For those who are having signal issues, Samsung is deliberately crippling the devices

[-BoneZ-]

TLDR:
--------
Samsung is crippling the radios and audio in the name of "safety" and "protecting the end user". Sending mine back to Samsung.

I've seen many posts on here about signal issues, both WiFi and Cell. This post will delve into some specifics. And sorry in advance that this is a long read.

Background
-----------------
Firstly, some background: I bought my first Samsung and first Note, the Note 2 and thoroughly loved the device. I've had every Note except the Note 1, Note 4 (used the Google Nexus 6 which I still have) and the Note 9 (used a OnePlus 7 Pro, which I still have). I absolutely love the Note series with the large beautiful screen, excellent cameras and of course the Pen.

So after using my Note 8 for a year and a half, I decided to try something different than Samsung because I was tired of the poor cell signal and WiFi signal. I decided to get a OnePlus 7 Pro since that company and phone has been so hyped. Well, the hype is definitely real. The phone is super-fast with little to no lag.

What I don't like or care for the most about the 7 Pro is the ugly rounded corners (besides the mediocre camera). I've always loved the square(er) corners of the Note. And when I saw the Note 10+ in a store recently and touched it, I had to have one. I got it in 3 days and wow what a sight to behold! The screen is just absolutely heavenly.

Cell Signal
----------------
I noticed immediately while driving around with the Note 10+, my music was constantly buffering. I thought it had to do with some kind of battery optimization for the app as to why music would stop playing and keep buffering. But I had already taken care of that in the settings.

Then when I took my Note to work is when it was really noticeable. I work on the second floor offices at my job. My OnePlus has excellent cell signal. Almost always 2-3 bars (and when I'm outside, 4 full bars as the tower is nearby apparently) and easily able to stream music without issue. My Note? Nothing! For at least half the day every day, I had zero signal sitting at my desk in the same spot as I do with my OnePlus 7 Pro. The Note would just say (Emergency Calls Only - No Signal). That was infuriating. Especially with a tower nearby, and my other phone has no signal issues.

WiFI Signal
-----------------
The second place I notice signal issues is with WiFi. I keep my WiFi strength turned down to keep the RF exposure low, and to keep from broadcasting my WiFi across the whole neighborhood. With my OnePlus 7 Pro, I get 2-3 bars of WiFi in my garage and the WiFi takes about 10-seconds to connect. With the Note 10+, it literally takes minutes to connect to my WiFi in the garage, barely getting 1-bar, once in a while jumping up to 2 bars then back to 1. And I realize that "number of bars don't matter", but they actually do. It's just a cop-out, and proven that they do have some significance.

Comparison
-----------------
Now I want to make something clear for those who don't know. Both the OnePlus 7 Pro and the Note 10+ use the same exact Snapdragon 855 SoC. As you'll see in the image HERE, the Snapdragon SoC has (among other things) the Cell radio and the BT/WiFi radios all built into the chip. And if one would look at the spec sheets for the 855 and earlier Qualcomm chips, you'd see that the radios get more powerful year after year.

I was blown away going from the garbage radios on the Note 8 to the amazing radios on the OnePlus 7 Pro. Absolutely never any cell or WiFi issues, ever. I figured that since the radios on the Qualcomm chips get more powerful every year, that the Note 10+ would be a giant step up from the radios on the Note 8. Boy was I wrong.

Samsung Crippling the Radios
--------------------------------------------
That brings me to Samsung deliberately crippling these devices. The FCC has specific regulations regarding exposure to RF radiation from phones. So Samsung is turning down the power of the Cell and WiFi radios so much to keep well below the guidelines and the RF radiation lower. But this is also crippling the device. It's keeping the device from doing it's number one job: being a phone!

Samsung Crippling the Audio
------------------------------------------
Samsung has also chosen to cripple listening to music also. Just even touching the EQ one tick above the -0- line and the volume is literally cut in half. Good luck trying to listen to headphones with any kind of volume. If you go just one tick below the -0- line, then the volume gets cut about a quarter. So half of the half. Samsung does this to "protect your hearing" so that you don't listen to music too loudly.

My OnePlus 7 is not like that with the same EQ and same Dolby Atmos. The volume barely wavers at all while adjusting the EQ, and the sound is loud and it actually sounds significantly better than my Note 10.

Conclusion
----------------
I have two devices with virtually identical hardware. One works as it should with excellent Cell and WiFi signal and great EQ sound, while the other is being crippled to protect the user from too much RF radiation or too loud of sound.

Samsung has become like Apple: restricting or constricting how you use your devices. Now if you live in a large city where you are surrounded by cell towers and WiFi everywhere, then you'll likely not notice much of the cell signal or WiFi issue. Those of us who live in smaller cities or towns where the coverage is more sparse, we need that extra radio power that Qualcomm already provides so that our devices do what they are first and foremost intended to do: be a working phone.

I am very upset and disappointed to see Samsung has crippled these devices all in the name of "protecting the end user". So as much as I would love to have that gorgeous screen with me all the time, I'm going to have to settle for my 7 Pro: a device that actually works and isn't being crippled. That also teaches me to never buy a Samsung device again for the foreseeable future, if ever again.

I'd love to see a class-action lawsuit against Samsung for crippling their devices. These things are the most expensive Android devices on the planet. They should not have anything crippled on them for that price.

 

[winol]

Well, that may be your experience, I travel a lot by car and, only in some really isolated areas is where I loose signal, you see, It is very different for everyone, I use cellphones since 1990, and I have seen a lot

 

[scottusa2008]

I've had several brands of phones over the years.. recently every Samsung device I have bought (galaxy s8+, s9+, note 10+) only had signal issues due to insufficient carrier coverage.

None of the phones had issues of signal crippling. I have had Motorola, Nokia, iPhone, Samsung devices and outside of a phone having manufacturer defect (or bad antenna placement) they all worked the same signal and performance wise. Only the carrier i was using and how well they covered my area was what impacted signal quality.

 

[winol]

I've had several brands of phones over the years.. recently every Samsung device I have bought (galaxy s8+, s9+, note 10+) only had signal issues due to insufficient carrier coverage.

None of the phones had issues of signal crippling. I have had Motorola, Nokia, iPhone, Samsung devices and outside of a phone having manufacturer defect (or bad antenna placement) they all worked the same signal and performance wise. Only the carrier i was using and how well they covered my area was what impacted signal quality.

Exactly, carrier coverage/quality is what almost always determine how well you can use a device, just in some few cases, hadware or software, underperform or are sub-par

 

[coilbio]

I completely agree with this, that's why root was so important to fix things.

Samsung and apple are basically the same in controlling their hardware and software, one just gets more flak for it and I don't see Samsung changing because people don't have other devices, they buy only Samsung like people only buy apple.

They have their set market and try to do the best they can so they don't get sued.

My one plus is way better at everything than my n10+5g except for camera, but I hate how ugly oneplus phones are so it's sticks to 3rd line backup duties behind my Xperia .

 

[Nastrahl]

About cell signal : I agree that they have to comply to safety regulations, but since it's 2 W/kg here, why the device only make 0.187 if they are authorized to do more for a better signal ?

Or maybe i don't understand how it isv actually working?

 

[Collin80]

About cell signal : I agree that they have to comply to safety regulations, but since it's 2 W/kg here, why the device only make 0.187 if they are authorized to do more for a better signal ?

Or maybe i don't understand how it isv actually working?

Do you suppose that wireless radios use perpetual motion engines to output as much power as you want for free? Or, perhaps does the battery have to provide that power? The likely answer for why they limit the output power so much is that high output kills your battery. Then people would be complaining about poor on-time for the phone. So, they have a delicate line to walk here. You want enough power that the phone works but you want low enough power that it doesn't eat the battery in 3 hours. Also, recently quite a few drooling idiots have gotten up in arms about how wireless radiation causes all manner of ailments. So, I'll bet they'd not like to be known as the manufacturer who gives people brain cancer, ruined cakes, rain on your birthday, sterility, the walking farts, and foul smelling discharges.

 

[winol]

The fact is: the phones use whatever power needs to connect within certain regulated limits, that's it, the carriers are the ones that have the more difficult task in providing the signal as best as possible, which is indeed somewhat complicated for some geographical situations

 

[itzik_man]

Hardware and none optimized firmware in general have an impact on the quality of the phone signal, (modem, antenna and others) and off coarse some apps running in the background of the phone. Nevertheless, it's minimal in comparison to the impact caused by the carriers network regulations, network bands assignment, cell towers distance and users traffic. the unsubstantiated claim that Samsung is deliberately crippling our phones signal strange, is nonsense! (It didn't stop Apple from slowing down some old iPhones, not theirs signal)

 

[winol]

Exactly itzik

 

[coilbio]

You guys are trying to rationalize and keep buying Samsungs constraints.

Like I said. My Xperia and OnePlus has better signal and is louder, especially speaker and Bluetooth music than my n10+, my note 9 is rooted so viper4android helps but its signal and call quality has always been the worst.

I carry 3 phones with me, needless to say the ones I need for talk with clarity are not my note10+

It's a shame really that other manufacturers have the exact same signal and loudness constraints Samsung does but can achieve more refinement all the while being smaller than Samsung at that

 

[Nastrahl]

Do you suppose that wireless radios use perpetual motion engines to output as much power as you want for free? Or, perhaps does the battery have to provide that power? The likely answer for why they limit the output power so much is that high output kills your battery. Then people would be complaining about poor on-time for the phone. So, they have a delicate line to walk here. You want enough power that the phone works but you want low enough power that it doesn't eat the battery in 3 hours. Also, recently quite a few drooling idiots have gotten up in arms about how wireless radiation causes all manner of ailments. So, I'll bet they'd not like to be known as the manufacturer who gives people brain cancer, ruined cakes, rain on your birthday, sterility, the walking farts, and foul smelling discharges.

No I suppose that if the limit is 2, make it use 2 for the sake of having signal in bad coverage areas (like where I live because of the metal roof of the train station nearby [official statement about why signal is bad]), and not 0.187 max.



Make it dynamically use less when in call by the use of proximity sensor if it detects your body, or something like that, and use its full potential for tethering or when nothing is detected by the proximity sensor (for tethering by example) or at home because you can charge it whenever you want ; etc.

 

[Matt8504]

I have note10+ exynos variant, and also amazingly good Huawei p20. I read a lot about the signal issues on note10. I compared the 2 device, same operator. There is a difference between them, definitely. But strangely mostly on signal values. Huawei p20 showed between 2 and 10 dBm better signal reception. But if you start a speedtest, note10+ is faster or the same compared to p20 both on 2x2 network.
Also WiFi module performed better on note10+. A was able to stay connected to very low signal wifi, when p20 couldn't connect at all. However note10 doesn't show low signal wifi. It shows and detect only very high signal networks. But if you already saved the network ssid, you may have chance to stay connected even on low signal.
The biggest problem ive found on note10 is faster modem overheating and throttling on low signal reception. Otherwise is still amazing device.
I also get pen interference on some lte network sites, the pen constantly disconnected on some places using lte 1800 mhz.

 

[nikolis2000]

at my job at places that with my mate 20 pro i had 1-2 wifi bars now my note 10+ and my previous s10+ doenst even "see" the wifi. it doenst find any networks

 

[winol]

The original intention of OP was to say that samsung devices are deliberately capped down, which honestly, is absurd, differences between different devices are obviously to be expected

 

[scottusa2008]

TLDR:
--------
Samsung is crippling the radios and audio in the name of "safety" and "protecting the end user". Sending mine back to Samsung.

I've seen many posts on here about signal issues, both WiFi and Cell. This post will delve into some specifics. And sorry in advance that this is a long read.

Much appreciated you went into specifics on your reasoning.. Makes it better to get an understanding and discussion going over what someone is saying. That being said, I wanted to reply to some of what your posting with my own observations/understandings as well (in addition to my previous reply). Took me a bit longer to make this reply, had to do some research on a few things first (wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding a few details) and work has been a bit chaotic due to recent events.

So after using my Note 8 for a year and a half, I decided to try something different than Samsung because I was tired of the poor cell signal and WiFi signal. I decided to get a OnePlus 7 Pro since that company and phone has been so hyped. Well, the hype is definitely real. The phone is super-fast with little to no lag.

I have used other phones by other manufacturers with varying degrees of responsiveness. So far my note 10+ hasn't let me down with the settings at the max they can go. I do not get any lag and I have ran some rather intensive applications on the phone (as well as multiple apps that use constant data connections). Lately I've been running a total launcher theme that while impressive has multiple active parts.. Zero lag but I will admit a little bit of a hit to battery performance. Given the sci-fi nature of the theme I am totally ok with that, the phone still lasts all day on a single charge.

Now if we had a higher refresh rate on our screens... Oh that would be totally fantastic.


The EQ thing you mentioned, I haven't ran into yet but I can try it later and see if it happens. Mostly I leave my settings on whatever defaults are and dolby atmos turned on. Generally I have to turn down the volume because what movies and music I play sound pretty dang good that the bass tends to get a bit to much.

I noticed immediately while driving around with the Note 10+, my music was constantly buffering. I thought it had to do with some kind of battery optimization for the app as to why music would stop playing and keep buffering. But I had already taken care of that in the settings.

Then when I took my Note to work is when it was really noticeable. I work on the second floor offices at my job. My OnePlus has excellent cell signal. Almost always 2-3 bars (and when I'm outside, 4 full bars as the tower is nearby apparently) and easily able to stream music without issue. My Note? Nothing! For at least half the day every day, I had zero signal sitting at my desk in the same spot as I do with my OnePlus 7 Pro. The Note would just say (Emergency Calls Only - No Signal). That was infuriating. Especially with a tower nearby, and my other phone has no signal issues.

Three things I'm finding with your analysis that are troubling...

First - Signal bars. They are not actual measurements of signal power but graphical representations via algorithm for us (being the end user) of what the phone signal quality is like from the cell tower to our phone. Because of the various chipsets and components no absolute definitive measurement exists, so it's not all universally the same across each phone manufacturer. This means what is shown as one bar on a phone made by one company will be presented differently (maybe 2 or 3) on another made by another.

Of course if you want to get into the nitty gritty details signal strength information like RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and the quality of signal (RSRQ) and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)... These measurements are what the cell tower is transmitting to the phone, and what are shown (via an algorithm) as the signal bars. We can access this by dialing *#0011# into the phone dialer.

Second - If Samsung were "crippling" the phone's radio power then they could only do it on what the phone transmits... They can't control the power of the signal the phone is receiving from the cell tower.

Third - If your having buffering issues that is because something is interfering with the cell signal from the tower to your phone. This can be any number of things and it is true that some phone's seem to handle it a bit better... But none of that has to do with the phone's transmitting power.

The second place I notice signal issues is with WiFi. I keep my WiFi strength turned down to keep the RF exposure low, and to keep from broadcasting my WiFi across the whole neighborhood. With my OnePlus 7 Pro, I get 2-3 bars of WiFi in my garage and the WiFi takes about 10-seconds to connect. With the Note 10+, it literally takes minutes to connect to my WiFi in the garage, barely getting 1-bar, once in a while jumping up to 2 bars then back to 1. And I realize that "number of bars don't matter", but they actually do. It's just a cop-out, and proven that they do have some significance.

I have some serious concerns with the pattern of logic your using. You keep saying that the phone's are crippled but your premise on WiFi and Cell signal examples are based on what the phone is receiving and not transmitting.

Still lets say that the signal bar for your WiFi connections include the phone's transmitting power... You have already indicated you limit the power output of your router, but have you tried turning it up a little to see if the signal stabilizes? You can have the TX power at it's max without issue so long as your WiFi connection is secured with a password.

Have you changed channels on the router to less populated one? How about re-orientate the antennas (if applicable, some don't have external antennas)... I did this with my WiFi 6 router after I bought it and have some pretty rock solid connections. I didn't at first, so it maybe worth trying for you?

You can also try turning off any power saving settings on the phone. You can also try toggling off the setting in developer options that prefers stable wifi over performance. If for some reason it is already turned off then try turning it on.

I did notice the time it takes to connect to an access point and what maybe is a longer wifi scanning interval. I've gone through the phone and have not found a setting that can change this yet. Still if it takes a few seconds longer to connect then I guess it takes a few seconds longer, so long as it connects to the wifi router.

Now I want to make something clear for those who don't know. Both the OnePlus 7 Pro and the Note 10+ use the same exact Snapdragon 855 SoC. As you'll see in the image HERE, the Snapdragon SoC has (among other things) the Cell radio and the BT/WiFi radios all built into the chip. And if one would look at the spec sheets for the 855 and earlier Qualcomm chips, you'd see that the radios get more powerful year after year.

Understood, but more then chipsets are involved in matters like this

That brings me to Samsung deliberately crippling these devices. The FCC has specific regulations regarding exposure to RF radiation from phones. So Samsung is turning down the power of the Cell and WiFi radios so much to keep well below the guidelines and the RF radiation lower. But this is also crippling the device. It's keeping the device from doing it's number one job: being a phone!

Again some problems with the way this is all sounding...

The FCC regulations are about the transmitting power of the radios in our phones. The FCC also has regulations for transmitting power for cell towers.

So if Samsung follows the regulations they can only do so for what the phone transmits... Which again has no impact, bearing or relation to what the cell tower is transmitting to the phone.

 

[winol]

Exactly man! You nailed it! Hopefully OP has a better understanding now

 

[coilbio]

Much appreciated you went into specifics on your reasoning.. Makes it better to get an understanding and discussion going over what someone is saying. That being said, I wanted to reply to some of what your posting with my own observations/understandings as well (in addition to my previous reply). Took me a bit longer to make this reply, had to do some research on a few things first (wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding a few details) and work has been a bit chaotic due to recent events.




I have used other phones by other manufacturers with varying degrees of responsiveness. So far my note 10+ hasn't let me down with the settings at the max they can go. I do not get any lag and I have ran some rather intensive applications on the phone (as well as multiple apps that use constant data connections). Lately I've been running a total launcher theme that while impressive has multiple active parts.. Zero lag but I will admit a little bit of a hit to battery performance. Given the sci-fi nature of the theme I am totally ok with that, the phone still lasts all day on a single charge.

Now if we had a higher refresh rate on our screens... Oh that would be totally fantastic.


The EQ thing you mentioned, I haven't ran into yet but I can try it later and see if it happens. Mostly I leave my settings on whatever defaults are and dolby atmos turned on. Generally I have to turn down the volume because what movies and music I play sound pretty dang good that the bass tends to get a bit to much.





Three things I'm finding with your analysis that are troubling...

First - Signal bars. They are not actual measurements of signal power but graphical representations via algorithm for us (being the end user) of what the phone signal quality is like from the cell tower to our phone. Because of the various chipsets and components no absolute definitive measurement exists, so it's not all universally the same across each phone manufacturer. This means what is shown as one bar on a phone made by one company will be presented differently (maybe 2 or 3) on another made by another.

Of course if you want to get into the nitty gritty details signal strength information like RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and the quality of signal (RSRQ) and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)... These measurements are what the cell tower is transmitting to the phone, and what are shown (via an algorithm) as the signal bars. We can access this by dialing *#0011# into the phone dialer.

Second - If Samsung were "crippling" the phone's radio power then they could only do it on what the phone transmits... They can't control the power of the signal the phone is receiving from the cell tower.

Third - If your having buffering issues that is because something is interfering with the cell signal from the tower to your phone. This can be any number of things and it is true that some phone's seem to handle it a bit better... But none of that has to do with the phone's transmitting power.




I have some serious concerns with the pattern of logic your using. You keep saying that the phone's are crippled but your premise on WiFi and Cell signal examples are based on what the phone is receiving and not transmitting.

Still lets say that the signal bar for your WiFi connections include the phone's transmitting power... You have already indicated you limit the power output of your router, but have you tried turning it up a little to see if the signal stabilizes? You can have the TX power at it's max without issue so long as your WiFi connection is secured with a password.

Have you changed channels on the router to less populated one? How about re-orientate the antennas (if applicable, some don't have external antennas)... I did this with my WiFi 6 router after I bought it and have some pretty rock solid connections. I didn't at first, so it maybe worth trying for you?

You can also try turning off any power saving settings on the phone. You can also try toggling off the setting in developer options that prefers stable wifi over performance. If for some reason it is already turned off then try turning it on.

I did notice the time it takes to connect to an access point and what maybe is a longer wifi scanning interval. I've gone through the phone and have not found a setting that can change this yet. Still if it takes a few seconds longer to connect then I guess it takes a few seconds longer, so long as it connects to the wifi router.





Understood, but more then chipsets are involved in matters like this





Again some problems with the way this is all sounding...

The FCC regulations are about the transmitting power of the radios in our phones. The FCC also has regulations for transmitting power for cell towers.

So if Samsung follows the regulations they can only do so for what the phone transmits... Which again has no impact, bearing or relation to what the cell tower is transmitting to the phone.

I think everything you say falls flat when other devices perform better right next to a Samsung device with all those scenarios and parameters involved.

No matter what scenario you throw at it, another device in the same position doesn't have the problem Samsungs do. I have many phones and tablets on the same networks that perform where Samsung lags and hangs.

That's the point, not that there's rules and regulations that EVERYONE follows, it's that Samsung chooses to not optimize as well as other manufacturers, which to be honest has been the same story since their Android adoption.

We just all forgot because the hardware almost overcomes the software limitations to be barely good enough.

Also all hardware is basically the same now, just rearranged differently inside phones but to the same manufacturer specs and connections or else the built in fail-safes won't let them work, so then what does that leave as the real issue?

 

[winol]

You talk ad if ALL samsung devices are vastly inferior relating the topic here, which clearly is not true, as scottusa said, every single user obtain different results due to many factors, in my family, there are 3 different brands of devices in use, samsung, huawei and apple, on some ocasions one of them performs better than the others, and other times it doesn't, not a single one performs always better than the others, that clearly indicates that more factors are involved, not that samsung does a utterly bad job optimizing the devices, this is my experience, you colibio may have haf a very different and bad one, but by no means it reflects absolutely what the rest of the users get, you may see some number of complains about any issue, right, but, users in these forums are in reality a tiny minority, and, as many have some degree of knowledge about these topics, they tend to maximize and demand all sorts of things

 

[coilbio]

Much appreciated you went into specifics on your reasoning.. Makes it better to get an understanding and discussion going over what someone is saying. That being said, I wanted to reply to some of what your posting with my own observations/understandings as well (in addition to my previous reply). Took me a bit longer to make this reply, had to do some research on a few things first (wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding a few details) and work has been a bit chaotic due to recent events.




I have used other phones by other manufacturers with varying degrees of responsiveness. So far my note 10+ hasn't let me down with the settings at the max they can go. I do not get any lag and I have ran some rather intensive applications on the phone (as well as multiple apps that use constant data connections). Lately I've been running a total launcher theme that while impressive has multiple active parts.. Zero lag but I will admit a little bit of a hit to battery performance. Given the sci-fi nature of the theme I am totally ok with that, the phone still lasts all day on a single charge.

Now if we had a higher refresh rate on our screens... Oh that would be totally fantastic.


The EQ thing you mentioned, I haven't ran into yet but I can try it later and see if it happens. Mostly I leave my settings on whatever defaults are and dolby atmos turned on. Generally I have to turn down the volume because what movies and music I play sound pretty dang good that the bass tends to get a bit to much.





Three things I'm finding with your analysis that are troubling...

First - Signal bars. They are not actual measurements of signal power but graphical representations via algorithm for us (being the end user) of what the phone signal quality is like from the cell tower to our phone. Because of the various chipsets and components no absolute definitive measurement exists, so it's not all universally the same across each phone manufacturer. This means what is shown as one bar on a phone made by one company will be presented differently (maybe 2 or 3) on another made by another.

Of course if you want to get into the nitty gritty details signal strength information like RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and the quality of signal (RSRQ) and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)... These measurements are what the cell tower is transmitting to the phone, and what are shown (via an algorithm) as the signal bars. We can access this by dialing *#0011# into the phone dialer.

Second - If Samsung were "crippling" the phone's radio power then they could only do it on what the phone transmits... They can't control the power of the signal the phone is receiving from the cell tower.

Third - If your having buffering issues that is because something is interfering with the cell signal from the tower to your phone. This can be any number of things and it is true that some phone's seem to handle it a bit better... But none of that has to do with the phone's transmitting power.




I have some serious concerns with the pattern of logic your using. You keep saying that the phone's are crippled but your premise on WiFi and Cell signal examples are based on what the phone is receiving and not transmitting.

Still lets say that the signal bar for your WiFi connections include the phone's transmitting power... You have already indicated you limit the power output of your router, but have you tried turning it up a little to see if the signal stabilizes? You can have the TX power at it's max without issue so long as your WiFi connection is secured with a password.

Have you changed channels on the router to less populated one? How about re-orientate the antennas (if applicable, some don't have external antennas)... I did this with my WiFi 6 router after I bought it and have some pretty rock solid connections. I didn't at first, so it maybe worth trying for you?

You can also try turning off any power saving settings on the phone. You can also try toggling off the setting in developer options that prefers stable wifi over performance. If for some reason it is already turned off then try turning it on.

I did notice the time it takes to connect to an access point and what maybe is a longer wifi scanning interval. I've gone through the phone and have not found a setting that can change this yet. Still if it takes a few seconds longer to connect then I guess it takes a few seconds longer, so long as it connects to the wifi router.





Understood, but more then chipsets are involved in matters like this





Again some problems with the way this is all sounding...

The FCC regulations are about the transmitting power of the radios in our phones. The FCC also has regulations for transmitting power for cell towers.

So if Samsung follows the regulations they can only do so for what the phone transmits... Which again has no impact, bearing or relation to what the cell tower is transmitting to the phone.

You talk ad if ALL samsung devices are vastly inferior relating the topic here, which clearly is not true, as scottusa said, every single user obtain different results due to many factors, in my family, there are 3 different brands of devices in use, samsung, huawei and apple, on some ocasions one of them performs better than the others, and other times it doesn't, not a single one performs always better than the others, that clearly indicates that more factors are involved, not that samsung does a utterly bad job optimizing the devices, this is my experience, you colibio may have haf a very different and bad one, but by no means it reflects absolutely what the rest of the users get, you may see some number of complains about any issue, right, but, users in these forums are in reality a tiny minority, and, as many have some degree of knowledge about these topics, they tend to maximize and demand all sorts of things

Consumer ignorance and small report sample, because of consumer ignorance, creates an experience curve in favor of Samsung.
So because xda is more "tech savy", because there's more developers who maybe work in the tech industry, who probably have more means and more devices and get more use of said devices because of their interest/work/hobby/ECT, that means we have an unrealistic expectations when all were saying is that Samsung falls behind in it's product compared to it's peers.. wouldn't you want the tiny sample who maybe knows more to speak up about it?

Frankly maybe it's not just my experience, maybe I just know enough to admit Samsung software is garbage without root and Xposed to make it work right.

This is XDA, this is what we do here. We observe, we report and we try as best we can to fix issues with products costing over $1100 that frankly shouldn't be there.

Nobody should have an issue with data reported by OP, or myself or anyone for that matter, especially when you can look at our Dev section or modules and fixes that exist within our community that were created to fix these issues reported.

What better reflection of the problem than a community coming up with solutions and baking new software.

I really don't like when people can't speak up against the majority when it comes to problems, it seems like the minority are the only ones who are pushing development anyway.