Help wifi issue

[steven vaccaro]

My wifi signal is very poor, so wifi performance is terrible. For example the moto xoom I'm on right now is at full strength, but I can't get any signal in this room with the razr. In a room right next to the router I have only 1/2 strength. Do you guys know of any settings I can be missing?

 

[Montana Man]

Coming from the Incredible to the Maxx, I noticed right away that the Maxx's Wifi indicator would only show a partial strength signal, whereas the Incredible would always show it as being at full strength. At first, this concerned me, but the results between the two phones has been no different. My Maxx still utilizes my Wifi access points every bit as fast and reliably as the Incredible did.

So if I were you, I wouldn't give a second thought to what the Wifi indicator shows, just as long as it delivers!

 

[dr_glenn]

I have HTC Incredible 1 (now wifi only) and replaced it with Moto Razr Maxx. I too immediately noticed that the Maxx appeared to have less sensitivity. So I installed the app "wifi analyzer" on both phones.

What I see is that the Maxx typically shows one less bar than Incredible when the signal strength meter shows same value. However, the Maxx typically runs from 3 to 10 dB less strength at the same location, once I get more than 15 feet away from router! This is really terrible: 3 dB means 1/2 the power, 10 dB is one-tenth the power. Furthermore, watching the power meter on both devices, I see that while standing still, the meter on the Maxx fluctuates by as much as 10 dB units, but on the HTC it stays nearly constant.

I think Motorola really blew it with the wifi.

 

[wxman2003]

When you hold the bottom of the phone, the signal drops because that is where the wifi antenna is. You hold the top, and the signal strength increases. Most people hold the bottom of phone in their hand so it affects a lot of people. Motorola didn't think too clearly about this.

 

[Bodycount]

My wifi signal suffers also with the razr. And no I'm not holding the bottom of the phone. My laptop gets full signal strength but my phone only has one or two bars (in the same exact spot in my house).

It's not a very powerful wifi receptor. Motorola most likely got a kickback from Verizon to go cheap on the wifi antenna so we would be forced to use 3G/4G and hopefully go over our data plan amount so Verizon gets even more money from us.

 

[wxman2003]

I highly doubt there was a conspiracy between Motorola and Verizon to have a weak wifi antenna so you use more 4G data. It's more like a cost cutting measure to put a cheaper wifi antenna in the phone, or an actual design flaw. In fact, Verizon encourages you to use wifi.

 

[Bodycount]

I highly doubt there was a conspiracy between Motorola and Verizon to have a weak wifi antenna so you use more 4G data. It's more like a cost cutting measure to put a cheaper wifi antenna in the phone, or an actual design flaw. In fact, Verizon encourages you to use wifi.

I can imagine a bunch of verizon and motorola exec's in a locked board room with bundles of cash on the table all with big cigar's and laughing at the kickbacks they are all getting.

yes I have a big imagination.

 

[JamesSJ]

My WiFi is fine.

 

[dr_glenn]

Following up on my earlier post ...
I decided to stick with the Maxx because of battery, weight, and wifi not as bad as it first seemed.

I went to Verizon store and compared my wifi to their demo unit, using Wifi Analyzer app on both.The store unit was definitely better. So I exchanged the Maxx for another of the same. Tested this one in store and was satisfied that it was better.
At home I again compared to my old HTC Incredible - definitely not as good.
At some point I discovered that Moto Maxx has an "antenna-gate" problem. Holding the phone would decrease the wifi signal by 10 to even 20 dB!. HTC has no such problem.

I then installed "Speed Test" app. To my surprise the download and upload speeds were virtually the same as with HTC, whether I held the Maxx or set it down on a table. Therefore I concluded that I would be OK keeping the Maxx, but would probably suffer wifi dropout at shorter distances than with HINC.