna quite good.
The only thing which we should be concerned about is the range. But I do have to say that Wifi range can be easily tweaked via software (yes this is true)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great review Diamondback! This is almost identical to the results I posted about my Prime WiFi. I had an "early model" in the beginning of December that I traded in for the first shipment at Gamestop and most of the WiFi issues seem fixed. Signal strength fluctuates quite a bit more than my Kindle Fire or iPad. Speeds are about the same or better 90% of the time.
With all the complaints out there about WiFi, I don't know if we were just lucky to get good units or if the complaints are a bit overblown.
movielover76 said:
While I agree that I can't prove it beyond reasonable doubt, the reality is I live in a fairly small apartment, it can't be more than 30 feet, admittedly through a few walls from my router to my bedroom, every other wireless-n device I get still gets near 20mbps in my bedroom, and other people are reporting much better results and I can't imagine they are in a house or apartment meaningfully smaller than mine.
So the performance is not acceptable when I paid for a premium android tablet, I'll exchange it and hope it gets better, if it doesn't I'll just return it.
A tablet is useless without wifi, I'm willing to accept a little bit of range problems, but Wireless-N speeds at 30 feet max like I'm getting is just not acceptable.
In that article he never mentions still experiencing the sharp drop offs I'm experiencing, and theirs nothing saying that everyone who has wifi issues has exactly the same issue, his first unit was probably preproduction, which would likely have different issues than the production models
Maybe it will fix it maybe it won't but it won't hurt trying. I'd rather take a chance and try to get a better unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear you. Please keep us posted on how the replacement fairs in comparison to your current Prime. I'm sure many of us, including myself, would love to know.
movielover76 said:
I've done the same test, however with my prime
I get about 20 mbps in the same room as the router
5 mbps one room over
and 2 - 3 mbps max three rooms over, I also often get disconnects in this room.
I can deal with slightly less range, but the speed dropoff was killing me.
Now that I know my unit is obviously defective, I can exchange it for a new unit
If I can get a good unit with results like that I will be satisfied.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep in mind there are more variables in your tests than simply signal strength and distance. Have you looked at the channel your router is using? These days - especially in apartments - there is a LOT of traffic on the wireless spectrum. WiFi Analyzer can help you narrow the list of channels to use and through trial and error I was able to pick a channel that improved my performance at a distance by quite a bit. But I live in a high-rise condo so you may not have the same types of issues.
denverbuckeye said:
Keep in mind there are more variables in your tests than simply signal strength and distance. Have you looked at the channel your router is using? These days - especially in apartments - there is a LOT of traffic on the wireless spectrum. WiFi Analyzer can help you narrow the list of channels to use and through trial and error I was able to pick a channel that improved my performance at a distance by quite a bit. But I live in a high-rise condo so you may not have the same types of issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a good point, as I also live in an apartment complex with a decent amount of wireless traffic.
However, if you have 4 different devices at the same location, and 3 of them pull comparable speeds while one of them (e.g., the Prime) pulls much lesser speeds, doesn't that suggest the problem is more with the Prime than with your network settings?
Also, when traveling, one doesn't have the ability to tweak network settings, so the Prime's weak WiFi is more problematic in this type of situation.
Sorry if I come off as *****ing here. I love my Prime and I'll be keeping it despite its WiFi shortcomings, but it obviously does irk me a little bit.
A little tip for all of you with issues. What about trying another Wifi channel?
"Wifi Analyzer" has a great feature where it shows you which channels are crowded and which are mostly free.
This way you can find a channel with the least interferecens by other Wifis.
Have a look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1420886&highlight=wifi&page=3
Also take into consideration, that you compare the brand new device and first of a new kind of devices, with others that already had 10-15 updates.
Also make sure you are testing in an "clean" or at least not changing environment. So if on of your neighbours is doing a large file transfer on an neighboring channel during your tests you will see a massive impact on your tansfer-rates.
So far i can say the general WIFI is stable and fast, only the coverage seems to be a bit low compared to other devices. But hey it is an 11n capable device that could in theory be fine tuned to very good reception depending on what features are already used and what not. But i was not able to get any info on what antennas are inside, where they are, what chip is used etc. Any infos on that?
this is all good and dandy now go test this again with Bluetooth enabled and a headset or bt headphone paired.
the_game_master said:
this is all good and dandy now go test this again with Bluetooth enabled and a headset or bt headphone paired.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just now realized this is probably why my speedtest significantly improved because I turned off Bluetooth sure enough that is why.....
OP. Load up some songs in Google Music, play them over bluetooth while you do these tests and post those results.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1423180
nyijedi said:
This is a good point, as I also live in an apartment complex with a decent amount of wireless traffic.
However, if you have 4 different devices at the same location, and 3 of them pull comparable speeds while one of them (e.g., the Prime) pulls much lesser speeds, doesn't that suggest the problem is more with the Prime than with your network settings?
Also, when traveling, one doesn't have the ability to tweak network settings, so the Prime's weak WiFi is more problematic in this type of situation.
Sorry if I come off as *****ing here. I love my Prime and I'll be keeping it despite its WiFi shortcomings, but it obviously does irk me a little bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always use wifi analyzer when setting up my network and it's configured for the clearest channel available, I know that part of my situation isn't ideal, I can see 7 aps from my laptop right now, but most are on channel one, two on channel 6 (one that's the apartment right underneath me) and I'm on channel 11 which only has one other ap and it's very weak.
Like you said I think the fact that other devices gets better speeds points clearly to the problem being with the primes Wifi, maybe it doesn't handle interference as well as other wifi devices and others have less interference in their tests, which could explain the higher speeds they get.
<B>Update:</B>
Well I took a $14 gamble ( the cost of shipment back to newegg ) for a RMA replacement, hopefully the next unit will work better, I'll put up an update when I get it back, assuming they can get a replacement and don't just refund my money.
At least if I get it back and get the same performance I'll know for sure it's a limitation of the device and not my particular device being defective, I'm a little OCD so that would drive me nuts not knowing as it has the past week lol.
I think another thing everyone should be testing is wifi stability, not just raw speed at a given moment. open wifi analyzer on the prime and another device, go to the signal meter, and compare how long each device can hold onto the signal. In a few videos I've seen where people do this the other device is very stable, but several times a minute the prime's needle goes momentarily to 0, even though they started at similar levels.