Help Galaxy nexus wifi range problem!

[amirvh]

Has anyone else noticed the Galaxy Nexus has absolutely TERRIBLE wifi range? The signal strength has got to be half the strength of any other device I have when sitting side by side.
My access point is only 4 meters faraway from me and my signal is half!
Why??

 

[Dubbin1]

I get excellent wifi range with mine. The second I pull into the driveway it's connecting.

 

[Demache]

I'm not sure OP. I can get a reliably quick signal anywhere in my house. Granted, your house is probably much bigger than mine and much more solidly built.

Either way, my nearly 5 year old wireless G router can still pump out a reliable signal to it and the signal isn't much worse than any other device on the network (which are several laptops, a wireless ethernet switch, and a few iPhones, Android devices, and a Nokia).

Maybe check the wireless channels you're on? They may be pretty crowded which is giving you poor wireless performance.

 

[trophynuts]

OP has it always been this way using the same AP?
Does it act the same on other wireless networks?

As the above mentioned it could be on a channel that another router is using. There are 3 non overlapping channels you can use on a router. I would suggest changing to channel 11 if you're not already on there.

 

[amirvh]

Thanks. I've changed the channel, but the problem still there!

I use 4.0.2 stock.

Is this a software problem or hardware?:-s

 

[Crashumbc]

I would lean towards hardware...

The GN does have its issues, but I've never had issue(or even heard of issues) with its WiFi reception/strength...

 

[trophynuts]

Does it do the same on other wifi networks? What i'm getting at is it could still be the router and not the phone. If you get the same response on all wifi hotspots then we can start troubleshooting the phone.

 

[trophynuts]

or if you know someone else with the same phone as yours could come over and see if theirs does the same.

 

[atistang]

yep, mine is like this too. at work in the break room i used get wifi no problem anywhere in there with my ev0 4g, then again with my evo 3d. with my nexus i have to sit the phone on the table because my hand wrapped around it is enough for it to lose signal


at my house with my other phones i could go all over the yard cutting grass and streaming over wifi, with my gn as soon as i drop the phone in my pocket and walk out of the garage it drops the signal


i really wish it had a good wifi range, it would be almost perfect then

 

[amirvh]

I will test it on other wifi and post the result...

 

[JE78]

I have my router in my upstairs computer room, when i'm in my down stairs living room I have 2 bars where my iPad and wifes iPhone are at 3-4 bars. The thing is unless i'm upstairs I'm usually only getting 1-2 bars with the GNex, even outside I have 1-2 bars.

 

[jj14x]

I recently swapped out my EVO 3D for a Galaxy Nexus - one of the two issues that I noticed right away was the low Wifi signal strength.

The EVO 3D (I still have it on my second line, so can confirm the functionality) gets full strength all over the house. The GNex on the other hand indicates low signal strength (lowest possible) in the room adjacent to the one where the wireless router is. It will occasionally drop the wifi signal and switch to 3g!!

Sidenote: The other issue is the battery - the GNex battery is lasting me about 70% of what the EVO 3D would - similar usage. I can live with this because despite this, it does last me the entire day (EVO 3D lasted me almost 2 days)

Other than these two issues, I'm really liking the GNex.

 

[What'sAndroid?]

I agree with the OP wifi signal strength is displayed as being a lot lower than with other devices on the same network from the same place. The signal strength that my router reports is far less on my GN than my old Incredible. These issues have never affect my speeds or usability of the phone so I haven't really worried about it.

 

[jkc120]

I agree with the OP wifi signal strength is displayed as being a lot lower than with other devices on the same network from the same place. The signal strength that my router reports is far less on my GN than my old Incredible. These issues have never affect my speeds or usability of the phone so I haven't really worried about it.

I wonder if it's simply displaying the bars based on a technique similar to how ICS does it for 3G/4G and that could explain "less bars". I agree, if the speeds are there I could care less how many bars it has...

 

[veccster]

I also get terrible wifi range (and 3g range). My wife has an OG Droid Incredible and it will have 2-3 bars when I get no signal. She will be full when I have just 1-2. It's frustrating. Has always been this way - got my phone on the day it came out (VZW).

I've rebooted 2x and it didn't help. I'm taking it in next week to try for a replacement.

 

[Webby6665]

I'm also experiencing the problem of a very low range with my Nexus. However I did not have the problem at first. My wife and I used the Wifi from all corners of the house for 1 month then poof ( something happened ).

I'v boiled it down to two possible problems. Someone in the neighborhood is pumping out a signal strength that is killing everyone else. I detected him using inSSider. The other possibility is did android update the OS automatically that would've caused this problem?

If anyone finds something out I would sure love to hear about it.

 

[Demache]

I'm also experiencing the problem of a very low range with my Nexus. However I did not have the problem at first. My wife and I used the Wifi from all corners of the house for 1 month then poof ( something happened ).

I'v boiled it down to two possible problems. Someone in the neighborhood is pumping out a signal strength that is killing everyone else. I detected him using inSSider. The other possibility is did android update the OS automatically that would've caused this problem?

If anyone finds something out I would sure love to hear about it.

Generally, when I have wifi issues, it boils down somebody moved the f-ing router (my mom thinks its "ugly" and always hides it in things....which destroys signal quality) or the channel I'm on is too crowded. I changed the channel on our router after having major speed issues (0.2 Mb, if that), and now we get at least 15 Mb.

 

[amirvh]

I have my router in my upstairs computer room, when i'm in my down stairs living room I have 2 bars where my iPad and wifes iPhone are at 3-4 bars. The thing is unless i'm upstairs I'm usually only getting 1-2 bars with the GNex, even outside I have 1-2 bars.

So, what should we do? what's your OS version?

 

[aarun2000]

I just bought the Nexus.
I am currently live in a basement room in student housing.

I have an LG Optimus which does struggle to get Wifi signal, but in most positions it shows 2 bars and when there , its pretty consistent

I just started up the Nexus thinking i have upgraded to one of the latest and greatest.

The Nexus catches 1 bar rarely.
The best i saw was 2 bars in only one awkward position.

So with ref to Wifi , my LG Optimus beats Nexus hands down.

I am thinking of returning the Nexus as my plan was to get straight talk and if Wifi is this horrible , i will easily go over the 2GB limit they have.

(((((((

Otherwise i love the Nexus

 

[wrecklass]

I wonder if it's simply displaying the bars based on a technique similar to how ICS does it for 3G/4G and that could explain "less bars". I agree, if the speeds are there I could care less how many bars it has...

Agreed, I completely ignore the bars on most devices as they all use different algorithms and mean almost nothing.

I prefer to use a good speed test like the Speedtest.net app from the appstore. It's available on Android and iOS.

My Gnex shows 2 bars compared to 3 on the iPad, yet both get 24mBytes/sec. down and 5mBytes/sec. up on both devices with the same WiFi network. Which is identical to the speed I get from my wired network devices. This is limited by my ISP of course, but it is indicative that the speed on the Gnex seems fine.

 

[MachDelta]

My only wifi issue is that on campus my nexus hates jumping between access points on the network. If I connect to one router and then move to a new building, is like the phone is still trying to find the old AP. I either have to wait 10 minutes, or forget the network and re-enter my credentials. Hugely annoying.

 

[UncleMike]

I wonder if it's simply displaying the bars based on a technique similar to how ICS does it for 3G/4G and that could explain "less bars". I agree, if the speeds are there I could care less how many bars it has...

Agreed, I completely ignore the bars on most devices as they all use different algorithms and mean almost nothing.

I prefer to use a good speed test like the Speedtest.net app from the appstore. It's available on Android and iOS.

You're right. "Bars" are only useful for comparing signal strength with other "bar" measurements on the SAME MODEL. Other than this, bars are a useless means of measuring anything. What really matters is signal strength, measured in "db".

Check out Wifi Analyzer in the Play Store. It will show you your current signal strength in db, how crowded each channel is, and recommend a better channel if one exists. Keep in mind that the signal strength shown will be in the "less than zero" range, and that a signal strength of "-70" is better than a signal strength of "-90" (the channel graph appropriately reflects this).

Also, an odd issue I had with a Droid X was that extended battery was being used with the standard battery cover - causing additional pressure on some internal components. It was eventually determined that this alone was causing a 30db drop in signal strength.

 

[veccster]

You're right. "Bars" are only useful for comparing signal strength with other "bar" measurements on the SAME MODEL. Other than this, bars are a useless means of measuring anything. What really matters is signal strength, measured in "db".

Check out Wifi Analyzer in the Play Store. It will show you your current signal strength in db, how crowded each channel is, and recommend a better channel if one exists. Keep in mind that the signal strength shown will be in the "less than zero" range, and that a signal strength of "-70" is better than a signal strength of "-90" (the channel graph appropriately reflects this).

Also, an odd issue I had with a Droid X was that extended battery was being used with the standard battery cover - causing additional pressure on some internal components. It was eventually determined that this alone was causing a 30db drop in signal strength.

With AOKP, I changed my bars to be DB's. My phone is sitting 2" from the router as I type this and is reading -98db.

 

[Petrah]

With AOKP, I changed my bars to be DB's. My phone is sitting 2" from the router as I type this and is reading -98db.

On that same setting screen also change the second one "WiFi Signal Text Style" to Show Text Signal. When you put it next to the router it should read 100% even though the other text will read -98db. The further you get away from the router, the lower the percent number drops.

 

[JBNex]

Terrible wifi signal strength, hope there will be a fix for this...