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Help Is there a Fix for Wireless N on DroidX?

Napalm

Napalm

Android Expert
Just got my droid X, with latest build.
not rooted.
Have wirelessN router (trendnet)
seems to have week bandwidth, stops at G speeds,

Not full signal even in the room the router is located in.

I have heard there are issues with wireless N, I even have slight drops. All I have read about on this forum, but what I don't see is a fix.
 
My DX runs flawlessly on Wireless-N connecting to a Cisco Aironet AP. My guess is that your issue "may" be in the router and not the phone. Of course it's possible that you have a faulty phone.

Have you checked to make sure that you router is running it's most current firmware?
 
Martimus said:
My DX runs flawlessly on Wireless-N connecting to a Cisco Aironet AP. My guess is that your issue "may" be in the router and not the phone. Of course it's possible that you have a faulty phone.

Have you checked to make sure that you router is running it's most current firmware?
Click to expand...

yes I have the latest firmware and yes it works N for other devices.

I have read about N network issues DX so I just wanted to see if there are other issues and fixes. Since search didn't turn up much other that complaints.
 
I find the DX will only connect using the N mode at 65 Mbps while my laptop, sitting right next to the DX, will connect anywhere from 200-300 Mbps. It may be some sort of artificial cap placed on the phone via software.

The wireless stack in the DX seems a bit wonky. I couldn't connect in N mode until I changed my security to AES. It didn't like TKIP at all.

You are not alone in your troubles.

Don
 
i can't connect to my N network if the SSID is hidden/not broadcast. Allow broadcast and i connect immediately, stop broadcast of SSID and i no longer connect. Really ****ing annoying. Especially since i live in a condo complex and there are 10 other Wifi networks around me. I like keeping mine uber hidden. :( Oh well, it would take awhile to crack anyways. Just wish i could keep it hidden. Hoping Froyo can fix this. Hoping.
 
Legato said:
i can't connect to my N network if the SSID is hidden/not broadcast. Allow broadcast and i connect immediately, stop broadcast of SSID and i no longer connect. Really ****ing annoying. Especially since i live in a condo complex and there are 10 other Wifi networks around me. I like keeping mine uber hidden. :( Oh well, it would take awhile to crack anyways. Just wish i could keep it hidden. Hoping Froyo can fix this. Hoping.
Click to expand...

The SSID on my wireless-N network is hidden... and my DX connects automatically most every time I walk into my house. I went into the management app and manually defined my SSID on the phone. I then waited a few minutes for it to connect. Since then it's worked fine (for the most part). On a couple of occasions it didn't automatically connect. To remedy I turned off WiFi and then turned it back on. Once I power-cycled the phone. Waited a couple of minutes as it re-scanned wireless networks and boom... reconnected.

The WiFi stack on this phone is definitely a bit quirky but it seems to get there eventually...
 
Turning off SSID and/or using MAC Filters does absolutely nothing but cause you a hassle. Turn on WPA (2 if available) and save yourself the hassle.
 
drhill said:
Turning off SSID and/or using MAC Filters does absolutely nothing but cause you a hassle. Turn on WPA (2 if available) and save yourself the hassle.
Click to expand...

Not true! Masking (disabling) SSID broadcast and MAC filters are classic wireless security measures. If the SSID isn't broadcast then a would-be hacker has to specifically look for your SSID before trying to break into your wireless network.

WPA/WPA2 are definitely better choices for security than using WEP but they aren't without risk. Last year researchers in Japan found a way to crack WPA TKIP encryption in about a minute.

Researchers crack WPA Wi-Fi encryption in 60 seconds | ZDNet

Protecting wifi is pretty much like protecting a car from theft. The more impediments you throw out there the less likely a would-be hacker is going to spend the time needed to crack your network.

With the DX, turning off SSID broadcast works (at least on my DX). As for MAC filtering, I personally find it a pain in the a$$ but the only way to defeat it would be to spoof a defined MAC address...
 
I'm running a linksys (cisco) wrt-610n with DD-WRT firmware.
have no issues with running N on the 2.4ghz band with hidden SSID, TKIP, and WPA2.

speed tests show about 16 to 17mbps download speeds and 3mbps upload speeds from the Droid X, while from my laptop it is about 21mbps download and 5mbps upload. So it is not quite as fast as my laptop, but I don't think it makes much difference. The X doesn't have enough compute power to process data coming in at 16mbps anyway.

The argument about 65mbps vs 200 to 300mbps, it's not going to make any difference, even on G which is limited to 54mbps in theory, I can still get the same 16 or 17mbps speed again that's more than enough to saturate the compute capacity of the X.

The only thing I noticed is if I'm 2 rooms away (about 30 ft away), the signal strength of the wifi N drops significantly on the X. only 1 bar shows up and benchmark shows speeds dropping to 10mbps or so. still more than enough to do anything you need to do on the X. On my laptop, the signal strength drops down to about 70% and still maintains the 21mbps speed.
 
thenew3 said:
I'm running a linksys (cisco) wrt-610n with DD-WRT firmware.
have no issues with running N on the 2.4ghz band with hidden SSID, TKIP, and WPA2.

speed tests show about 16 to 17mbps download speeds and 3mbps upload speeds from the Droid X, while from my laptop it is about 21mbps download and 5mbps upload. So it is not quite as fast as my laptop, but I don't think it makes much difference. The X doesn't have enough compute power to process data coming in at 16mbps anyway.

The argument about 65mbps vs 200 to 300mbps, it's not going to make any difference, even on G which is limited to 54mbps in theory, I can still get the same 16 or 17mbps speed again that's more than enough to saturate the compute capacity of the X.

The only thing I noticed is if I'm 2 rooms away (about 30 ft away), the signal strength of the wifi N drops significantly on the X. only 1 bar shows up and benchmark shows speeds dropping to 10mbps or so. still more than enough to do anything you need to do on the X. On my laptop, the signal strength drops down to about 70% and still maintains the 21mbps speed.
Click to expand...

While I agree in theory, that isn't my point. The phone is advertized as WIFI N, it should do WIFI N. I can't get more than max G out of it (54mbs). Now is that fast enough for me, yes currently. Is that what I paid for, not exactly.
 
Martimus said:
Protecting wifi is pretty much like protecting a car from theft. The more impediments you throw out there the less likely a would-be hacker is going to spend the time needed to crack your network.
Click to expand...

Totally agree, but turning off SSID broadcasting really does nothing, as you're still broadcasting data and the network can very easily be found by any wifi sniffer worth it's salt.

MAC filtering is where it's at, especially on a home network where it's easy to add in devices as you're not dealing with potentially thousands of devices like you are in a corporate network.
 
SgtBaxter said:
Totally agree, but turning off SSID broadcasting really does nothing, as you're still broadcasting data and the network can very easily be found by any wifi sniffer worth it's salt.

MAC filtering is where it's at, especially on a home network where it's easy to add in devices as you're not dealing with potentially thousands of devices like you are in a corporate network.
Click to expand...

Actually MAC filtering is easier to circumvent than hiding SSID. But they are both pointless to anyone who knows how to circumvent wireless security. All they do is annoy you when you want to add devices to your network or do other things.

Don't use them, just turn on WPA2.
 
drhill said:
Actually MAC filtering is easier to circumvent than hiding SSID. But they are both pointless to anyone who knows how to circumvent wireless security. All they do is annoy you when you want to add devices to your network or do other things.

Don't use them, just turn on WPA2.
Click to expand...

as much as it pains me to say this, I agree here. Although MAC filtering is rather difficult to get around if you have a wireless AP or router that has decent security on the administration password (I mean really most lemmings don't even change the factory password from admin). A person that can get through MAC filtering is going to hack your network on purpose IMO. And honesty even WPA2 won't stop everyone.

but again, you are limiting the field drastically.
 
thenew3 said:
I'm running a linksys (cisco) wrt-610n with DD-WRT firmware.
have no issues with running N on the 2.4ghz band with hidden SSID, TKIP, and WPA2.

speed tests show about 16 to 17mbps download speeds and 3mbps upload speeds from the Droid X, while from my laptop it is about 21mbps download and 5mbps upload. So it is not quite as fast as my laptop, but I don't think it makes much difference. The X doesn't have enough compute power to process data coming in at 16mbps anyway.

The argument about 65mbps vs 200 to 300mbps, it's not going to make any difference, even on G which is limited to 54mbps in theory, I can still get the same 16 or 17mbps speed again that's more than enough to saturate the compute capacity of the X.

The only thing I noticed is if I'm 2 rooms away (about 30 ft away), the signal strength of the wifi N drops significantly on the X. only 1 bar shows up and benchmark shows speeds dropping to 10mbps or so. still more than enough to do anything you need to do on the X. On my laptop, the signal strength drops down to about 70% and still maintains the 21mbps speed.
Click to expand...

It might not make any difference surfing the web but it makes a huge difference when transferring files from my pc to the phone.

I'm using a Trendnet N router, and while my laptop and desktop can connect at 270-300mbps, the X is only connecting at 65mbps. Hoping 2.2 fixes it.
 
Well at least the leak 2.2 didn't fix it. Now it will only connect if I have it set for WPA and with G only.

X shows connected to my network with N but wouldn't connect to the internet. Changed every setting possible on my router. And it works fine with my other laptops. Just confused.
 
There are several threads on this forum about the wifi issues with the Droid X.

There is a big thread over on Motorola's own forums that I've been following since the beginning as well.

https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/32577?start=0&tstart=0

I guess I am one of the lucky ones. As I have posted before, switching from AES to TKIP resolved the inability of my DX to connect to my wifi. The Froyo leak fixed my only other issue, was the fact that it wouldn't automatically switch back from 3G to wifi once I would return home and toggle my wifi back on.
 
But are you getting N speeds. Even reported. My DX will only show 54Mbps max and just about at any radio signal level.

I will say though, wifi analyzer is a hell of a tool.
 
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