[Q] Samsug Nexus S WiFi issues, problems?

[sshtac]

All WiFi issues consolidated into 1 topic

[damrong18]

Does anyone get a weak wifi signal with their Nexus S? Whenever I connect to my at home wifi I never get full bars and something I'll just randomly lose signal. Also it seems to go pretty slow. I used to have the Mytouch4G and it work flawlessly with the wifi. Anyone else having this problem?

[xdahd2]

Does anyone get a weak wifi signal with their Nexus S? Whenever I connect to my at home wifi I never get full bars and something I'll just randomly lose signal. Also it seems to go pretty slow. I used to have the Mytouch4G and it work flawlessly with the wifi. Anyone else having this problem?

OMG yesss I do.

Just about a room away I loose signal, almost completely. = 0

[xdahd2]

IDK, but I see more flaws every day that passes

[BlackOtaku]

Mine's been working fine over Wi-Fi. I'm pretty glad it does too, because my only data option with it is Wi-Fi..

Sent from my Droid using XDA App

[krohnjw]

Wifi has been working great for me. It reconnects automatically and doesn't drop. The signal seems on par with my nexus one.

[damrong18]

Speed wise, is it on par with the 3G network?

[maliciousmunky]

So, I unlocked my Android 2.3.1 and rooted it ... But if I click on wifi so I could connect to my modem it says Error and wont even search or anything. I tried reseting too but still no luck .. What is the problem and how to fix this ??

[rb9228]

That's odd, I didn't have any issues with wifi as I connected to Android Market to downloaded ROM Manager during my rooting process earlier. Have you tried flashing a custom ROM on your device to see if it'll fix it?

[maliciousmunky]

No I didnt, would that work? .. A friend told me to install a new "kernel" but I dont want to overwhelm my android with custom made kernels .

[Luxferro]

your problem is you used one of the quick methods of rooting your phone, which used a kernel that wasn't from the exact rom you have.

if your on stock 2.3.1, you will need the stock 2.3.1 boot.img, and then you'll need to root it manually the long way via adb command line. search the nexus s development section for how-to's. they are all there.

[golu12]

i too had this problem, had to install MoDaCo ROM to fix it, but i dont regret rooting, i now have custom rom and over clocked cpu on the nexus s :D

you have two options, either to flash NANDROID backup to un-root and return to stock or install a custom ROM, i choose MoDaCo bcoz of its UI, it looks and feels just like the stock one.

[distortedloop]

you have two options, either to flash NANDROID backup to un-root and return to stock or install a custom ROM, i choose MoDaCo bcoz of its UI, it looks and feels just like the stock one.

Yes, that's the point of MoDaCo roms, to make minimal changes to the look and feel of the phone, but to improve performance with his custom optimizations.

[kharikishan]

Hi Guys,

I was able to connect to my wifi network for a day. I am using windows 7 machine as hotspot with connectify. From second day I am unable to connect to any wifi network. I did factory reset my nexus s but no results :(. Can some one help me how to solve this issue?

Observations:

*when i use static ip, It shows connected but the bars are in white instead of green color and i am unable to browse.
*When i use dynamic ip I am unable to connect to wifi. It shows obtaining Ip and never connects.
*In connectify when I was able to connect to wifi the device is shown with an android device name. but now the device is shown as unknown.

Sorry for my bad english, I m not a native english speaker.

[rakh1]

Hi all,

Just got a new Nexus S - all was well at home. Took it to work today and noticed something very odd. It was fine until entering the wifi settings menu - at which point it dramatically slowed down. I got two 'not responding,close or wait' messages before being able to join the network.... all other settings are fine - just the wifi area.

Weird - wondering what could cause this... too many wifi networks broadcasting (am in middle of London)...?

Anyone seen anything similar?

Rich

[distortedloop]

Hi all,

Just got a new Nexus S - all was well at home. Took it to work today and noticed something very odd. It was fine until entering the wifi settings menu - at which point it dramatically slowed down. I got two 'not responding,close or wait' messages before being able to join the network.... all other settings are fine - just the wifi area.

Weird - wondering what could cause this... too many wifi networks broadcasting (am in middle of London)...?

Anyone seen anything similar?

Rich

Too many WiFi around you shouldn't cause that.

Try rebooting and setting again if you haven't already.

[rakh1]

Hmmm - rebooted and still have the same issue. At home, or even a block away from the office it all works fine. But in the office itself, although it connects and uses the wifi fine, the settings page is VERY slow to load and gives me the wait/force close message.

Out of interest - I also have 'wifi analyser' from the marketplace. This too is very slow and unresponsive when in the office.

So - it is definately something to do with the wifi here.... but have not got a clue what. Before I join the wifi, or when I am physically somewhere else it all works fine.

Wifi is WPA-TKIP, the key is a very long jumble of letters but surely that is not an issue.

Strange eh!!!

Rich

[ataozcelik]

Hi there, just bought a Nexus S, also used to have Nexus One.
The thing is for some wireless networks even though I enter the password correctly, it says connected and still there is no connection at all. (I mean browser tries to connect but at the end it says page could not be found) I even tried with an ad-hoc network that I created with my laptop but still the problem exists.

At home I'm able to my network without a problem. The type of network I'm trying to connect is: WPA2 Personal with AES. Is there any known issue about AES at Android system? Afaik there is no way to change the encryption used right?

[ghost010]

this might actually not be a nexus S issue.

some modems/switches/routers are configured to block certain devices/applications/package's

we have a modem and router with both wifi.

but my psp/nDS cant connect to the modem,but can connect with the router

[thllxb]

Hi Guys,

I was able to connect to my wifi network for a day. I am using windows 7 machine as hotspot with connectify. From second day I am unable to connect to any wifi network. I did factory reset my nexus s but no results :(. Can some one help me how to solve this issue?

Observations:

*when i use static ip, It shows connected but the bars are in white instead of green color and i am unable to browse.
*When i use dynamic ip I am unable to connect to wifi. It shows obtaining Ip and never connects.
*In connectify when I was able to connect to wifi the device is shown with an android device name. but now the device is shown as unknown.

Sorry for my bad english, I m not a native english speaker.
i have a similar problem. My Nexus S connects to my router only within a few hours after a router reset. Then it stucks at "obtaining ip" and never connected before I do another router reset.
My home wifi is WPA2 type, and for WEP type wifi my NS never got connected.

[gotgadget]

Sorry if this has been asked already or brought up :P but I keep getting error when I try to turn my wifi hotspot on.

Btw I've tried keep tryin to cut it on and I even rebooted phone and everything, I really need help

Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

[distortedloop]

Works perfectly here.

What is the error you get?

Try turning WiFi off before turning it on.

[gotgadget]

Wifi is off and I hit the spot to turn on hotspot admitted it just keeps saying error under hotspot

Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

[Smokexz]

I get it sometimes, other Nexus S users get it too. I feel software can easily fix it.

Sent from my Nexus S

[nicholasbgr]

I have the same issue and I never managed to get it working.

[leyvatron]

Mine works great...

Have you guys messed with the settings? Stock or custom ROM?

[Ceres66]

Mine works fine too, no errors ever encountered. My Lenovo laptop and Ipod Touch were both able to connect and get data from my wifi hotspot.

[Random Select]

No issues here (on both my Nexus One and Nexus S).

[gotgadget]

Well I guess im screwed :(

Sent from my nexus s using XDA App

[tominater12]

Try contacting samsung or google support or do a factory reset?

[predation]

i just tried mine and it's working.

i second the factory reset.

that is what i did as soon as i took my phone out of the box.
:D

[robstunner]

is it free? Ive been reading conflicting answers :-/

[heinrich]

I had Error everytime I tried as well, and just tried it and it works perfectly!!! The difference may be that I had wifi on but no active connection to an AP. YEAH!!

[Darrien13]

Am I the only one having this wi-fi issue where the icon just sometimes goes white meaning no data is flowing? It goes back to green within 30 seconds but it's annoying and I wanted to know if this was an hardware issue related to just my device? Also when you turn on wi-fi when you've left your wi-fi spot but are returning does it take a long time to connect like it gets the wifi spot but the icon is white for about a minute or so? Thanks

[Bronk93]

I have similar issues. From what I have read the manufacturer used a low power wifi chip to conserve battery which causes many issues.

Sent from my Nexus S

[Darrien13]

thanks :D I hope this can be fixed with firmware.

[gogol]

When I switched from 3G to WiFi and then browse the internet, I noticed the browser will wait and wait for almost 1 minute, before the web page got loaded.

This only happens every first time switched from 3G to WiFi.

I don't have this problem with my HTC Desire (it might wait a bit, but not this 1 minute long).

Then, I changed the WiFi setting to use "Fixed IP". This change certainly improve the wait to only few seconds.

However, I saw from time to time, after some times, the 3G icon appeared, WiFi lost connection, but immediately WiFi reconnected.

Anyone have this kind of experience with Nexus S wifi?

Again, I don't have this kind of issue with my HTC Desire. And I don't change any network setting on my WiFi router.

[sedde]

Hi guys,

so i am having this weird wifi problems, with disconnections and restarts.

I am roaming atm, so i am connected to the wifi at the place i am staying ( they have a belkin n router ).

Whats happening is that i get random disconnects, mostly when i put it to sleep and bringin it back on.

I tried bionix 1.2, modaco r9 and r10, with stock and oc'd kernels.

Anyone else experiencing this problem ?

[knytphal]

I don't know if this will help you or not, but you might want to check what your wifi sleep policy is.

menu>settings>wireless&network settings>wifi settings>menu (again...)>advanced. It's been recommended by some to have your wifi sleep policy set to "Never". At least that's what I do. I've not had any disconnect issues with that setting.

[Darrien13]

Is it just me or upon returning to a wifi spot when wifi is off it takes your phone a long time to connect to wifi? It will connect but the icon will be white?

Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

[acsooley]

I have had disconnect issues too. Wifi will connect and disconnect. I can't seem to figure out why.


Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

[AllGamer]

i don't have that problem

i have several WiFi hot spots, house, work, etc remembered

and whenever i go there i just hit connect, and it is instantly connected and i can start downloading stuff

[Darrien13]

Maybe its my wifi

Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

[tylerdrews]

Anyones wifi not work after the update to 2.3.2 ?
My wifi will never picks up a signal and then shuts off after about 20sec... i think g may nandroid back to 2.3.1
Any help?

EDIT: I updated to Cyanogen7 and still had the same problem... sucked... even with my wife's mytouch4g. I got Wifi working again only after i did factory wipe and flashed the rom only, then booted up raw not signing in. And turned on wifi and it worked only before flashing or installing any google apps or restoring titanium... i am not sure why that worked but it did with both phones. And continues to work great so far


Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

[distortedloop]

Is it just me or upon returning to a wifi spot when wifi is off it takes your phone a long time to connect to wifi? It will connect but the icon will be white?

Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

A white icon, or a grey one.

Grey means the radio is on, but not connected at all to anything.

White means the radio is on and connected to a network, but you aren't connected stably to Google's sync servers.

Green means connected to a network AND connected to Google's servers.

You should usually be able to use network services when the icons are white, unless the hotspot you're on has some kind of webpage you need to authorize on first.

[residentbio]

For some reason my nexus s refuses to connect to wireless n only network. I played a bit with my linksys router, and only when its in mixed mode or g mode, my phone connects alright. I even deleted the entry in the registry since i read it could that the phone was trying to use an already used ip. Nothing.

Any tip woukld be welcome

[knytphal]

For some reason my nexus s refuses to connect to wireless n only network. I played a bit with my linksys router, and only when its in mixed mode or g mode, my phone connects alright. I even deleted the entry in the registry since i read it could that the phone was trying to use an already used ip. Nothing.

Any tip woukld be welcome

I don't recall the exact setting, but I seem to remember somebody else having a similar issue connecting to a N network depending on which MHz broadcast setting the router was using....I think. Sorry I can't remember more, maybe somebody else does.

[residentbio]

I don't recall the exact setting, but I seem to remember somebody else having a similar issue connecting to a N network depending on which MHz broadcast setting the router was using....I think. Sorry I can't remember more, maybe somebody else does.

Ok, so upon futher tests, just disabled all security and suddenly my phone is able to connect. I was using wpa personal before(since my ps3 won't deal with wpa2)

This point to a problem with authentication i guess while using wireless n.

As far as broadcast setting, i'm currenly using

20MHz only

[residentbio]

mmm i may have found an answer to my problem. When i re enable security, and chose wpa personal again, i got this notification which i don't recall seeing before

http 30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfl5zdJfas1qgbuqmo1_500.png
Well that must be why my i couldn't connect in n mode. And i wouldn't be surprise if someone else was ignoring this fact.

Hope it helps someone.

Ty

PD. I'm not allowed to put urls yet, so complete the url this the "//"

PD2. Basically, you can't use wireless n and wpa personal. Router says that it will work in g mode only, which for some reason confuses android. And that is why it would always say "connecting" but never would

PD3. Also use AES encryption. Tried "TKIP and AES" and it wouldn't connect either

[gersztoff]

Mine works (w/stock everything), but I usually have to try turning it on 5-10 times, before it stops giving me the "error" and actually turns on.

[alexcinci]

I can always catch a wifi but with some signal drops, some lack of conectivity... lets wait for another update or something

what I could notice is that it feels like the wifi receptor is kind of weak. Comparing with others gadgets as ipod or ipad.

[assassin504]

hi all ,
I have some of the problems described here too.

Fortunately I don’t have connection problems, and from reading this thread it seem the nexus s is by default set to turn wifi off when the screen goes off.

This can be sorted the following info from knytphal

I don't know if this will help you or not, but you might want to check what your wifi sleep policy is.

menu>settings>wireless&network settings>wifi settings>menu (again...)>advanced. It's been recommended by some to have your wifi sleep policy set to "Never". At least that's what I do. I've not had any disconnect issues with that setting.

My main problem is wifi range/signal strength. My signal drops by one to two bars just standing about 3 meters from my router. I no longer have any signal in rooms where my desire was downloading at 8mb/s.

This is not good, as I heavily rely on wifi in my home and find it even difficult to play a 2min youtube vid because there is no wifi signal in that room. As a result this may be a deal breaker for me.

I have read this maybe due to hardware limitations (ie. low power wifi chip), is this true?

If so can this be corrected by software updates?

Your responses and opinions are appreciated. Thanks

[Tuigje]

Hi,

not sure whether this helps or not, but let's try:
I have a Nexus S which came with the *KB3 radio driver.
It's rooted. With original kernel (2.6.35.7-g*) WiFi works excellent.
The WiFi works with neither
netarchy-nexus-1.3.0.0-cfs-2.3.3
nor
voodoo-only og-ns-STK-ogext4-VS-1.3.1.

I tested them with "fastboot boot *.img".

Hope this helps anyone

[stavros86]

The first nexus s i had had problem with low wifi signal and back button but the second nexus s i took has good wifi signal and no problem with back button

[dangsquall]

Hi guys. I'm wondering if you guys have the same problem with wifi as I do: basically, When the screen turns off wifi becomes very slow, which limits apps like SwiFTP or Samba. In my N1 I know this is caused by PM_MAX setting inside the kernel, but I'm not sure if this is the same with the NS or not. I'm running CM7 RC2 With Netarchy kernel.

Thanks a lot!

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

[Si_NZ]

Hi guys. I'm wondering if you guys have the same problem with wifi as I do: basically, When the screen turns off wifi becomes very slow, which limits apps like SwiFTP or Samba. In my N1 I know this is caused by PM_MAX setting inside the kernel, but I'm not sure if this is the same with the NS or not. I'm running CM7 RC2 With Netarchy kernel.

Thanks a lot!

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Yep I noticed that too. It drops from about 900KB/s to 20KB/s.

[Bolick]

Also noticed speed drops while screen is being turned off.
Also sometimes I have to toggle WiFi to get a network connection alive.
On Nexus S with CM 7 RC2

[Andy6446]

No problems here,
Actually it's much better than on my previous phone Galaxy 3
I did some speed tests and it's the same as on my home pc

Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

[dangsquall]

Hey guys, just so you know I recompiled the Wifi module from Netarchy 1.3.0.2 kernel to replace PM_MAX with PM_FAST and make the wireless a lot more consistent when the screen is off. If you know what you're doing you can try it at http://www.mediafire.com/?a29kuzgd61q0m62 adb push the file to ./system/modules/bcm4329.ko (need to mount system as rw first) and see if it works for you :-)

[muziqaz]

I don't know if there was a post like I am going to write now, but maybe for someone it will help.
I did not have problems with connections, only weak signal.
Recently I changed my router to Billion 7800N. And had some free time, and figured to check it out how my nexus S connects to it. Got wifi analyser on my phone, and noticed that signal strength is very bad. Like -80dBm even sitting next to the router. So I checked for other channel, and yeah, mine was one of the busiest. So I used wi fi analyser again to find the least busy channel, changed to it, and I have now -56/-49dBm signal. next I noticed that my link speed is very low(my router is N standard and nexus S is N standard). Changed to 802.11n only in the router. Phone failed to connect. changed to 802.11G only, connects without a problem.
My security mode on the router was WPA/WPA2-PSK with WPA algorithm being TKIP. I changed the algorithm to AES, and my phone connected to 802.11N straight away. So now I have my phone using all the benefits it offers :)
It might not help everyone, but it might give some food for thought.
Oh, and my channel width remained at 20/40MHZ.

[darklord74]

Hi guys. I'm wondering if you guys have the same problem with wifi as I do: basically, When the screen turns off wifi becomes very slow, which limits apps like SwiFTP or Samba. In my N1 I know this is caused by PM_MAX setting inside the kernel, but I'm not sure if this is the same with the NS or not. I'm running CM7 RC2 With Netarchy kernel.

Thanks a lot!

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

Not sure if you read this entire thread or not but the default setting in the SNS shuts off wifi when the screen goes to sleep. Go into the wifi settings advanced and click Never in the wifi sleep policy

[blankit]

The reason why the nexus s has a weak woofing signal is because of its plastic body design..HTC phones are metal so that helps with signal strength...plastic blocks some signal strength

[rakh1]

Wow - you might need to go and read your electromagnetic propagation theory again.... plastic (being non conductive) should have minimal impact on the transmission of this near microwave signal (hence plastic plates in microwave ovens being ok) - and the plastic tops to the original iPhone, etc etc...

There may be some credibility in the argument that a metallic case may provide some enhanced earth plane and as such boost signal output - but I am not sure if this is useful on what must be a fairly omni-directional system.

Just my $0.02...

/R

[Gerike.me]

Hi i have a really wierd issue with my nexus s ( 2.3.6 ) not rooted everything original, i bought it simfree .

Long story short i travel much , so i use my phone on wifi hotspots a lot
everything was fine unitll 1 day suddenly once i vent to a mcdonalds
i did not see any any wifi signal while my laptop front of me was alrdy connected.
i did used my phone in different mcdonalds b4 there no problems.
since that i used it once in quick fast food place,but visited like 4-5 different mcdonalds ( different citys) dont saw even the singal in any of tham and i dont get why is that.
i do see other wifi signals.

i did factory reset so i loast all my application i had b4...
still i cant even see the wifi signal in mcdonalds( wich would be basicly the easiest wifi spot to find anywhere)

i would be greatfull for any kind of help.

some of my thoughts:
- is it possible that some settings have been made by exident on my phone wich couse block mcdo wifi signal.
- is my phone brooken?

forgive my english.
iam at france atm if it is matters.

[SeanTNL]

Hi, I'm new here so I hope I posted this in the right thread.
Here's my phone info:

It's a Vodafone UK Nexus S bought from Carphone Warehouse in February btw.

Model Number: Nexus S
Android Version: 2.3.6
Baseband Version: I9020XXKF1
Kernel Version: 2.6.35.7-gf5f63ef android-build@apa28 #1
Build Number: GRK39F


Wi-Fi MAC address: unavailable
Bluetooth address: unavailable

When I turn on WiFi it says Error, when I turn on Bluetooth it just keeps trying to turn on.

I rooted my phone following a tutorial on nexusshacks.com or something? It was the first google search result with a video tutorial. I installed CM7 and it was working fine then randomly two days ago, the WiFi stopped working. I've searched for fixes the past two days and now my phone is running stock 2.3.6 and is locked (not rooted, or unrooted?) and it still has the problem. This was the only fix I found suggested (other than buy a new phone :( )

Any suggestions? I'm new to it all so the kernal and img things might need some explaining.

Thanks in advance, hope I've given enough information.

[frutelaken]

I rooted my phone following a tutorial on nexusshacks.com or something? It was the first google search result with a video tutorial. I installed CM7 and it was working fine then randomly two days ago, the WiFi stopped working. I've searched for fixes the past two days and now my phone is running stock 2.3.6 and is locked (not rooted, or unrooted?) and it still has the problem. This was the only fix I found suggested (other than buy a new phone :( )

What do you mean by 'the Wi-Fi stopped working'? Can you still see access points or can't you enable it anymore at all in the settings? Or is it connecting to an access point but failing to connect to the Internet after that...?

Greetz

[SeanTNL]

What do you mean by 'the Wi-Fi stopped working'? Can you still see access points or can't you enable it anymore at all in the settings? Or is it connecting to an access point but failing to connect to the Internet after that...?

Greetz

When I tick the WiFi box to enable WiFi, it says Turning on... which lasts for about 10 seconds or something and then the text underneath WiFi says Error.

Like

Settings> Wireless & networks is like this


Airplane mode []
Disable all wireless connections

WiFi []
Error

Wi-Fi settings
Set up & manage wireless access points

(the following in grey)Bluetooth []
Turning on...(/end grey)

Bluetooth settings
Manage connections, set device name & discoverability


etc etc, I'd post a screenshot but I can't until I have 8 posts apparently.

In About Phone > Status the Wi-Fi MAC address is "Unavailable" as is the Bluetooth address.

[SeanTNL]

Ended up locking it and taking it back to Carphone Warehouse (best buy in US). No idea how to fix it, couldn't find any help like anywhere on the net. Via anything.

If anyone finds this thread through Google (like I did) and you solve it, please post and let folk know.

[jerkwagon]

im also having this same problem, please let me know.

[Suen]

my i9023 exactly the same with #65 freind 'SeanTNL''s.
Searched all Chinese forum that might help and failed,now to English ones..:o