WiFi reception poor- replaced the phone and still not great - Desire General

HTC Desire is a very fine phone and I am really happy with it after upgrading from my beloved WinMo 6.5 based HTC Touch Diamond, which was also quite a revelation 2 years ago.
However I am a bit concerned about the WiFi reception sensitivity- when I have my Desire next to an iPhone tuned to the same AP, iPhone indicates much stronger signal than Desire. Also iPhone appears to be picking more WiFi networks in urban areas than Desire sitting right next to it. The signal strength measured by the Desire is way below that of iPhone or my laptop- although the latter two tend to agree.
This was enough to convince me to get a replacement Desire today but the WiFi sensitivity has not improved noticably. I wonder what is your experience?
For example I am now in a place where an Open WAP (no security) shows -30dBm on my laptop while Desire's WiFi Analyzer gives -55dBm, which is 25 dBm less or approximately 20x weaker signal as far as I can remember from my engineering past.
With weak AP signals the difference appears to be increasing- my laptop picks a network at -55dBm while Desire already looses this network as it comes and goes at -95dBm.
I would imagine that with such poor WiFi radio signal path the Desire will unncecessarily boost the transitting power thus contributing to faster battery drain?
I am honestly puzzled here.

Dont compare your Desire with your laptop. It will never be the same, nor win.
Laptop component will be far superior.
Use SpeedTest app and test the connection speed.
I tested my Desire at my house, on the spot are which it only has -80 db and I could manage 2Mbps connection. Still fast enough for web browsing, market browsing, etc.

Related

T-Mobile 3G/HSPDA issue

Ok so I got the Desire
My connection keeps switching from 3G to HSDPA every couple of seconds this is causing all sorts of issue for me.. Any body else have this issue? I might take the handset back for the 4th time
Happens to me as well mate, its due to having a low 3g/hsdpa signal... My one where i live constantly changes between 3g/hsdpa and G. But when i go into central london, it stays H its due to the signal quality in the area, not with your phone mate
JD
I second that, it switches all the time in my home and never downloads on 3G. I thought this was an issue with the phone, then at a party I couldn't get H but got 3G and it downloaded data fine.
I'm hoping that they increase the signal strength and coverage over the years, but i'm pretty satisfied thus far.
At least you see a 3G and a HSPDA connection... I have never seen past GPRS on mine. Fastest it's been is 25kbps dl and ul with 577ms ping so I can only ever use WiFi. So much for navigation.
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
i have a fairly weak area too and left my phone on auto thinking this was best. however, having selected 3g only, i have noted a much improved data connection and none of this messing about going from one to another! maybe worth a try for your area.
The two main places i use the connection are at home and work and in both my connection speed varies according to where i am .If i sit on the right hand couch in my living room then i just about get 3g but if i move 10 ft across the room i get full HSPDA(the same situation occured with my iphone)and i have yet to find out the reason.
If you want to find out how you are serviced then visit w w w. sitefinder . ofcom . org . uk/ just remove the gaps
hi
My understanding is that when there is minimal date transfer (basically just connected to network) it shows 3G but when any data transfer takes place e.g., opening webpage or market etc etc, the connection changes to HSDPA to download at faster rate
But i may be wrong
I have the same prob, and already opened topic about it, and i see few others opend some more..
Basicly having my old HTC HD aside with Desire, HD connects to 3g, and Desire is jumping around from 3G and a HSPDA and it doesnt wana connect to 3g, same happnes with a HTC Legend phone who 2 of my friends have.

Wi-fi signal strength sucks on epic touch 4g vs Evo 4g

Just moved from EVO 4G to Epic Touch few days ago and started getting wi-fi problems in places where EVO didn't had any so I decided to compare them side to side using "wifi analyzer" from the market. There are 3 near by network that my laptop can pick up and connect - 1 my own and 2 neighbors. Evo sees only 2 of them and can connect to both. Epic touch only sees 1 (my) 90 percent of the time. Wifi analyzer also shows consistently lower db signal levels there. I will try to attach some snapshots of both running side by side. Is there a way to see signal strength of 4g in dbs?
For 3G/cell signal (pull up the menu, scroll down and select About Phone, then select Status. On this screen you will be able to see your signal displayed in dBm) Epic Touch consistently gives a signal strength lower by about 5-7dbm comapred with EVO - That kind of sucks - when you get a newer phone you'd expect a better signal. The difference is marginal for the phone signal, but could mean reception vs no reception in some situations.
I get only one bar on wifi but when I do speedtest it shows me whole 20mbps down and 2 mbpsfrom my time Warner internet.my evo only used to show me 8mbps tops.so it doesn't matter how many bar?
Agreed. I haven't played much into this whole bad wifi signal reception on this phone because even though it only shows half the bars. Transfer speeds are right where the evo 3d was even tho it showed full wifi reception
sent from my DAMN phone!
bars are graphical representation of the signal strength, however each manufacturer decides what signal strength in dbm each bar represents, so there is no point to compare bars unless you are looking at two identical devices. for HTC all bars may mean 60dbm and for samsung it could be 65dbm. It is much more precise to access the actual numerical signal strength. comparing dbm to dbm is like comparing apples to apples
data transfer speed is also not a criteria for comparing signal strength, both phones have different wifi chipsets - newer chipset can achieve some times faster speeds even when signal level is lower then the one on the older chipset.
This is like comparing 802.11G vs 802.11N - the later will be faster even if the signal level is lower, however once you reach the marginal point of where it does not see the other party at all, the quality of the chipset will not matter, you will simply be unable to connect. and the older one with better reception will still work fine.
I've just tested the wifi throughput at the same spot as I was measuring wifi signal strength in the first post, the difference is huge - EVO is 1.7Mb on the down link and EPIC Touch is 0.384Mb consistently.

wifi weak( 20db less)

Wifi range has been terrible on this phone. I tried messing with my router settings for a while and thought maybe some phones are better than others but i lose my wifi calling too easily so I installed a wifi analyzer app and compared to my moms galaxy S 4g and my laptop. My network and the half dozen networks around me show the the same relative strengths but minus 20 db on the defy. Near or far g or n open or secured its pretty consistent -20 in comparison for each network i can see. I can get full bars of the wifi icon on defy but only with line of sight to the router.
Is this a known defect? If i return this phone is there a good chance that i'll get another one with bad wifi? I don't think there's too many defys left in the store.
Im running stock rom still so i don't think its a software problem.

[Q] Poor WiFi coverage

Hi guys,
I'm trying to fix my wife's desire HD to keep her from throwing it out of the house. Problem with it is that it generally always has had bad WiFi coverage none matter which radio and firmware I have been using. I'm currently running Android Revolution HD 6.1.3 with baseband 12.62.60.27U_26.13.04.19_M.
When I compare with my own Optimus 2X the signal from our WiFi router generally comes in at 30 DBM less than the 2X. Sitting right next to the router my phone gets -35, while the desire HD gets around -70. As I moved further away the desire HD loses connectivity much earlier. Also, the signal strength seems to fluctuate quite a bit.
I would appreciate it if anyone could share with me the experiences with different ROMs/radios, or other tips to get more stable WiFi coverage. I have of course tried different channels

Low signal on hox

Today I noticed that the signal on my hox is worse than on my old desire. On places where my desire got constand hsdpa the hox switches constantly from hsdpa to 3g with less signal bars. Anyone else with this problem ?
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
Same here, I now have to go outside my office to be able to make calls that dont drop. With my SG2 would get full bar in my office, but with HOX only get 2bars
Yup mine seems the same, stumbled upon this thread looking for a solution so hopefully someone who has some success resolving the issue will be able to help.
I'm having this issue too, hopefully when s off has been achieved we will be able to flash different radios it has fixed this issue on all of my previous phones.
My phone also seems to have a somewhat weaker 3G reception than my SGS-2, although they both act in the same way in regards to switching between 3G and H+ all the time. I think this can be corrected partly via software updates since the wifi reception is much stronger on the HOX than any unit I ever had before. It is the same "antenna" the receives both signals isnt it?
Mine seems to get faster 3G speeds than my Gnex and GS2 (unless my network has improved in the past 2 week)
But phone signal is far worse, especially since the 1.28 update... I'm not getting signal now in places where I used to always get signal
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
My data speeds have dramatically decreased after the latest 1.28 update - quite dissapointing! I have no use for better signal if the data is worse lol
Have been lurking on here for a while now and noticed a few threads and comments about reception on the One X
I am in the same boat, was using a Desire S and now a One x and noticed there is a distinct difference in signal level between the two. Not just the signal bars (desire s has 4, One x has 5) but the dBm levels too.
I would say that 80% of those that have had the update and posted about signal have said that it has improved, regardless of carrier they use.
I went into the store where I bought mine from (ThreeUk Retail shop) and they were going to swap it out there and then for me but the handset on display (working demo) had a similar level to mine, so seemed pointless as Im guessing that all/most of the units are like this, it isnt an isolated case.
So, im not sure what to do now. I have just swapped my main number to Three (and its now my only number). Im without coverage far more than I used to be with Voda, or with Three using the Desire S.
Three shop says they have a 28 day policy for faulty handsets, I hope that the update is out before that so I can see for myself.
Brilliant handset though…. screen is lush, using the phone is a pleasure…. just brilliant.
Steve
I am noticing far worse signal on my handset than previous handsets , an awful lot of the time my handset switches between t-mobile and orange , whereas previous handsets were solid t-mobile all day , and also the data speeds are worse. I am not very impressed as the 1.28 update appears to have made this worse, and its an unlocked generic variant in the uk if thats of any help
cheers
james
My signal is loads better.
Before the update I couldn't sit on the sofa and make a call I would get 3bars then nothing.
Now I'm a fairly constant 4 bars sat on the sofa.
I'm on Tesco (so O2) I was going to take the handset back before the update.
Battery seems twice as good on a completely different note.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
I have had a similar experience as descb600f. Prior to 1.28 my signal would drop regularly. After 1.28 I am finding it is far better, regularly seeing 3 bars, where before it would continually switch between 0 and 2 bars.
WiFi reception is great, puts my Desire to shame!
So which is it, does 1.28 make signal alot better or not? And what about actual call quality, its one thing getting 3 bars but another if calls are choppy
I do have to agree with the signal/Wifi issues on this device.. I came from a Nexus S (GSM model) and I used to get good HSPA/UMTS signals on that device, I also have a Wifi network setup in my house, it covers most of the house and some of the backyard.. However when out in the backyard the One X seems to drop the connection to the Wifi network, however my old Nexus S still has atleast 2-3 bars of Wifi connectivity and constantly keeps the signal/connection.
Has anyone else had issues like this with Home Wifi networks not getting as great a signal as other devices?
If I hold the One X in one hand and the Nexus S in the other and move away from the Wifi Access Point, the One X drops signal strength a lot quicker and the Nexus S keeps connection/signal a lot further away..
Bit dissapointed with that, and hope it's some how able to be fixed with software/firmware upgrades in the future?
Also I noticed the One X seems to switch between H/3G (HSPA/UMTS etc) quite a lot more than the Nexus S does, same network, holding both in same spot..
Apart from these minor issues and the screen flickering issue I'm more than happy with the One X..
Tondern said:
I think this can be corrected partly via software updates since the wifi reception is much stronger on the HOX than any unit I ever had before. It is the same "antenna" the receives both signals isnt it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WiFi and 2G/3G are two different chipsets and different antennas.
I have also notices dropsin the last 3 days, including hours with no reception at all
Need to switch from 1.26 to 1.28 soon to try it...
I should say I live in an area with only 2G reception and we sit in a dip partially hidden from the transmitters.
We can only get O2/Voda (orange/TMob if I just want to live upstairs in a corner of the house) and since the update I now have no issues with reception just like I used to.
1.28 has resolved my issues.
On the wifi front
I live in an old stone cottage with timber frame extension (wifi b/g can't make it thru our internal walls in the old part of the house), I have the N wifi router upstairs in the extension and have no issues with losing WiFi either (didn't have issues before 1.28).
Hope this helps people, I realise some may say it has got worse but for me the difference is night and day making the phone completely fine.
I just found an old 3 SIM (from a dongle) and popped it into my desire s and placed both by the window running Network Signal App for 30 minutes.
Both were attached to the same tower and the HOX was getting between -89 and -91 dbm, the Desire a consistent -75dbm.
Just hope that Three shake their touche's and get the update approved ASAP…. im quite a technical guy, but the idea of rooting and doing the update myself gives me the shakes…..
Steve

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