Any fix for poor wifi download bandwidth?

[discman017]

Hi, I just bought a 701i (X10 variant) at Big Lots a few days ago, and everything is working great -- except for the wifi.

I have Comcast internet over a Linksys E2500 wireless router. On other computers, I see 20 Mbps download and 4 Mbps upload. On the tablet, I've seen bursts up to 20 Mbps download, but the bandwidth quickly settles around 400 kbps. Upload is similar to what I see elsewhere -- 3.5 Mbps or so.

I'm running the stock ROM -- in fact, I just reflashed it from the ST site to make sure there's no software using the bandwidth. Only software installed is side-loaded SpeedTest.

If I switch the 2.4 GHz band of my router to use Wireless-B or Wireless-G only, I can get 1.2 Mbps. If I switch to Wireless-N, I get the 400 kbps. Each time I reconfigure it to Wireless-N (or Mixed), I get a burst of something like 20 Mbps bandwidth, but then it settles back to 400 kbps.

The tablet doesn't seem to use 5 GHz -- if I turn off the 2.4 GHz, then the tablet can't connect to the network.

It's almost like the bandwidth is being throttled somehow. Comcast isn't doing it, because I don't see this behavior on other computers.

Are there any software settings that I can tweak to address this issue? Or is this just a case of buggy hardware? I'd return the tablet to Big Lots, but stores around here are all out of stock. Not sure what to do. Love the tablet otherwise, but the poor bandwidth is a big problem.

Thanks for any help!

[elektrik]

Hi, I just bought a 701i (X10 variant) at Big Lots a few days ago, and everything is working great -- except for the wifi.

I have Comcast internet over a Linksys E2500 wireless router. On other computers, I see 20 Mbps download and 4 Mbps upload. On the tablet, I've seen bursts up to 20 Mbps download, but the bandwidth quickly settles around 400 kbps. Upload is similar to what I see elsewhere -- 3.5 Mbps or so.

I'm running the stock ROM -- in fact, I just reflashed it from the ST site to make sure there's no software using the bandwidth. Only software installed is side-loaded SpeedTest.

If I switch the 2.4 GHz band of my router to use Wireless-B or Wireless-G only, I can get 1.2 Mbps. If I switch to Wireless-N, I get the 400 kbps. Each time I reconfigure it to Wireless-N (or Mixed), I get a burst of something like 20 Mbps bandwidth, but then it settles back to 400 kbps.

The tablet doesn't seem to use 5 GHz -- if I turn off the 2.4 GHz, then the tablet can't connect to the network.

It's almost like the bandwidth is being throttled somehow. Comcast isn't doing it, because I don't see this behavior on other computers.

Are there any software settings that I can tweak to address this issue? Or is this just a case of buggy hardware? I'd return the tablet to Big Lots, but stores around here are all out of stock. Not sure what to do. Love the tablet otherwise, but the poor bandwidth is a big problem.

Thanks for any help!

Not sure if you have this capability on your router, but I noticed when I tether from my cell phone, that if I use WiFi channel 6 to transmit, my wifi connection is *much* faster...

[ratjr15]

Like the OP, id be curious to know if anything can be done/modded/tweaked on the tablet side..

Sent from my PMID701C using Xparent ICS Blue Tapatalk 2

[discman017]

Not sure if you have this capability on your router, but I noticed when I tether from my cell phone, that if I use WiFi channel 6 to transmit, my wifi connection is *much* faster...

Yeah, I've tried all imaginable settings on my router. Tried a variety of different channels -- didn't make a difference. Tried alternately turning off 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz, and discovered the tablet only works with 2.4 GHz. Tried turning off various protocols -- that's how I found that I get better (but still not acceptable) bandwidth with Wireless-G and B than I do with N.

So I'm at a loss. Like I said, I seem to see bursts. When I run SpeedTest, sometimes I get an initial burst
of about 20 Mbps, but then it quickly settles back down to 400 kbps (with Wireless-N) or 1.2 Mbps (with G / B).

Why is this happening? Do other people see the same thing? And is there anything I can configure in Android that might affect the bandwidth?

Thanks!

[cherylharrell1961]

I've noticed on mine the bandwidth and speed and is not the greatest. And esp if you are further away from the router. Looks like around 1 am the internet gets faster. Maybe too many folks on Comcast. Sometimes the net access goes in and out on it. Still a good table tho considering. I'd love to find a way to get better internet access on it.

[discman017]

I've noticed on mine the bandwidth and speed and is not the greatest. And esp if you are further away from the router. Looks like around 1 am the internet gets faster. Maybe too many folks on Comcast. Sometimes the net access goes in and out on it. Still a good table tho considering. I'd love to find a way to get better internet access on it.

Thanks for the reply! Bandwidth on other devices connected to the same wireless router is much higher, so Comcast traffic doesn't seem to be the issue.

I've also tried right next to the router and further away, and that doesn't seem to make a difference. I can get a fair signal even quite far away from the router. It's just the bandwidth that's the problem for me, not the signal strength.

[cybertwigg]

i don't know about comcast as i am in UK on BT but over here BT use speed throttling for torrent downloads etc but checking what type of data and port the connection is using this was causing bit problems with my Nintendo Wii as its streaming settings made it look like torrent when ever it was streaming so BT would throttle my connection to the Wii to a mere 56k shocking i know you can imagine how much buffering that took lol any way the only reason i say this is because as you said at around 1 am i got faster if not my full 15mb download speed on my Wii because BT say they don't employe throttling but there are test websites that will tell you if your company do (guess what the test sites say BT do lol) i am not quite sure how you would solve this i had to change the port settings on the wii and set up router rules in the routers firewall so it no longer used the same ports as torrents and downloaders and now i get 14mb whelst streaming on the wii so all's good, this is what i did to solve my problem, but mabey google search will help (assuming this is the problem)

hope this helps

ricky

[cybertwigg]

also is your firmeware on the router up to date might be a UP&P issue your having

[droblesa]

Your wireless n speed also depends on if there are a lot of wireless users in your area. I live in a condo complex and hell if I can get decent speeds using N. I get better performance when running in g mode. I know realtek provides its Linux drivers for the rtl8192cu that is on these tablets. If you're brave enough you can compile it and update the driver. (If you have root access). I know the version that ships with the tablet is 3.03 or something close to that. and the newest is like 3.42

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

[discman017]

Problem solved: Defective tablet. After calling around repeatedly to local stores, a store finally got one in stock. Turned out to be the exact same model -- 701i X10. I set it up exactly the same as the other tablet, connected to my wireless and running SpeedTest. This one gets 10 Mbps and sometimes more vs. the 1 Mbps or so that I get with the first tablet. I also get a stronger signal from the router. Looks like the wifi receiver on the first tablet is faulty. Needless to say, I'll be returning that one.

Wow, downloads are so fast now! And the YouTube app plays beautifully with no stuttering! So does Subsonic! Amazing what a good network link does for the overall experience.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[kc9hi]

Wow. I was getting poor download speeds with my 701i. The Speedtest.net app was actually saying my upload speeds were faster than my download speeds. Other devices in the house had speed more like I would expect. Just gave it a test again this evening and I'm getting 21.7 mpbs down and 4.5 mbps up. I have no idea what has changed to cause this but I'm happy about it.

Jim

[discman017]

Wow. I was getting poor download speeds with my 701i. The Speedtest.net app was actually saying my upload speeds were faster than my download speeds. Other devices in the house had speed more like I would expect. Just gave it a test again this evening and I'm getting 21.7 mpbs down and 4.5 mbps up. I have no idea what has changed to cause this but I'm happy about it.

Jim

Sounds similar to what I was seeing, with the good upload speed but very poor download. Interesting that yours is up to 21.7 mbps. Have you been able to sustain that? Mine would occasionally spike up to a high download speed, but then would always drop back down.

Definitely seems like the wireless is flaky on these devices. Hopefully the 21.7 mbps sticks for you though!

I returned the unit with the extremely poor download speed. On the unit that I have now, I've seen download speeds with a wide range, from 4 Mbps to 14 Mbps. On another device on the same network I consistently see 18 to 22 Mbps. So I'm not getting the same speed with the tablet, but it's more than good enough for me to consider the tablet a worthwhile purchase.

[kc9hi]

Sounds similar to what I was seeing, with the good upload speed but very poor download. Interesting that yours is up to 21.7 mbps. Have you been able to sustain that? Mine would occasionally spike up to a high download speed, but then would always drop back down.

Definitely seems like the wireless is flaky on these devices. Hopefully the 21.7 mbps sticks for you though!

I returned the unit with the extremely poor download speed. On the unit that I have now, I've seen download speeds with a wide range, from 4 Mbps to 14 Mbps. On another device on the same network I consistently see 18 to 22 Mbps. So I'm not getting the same speed with the tablet, but it's more than good enough for me to consider the tablet a worthwhile purchase.

I've always gotten good connect (150 Mbps to my wifi access point). That's why I was so shocked to see such poor download speeds after reading your OP. Just checked again an still in the low 20s. I just wish I knew what changed for such a dramatic improvment. It's not like I reflashed the ROM or anything. All I've been doing lately is updating apps. Absolutely no tweaking. I take that back. I did go from an 8G class 4 microSD to a 16G class 10 microSD but I wouldn't expect that to affect wi-fi at all.

Jim