Develop Bugs

JB 4.1.x wifi range/signal (GSM GNex)

Hi,
I've been using JB since the version from io12 was out. Currently I use Bigxie's deodexed 4.1.1 and all is wonderful. Except one thing that is. The wifi signal is weaker than I'm used to from ICS. Especially the wifi range seems worse. Connections that I've used with ICS are now out of range. Some of my friend or family's connections are now very weak and I drop out of range very often. This goes for any JB rom/kernel I've tried.
I've tried several roms, trinity and franco kernels, dirty flashing, full wipe. I've even tried a couple of different basebands, even though I don't think they affect wifi.
So I'm wondering if other GSM GNex users are experiencing the same thing? I've seen a thread with a flashable "poor wifi fix" for the Verizon GNex, but nothing for the GSM version.
Verizon GNex wifi/gps fix:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1739097
Any suggestions? Coukd a similar solution like the Verizon fix help?
Best regards,
P

Ok, allow me to explain whats going on with the "fix".
There were some folks who ported the GSM version to Verizon (myself included). However, they failed to use the correct wifi/BT firmware (I did but thats besides the point). They left in the GSM version. So that above fix is merely the bcm4330.hcd firmware and bcmhd.cal calibration file for wifi/BT from 4.0.4 for Verizon. It is not meant to be used for GSM and only applies to those who ported GSM to CDMA. Even with the fix, wifi is weak.
Verizon users currently have a newer version now, specifically for them from Google. However, the weak wifi issue still exists even for us. There are some who have strong wifi routers or are always close to them that do not see the issue, but it does exist for every JB user. Wifi is simply weaker, and BT is fairly janky.
It is a Jellybean specific problem, and I am assuming it will be fixed in time. You could try a 4.0.4 bcm4330.hcd, bcmhd.cal on Jellybean, but I doubt it will help, and it could end up hurting. I am thinking that broadcomm needs to fix these files.

Thanks for the reply and the precise info about the problem and the background for the Verizon fix. Very much appreciated.
I guess I'll have to wait and hope for an update.

volapyk said:
Thanks for the reply and the precise info about the problem and the background for the Verizon fix. Very much appreciated.
I guess I'll have to wait and hope for an update.
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Click to collapse
I am right there with you.
Wifi is horrible!

WiFi does kind of blow chunks. WTF.

burhanistan said:
WiFi does kind of blow chunks. WTF.
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Click to collapse
The more I think about it, the more I think it can probably be resolved by tweaking the calibration file. However that is a bit beyond my abilities as I don't understand whats contained in it to know what it needs tweaking to.

wifi weakness
I'm not sure why it does this but when I am in my house about 15 feet away from my router I would notice my wifi signal dropping down to 2 bars where my other phone would stay at full strength until I got around 15 yards away.. I decided to see how far I could get away from my router before completely losing signal. I walked a total of about of 30 yards from my router to the edge of my street and stopped every time the signal decreased down to one bar(which was between every 5 or 10 yards)... every time I thought the signal was about to drop out it would return back up to 3 bars after a moment of adjusting. Once I got to my furthest point it dropped out completely and then came back to 1 bar. When I came back inside where I previously had 2 bars I then had full signal throughout the house. I tested this a couple times and it seems that it only uses what it needs. If someone could do a similar experiment to confirm this isn't specific to my router set up I would appreciate it. I also did not notice any drop off in performance in speed from 1 bar to full signal while I was within 20 yards of my router, however, I didn't run a speed test, I just used my youtube app to load a video... I will run some speed test when I get home this evening to get a solid figure on the speed difference. This may not be a bug but a feature to conserve energy to increase battery life.

PROlific666 said:
I'm not sure why it does this but when I am in my house about 15 feet away from my router I would notice my wifi signal dropping down to 2 bars where my other phone would stay at full strength until I got around 15 yards away.. I decided to see how far I could get away from my router before completely losing signal. I walked a total of about of 30 yards from my router to the edge of my street and stopped every time the signal decreased down to one bar(which was between every 5 or 10 yards)... every time I thought the signal was about to drop out it would return back up to 3 bars after a moment of adjusting. Once I got to my furthest point it dropped out completely and then came back to 1 bar. When I came back inside where I previously had 2 bars I then had full signal throughout the house. I tested this a couple times and it seems that it only uses what it needs. If someone could do a similar experiment to confirm this isn't specific to my router set up I would appreciate it. I also did not notice any drop off in performance in speed from 1 bar to full signal while I was within 20 yards of my router, however, I didn't run a speed test, I just used my youtube app to load a video... I will run some speed test when I get home this evening to get a solid figure on the speed difference. This may not be a bug but a feature to conserve energy to increase battery life.
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Click to collapse
A good theory, but I am dropping wifi in some of my rooms. Switching to and fro like that doesn't save power

didnt people have poor performance with their wifi signal on ics? did broadcom leave everything the same of did they change/update drivers for our phones with jb.

adrynalyne said:
A good theory, but I am dropping wifi in some of my rooms. Switching to and fro like that doesn't save power
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Me too, I only need to move to the next room or so sometimes. The main problem for me is range. The range for me was better with 4.0.x.

slimb9 said:
didnt people have poor performance with their wifi signal on ics? did broadcom leave everything the same of did they change/update drivers for our phones with jb.
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Click to collapse
ICS wifi performance on the GNex wasn't exactly perfect for me, but it was better than what I get with JB. My router at home is giving me an okay performance and range, but the routers I normally connect to at family and friends are giving me problems since I moved on to JB.
I believe JB does come with new drivers. At least I've read that it does, in other threads.

slimb9 said:
didnt people have poor performance with their wifi signal on ics? did broadcom leave everything the same of did they change/update drivers for our phones with jb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had better performance on ICS with WiFi.

adrynalyne said:
I had better performance on ICS with WiFi.
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Click to collapse
Same
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Wi-Fi has been fine for me, but only when using 2.4GHz—5GHz, on the other hand, is horribly broken. If you are using 5GHz, I recommend trying 2.4GHz instead—hopefully Google will have this sorted before the Galaxy Nexus II ships.

you may want to revert back to ICS to verify if the phone hardware is not a problem? otherwise for me I have used both... ICS and JB, and I don't find any difference..

ibraheeemz said:
you may want to revert back to ICS to verify if the phone hardware is not a problem? otherwise for me I have used both... ICS and JB, and I don't find any difference..
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Click to collapse
I’ve found 5GHz to be broken on both ICS and JB and this is with more than one phone.

BinkXDA said:
Wi-Fi has been fine for me, but only when using 2.4GHz—5GHz, on the other hand, is horribly broken. If you are using 5GHz, I recommend trying 2.4GHz instead—hopefully Google will have this sorted before the Galaxy Nexus II ships.
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Click to collapse
I'll try 2.4.

BinkXDA said:
I’ve found 5GHz to be broken on both ICS and JB and this is with more than one phone.
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Click to collapse
5 Ghz was fine for me on ICS. It works on JB too, but the range...ugh.

I'm pretty sure it's not hardware related. It's definitely related to JB. It's not a 5 GHz problem either, that's what I use at home on my d-link. Family and friends have both 5 and 2.4 GHz. I'm sure it depends on the quality of the routers also but I didn't have any real range problems with any of them before JB.
adrynalyne said:
5 Ghz was fine for me on ICS. It works on JB too, but the range...ugh.
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Click to collapse
Same here, except my d-link at home, which is kinda okay at 5 GHz.

volapyk said:
I'm pretty sure it's not hardware related. It's definitely related to JB. It's not a 5 GHz problem either, that's what I use at home on my d-link. Family and friends have both 5 and 2.4 GHz. I'm sure it depends on the quality of the routers also but I didn't have any real range problems with any of them before JB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2.4 is pretty weak for me too.
I looked at the calibration file from ICS to JB. I don't think the difference warrants the problems seen.
From ICS to JB, these are the changes:
# 2.4G ACR
rxgaintbl100=1
# 5GHz Starting Tx Gain Index
initxidx5g=96

Wifi low signal strength.

I'm on the official JB ROM and have noticed that my device's wifi signal is very low (1 to 2 bars at most) inside the house.
Is there a fix to make the signal stronger or maybe a custom ROM or radio that has stronger wifi?
Thanks in advance for your replies.

U could increase signal strenght using dd-wrt on ur router. Maybe that could help..

I had an iPhone the last two years and with the same router the signal was full all around the house. I really like this device and hope to find a solution.

the wifi antenna is on the bottom half of the phone, hold it at the top and youll see a big improvement. iphone is at the top middle

I also read some time ago that the Nexus show you the "true" signal streangth whilst other devices/manufacturers programs the software to show more bars just the please the costumers eyes. So even though it might look less on a Nexus the actuall speed remains the same as other phones. Don't know if this is true but i like to believe it is
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Tjotte said:
I also read some time ago that the Nexus show you the "true" signal streangth whilst other devices/manufacturers programs the software to show more bars just the please the costumers eyes. So even though it might look less on a Nexus the actuall speed remains the same as other phones. Don't know if this is true but i like to believe it is
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Click to collapse
It's a relief if it's true, but I think the problem is there. In the same distance around the house I had signal with the iPhone 4 where GN has none.

I happen to get low bars too, not a lot but I get hella fast downloads than my previously droid incredible. I can download a 100mb file in about 15-25 seconds.
My droid incredible took around 50 seconds to a minute. So I do praise whatever they did to the WiFi performance or it could be the ROM lol..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Horrible Wi-Fi strength and speed

I really hope there is an update to the Wi-Fi driver. Comparing it to my HTC one, s3 and nexus 4, it always has a lot weaker strength and speeds which is a little disappointing since its WiFi only. Has anyone else noticed this? In many spots the Wi-Fi will not even show where my other device still have half strength. I LOVE this tab but this only one issue is bugging me
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

No, this has much better wifi than the Nexus 4. The Nexus 4 has wifi driver issues.

The Wifi in this tablet has been the best I have ever owned, laptops and phones included. The range is incredible. What I thought was a dead space in my home isn't with this.
Maybe you're holding it wrong?

This makes me upset. Maybe I have something defective. I'm def not holding it wrong. Is there any apps that judge WiFi strength
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

bradm23 said:
This makes me upset. Maybe I have something defective. I'm def not holding it wrong. Is there any apps that judge WiFi strength
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
Yeah it's called the WiFi signal indicator in the top right of your screen. Not trying to be an ass, but that's what its there for.
I have fantastic WiFi on my device. I get better upload speed on it than any other device in my house.

Try changing the settings from Auto select to 2.5ghz only under advanced in WiFi settings.

I was going to test this and then I noticed it connected itself to my wifi a block from my house. I am very impressed to say the least !
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Agree that the Wifi speed and sensitivity on this blows many other devices in my home away.

bradm23 said:
This makes me upset. Maybe I have something defective. I'm def not holding it wrong. Is there any apps that judge WiFi strength
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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Try the app "Wifi Analyzer"

I am also experiencing slow wifi, with my nexus 7 2g I am not able to watch a movie over the google movies app not even youtube I hope the resolve the problem. all my other tablets are able to stream without problem (Acer iconia tab, Sero 7 pro) I have a 10mbps ISP

[Q] Weak Wi-Fi

So I just got my Nexus 7 fhd couple days ago. I've noticed that it has very weak wifi reception. When I in the same room as router I have full signal, behind one door half signal, and behind a second 0 signal, on my laptop and iphone i get about 70% signal behind a 2nd door (it's probably only 15 feet away from the router). I'm running on Wireless N 300mbit 5GHz if it matters. I read similar thread for old N7 but didn't find any solution, wonder if anyone else have the same problem? Android 4.4.2. Thank you

Is there interference with other routers on the same channel?

Also noticed a teensy bit weaker wifi reception compared to 2012 nexus 7.

Pjstaab said:
Is there interference with other routers on the same channel?
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Click to collapse
no, i've tried already change channels ghz and from n to g, same thing....

and thisgdoc
sunlight10f said:
Also noticed a teensy bit weaker wifi reception compared to 2012 nexus 7.
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Click to collapse
It's not a little bit, i'm 10 feet away from a router and have only half bars while all my other devices show full signal
Also i tried different ROMs

I have the opposite experience in that I get better reception with my N7 than any of my other devices. When I have had issues with Wi-Fi reception with other devices in the past, the only thing I found that would fix it was to reboot and reset the router. And oddly enough, once or twice the only thing that worked was to change the password. Hope you find a solution because this thing rips when you have a good signal.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

5ghz wifi issue

I've been running resurrection rom for the last month and change. Flawless performance except the wifi issue. It'd the only rom I've used that has it. I'm forced to use my 2.4 wifi signal. My 5ghz shows up but it's stupid slow and has less signal strength? Even though it's coming from the same router. I've changed channels. Idk what to do. This is the only rom it happens on. As you can see in the picture it's weaker yet coming from the same router.

5ghz by nature of it being a higher energy wavelength doesn't penetrate through walls nearly as well as 2.4ghz so to have a lower signal strength with an equal amplifier power is to be expected. Diagnosing a slower speed is basically impossible to do based on the info you provided though.

StykerB said:
5ghz by nature of it being a higher energy wavelength doesn't penetrate through walls nearly as well as 2.4ghz so to have a lower signal strength with an equal amplifier power is to be expected. Diagnosing a slower speed is basically impossible to do based on the info you provided though.
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Sorry should have also posted a speed test. I'm getting my full speeds. Actually a bit better. I'm getting from 25-30 mbps. Same with 5 and 2.4...its just when I actually go to use the internet for anything it's slow on the 5. YouTube videos barely play in 480.and the router is in a room 15 feet from me. It's no slouch either it's an ac1600. I know it's something with the rom just not sure what.

cameron1292 said:
Sorry should have also posted a speed test. I'm getting my full speeds. Actually a bit better. I'm getting from 25-30 mbps. Same with 5 and 2.4...its just when I actually go to use the internet for anything it's slow on the 5. YouTube videos barely play in 480.and the router is in a room 15 feet from me. It's no slouch either it's an ac1600. I know it's something with the rom just not sure what.
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Click to collapse
do some searching around for how to disable IPV6 on wifi. IPV6 has historically made response times bad for android for various reasons.

StykerB said:
do some searching around for how to disable IPV6 on wifi. IPV6 has historically made response times bad for android for various reasons.
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Click to collapse
Disable it from the router or phone? I'm familiar with ipv6 but not with Android. I'm guessing it's rom based because of the drivers because 5ghz worked flawless on OSS before I rooted

cameron1292 said:
Disable it from the router or phone? I'm familiar with ipv6 but not with Android. I'm guessing it's rom based because of the drivers because 5ghz worked flawless on OSS before I rooted
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Click to collapse
yea android's default behavior with ipv6 is bad most manufacturers make tweaks with their official software to fix it but some roms don't incorporate those changes because they may or may not be open source.

StykerB said:
yea android's default behavior with ipv6 is bad most manufacturers make tweaks with their official software to fix it but some roms don't incorporate those changes because they may or may not be open source.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually just ran a test and it said I don't have ipv6 enabled.

Even I was facing this issue. Here you go, try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=68230166
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

niraj30518 said:
Even I was facing this issue. Here you go, try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=68230166
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Click to collapse
Doesn't work, wifi signal strength still weak ????

8monochrome said:
Doesn't work, wifi signal strength still weak ????
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Click to collapse
It worked for me. Make sure you are giving right permission.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

niraj30518 said:
It worked for me. Make sure you are giving right permission.
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Yep I did.. Only 5ghz has weak strength, 2.4ghz is OK. 5ghz I'd strong on my other phone..

niraj30518 said:
Even I was facing this issue. Here you go, try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=68230166
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try this tonight.. what is it a flashable zip?.an odd thing ive noticed as well is Google play downloads take forever.again this never happened.and this happens I believe on 2.4 as well.like a 7mb app takes a full minute lol in reality it should be done in 15 seconds .one time it even took a 70mb app 15 minutes.yet at the same time my speed test is reading 25mbps lol