Hello gents,
before you dismiss yet another S4 WiFi issue related post, keep in mind I am a Network Administrator for a living. What I do know well is wireless, what I don't is why my and many other's S4s are plagued with the WiFi issue.
If one is to search Galaxy S4 wifi problems, you will find a whack load of results with basic answers that don't resolve the issue. I am one of the lucky owners of a I337m Galaxy S4 that is a perfect phone, except the WiFi is absolute wonkers. My S4 is extremely inconsistent with being able to connect to 2.4Ghz networks, though 5Ghz is fine. I have attached a gif as an example of what occurs, though the signal is strong it refuses to connect instantly or gives "authentication error". There are good days, there are bad, but mostly bad.
I even gone as far as taking the phone apart and replacing the WiFi antenna with an external modified version, trust me it is NOT an antenna issue. I came across a youtube video of a fella with an i9505 who claimed to be able to fix the wifi issue by changing the baseband. This I would love to try though as far as I know there is only one baseband for the Canadian S4 if I read the forum posts correctly. At&t has a few which I wouldn't mind trying, but is it possible to flash the baseband from Bell to At&t (i337m to i337)? Would that even affect the Wireless functionality in the phone, or is it purely for the cellular network?
Related
Hi all,
I flashed my phone, and thought I’d go with Darky's Raw Steel Edition (4.1), which is awesome btw. I installed it correctly, installing I9000XWJM8 first (the MODEM and PDA, not CSC as none seemed to come in the package).
Everything was working smoothly until I realise 3G/Data Network is no longer working (it did previously). Not only that but it seems it won’t connect to my service provider (Three) at all (emergency calls only), and I’ve also now noticed GPS doesn’t seem to work at all, I can’t even get into GPS test mode. Wireless does however work though it being off, or on, has no impact.
I’ve tried:
Flashing different firmware - Stock JM8 and Doc Froyo’s latest JPO.
Hard Reset
Deleting and re-entering APN settings, though they were correct and already on the phone anyway.
Testing my SIM on another phone – signal is strong, inc. 3G on that.
I’m really at a loss here. Any ideas anyone?
Thanks
UPDATE: So, I won't bump this myself, but incase anyone finds this thread in the future: the gprs, gps, 3g, etc all work - just not in my house, on the SGS, anymore. I have no idea why - my other phone, it's fine.. and it used to be fine with this phone too. I'll update again if I figure it out.
the other phone works fine with the same sim you are using in the SGS?
Yep, the same SIM works in my old Nokia 6600 fold, people in my house also with Three are getting solid reception right now. 4-5 bars with 3g established.
It worked beautifully all the way home from work on the bus, just not in/around my house.
It's as if the local cell towers near my house have blocked my SGS specifically (can't receive calls or texts either). I did turn the wireless on and off in short succession (which would cause the gprs/3g to try to re-establish each time).. maybe I flooded them and they blocked my IMEI? Or is that just a ridiculous idea?
The real odd thing is GPS not working either (again, just around my house/street); surely it doesn't need a cell site for that?
It does seem as if I can't download apps from The Market anymore either, and have tried various cache clearing solutions to fix it (problem occurred roughly when I noticed my reception was nill).
You might have a problem with the band selection thing of your phone.. have you tried downloading/speed test when you /do/ get a connection? If it seems capped at 40kbps, you might have the same problem I experienced before, of being stuck on 2g. (Despite settings saying otherwise).
I fixed it by doing the solution to having a missing 850 band, the thread of which is found somewhere in this forum.
Thanks. That sort of worked earlier.
It made a slow data connection, and some texts came through.
I then went out to a location a few miles away, had a look and it was still on a slow connection type for a few mins, then all of a sudden it went to HSPDA (with the occasional 3G flicker) and was blistering fast.
Now that I'm back home, I've lost all reception again and can't make/take calls
[EDIT] Clicking around my phone in the hopes of finding something: checked product code in my nv_data.bin file with SGS Toolbox, and it's showing I9000HKDKOR; whilst the backup is showing I9000HKDH3G - could I be on to something? I backed up my efs folder after rooting before doing anything else - so, going to try restoring that.
I have a hunch based on a 2 year old post (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=445913).
From what I understand, Three UK piggy back on Orange's network when Three's 3G cell towers are out of reach. Orange don't provide Three users with the full service though, just 2G and I'm guessing they prioritise Orange customer traffic.
I think when I flashed my phone, I removed code commanding the phone to prefer Three cell towers. Without that code, the phone simply goes to the strongest/first signal it detects. I'm guessing in the area near where I live, it's Orange (or maybe any old network which is why I'm often getting Emergency Calls only).
This is all guesswork. I'm hopeful, seeing as if I quickly switch the SIM to my two+ year old phone, then I quickly get 5 bars and 3G.. unless the SGS's signal issues really are *that* bad.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=831022
Try see if you have the symptom of a missing band?
Hi Nwsk, I tried that before and assumed it didn't work, but actually the change isn't sticking. Which seems to be the case for a couple of others! Thanks for pointing me back to it!
[Edit]
Ohhhh dear. Now I have another theory (I really hope I'm wrong).
I've just read on a thread that some phones don't have the 850 Band, it's down to a lack of hardware support. I'd wager every Three UK branded phone sold will have the correct hardware as stock. I sent my phone back to Samsung for repair, they said they replaced the motherboard.. inference: they replaced it with one without the WCDMA 850 support.
Hmm, I'm definitely no authority on this, since I'm just guessing.. but I figure if that if was a true hardware defect, you wouldn't even be able to get it temporarily?
Are you using any 'battery-saving' type apps? Something might be messing up and keep reverting the settings. I had this occur to me a second time when I was trying out the superpower app here, I think it conflicted with another app I was using, and it borked out my network connectivity. Somehow fixed that after a few reboots, and lots of messing around in the phone debug menu with the 3g/2g thing, it suddenly worked again.
I've not seen it manage to get onto 850MHz WCDMA in my house for a while, not since the mobo got replaced (I should qualify that with a statement on my bad memory ). It will occasionally latch onto something if I walk around the house, giving me a slow data connection with the G symbol showing - it will drop pretty quickly.
Messing around while I write this, I've just realised if I set my phone to GSM(2G) with roaming [Three UK phones need this on so they can connect to Orange towers], then it does establish a data connection at 1800mhz. If I force WCDMA only, I get NOTHING. Setting both/auto leads to it being dodgy/instable, as I've discribed above.
My Nokia 6600 supports 850mhz UMTS, which would explain why it's working well inside my house.
I don't think it's an app. I've flashed a few different firmwares in an effort to get this fixed, it's currently on official Froyo JPO (not even rooted!) with Multi-CSC and a few completely harmless apps. I'd try the stock Three firmware if it was available somewhere.
I'm hoping it's software like you suggest! I will tinker away for now!
Thanks for all the help, at least now I'm fairly sure I'm on the right track!
I and my father have a new SGS2. When I connect to Wifi, no problems at all. On BOTH, the internet connection is very slow, with stops and always changing H... 3G... H....... If I connect to my old phone, the speed is fine, so it's not the local provider. My SGS2 has a lot of apps in it, and my father's one is stock ready and new, but the problem is the same for both. Also it spends a lot of battery.
Some people are complaining about this problem, is there a solution?
Try disabling fast dormancy.
how do you disable fast dormancy?
cheers
Change network setting to gsm only mode if it still come you might consider to chanhe the sim card, like i plan to.
I also using this gt p1000 with different sim card and it happened more faster browsing rather than this dual core gt i9100
sent from my 2.3.3|dxjpe DJGTabs7
Probably due to the radio sucking. There are others you can flash to...not sure which is best.
Are you by chance on AT&T in the US? Anyone know of the best radio for this phone on AT&T?
I also get very slow internet comnection in areas where high speed UMTS is not available. Actually, in these areas the phone is so slow that it always looses communication with the server. Practically, internet does not work AT ALL!
I'm really tired of being regularly pissed off by this phone and its many defects!
UPDATE:
Just tried disabling fast dormancy by using the hidden service menu *#9900#
It looks like at least now commection works. Speed is not optimal but that may be normal because at the moment I am in an area not covered by H+ connection.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Forget what I just said in the post above. It only worked for a few minutes, and then I'm back with no connection. It looks like this phone is rather deaf to 3G networks. But again, I may be wrong. The thruth is that I am desperately struggling to make this bloody phone work, but so far I have no clues at all.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
There have been random reports of regional and carrier specific problems with 2/3G. Some have been fixed with s/w updates, some people had to get rid of the phone. If your phone and your father's phone perform differently using the same SIM card, than his phone has a hardware problem. If they both suck, then you can either keep playing with the settings, hope a future s/w release fixes the problem, or get different phones.
The SGS2 appears to be router sensitive. It doesn't like D-Link routers. It appears to like Netgear routers a lot. While you shouldn't have to, changing your router can make a big difference in Wi-Fi performance.
Also, both of the conditions above wreak havoc on battery life. I can get 15 hours connected to my Netgear router while people with D-Link's are lucky to see 8.
I do have a second phone (my good old nokia n95 8GB), and also a second contract with the same carrier. I've already tried swapping the sim cards, and the result is always the same: N95 working flawlessly and SGS2 struggling even to get a reply from the server.
Obviously it's a problem related to the SGS2 (mine is unbranded and unrooted, just made the update to the latest firmware 2 months ago), and not to the carrier, although in this period I am in my parents' house, where signal is slightly lower than what I get in my house, at the opposite side of the city. So some cross relationship with signal strength may actually also be possible.
I do have Dlink routers both in my hose and in my parent's house, but I get very good wifi connection, I really can't complain about that. Also because my routers are different from the model that is known to cause problems. Anyway wifi connection is not in discussion here. It's cellular network connection that's problematic.
This evening, after disabling and reenabling all possible settings, and setting network connection to CDMA only, I was able to get fairly good connections, however we shouldn't be supposed to trickle anything in order to simply get cellular network data connection.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Hi all I've put together a video explaining the current wifi issues some people have been having and offering some solutions.
Bottom line it's unlikely to be your S4 more likely the router that needs updating or replacing.
Hello guys, now with these smartphone with thousands of sensors will give priority to other things but it is lost sight of an important thing and that is that are used for calling. I have done several tests with various android phones and I found that the samsung s4 has a radio signal reception even worse than a samsung corby.Have you found the same thing? The test I made with different operators and looking at various areas in the information of the device and not taking into consideration the bars of the line. I also tried to change the version of the modem and reset. Nothing to do.What do you say? Thanks
Hi
For a very long time I've been having signal problems, it just suddenly stops working and I have to reboot to get any signal back (airplane mode on and off doesnt work).
Its a GT-I9505
4.4.2
Goldeneye Rom
Greetings
which network? might be a local network issue?
I'm with 3, and although officially their website says that there's no planned maintenance in the area, i quite often drop signal when I'm at work recently, even though it's worked fine until now. I think a lot of people on various networks get the occasional network issue though. I think companies are constantly "upgrading" things, leading to network outages. I don't know why they don't just leave things alone. I used to have perfect signal on t-mobile when it was 3g, but as soon as they changed to ee and started to move to 4g, I got no signal, ever....that's why i switched to 3 in the first place, but now that they're "upgrading", same stuff again!
Its not the provider, know a lot of people on the same company and only me and my brother (same phone same firmware) are having this problems.
I read it coul be the 4.4.2 firmware, but dont know if only updating would fix it.
I had this problem on an earlier version of a cyanogenmod nightly. Most likely is your custom rom causing it. You said it yourself. Both you and your brother, same rom, same phone. Try a different rom or different version of the same rom.