Help Gs2 poor wifi reception

ToreM · Jun 23, 2011

I have really bad reseption with my new gs2. My wife has no problem what so ever 8meters from the router. Any my galaxy is at best -90 dBm. Mostly its out.

Right now i feel ripped off. I really dont see any firmwarefix that would take care of this problem.

daivik · Jun 23, 2011

ToreM said:
I have really bad reseption with my new gs2. My wife has no problem what so ever 8meters from the router. Any my galaxy is at best -90 dBm. Mostly its out.

Right now i feel ripped off. I really dont see any firmwarefix that would take care of this problem.

you've got a faulty unit. I would try and get it replaced.

Rolandas · Jun 23, 2011

well... I would like to say a word too... I cant complaint about my galaxy SII wifi. But battery time is somewhat disappointing to me. my friend with same SII manages to go live for over 2/24h... any suggestions or comments please?!

Patman1 · Jun 24, 2011

Lads do you think I should return the phone?

the wifi issues are grinding my gears

Rudedawg · Jun 24, 2011

2 issues as seems to be common for me ,

Overheating....I mean really damn hot

And this Wi-fi issue. Yeah its very weak on my handset but I am pending a replacement tomorrow so will see how that fairs. I'm hoping it's just a dodgy batch going out at the moment which means it is repairable, if inconvenient.

reevos · Jun 24, 2011

daivik said:
The iphone has the same reception. As does the iPad. Only certain devices that have the problem with wifi. As I said earlier.

I had 3 iPhones, 2 GSII's and 2 iPads in the same room and they all had equal wifi.

Try walkung away from router i wager the sgs2 reception drops long before the others.

adamantell · Jun 24, 2011

My wifi is ok but the 3G/H is wank I'm on THREE uk network

My phone drops signel all time no matter where I am

Phone with phone or three?

Anyone got same problem?

trick202 · Jun 24, 2011

Slug said:
There's no sign of spandex or a cape, just a boring black CaseMate.

Al, you ALWAYS have an item of spandex clothing on. It's fact.

Slug · Jun 24, 2011

trick202 said:
you ALWAYS have an item of spandex clothing on. It's fact.

Awww, you promised that would remain our little secret.... :eek:

knunn52 · Jul 14, 2011

Just found a solution to the props i were having, eg. low connection speeds, constant disconnection and just general instability, I dw an app called "wifi static" ,THIS APP automaticly sets up a static ip address. hey pressto, enjoy peoples. but please note this does not change the issues with wifi signal meteres appearance, but at least we can now use our wifi without most of the glitches we are or have been experiencing.

steve1401 · Aug 1, 2011

adamantell said:
My wifi is ok but the 3G/H is wank I'm on THREE uk network

My phone drops signel all time no matter where I am

Phone with phone or three?

Anyone got same problem?

This doesn't help, but...

Seems there are general issues with the phones reception capabilities, both wifi and network. Three network is as I understand it 3G only, which means that poor reception capabilities multiplied by the less UK coverage will result in dropouts.

I'm with T-Mobile who recently acquired Orange. If my phone leaves a 3G area, it will automatically drop down to a 2G reception, which I guess yours wont due to the Three network??

Steve

steve1401 · Aug 1, 2011

I had a HTC Desire, which apparently had the antenna built into the back of the phone. I don't know if the build or design was far superior than the SG2, but it definitely had better network and wifi reception.

I would have almost 100% wifi reception anywhere in the house, yet with the SG2, I struggle to get 80% 3 foot away from the router. Upstairs it struggles to connect at all.

The 3G is also far poorer. At work it is fine, but in the house I know I am in a week 3G area, sometimes I get the 'H' sometimes not. With the Desire, I had a 'H' pretty much all the time!

I am really hoping this is a software fix that will be out soon. I don't fancy dealing with people if it's a hardware problem. Also, if it is a hardware problem, they will keep quite for as long as possible in my opinion - costly!

Steve

icedtea · Aug 1, 2011

knunn52 said:
Just found a solution to the props i were having, eg. low connection speeds, constant disconnection and just general instability, I dw an app called "wifi static" ,THIS APP automaticly sets up a static ip address. hey pressto, enjoy peoples. but please note this does not change the issues with wifi signal meteres appearance, but at least we can now use our wifi without most of the glitches we are or have been experiencing.

hi, are you still using this app until now? how is it?

does this stabilizes the wifi signal that the S2 receives?

Steve W · Aug 21, 2011

Hey all I thought I would check back in and see what was happening... I went into my samsung app yesterday and there was a camera firmware uodate, so I did that and today checked for a handset update and I was pleased to see there was one. So, duly downloaded, installed (took about 10 mintes, stuck on 86% for ages but just leave it, it gets there in the end)

Then waited for reboot, took about 2 minutes to reboot then in as normal. No obvious changes, I put wifi analyzef straight on in the same place in my house and got the same result, so either this.is an android issue, they STILL haven't fixed it, or the hardware is actually dodgy!

Any other experiences guys?

ALES · Aug 21, 2011

I wouldn't hold out for a firmware fix - I think it's a hardware design issue.

The antenna is in the handset base - exactly where you grip. I notice that holding the phone there reduces my wifi signal by 10dB. By holding the phone just with finger tips in the middle of the phone (or rotating to move antenna) the signal immediately goes up.

Whilst experimenting I also noticed that my gel case makes a difference - signal is 5dB better overall with the case on (still drops 10dB depeding how held) - I guess it helps to insulate the phone from the body and any interferance that causes.

Interesting that it appears to be the same fault as the iPhone at the same time Apple are taking Samsung to court over copying!

I have also compared with my old HTC Hero - the HTC has much better wifi reception overall and picks up far more routers in my area. Also, tested outside using a bar's free wifi, a friends iPhone connects immediately whereas the S2 struggles to keep the signal long enough to connect and again does not show as many routers in the area as the iPhone.

The phone is incredible and I do not regret getting it, however if you need to rely on wifi, particularly when out and about, I would suggest seeing if you could do a trial first - I may not be the phone for you. I work in a good 3G/H area so poor wifi not really a problem - I just make sure I do my downloading at home

arrow201 · Aug 21, 2011

I can confirm, at least for me, that a case helps
Wi-Fi reception. I bought a case mate tough case
and it significantly helped. I did tested in what were
bad areas in my house, took off the case no Wi-Fi,
put the case back on, it works. Still not as good
reception as my previous iPhone, but at least a
case helps.

wtloild · Sep 23, 2011

I get better signal on mobile data than I do via Wifi on my S2 (on Orange UK).
The Wifi speeds and reliability on the S2 are also significantly worse than my old HTC Hero, my wife's HTC Sensation and my daughter's HTC Wildfire - there's a lesson in there somewhere .

Jore · Sep 23, 2011

I just upgraded from an HTC Evo 4G....and I do notice the wifi, and at times, the 3G reception to be alot lower compared to the Evo. I'm glad we have a 30 day trial. If it becomes an annoyance, these phones are going back and may opt for the Evo 3D or just go back to the Evo's.

myxa · Sep 26, 2011

how can a fundamental thing on a smart phone such as wi-fi drop out all the time.
poor old iphone 3gs was getting signal everywhere, this thing (S2) can hardly connect 10 meters away from a router. Brand new phone. Surprised it gets good reviews - what's the benefit of all the specs and features if it is only a toy that sometimes works.

Slug · Sep 26, 2011

myxa said:
how can a fundamental thing on a smart phone such as wi-fi drop out all the time.

This could be down to a number of reasons: channel congestion; interference from other devices nearby such as DEC handsets, microwave ovens, media streamers etc; incompatibility between the GS2's wireless chipset and that of your router; faulty hardware..... it's a bit of a minefield.

First thing I'd suggest is checking for a firmware update to your router.

jfenton · Sep 26, 2011

I have the SPRINT variant of the Galaxy SII in the US.

My WIFI is great....in the bedroom on the second floor (router three rooms away) I am getting roughly 22mbps down consistently.

Down on the first floor I get roughly 15 and out in the yard I get between 11 and 13.

Better actual signal strength than the Photon or EVO 4G but showing only 2-3 bars no matter how close I am to the router...so don't judge anything based on the displayed signal bars.

steve1401 · Sep 26, 2011

I have now tried with various routers - at home and at work. At home, me 'free' router supplied with my broadband, which I guess most people use, the S2 does seem pretty weak in that it only shows 1 'bar'. My old HTC Desire showed almost all the bars.

However, I never compared using a wifi analyzer app as I thought there was no problem. I now think that the reception was probably the same and was lured into a false sense of security by the fact that there were more bars showing, because...

I have now found out that the bars are merely for show. There are no standards set. There is no common standard to say 1 bar equates to x amount of signal strength being received. So at the end of the day the phone can display whatever it wants and if there are lots of bars, you are happy thinking all is good. It also make me think the S2 is probably more honest with what it shows as whilst my desire showed full bars, there was no notable performance difference!

At work, on quality routers - we are an IT company - no matter where I am in the building, I get excellent wifi reception, and in that I mean that I can be outside and meters away from the indoor routers and still pick them up. Also, even though barely one bar is showing, still get very speedy internet!

I conclude this (alsong with my fellow geeky colleagues): it is the rubbish modem supplied by your ISP at fault, not the phone. One thing to mention is that we use

aelshinnawy · Jan 3, 2012

I have the same issue, but as you just said, it is just a display issue, I work most of the time with zero signal on the screen, and it is really good in browsing and downloads. I just compared it to my wife nokia, Nokia lose connection before GS2 does.

bigtoe01 · Jan 4, 2012

I have also been having major issues with wifi reception. I did a comparison with 2 other s2s at work and the results are interesting. All on the same firmware (most recent) monitoring the same wifi signal. The signal was coming from about 3 metres directly in front with no obstructions between the phones and the hotspot.
Ill post the links to the photos in the next post (below) (this is my first post so i cant here).

My problem is definately not just a visual issue. I regularly drop the connection or cant find the connection if im any more than a couple of meters away. My latop has no troubles at all at getting a connection from all over the house and monitoring the connection at work proved its not the router that is the issue, its the the phone.

bigtoe01 · Jan 4, 2012

My phone is the one on the right, obviously.

http://img152.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=727656998_IMG_0392_122_57lo.jpg

http://img276.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=727665300_IMG_0393_122_188lo.jpg

Im gonna try a hard reset. If it gives me no luck its going back to samsung for further evaluation.

Help Gs2 poor wifi reception

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