I don't have internet at my apartment and I don't have plans of getting it anytime soon. I get a free Cricket Crosswave with my job so I haven't really planned on getting real internet service.. I have crap for data when it comes to Sprint. It's a shame that I have to use Wifi on my Sprint phone and hook it to my Cricket wifi just to have data.
Anyway, I know that if I call Sprint and complain they will send me their booster thing for free, but I have heard of people buying similar devices that don't require an internet connection to boost signal. Does anyone know of a solution?
answer
I think I can help you
I have tried to signal booster all it is really is a repeater you put a antenna up REALLY high or at least as high as the cable they give you let you and as long as you are in range of the base you should get better signal this works in theory. I am not so sure it works in real life good way to find out before you buy see if with in a mile or so of your house you can get the signal you are looking for if not then I am not really sure I would waste my time with it I mean you could as long as you can return it. These things are really truly made to just pick up a good outside signal and bring it inside places that well are shielded there not directional antennas or anything that would be able to be aimed (which would work better imo) how ever putting it up high in the air will tend to improve your ability to pick up signal in you are in a low area they are powered which means the SHOULD be able to boost low signal but again SHOULD is the key. Bottom line it didn't work for me and I have what is suppose to be good coverage in my area but.........I don't BTW here is what i tried take it or leave it up to you hope this helped I am not really good at this hope explaining things deal.
http://www.amazon.com/zBoost-YX-510...XZ1K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1337891426&sr=8-2
i'll probably have to give this a try some time soon.. thanks!
Can also try mounting on an old SAT dish, it can provide a huge gain of signal if you have one lying around, just point it in different directions till you get max bars. Show your signal in dBm if you can for more accuracy. The dish points in the direction of 45 degrees off the plane of the dish.
Remove the black tape that is on top of the actual antenna and you'll be left with a gold copper ribbon which is your real antenna. This help a lot because the black tape is blocking the radio wave that your antenna is trying to receive.
Hi,
I have had my HOX for 3 weeks now and since yesterday (so, not a new thing), I keep losing the signal in my appartment, in some places outside. Oddly enough, signal is OK (tho just 3-4 bars) in my office.
1. Could this be related to the WIFI antenna issue even tho it's not WIFI issue? In other words, is there a chance that by fixing the WIFI antenna issue, I can get solve this?
2. If not, what are my other options? The garanty is already voided so I cannot send it to HTC for repair (voided by an "unofficial repair center" after the screen got smashed by dropping it from like 1m... - it's very possible that the fall or their repair broke something else, but the repair was already 2 weeks ago)
Thanks for your help!
First thing I'd ask is are you rooted? Have you been playing with radios recently?
If not, the next thing I'd look at is trying to find someone else with a micro-sim, and asking to borrow it. If they still get a good signal on their network on your phone, it might be your sim card. I had a faulty one once which just started dropping network like you describe. It can happen.
If their sim card also shows poor reception, you might have an aerial issue caused by the unofficial repair centre opening the phone up. (Although from the feedback on the WiFi issue thread HTC have worrying repair standards too).
If you can't find another micro-sim, just try finding someone on the same network. This phone (when working) has excellent network reception (better than my previous Desire S) so if a side-by-side comparison shows a big difference in signal strength, again I'd think about getting the sim replaced.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.android.telnet&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImRlLmFuZHJvaWQudGVsbmV0Il0.
If your replacement sim still has the same problem, then I'd consider opening the phone up as per the video guide in the WiFi Issue thread in the general section. Seems to be quite easy if you are careful. It is unlikely that the same aerial for the WiFi is also the 3G one, but I've looked at the tear down pictures, and can't read chinese! If i find out which one it is, I'll update this post. If not, just check all the connections.
Hi,
I have also been having this network drop issue but only near my office. The reason I think is that my office is between two towers and every now and then it tries to balance the traffic on the networks and hence keeps disconnecting devices from one to connect to the other one... However, I have cut out my normal sim into a micro sim and that was done by the guys at the shop from where I bought the device and they had said that if there are any issues, then please order a proper micro sim and use it....
I think that might also be the problem.....
levtrp savans
All,
After checking that my SIM card wasn't in cause (used a friend's HTC One X to test my SIM card and test with his), I broke open the case and saw the problem.
The problem is the damn design of those antenna contact! I saw probably around 10 of those small metal piece that are supposed to be a bit "up" and somehow touch the contact area on the back cover.
I found that 2 of them (in two different pairs, they all seem to be in pair to create a closed circuit I suppose) were a little bit lower than their counterpart, so with a flat screwdriver, put them upright, closed the case and voila, I am enjoying network with full bars since yesterday.
If the issue comes back (and it probabl will, if they got bent the first time it probably means that the metal already was bent beyond its elastic deformation area), I'll probably end up buying a soldering iron a add some patch of silver to increase the height of the contact zones. That's .... just lame I am sure they had a good reason to do that, but seriously!?
Guillaume
Glad you got to the bottom of it. Yeah I think the design choice is forced from having the main body of the phone slide in at an angle into the outer case. If the two parts just clamped together like a more traditional phone build, then they perhaps could have used a different approach.
I'm putting off opening mine up (I have the dreaded WiFi drop issue) as my current case puts just enough pressure on the screen to act like a permanent squeeze, halting my problem.
Would be interested to know if the problem reoccurs like you said it might. Keep us posted.
Hey all,
A friend and I both got SGS3's within the last couple of weeks - mine's VZW, theirs is Sprint, both 100% unrooted, bone-dry-stock (for now). I noticed some really strange behavior, and I'm wondering if anyone else has any experience or thoughts on what might be going on.
Anyway, when the MHL cable is plugged into my phone, everything works as expected, however, plug it into my friend's Sprint device, and the video output works, but within moments the data connection drops and then the signal is lost altogether.
I'm not sure what the deal is, at all, and probably wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it, and test it several times myself. My best guess is that because the 3G signal wasn't super strong in the first place, induction in the MHL cable caused enough interference to drop the signal all together (though going from 3 or 4 bars to X, may suggest otherwise). I may try wrapping the cable through a ferrite core or something to see if that helps out... but that's kinda a shot in the dark.
I spent a few minutes searching around, but I'm wondering if anyone has any additional thoughts or experience with this kinda thing.
Happens on 2x Sprint GSIII's that I've owned. Now Im not sure if it's a hardware issue or not.
Got mine yesterday. Biggest complaint is the wireless receiver is pretty weak. I had the OUYA upstairs where my phone, laptop, and ATV2 all got a strong wifi connection. However, the OUYA kept dropping the connection every few minutes. I had to move it downstairs, in the same room as the router.
Has anyone found any solutions for increasing the OUYA's wifi range?
noticed the same thing about weak wifi signal...wonder if it's a hardware design issue or a driver issue.
Yeah, I've noticed the same thing. I actually have to AP's - a netgear router in my outside office where my cable comes in and then a WRT-54g setup as a repeater to serve my house. My TV, Living room PC, Wii, tablet, and phones all get a great signal off the WRT and the Ouya even reports it as a good signal - but refuses to connect sometimes and drops the connection all the time. Oddly enough the Ouya has an easier time connecting to my netgear router even though it shows a "fair" signal at best. So I'm thinking maybe the Ouya is just kind of picky about what it likes to connect to. But I also usually see at least 6 AP's in my living room and the Ouya only picks up my 2 - so it does seem to have weak reception.
Thinking I'm going to reconfigure my network this weekend. I've been working from my official office more lately and don't use my outside office much at all anymore so I'm probably going to reverse things and put the router in the living room so the devices in there can be hardwired and the office will run off of WiFi now instead. Been thinking about doing it for awhile the Ouya is just the final straw.
One thing I've considered doing is using the Ouya out of it's case to see if that improves it's reception any, it's really easy to remove from the case (4 hex screws on top then the board just pulls out with a gentle tug - but be careful not to get the grounding clip caught on the lip the lid fits into) and with the case being aluminum it could potentially be attenuating the signal. Since they released design files for the case if running it out of the case helps it wouldn't be that hard to get a plastic case made for it...but I'd hate to have to go that route just on principal.
For whatever reason I did have better luck getting the Wifi to connect when I went into Mange->Settings->Advanced->Wifi and used the unskinned android settings menu to setup my wifi. using the Ouya's menus I was never able to get it to connect to my WRT repeater. But using the stock settings I was. Not sure why that should matter but there it is.
I think it is a driver issue. Install speed test and seer what results you get. I get higher upload speeds than download speeds and using Ethernet it ifs no where near where it should be. Not enough off an improvement to make connecting it worthwhile.
Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2
Someone else posted somewhere, that they turned off ethernet once they had wifi connected, then hard reset the Ouya, and it sped up the wifi connection. I can confirm this for myself as I tested a file transfer through ES File Explorer and it jumped from 3 kbps to 45 kbps. Still a lot slower than my other wifi devices in the same room, but at least it became usable.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using XDA Premium HD app
tetchystar said:
Someone else posted somewhere, that they turned off ethernet once they had wifi connected, then hard reset the Ouya, and it sped up the wifi connection. I can confirm this for myself as I tested a file transfer through ES File Explorer and it jumped from 3 kbps to 45 kbps. Still a lot slower than my other wifi devices in the same room, but at least it became usable.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hard reset as in simply pressing the power button, or by disconnecting power?
elmerohueso said:
Hard reset as in simply pressing the power button, or by disconnecting power?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try just rebooting (hold power for a second and select power off). It's never a good idea to just pull the plug.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
elmerohueso said:
Hard reset as in simply pressing the power button, or by disconnecting power?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mybook4 said:
Try just rebooting (hold power for a second and select power off). It's never a good idea to just pull the plug.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep this.
Didn't really have enough difference for me. Range and speed are still flaky if I'm more than 20 feet from the router.
I'm still waiting for OUYA to recognize this as a problem, and hopefully put a stronger wifi chip in for retail. OUYA support has told me that weak wifi on the OUYA is not a widespread issue, so seems like they just want to deny the problem.
They either need to:
Increase the power to the wifi chip
Use a better wifi chip
Use a wifi chip that can utilize a wire antenna for better range
Build in drivers for some external wifi adapters
Sucks that I'll have to get an wifi repeater, wifi bridge, or something else to get the OUYA working in a room where my laptop, ATV2, phone, and tablets all work fine.
Mine dropped out completely when I tried to login for the first time after updating, had to turn the Wi-Fi on/off a few times to get it to work... and it's sitting 20cm from the router!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Yes, mine is extremely flaky still as well. So far I'm pretty frustrated with the problems that are arising with Ouya, which is too bad, because I actually really really like it should far. I honestly wish I'd waited until retail now, because I would have had a better/more finished product for less money and hassle.
elmerohueso said:
Didn't really have enough difference for me. Range and speed are still flaky if I'm more than 20 feet from the router.
I'm still waiting for OUYA to recognize this as a problem, and hopefully put a stronger wifi chip in for retail. OUYA support has told me that weak wifi on the OUYA is not a widespread issue, so seems like they just want to deny the problem.
They either need to:
Increase the power to the wifi chip
Use a better wifi chip
Use a wifi chip that can utilize a wire antenna for better range
Build in drivers for some external wifi adapters
Sucks that I'll have to get an wifi repeater, wifi bridge, or something else to get the OUYA working in a room where my laptop, ATV2, phone, and tablets all work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is anyone still experiencing Wifi problems? I just got mine hooked up today and had a ton of problems until I updated the software and reset, have not had a single connection issue since.
JLCollier2005 said:
Is anyone still experiencing Wifi problems? I just got mine hooked up today and had a ton of problems until I updated the software and reset, have not had a single connection issue since.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Mine worked out of box. I have an Ouya1-b
I have experienced zero issues, but I have an enterprise class dedicated wireless access point (a Ubiquiti Networks Unifi AP if you're curious), so I get full bars everywhere in my apartment and coverage like 20 feet out into the parking lot outside my apartment.
Since I also have a gigbit network everywhere in my apartment, I have generally just been disabling the WiFi.
One sort of issue I have noticed with the networking on the Ouya is that Android was built to allow for multiple network interfaces, which is only natural given that pretty much every smartphone has WiFi and also some sort of "mobile" data as well. Turning off the WiFi doesn't seem to always "stick" for whatever reason, so I may end up just "forgetting" my normal WiFi network in the network settings to prevent the WiFi from being used.
I have been toying with the idea of taking the Ouya mobo out of the aluminum casing, as its trivial to do and many people have speculated that the case is causing BlueTooth and WiFi signal issues. I HAVE experienced some weak connectivity to the controllers, and wanted to isolate the issue to either the controller or the console.
DivinityCycle said:
I have been toying with the idea of taking the Ouya mobo out of the aluminum casing, as its trivial to do and many people have speculated that the case is causing BlueTooth and WiFi signal issues. I HAVE experienced some weak connectivity to the controllers, and wanted to isolate the issue to either the controller or the console.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried taking it out of its case, and it didn't have any noticeable impact on my WiFi.
what about Bluetooth? Thats the thing that would effect the controllers, which are the element which is having a reception problem...
elmerohueso said:
I tried taking it out of its case, and it didn't have any noticeable impact on my WiFi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know the case was aluminum. Seems kind of odd choice of material. The Ouya isn't handled much, so there's no tactile advantage to using aluminum. The Ouya has a cooling fan, so heat dispersion isn't a huge issue if they chose plastic instead of aluminum.
What's the wired network speeds like? Can anyone test it?
coachclass said:
What's the wired network speeds like? Can anyone test it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since switching to Ethernet (and turning off WiFi) things go much faster. Streams 1080p movies without an issue, and game downloads are pretty fast. Thumbnail loading on the OUYA menus still could be faster, but I think that's more of a firmware issue with the way those are handled, rather than internet speed.
i think the worst part is that they refuse to fix anything or acknowledge the issue. This topic is covered on several other websites, even their own support website. Ouya seems to keep saying this isn't a global issues. so does that mean in the future if we are having other issues they have to be global in order to be fixed or updated?
This seems crazy. i have 4 devices right next to the ouya and my ouya download speeds are less than 107 kbs, but all my other devices are between 5-10 mbs.
i tried to erase everything, reboot it, and now i cant even connect and maintain a wifi connection and get past the ouya upgrade page on set up. It says im connected, then timesout and says i have no wifi.
and to make matters worse im not really close to a ethernet connection, my router is upstairs and my tv is downstairs.
This just seems crazy that a company could releases a product in such an alpha stage and not take the people who helped make them successful seriously.
I've seen speeds of nearly 2-3mbps on my Ouya, which is consistent with my Nexus 10, laptop, and others (no way to install steam to see if Ic an get Steam's stupid 7mbps...)
Special use case. I am trying to get a signal when summitting 14ers (really high mountains). The current method is to send a guy up with a Verizon phone and a few other WiFi hotspots and cross our fingers that he catches signal for a few minutes.
I've scoured the web and can't seem to find any information on this. The Wilson Portable seems like it has the right idea, but is clearly designed for a car use situation. Should I be looking into using a Wilson Sleek with a larger external antenna and improvised battery backpack? Or perhaps there is a software trick to increase the power to the 2g radio? I'm really all ears.
I would love to figure out a way to simply slide my Nexus 5 in a case of sorts with a ~3ft collapsible antenna on the top. Would this work? Does it need to be in physical contact with the actual antenna, or could it just be in contact with the backplate?
I really hope someone has an idea on this subject. I find it so hard to search for!
Thanks again,
Matt
Ingress? lol
Yeah.. I wouldn't have much of an answer since with any booster, there needs to be a signal to boost.
I've thought of using your idea with a booster and a portable battery, but have field tested it yet.
TerkyTime said:
Special use case. I am trying to get a signal when summitting 14ers (really high mountains). The current method is to send a guy up with a Verizon phone and a few other WiFi hotspots and cross our fingers that he catches signal for a few minutes.
I've scoured the web and can't seem to find any information on this. The Wilson Portable seems like it has the right idea, but is clearly designed for a car use situation. Should I be looking into using a Wilson Sleek with a larger external antenna and improvised battery backpack? Or perhaps there is a software trick to increase the power to the 2g radio? I'm really all ears.
I would love to figure out a way to simply slide my Nexus 5 in a case of sorts with a ~3ft collapsible antenna on the top. Would this work? Does it need to be in physical contact with the actual antenna, or could it just be in contact with the backplate?
I really hope someone has an idea on this subject. I find it so hard to search for!
Thanks again,
Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got a Nexus 5, not sure if we have an external antenna jack or not. A lot of phones hide it under the battery.
You'd want a Yagi-style antenna. There are lots of instructions for making them with stuff like fishing pole tubes and tig welding tubes to make them ultra-light and foldable/dis-assembable for hiking purposes.
http://www.ubersignal.com/blog/yagi-antennas/
Yagi's boost transmit and receive both. They're highly directional, so you have to point them at the right spot.
Get a sat phone. Or climb 14'ers that have cell towers on them.
I climb a lot in the Sierra Nevada and almost always have service anywhere over 13000 ft. They're a narrow range close to population though. If you doing that in the Rockies I wouldn't trust cell service.