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Gingerbread update broke wifi..HTC admit fault

Hi there,

For those who have problems with data not streaming although connected fine through WiFi:

As I have written before, I had similar problems with some WiFi access points but yesterday I found out, that some access points worked fine with Gingerbread roms.
Which made me search in that direction and BINGO!

After firmware update of the SpeedTouch 716 I have at home, everything is running as fine as ever :D

Regards,
 
Thanks, looks like i need to try to update at least some of the routers i use both at home and at work!

I wonder though, so we know whether this issue is something that is affecting other gingerbread handsets? Is it something that HTC have done themselves, or more an accident of the hardware in the DHD being only partially compatible with gingerbread?

(FWIW i got lucky with getting my phone back. CPW just replaced it with a brand new handset in 5 days. Of course it still hasn't rectified the issue...but at least i have a handset back....)
 
This is a problem with the HTC gingerbread. My incredible had GREAT wifi for ages then I updated and now it is terrible and drops the whole time it is totally unusable.

Please send an e-mail to the following people (the senior management team at HTC) if you want this fixed it will take you 1 minute and will make a real difference just copy and paste the below. Then change the e-mail text a bit before you send.

jon_french@htc.com, Cher_Wang@htc.com, John_Wang@htc.com, Keith_Nowak@htc.com, Peter_Chou@htc.com, Tom.Alexander@orange.co.uk, Lotus_Chan@htc.com

Dear Sirs,

You have a major problem with the HTC gingerbread update that you have rolled out in the UK. The wifi no longer works for me as it keeps disconnecting. Many others have the same problem. I used my phone for about a year before this and the wifi worked like a dream. It is unacceptable that this vital function no longer works properly. Please let me know how you intend to fix this. On another note you have major problems with your HTC Sense website despite heavily promoting it. I look forward to your response.

jon_french@htc.com UK CEO
Cher_Wang@htc.com Chairman
John_Wang@htc.com Chief Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation
Keith_Nowak@htc.com Senior Public Relations Manager at HTC
Peter_Chou@htc.com CEO
Lotus_Chan@htc.com VP HTC

If you send an e-mail you will be a making a big difference.
 
I don't feel crazy any more!

When I upgraded to Gingerbread this exact thing happened to me. As no one else was experiencing any problems as far as I could tell online I'd been assuming it was my router. I've since bought a new router and my phone connects fine. I'm not overly bothered as my router needed an upgrade anyway, but still.
 
I could be wrong but before GB if you lost the WiFi connection then the phone would switch to a mobile network connection. Following GB following the sensitivity of this action seems to have been tweaked. Now if the WiFi drops to one bar it tries to switch it over to a mobile network. For the last 24 hours when at home I have had my mobile connection switched off and so far have not lost my WiFi connection. It needs some work from HTC.
 
Thank you for contacting HTC Support.

This is a known problem with the update. A temporary workaround is to set a static IP.

To do this, go into the settings of the phone and then wireless and networks -> wi-fi settings -> menu button -> advanced and checking the box "Use static IP".

The settings you need for this are:

IP-address
Subnet mask
Default gateway
DNS servers 1 and 2

To find out what these settings should be, the easiest way is to go to a computer connected to the same network. Assuming this is a Windows PC, from the start menu select "Run" and enter "cmd" in the box that appears and press enter. This will bring up a black window. In here, type "ipconfig /all" and press enter. Copy all the information above exactly like it is EXCEPT for the IP-adress where you will have to change the last digit to something else to prevent a conflict.

This should temporarily fix the problem until a proper fix for this is in place.

This change has been made by Google, not HTC, and we have notified them that the customers do not like this change. A fix for this will have to come from Google and unfortunately I have no ETA for when that might be.

I hope this information is useful to you.


Sincerely,

David

HTC
 
Locating this problem required identifying parts of code in the network driver, not something that would shop up in beta testing. If the wi-fi signal in the test environment is good enough this problem would not show up, which means there would be no reason to look into how the driver is coded. As I said, Google have been notified that customers do not like this change but at the moment I cannot provide you with a working solution for this.

Possibly I might be able to persuade to have your phone sent in for repair to be flashed back to a previous version but I think the chances for that is low and I don't think you would prefer that as a solution either.


Sincerely,

David

HTC
 
No, I do not believe this is a satisfactory situation and it's highly unfortunate that these side effects have surfaced following the update. Unfortunately there is nothing to be done other than to see if Google have reverted the changes made to the driver in the next update. I cannot speak on behalf of the testing team because I don't know what routines they use, but as I said if they have a good wi-fi connection while testing this issue would not have been apparent and examining situations that work as they should would severely prolong the beta testing phase leading to updates taking a very long time to deploy.

The only thing I can do is take your feedback and the feedback from the others and bring it into attention that you do not like this change, and then hope that Google listens and fixes it. If you have a Linksys or Thomson Speedtouch router it might also help upgrading the firmware on it.

Sincerely,

David

HTC
 
Thank you for that.

I'll be honest and say I think they're passing the buck.

The WiFi is fine on my mates Nexus S, I also know someone with a SGS2 and there are no WiFi issues so if it's a Google issue, why doesn't it affect their handsets?
 
same with me, wifi constantly dropping. I also found htc support to be terrible. Standard copy paste replies. One question I asked was replied with a copy paste of an answer that wasn't even relevant to the question. Forget about getting a reply back after they escalate something to 2nd line.
 
If my wifi signal is weak it just drops out when before the update it didnt drop.
Phone signal is occasionally hit and miss too, but that could be the carrier, I hope.
 
I flashed a stock 2.3.3 GB ROM to my DHD and have had no problems what so ever with the wifi, I did try Cyanogen ROM but that killed my wifi, I'm thinking there are versions of the stock ROM that don't have wifi issues.
snap20110620_112232.png
 
The problem with 'passing the buck' for the WiFi issue is that most other Android phones running 2.3.3 do not suffer this problem (including, crucially, other HTC models such as the Desire S and the Wildfire S), therefore it's difficult to believe that Google are responsible.

Moreover, the fact that you have no solution to offer raises legal issues in the UK under the Sale of Goods Act, i.e. that in its current configuration the device is not fit for purpose. HTC should therefore issue a national recall of all affected devices in accordance with its statutory obligations.
 
ArronfHarrison said:
Moreover, the fact that you have no solution to offer raises legal issues in the UK under the Sale of Goods Act, i.e. that in its current configuration the device is not fit for purpose. HTC should therefore issue a national recall of all affected devices in accordance with its statutory obligations.
Click to expand...

Do you think that HTC will actually recall them though?

I am currently on CM7 and, although I realise some people have said that they have had issues with the WIFI on that ROM, have been ok... I just don't understand how the same piece of equipment can function so (drastically) differntly on the same ROM... :(
 
If these other phones use another WLAN-adapter then they would not be affected by a change in the driver for the Desire HD. Other phones running the same adapter, however, would. HTC will not recall the phones due to this being an issue with a driver, not the telephone itself. To speed this process up I would recommend contacting google with a complaint/bug report explaining the issue. They already know about it, but if they see a lot of complaints about it I'm sure this issue will be resolved quicker.


Sincerely,

David

HTC
 
My legal relationship as a customer is with HTC, not Google, and I am not going to go out of my way to do your job; this buck passing is simply not acceptable. The 'not fit for purpose' issue under the Sale of Goods Act remains, and I note that you did not address this in your last email. Since I am not making progress and am not satisfied with the responses I have received thus far, I would like this matter escalated immediately.
 
I can escalate this as a complaint, but as I said there is nothing to be done about this right now. I know you feel we are pushing away the issue but fact of the matter is that your original complaint is based on the assumption that we have made these changes. HTC engineers did not implement this change, Google did, and we have notified them about it and that customers do not like it. There is nothing wrong with your phone, there is a problem with the Google software on it and for that reason we will not replace or recall your device. If you want to use your rights as a customer you have the Sale of Goods Act to fall back on but this is not between you and HTC but between you and your retailer.

I do understand that this is frustrating for you and you are not alone, but bottom line is that HTC will not replace or refund your phone for a temporary software problem and the only thing to do is to hope for a speedy fix of this through Google. I will be happy to not this as a formal complaint for you but that's about all I can do.
 
ArronfHarrison said:
Moreover, the fact that you have no solution to offer raises legal issues in the UK under the Sale of Goods Act, i.e. that in its current configuration the device is not fit for purpose. HTC should therefore issue a national recall of all affected devices in accordance with its statutory obligations.
Click to expand...

I'm with you Arron but it ain't never gonna happen! :mad:
 
Well..the good news is that, for me at least, the latest OTA update
actually seems to have addressed the problems i was having.

I'm not convinced it was anything other than HTC having released
a buggy build, so blaming google seems a bit underhand, but at least
they pushed out a fix.
 
martinp said:
Well..the good news is that, for me at least, the latest OTA update
actually seems to have addressed the problems i was having.

I'm not convinced it was anything other than HTC having released
a buggy build, so blaming google seems a bit underhand, but at least
they pushed out a fix.
Click to expand...
Hi Martin P - can you tell me what your version is now that your issues are fixed please and how long after the original April update did you get the others (are you unbranded and in UK?) I stillhaven't updated my phone from the Xmas update as I had so many problems with that that I've been afraid to and I didn't want my wifi connections all messed up.
 
Exasperated said:
Hi Martin P - can you tell me what your version is now that your issues are fixed please and how long after the original April update did you get the others (are you unbranded and in UK?) I stillhaven't updated my phone from the Xmas update as I had so many problems with that that I've been afraid to and I didn't want my wifi connections all messed up.
Click to expand...

Its on 2.50.405.2. yes i'm in the UK and I'm on Orange, though
it seems to be unbranded.

This is the only update i've had since the april gingerbread update,
and it arrived on monday.

My understanding of the wifi problems are that there were two issues,
one which meant it was unable to work properly with some older routers,
and another that meant it was unable to hold a wifi signal for as long.
Both seem to be the fault of HTC, though they are being quite evasive
about it.

As it happened i only suffered from the first issue, which i could
work around by assigning a static IP. This most recent update has meant
that i no longer need a static IP to communicate with my router.
I have to say i've never noticed problems with wifi signal strength, so
i can't comment on whether this update fixes it. However i did notice
that the 'release note' that appears prior to the update does make
mention of improving signals.

So on the whole i'm much happier than i was. It has be said the gingerbread
release isn't perfect, i still have wacky issues syncing with my
employers' ActiveSync emailer (if ever it fails to sync it immediately
removed that email account from my list of accounts..and it fails to
sync a lot), but to be honest i feel thats more of a luxury toy
the phone had...so its absence isn't really annoying me that much.

Maybe my standards have dropped!
 
martinp said:
So on the whole i'm much happier than i was.
Click to expand...

...aaand i spoke to soon. It burned out its SD card last night, so thats the second one this phone has trashed.

The last time i phoned up HTC they, after much complaining, promised to send me a replacement card..which never arrived. I'm not sure i can be bothered to go throught the rigmarole again.
 
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