Develop Bugs

[Q] Is anyone finding the wi-fi range on their Galaxy Nexus.. lacklustre?

It seems like the wifi range on my Nexus just doesn't hold up. Here's (attached) a shot I just took of my Galaxy Nexus and another of my iPhone4 in the exact same spot at the exact-ish same time.
The router is on the other side of the house, and while the iPhone4 and my Macbook (which i'm typing this on right now in the same spot, connected) pretty consistently stay at one or two bars at the very least, the Galaxy Nexus has a noticeable/distinct lack of ability to keep a consistent signal, and struggles to do so.

Every Samsung phone I've ever owned has this issue.
My work iPhone 4 works on the 3rd floor of my house (router in basement) with full bars whereas the Samsungs (GNEX included) barely connect.
Very frustrating as I like to use wifi to save carrier data. Oh well. At least I have unlimited data, so I stream away via 3g.

mine doesnt do as well as my motorolas and nokias but it still holds it own. The bars are not as indicative for me because even when showing no bars i have had a reliable connection.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Actually I find it just cuts out continuously. I turned off "avoid poor connections" but that didn't make a noticable difference. It connects and reconnects all the time.
You can watch when i download a game it will hang for a few minutes then start the transfer or continue it again.

ericshmerick said:
Every Samsung phone I've ever owned has this issue.
My work iPhone 4 works on the 3rd floor of my house (router in basement) with full bars whereas the Samsungs (GNEX included) barely connect.
Very frustrating as I like to use wifi to save carrier data. Oh well. At least I have unlimited data, so I stream away via 3g.
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Aggravating. Anyone know if the SGSII is the same way?

Do any of you guys know if the wifi strength is an improvement over the nexus s?
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

Carne_Asada_Fries said:
Do any of you guys know if the wifi strength is an improvement over the nexus s?
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a downgrade from GSII as far as I know.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I am following this thread with great interest.
I have Motorola Razr and for me the WiFi reception is appalling.
It can only just see my home network.
To compare my three year old HTC Hero is showing seven!
I have a plan that allows my to connect to BT Openzone hotspots around the UK (something that is very important to me)
I went into my nearest town yesterday and it could not find a single WiFi signal!
I want to like my Razr, but I am finding it difficult and I was thinking that the Gnex would be the logical way to go but it seems that you guys are experiencing similar problems.

ive tested both phones as well.
the 4s definitely destroys both the wifi / cell reception on the galaxy nexus.
in my house my iphone is usually around -80 to -89 dbm but the galaxy nexus is -95 to -107. Kind of pathetic if you ask me but I like the phone way to much to go back to the iphone.

Definitely still having issues with this, if anyone is curious. At my girlfriend's house tonight, and despite the router being the next room over, the phone still can't keep a solid signal. It is rather pathetic, honestly. For Google/Samsung's sake, I hope this bug can be fixed via software.

my SGSII has terrible wifi performance also. My captivate had bad wifi performance also, so ill be used to it when I get the Nexus lol. Good thing the router is right next to me
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

Jup it's pretty horrible the signal drops from 20mbps to 6mpbs if I put the nexus on a table just 6 meters away. S2 same prob although it doesn't seem to be as bad as the nexus.

I'm seeing the same thing on my Verizon Galaxy Nexus.
In the same room iPhone 4 and HTC Thunderbolt gets 3 or 4 bars, the nexus gets 1. Go into the next room, or god-forbid go into the basement and there's no wifi connection on the Galaxy Nexus but 3 or 4 bars still on the other phones.
There is certainly an issue.
I called VZW support and got the usual run around : reboot the phone, "we're sending new settings to your phone" etc. Finally he told me that it's probably a problem with the SIM card and they'd send me a new one. I said "no thanks, I want to talk to someone who knows what they are talking about."
After being transferred through to Samsung support I didn't get much further but the lady there at least knew what she was talking about.
They mentioned an upcoming software update, which I've been reading about, but I'm not sure that this is really the issue, since it's not just that it does't show enough bars, it loses the connection.

Tried a different radio?

At the moment there are many different smallband versions. And they all give a different signal. The smallband xxkk6 seems to be the best.
Try upgrading you smallband with the radio.img that can be found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1374077 This is only for the gsm version.

My HTC Thunderbolt is the same way.
It has at least 25% stronger 4G and Wifi signal at all times.
Seems like Samsung uses weaker antennas to save on power, cost, and/or weight??

It's better than my Captivate was. Can't go by bars anyway.

I returned my Galaxy Nexus for a new one. Probably got a defect one from factory.
Lost connection to my wifi-network when i went around 2-3 meters from my router.
Tried switching channels, 2,4Ghz/5Ghz frequencies and flashing different radios. No go

My GN suffers from the "Avoided, poor network signal"
As many other have said its rather annoying when your trying to conserve your 3G Bandwidth Maybe Samsung will fix this in the coming weeks (Maybe not)

I found out that the WiFI signal icon on the GNex is misleading; on my Optimus 2X it was full and Wifi Analyzer showed -60 dBm. On the GNex it was half yet Wifi Analyzer showed -50 dBm, sometimes -60. The link speed is 65Mbps on GNex, 72Mbps on O2X. Both show Excellent signal strength in network details.

Dropping 3g- annoying 1 and 2

So I leave wifi on, and the nexus holds onto to a useless weak wifi signal sometimes before switching to 3g. Annoying #1.
When I t run off wifi, I often have 3g not activated. Often have to either reboot or toggle plane mode. Annoyance #2.
Any solutions?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Pray and wait for next official radio firmware update or burn your nexus and get iTelephone.

Move to an area with better reception. Its not the phones fault at all.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Jeffruby said:
So I leave wifi on, and the nexus holds onto to a useless weak wifi signal sometimes before switching to 3g. Annoying #1.
When I t run off wifi, I often have 3g not activated. Often have to either reboot or toggle plane mode. Annoyance #2.
Any solutions?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
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please specify which phone you have. GSM/HSPA or CDMA/LTE?

I have cdma verizon phone.
To say "move to stronger area" is not an issue. If I'm in a solid 3g are, but a weak wifi area, phone holds onto slow unusable wifi instead of solid 3g"
Have 4g off
Is there a way to have wifi only connect if over a certain strength?
Will 4.03 make 3g radio connect more reliably and quickly. Absolutely cannot use battery saving app with this phone, as when I'm using 3g, and turn phone on, either have to wait 5 mins to get mobile connection or I get the greyed out 3g
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

I've had the same issue. It's only happened twice where I switch off wifi and it refuses to turn on 3g, didn't think about toggling airplane mode though. I had to restart both times. I'm thinking its software, at least I hope so.

Smokeey said:
Its not the phones fault at all.
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Bullschit.
This is 100% the phone's fault.
I am having this problem today. Unfortunately I have not been able to reconnect to 3G all day. 4G, fine... 3G, nothing. My two colleagues with Thunderbolts are having NO problems switching their LTE radios off and running CDMA only. My Galaxy Nexus is the only one that can't find a 3G connection.
I'm starting to hate this phone more and more every day.

If you're in an area with poor wifi, why not just turn wifi off and utilize the 3G at all times?

Same problem here. I prefer 3G to 4G for battery life. For the first week or so, no problem - now I can never get 3G, but 4G works fine. I don't think its the phone - I think its Verizon and its network choices.

Connected to wifi usually offers better battery life in my experience however weak signal kills battery so maybe keeping it on 3g is the better solution here.
Any way of you strengthening your wifi signal?
sent from my googletron

Grannypotts said:
Bullschit.
This is 100% the phone's fault.
I am having this problem today. Unfortunately I have not been able to reconnect to 3G all day. 4G, fine... 3G, nothing. My two colleagues with Thunderbolts are having NO problems switching their LTE radios off and running CDMA only. My Galaxy Nexus is the only one that can't find a 3G connection.
I'm starting to hate this phone more and more every day.
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Click to collapse
I love my gnex, but I got a microsim card adapter in the mail, so I can switch back to my bolt when I need a reliable 3G radio, until google/samsung/vzw get the radio is fixed in the gnex.
It took months before the bolt's radio problems got sorted out. I hope it won't take as long with the gnrx.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

I would just turn off wifi, but when I do, it takes too long for 3g to start up...and often it doesn't start up unless switch to airplane mode
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

what roms are yall running?
If you're running Stock, then it's the phone's fault and you should call VZW to get it swapped out.
If not running stock, then it may be the rom at fault.

Weak wifi Signal

For some reason my area inexplicably became a dead zone about a month ago and now I have to rely on wifi calling. Only problem is this phone seems to have a weak wifi radio. My ipod touch and my laptop always have more bars. I get about 1 or 2 bars in my office and it drops calls at that point.
I read somewhere that different kernels can help with this issue. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Also interested

You HAVE to have cell service to make calls on wifi. If it can't at least register with the network it won't work.

What case are you using, my case weakens my WiFi signal
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

I go case free. And wifi calling works perfect when I am in the same room as the router. Go to another room and I constantly get call drop notifications.

regerer said:
I go case free. And wifi calling works perfect when I am in the same room as the router. Go to another room and I constantly get call drop notifications.
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Tmobile just told me today that this is a known issue with the SIII wifi... They supposedly are working on a patch from Samsung...

jmfixitman said:
Tmobile just told me today that this is a known issue with the SIII wifi... They supposedly are working on a patch from Samsung...
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i agree wifi is weak. at school i have a hard time connecting to their wifi. in settings it shows strength as very good but when i try to connect it takes along time and then doesnt connect after all because it says the signal is weak.

That's odd. I can't recall ever having an issue with wifi...
Is it supposedly a problem on all variants?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Yes i've noticed that the WiFi reception is a bit weak with this device....I noticed it because I rely heavily on it in my house for WiFi calling, and I compared it with previous devices I've used with WiFi calling in the past.
I'm just sayin!

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+1 for me noticing really weak WiFi.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Are you guys sure it isn't the router? Or perhaps it just reads/reports signal stregnth different than your older phones. (As in, the signal is just as strong, but your old phone reported that signal as 4bars, while the gs3 reports it as 3)
I'm not saying everyone is wrong, I know you're probably right on for your situation, I'm just trying to toss out things you may not have considered.
Right now I'm in my garage, about 15 yards away from my router with 2 walls (one brick) between, and I'm showing full signal. I can double that distance, add more walls and sitting in my car I still pull a signal. Yes it is far weaker but still useable.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Just a quick question. When wifi calling is on, the signal bar for your cell reception should be blank correct?

drrayl said:
Just a quick question. When wifi calling is on, the signal bar for your cell reception should be blank correct?
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Click to collapse
Correct.
I'm just sayin!

wifi calling issues

does anyone else that came to this phone from another t-mobile phone find that the wifi calling is just awful? i had perfect wifi calling on my g2 and mytouch4gslide but now, and although this phone as far as regular performance goes is a million times better in every other department, wifi calling (which i need because i get terrible signal in my house) is SO hit or miss. sometimes i'll get a call and answer it and its just blank silence. the other person will claim to be able to hear me when we finally disconnect and call each other back, but i hear absolutely nothing, like as if the phone was turned off, not even any dead air. sometimes i'll go to dial someone and the dial button just won't even work. it depresses and nothing happens. then a minute later it starts dialing. sometimes people say they call me and it goes straight to voicemail. i'd say its roughly 50/50 whether or not i get a good wifi calling experience or not. is there something with my router that maybe would help to make the experience better? certain settings i should have? i'm not really very experienced with setting up routers. i pretty much just go default down the line and then setup a password and thats it. i've tried clearing data on the wifi calling a couple times but it really hasn't helped. would appreciate any input because at this point its getting to where if i'm expecting calls i'll just have to turn wifi off and hope my fluctuating regular signal is good enough to get the call (usually is fine in my house for calls just practically unusable for data).
thanks

Try to get a range extender from tmo. WiFi calling is unreliable and from what I've seen on their forums they've done nothing to remedy it.

psykhotic said:
Try to get a range extender from tmo. WiFi calling is unreliable and from what I've seen on their forums they've done nothing to remedy it.
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yea but it worked so good on my last 2 tmobile phones. thats why i was hoping maybe there was some router settings that would work better with wifi calling on the s3 specifically. i'd much rather still use wifi calling if i could. in the past it was so much more reliable than my crappy regular signal here in my house...

polarbearmc said:
yea but it worked so good on my last 2 tmobile phones. thats why i was hoping maybe there was some router settings that would work better with wifi calling on the s3 specifically. i'd much rather still use wifi calling if i could. in the past it was so much more reliable than my crappy regular signal here in my house...
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It worked better on your other phones because those phones WiFi calling utilized the kinecto servers. Since now they've switched to IMS, WIFI calling has been kinda crappy.
I'm just sayin!

I've had the exact opposite reaction from going from kineto to ims. For me the quality is far superior and less lag and echo.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

nikol4s said:
I've had the exact opposite reaction from going from kineto to ims. For me the quality is far superior and less lag and echo.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
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Yes the quality is slightly better but it's not as dependable as it was with the kinecto servers. I get the same exact identical issues as the OP.
I'm just sayin!

I also have the same issue as OP.
I was thinking that probably my network, but it is the phone.
Becuase my S2 works fine with wifi calling, only problem with s3.

byteless said:
I also have the same issue as OP.
I was thinking that probably my network, but it is the phone.
Becuase my S2 works fine with wifi calling, only problem with s3.
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Click to collapse
My S2 has the same identical problem as well. With the s2 I thought maybe it was the phone, but after the problem manifesting on my s3, I knew it's either the WiFi calling software or the network.
I'm just sayin!

well at least i know i'm not alone haha. sucks though. maybe i'll complain to t-mobile, see what they have to say.

Does wifi calling suck on all Android Phones??

I've used pixel phones for the past 4 years and both my Pixel 1XL and 3XL both do not kick over to Wifi calling until the signal was horrid (-120db +) on standby. I frequent lots of areas where the signal is sub par, but usable (-110 to -120db). The major issue with this logic is that you start a call on the network (in my case VZW) and shortly after the call connects to the person on the other end it kicks onto Wifi Calling. This is NOT a smooth transition. There is a 1-2 second 'blip' that causes the audio to cut out and I have to repeat myself... which is incredibility frustrating. I could turn off wifi calling, but then go into places like a basement and loose the call every time. The iPhone on the other hand if it has 1-3 bars and good wifi it switches to wifi and stays parked on wifi until you leave the wifi coverage area or the wireless coverage improves. What determines the signal level that the phones switch to wifi calling? Is it Android or the carrier? Does this differ my phone manufacturer? I'm looking to switch from Verizon to ATT, and ATT doesn't offer an updated LTE Microcell which means I would rely on wifi calling in my basement. I don't want to have the same wifi calling experience I have seen on VZW with a Pixel. Does Oneplus, LG, or Samsung do this better? Is there a root hack I could use to fix the problem?

I've only used it a couple of times as T-Mo isn't good where I'm at. I mean exactly where I'm at. I'm like in a dead zone in my apartment/complex. I get 1-2 bars max, but I can go about 20 yards, and get full bars. Wi-Fi was hit and miss as much as a bad cell signal for me. I tried to use it as "always on", but it didn't matter. I gave up, and ended up getting one of T-Mo's personal CellSpots, so now I get full bars in my place, and never have to use Wi-Fi calling. But to answer your question for me, yes, it sucks to use Wi-Fi calling.

WiFi calling is highly sensitive to your internet connection quality and jitter and also your router. I have had multiple configurations since WiFi calling has come into play. Your wireless router plays the biggest part from what I've noticed and their is so many different ones out there now. Best thing to do first is if you have a computer with a lan cable. Plug it directly into your modem and do a jitter test like this one https://www.fusionconnect.com/speed-test-plus/
Then make a note of what your results are. Now plug everything else back and set it up like your normally would have it and then do the same test over wireless through your router and compare the results to the first test. If they are quite a bit worst than the first results then your router is screwing it up. Most likely it's a premium feature (gimmick) that the router has that is screwing up stuff. I've only had TMobile with WiFi calling but my brother was on Verizon WiFi calling for a bit before switching over to TMobile and once I had a good configuration dialed in with a good internet connection and a good router set up he had no problems except for if he walked out of WiFi range sometimes. We don't have the best LTE signal at the house so the switchover wouldn't always be the smoothest.
Best combo I've tried so far is an Ubiquiti Edgerouter X and then using an Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi access point to give out WiFi. The Edgerouter X has a better type of QoS than most home routers nowadays and it can help WiFi calling issues a lot.
Now I have never experienced this issue you describe with it cutting out upon connection but it does sound like a typical switchover issue where it is switching from wifi calling to LTE or vice versa. Unfortunately that depends on the carrier and how they implement it on their network but I would definitely advise experimenting with your home internet set up if you ever have enough time as that could definitely be a factor as well

I have yet to see WI-FI calling work reliably - ( Engineer w/ 20+ yrs) Another technology pushed to production way too early.