Wifi randomly drops at home

skyman.2112

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This is a common issue in forums i read, so far nobody has a fix. Just wondering if anyone else heard anything. Randomly drops the wifi signal even when your only 10 feet away. Its only a year old modem, Linksys E1200. Every other device has a strong continous signal. Also, it will reboot from time to time also cant figure that one out either. On my second phone already, only loaded the basic apps. Help!!!:icon_eek:
 

leeshor

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This sounds like a classic issue with the router, not the phone. Never assume that because other devices work fine that an Android phone or tablet will as well. Most of those devices use different chips to drive the WiFi that react differently to the various chipsets used in the routers. (the way to prove this is to go to a public hotspot to see if the same thing happens).

There are usually solutions, changing the security if it's WEP to WPA and/or changing channel or simply restarting the router frequently solve the problem. I have a link in my signature with additional possibilities.
 

mountainbikermark

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What I found on my Linksys router to keep it playing nice with my Android devices is to reboot it about once every other week.
On my Belkin I have to reboot it every few days.
Both play very nice with the Windows and ios machines without reboots but Android is a different story.
There's probably a tweak or update I could do to the router but a reboot works just fine and I don't have to worry about messing up my network by being upgrade illiterate.

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FoxKat

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Also often overlooked, especially with new routers, but almost always the case with older ones...upgrade the firmware. Even right off the shelf, routers can have one or more firmware updates on the corporate website and quite often they are to address known problems such as you describe. Go to the manufacturer's site, look for "support" or "upgrades" or "firmware", and then search for your particular router model. Don't forget to amke sure the "Version" of the router matches the firmware as often there are several versions of the same model - each with different chip-sets and requiring completely different firmware. If you flash the wrong firmware to a router, you can turn it into a paperweight.
 

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Does the phone have Wifi only issues with "N"? How does it react with "G"? I ran hard lines to other parts of my house for the "G" routers I bought at Target for $20 each. I have the same internet speeds as the "N". "G" plays nice with current and older devices. The newer devices in the house connect to the "N" next to the modem.
 
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skyman.2112

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This sounds like a classic issue with the router, not the phone. Never assume that because other devices work fine that an Android phone or tablet will as well. Most of those devices use different chips to drive the WiFi that react differently to the various chipsets used in the routers. (the way to prove this is to go to a public hotspot to see if the same thing happens).

There are usually solutions, changing the security if it's WEP to WPA and/or changing channel or simply restarting the router frequently solve the problem. I have a link in my signature with additional possibilities.
I tried unplugging it at first, but it didnt help. Its already set to WPA2 and i looked through the routers admin page and didnt see any way to change the channel. I upgraded the firmware and will see what that does. My other androide phone, galaxy s1, didnt have this problem either. Keep you posted, thanks!
 

YellowJacket

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skyman,

Does it drop ALL wifi connections or just the one at home? If so, then as the others stated, it is more than likely a problem with your router and not the phone.

I have similar problems with mine at home but not at work and other areas with wifi. (most of them)

If not already mentioned above, go into settings > wifi > then hit the bottom left MENU soft key > advanced > check the box for "avoid poor connections" (or uncheck it). See if that helps.

You may also want to go into your router settings and change the channel if a lot of other networks around you are on the same channel. I use an app from Amped Wireless called Wifi Analytics to see which channels are free and set my router to them. That seems to help. Channel 1, 6, and 11 seem to be the most popular in my neighborhood so I picked one of the others that wasn't used.

Also, if all your wireless equipment is "n", you can change your router to n only to get the maximum performance out of it. If you have mixed devices (G and n) the router has to compromise for both which IMHO degrades overall quality of signal.

David
 
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skyman.2112

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Unchecking avoid poor connections helped some but it still dropped. Then i found a firmware update and now its fine. Would like to change the channel though and band setting to N but looked all over the settings page of the router and cant find it. Its a linksys so i will have to spend more time looking. Thanks for the help !!
skyman,

Does it drop ALL wifi connections or just the one at home? If so, then as the others stated, it is more than likely a problem with your router and not the phone.

I have similar problems with mine at home but not at work and other areas with wifi. (most of them)

If not already mentioned above, go into settings > wifi > then hit the bottom left MENU soft key > advanced > check the box for "avoid poor connections" (or uncheck it). See if that helps.

You may also want to go into your router settings and change the channel if a lot of other networks around you are on the same channel. I use an app from Amped Wireless called Wifi Analytics to see which channels are free and set my router to them. That seems to help. Channel 1, 6, and 11 seem to be the most popular in my neighborhood so I picked one of the others that wasn't used.

Also, if all your wireless equipment is "n", you can change your router to n only to get the maximum performance out of it. If you have mixed devices (G and n) the router has to compromise for both which IMHO degrades overall quality of signal.

David
 

FoneHome

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I have the same problem. But unless I'm next to the router it keeps going in and out. My room is like three rooms away from the router. So, I'm guessing in my case there is a distance problem. But that shouldn't make a difference since I'm in the same house. Who knows. Right now I have all the bars filled. However when I go to my room, there is one to two bars max and it goes out at times. Very annoying...

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bweN diorD

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thats a pretty weak signal imo
i have a router that i never use, but i thought there was a way or setting to turn up the output.
maybe yours has that
 

leeshor

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Check my WiFi link below for some suggestions. Something as simple as changing the channel could do the trick, possibly a change in the type of security. There are some tools listed that will help diagnose the problem.
 
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skyman.2112

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Check my WiFi link below for some suggestions. Something as simple as changing the channel could do the trick, possibly a change in the type of security. There are some tools listed that will help diagnose the problem.


I got my third razr maxx HD from verizon, the wifi issue is gone. Same apps and everything as my old phone. Just a bad batch of chipsets i would assume. Have you noticed you never see any fixes for any issues here? Just reset the phone or blame it on 3rd party apps LOL.:p
 

leeshor

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I got my third razr maxx HD from verizon, the wifi issue is gone. Same apps and everything as my old phone. Just a bad batch of chipsets i would assume. Have you noticed you never see any fixes for any issues here? Just reset the phone or blame it on 3rd party apps LOL.:p

In your case the phone may in fact have been a problem but there are many more cases of issues with routers/router settings than with apps but apps or bad cache come in a close second.
 

FoxKat

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Please excuse the length of this post...but I just want to set the record straight and get a few things off my chest...

I got my third razr maxx HD from verizon, the wifi issue is gone. Same apps and everything as my old phone. Just a bad batch of chipsets i would assume. Have you noticed you never see any fixes for any issues here? Just reset the phone or blame it on 3rd party apps LOL.:p

Just for the fact that a new replacement phone apparently fixed the problem is not conclusive evidence that the earlier phone had "bad chipsets". Within each model phone there may be one or more different chipsets (or versions of same), and each can require a different set of protocol parameters to work. Rather than have 3 or 4 different updates dependent on the end user accurately identifying which version of phone they have, the manufacturer will include the multiple variations of the drivers in the firmware for one model phone and allow the software and phone to identify what chipset(s) or versions of such the phone has, so it can then utilize the proper driver(s). This "bundling" or "packaging" helps keep costs down and minimize confusion when putting out updates to various phone models.

Also as previously pointed out, and apparently an earlier post of yours appears to prove...

Unchecking avoid poor connections helped some but it still dropped. Then i found a firmware update and now its fine. Would like to change the channel though and band setting to N but looked all over the settings page of the router and cant find it. Its a linksys so i will have to spend more time looking. Thanks for the help !!

...most often the problem is not with the phone, but with the router. Just because the router plays nicely with other devices doesn't mean that it's doing so strictly following the protocol. You'd be hard-pressed to find a router on the market today that follows ANY protocol to the letter (i.e. strictly as was written), whether it be B, G, N, etc. ALL manufacturers will make their devices "tolerant" of variations in the protocol, allowing those other devices that don't follow the protocol so strictly to also gain access. This is known as "conforming".

If a router were to maintain strict adherence to the protocol's specifications (like CD players that follow the Red Book protocol to the letter), there would be LOTS of devices that simply wouldn't connect (or in the case of those CD players - CDs that simply wouldn't play). The reason is that when manufacturers make devices that follow a particular protocol, they have to pay royalties to the company who holds patent to that protocol in order to use it. However, if they change the way they communicate enough (by manipulating the code), so as to not violate the patent, then they can benefit from that communication protocol without paying the royalties. This translates into higher profit margins, lower retail costs, and greater market share. Overseas manufacturers - most notably China are notorious for "tweaking" their devices' protocols to avoid the royalty payments.

I know this for a fact since in just one example I've had Network Attached Storage (NAS) boxes - from China - that were supposed to be SAMBA compatible, but wouldn't play nicely with my router. If I had 3 devices on the router and put the NAS online, it would play fine...but the moment I added a 5th device (another NAS), I'd start having IP conflicts. When I approached the manufacturer of the NAS, they admitted to me that their device didn't maintain strict adherence to the SAMBA protocol, and he even went on to tell me it was to avoid paying the royalties. He suggested I update firmware on the router, since router manufacturers make their firmware "tolerant" of "sloppy protocol" devices. I followed his suggestion and the problems went away.

So in that example, the router manufacturer saw new devices that were having trouble with the protocols and put "tolerances" in place into their firmware to make the non-compliant devices play nicely with their own. This can sometimes backfire as when new devices come out that adhere more strictly to those protocols (you can bet that these top manufacturer's phones do), the problem becomes that the router is now the "sloppy protocol" device, and so another update to their firmware is in order to bring the new devices back into the playing field. This is a very lucrative game these manufacturers are playing and if they play their cards right they stand to make hoards of profits, but if they aren't savvy and instead allow the industry to dictate their actions they will fail miserably.

Another good example of this would be third party software packages (of which there are hundreds), that can both effectively read and edit/write PDF or DOC/XLS files (though maybe not 100% compatibly), but do not pay royalties to Adobe or Microsoft, so instead of paying $299 for Adobe Acrobat (http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-65085821-Acrobat-X-Standard/dp/B0046DMZH8), you pay $89 for Foxit (https://www.foxitsoftware.com/shopping/checkout.php?action=view) or online for free with PDFEscape (http://www.pdfescape.com/) as an example.

As for why you feel there are not "fixes for any issues here?", and it may seem to you that we simply suggest you "Just reset the phone or blame it on 3rd party apps LOL.:p", we are a support forum and we do very often provide real "fixes" as you put it. However we are supporting dozens of phone models and in a myriad of versions in a multitude of countries and styles. We ALL do so purely as a volunteer organization. There are NO paid staff here other than the very top tier of the company and you don't often (and depending on which staff member may never), see them on the threads - instead they are busy performing the extremely important job of running the company and providing this wonderful and powerful resource for us, completely free, I might add.

The Developer Relations, Super Moderators, Moderators, Rescue Squad and all members are volunteers who provide assistance do so purely out of the goodness of their hearts. We ALL have one goal in mind...enhance and support the user experience. We ALL try to do the best possible job in that realm that we can, and far more often than not, we ARE able to resolve members' issues to their satisfaction. We have a success rate that FAR exceeds those forums provided by and supported by the manufacturers themselves, and considering those forums have the entire manufacturer's resources available to them, I think we do a pretty damn good job of it.

If a member or staff makes a recommendation, please don't misunderstand their intentions. They want you to find happiness as much as you do. Without a happy membership base, the forum will fail. We won't let that happen. Now, truth be told - we can't solve EVERY problem, and there are some which DO turn out to be hardware issues which require replacement, but again more often than not, we're able to troubleshoot down to the point where the only obvious remaining possibility is a replacement phone. I will also say this...just because your new phone works with the router and the old one didn't, still doesn't rule out the possibility that the old phone was less compliant (or more), with the protocol and the new one isn't more (or less as the case may be), compliant. It is very possible that if I took 1,000 phones straight off the manufacturer's line and tried each one on your router, that some would work fine and others would fail. Yet take those same phones that fail on your router and put them on another router, or upgrade the firmware on your router and suddenly they work fine.

So I suggest that we all keep an open mind about this. These devices are incredibly complicated with literally millions upon millions of transistors and other components crammed into chips that would fit on your fingernail, and multiple chips that are extremely well orchestrated to work together. However like any conglomerate of parts, any one part can be less "compliant" or "finicky", and when you're talking millions of potential individuals, the risk of running into problems must be considered a possibility. Imagine an orchestra of over 1 million individual musicians on stage at the same time, trying to play the same piece. You can't and that's because it's incomprehensible. But that's almost what you are holding in your hand. Marvel at the innovation and be tolerant of the device - as well as those who are trying to assist in dealing with any problems that arise. We will all be better for it.
 
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skyman.2112

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Motorola and Verizon forums not helpful

Please excuse the length of this post...but I just want to set the record straight and get a few things off my chest.

Point taken, but i was referring to motorola and verizon forums maybe i wasnt clear. You would think with a common router like linksys and a popular phone like the razr, there would at least be a patch or something available for a common problem such as this. I forgot to update my results of the firmware update, the fix was short lived and the problem returned after 4 minutes. Its the nature of the beast with android being used on many types of hardware, i understand that. It would be nice if motorola and verizon could manage these bugs better though dont you think? They are the ones saying to FDR, run in safe mode, blaming 3rd party apps, etc. Hope that clears it up and thanks for all the other valuable tips!!!
 
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