Samsung tablet WIFI problem (Paging Rshea to the courtesy phone)

[Ripzalot]

i'm about to lose it with this problem. i've got a Samsung S2 tablet which intermittently drops the wifi connection. it happens about every 15 minutes or so after some heavy link clicking. noteably in apps like TapaTalk and FB when you click a link and it opens Youtube or Chrome or whatever other app. then i get a not connected error. i have to go into settings and turn off/on the wifi to fix the problem. the strange thing is that this only happens on my home wifi. when i travel and use a hotel or friend's wifi, never an issue. to make matters stranger, i have a samsung phone, ipad, iphone, laptop, desktop computer, an amazon fire stick and an xbox, all that NEVER drop connections. it's only this damn tablet. i've done a full factory reset on it and reloaded only necessary apps, and it still does this same shit.

ideas? besides flinging it out the window into traffic.

thanks!

[reckless toboggan]

Turn the Tab off.

Hold the Power, Home and Volume Up buttons together until you see the Samsung logo and then release. This launches the Android system recovery mode.

Tap the Volume Down button to scroll down the list of options and then select ‘Wipe Cache Partition’ by pressing the Power button.

With the cache wiped, restart the device and see if the issue has been fixed.





Alternatively, it could be that your modem/hub is juggling too many devices, and booting your tablet off to connect other devices to update emails etc,... if you have a lot of devices connected (desktop, laptop, phone, tablet, Xbox, and all of your families other electronic items add up quick), especially if it's an older modem. I think this is more likely given all the devices you have.

[RShea]

First question is if it only happens on your home router, is the issue always following the device (ie you are not always using the tablet say in the same room that is further away from the router than the other devices. I'd load up wifi analyzer app on the tablet and walk around and see what it shows for signal and info. This also will tell you which channel you are on and if there are neighbors or others around you using the same channel (in which case - if this is an older Wireless N router set it on the clearest least used of either Channel 1, 6, or 11)

Only other thing could be just something about your router and this tablet. How old is the router? I know you said your phone and other devices are working and not dropping signal, but even the new AC series routers have come down in price (especially if you look at sales and clearances) and see if in fact a new router helps out. Otherwise, could just be something getting flaky in the tablet antenna or wifi chipset since the other devices are working.

[Ripzalot]

I wiped the cache partition and cant get it to fail now. But wouldn't the factory reset have done the same? I had the problem immediately after doing that.

There could be other factors at play. There are lots of wifi signals in my apartment building and from the ones next door. I had gone thru the channel sniffing a while back and set mine to the least used. But now somehow it's on 1 and that's a heavily used channel. I definitely never set it there myself. Maybe my router is crappie and does that after a restart? It's a Swisscom supplied N router, I forgot the orig manufacturer, it's been rebranded as Swisscom. But I only got it last year after much too long on my really old G router which started to fail.

So I'll play with this for a few days and see what happens.

Thanks doods!

[RShea]

Oh, I missed that you are Euro, so there are likely more channels since it is the USA that limits the 2.4 GHz to frequencies that end up only being 1-11. Euro goes up through channel 14 so you maybe better off checking to see if your router auto assigns the channel and if it does turn that off and monitor it yourself periodically.

[Ripzalot]

Oh, I missed that you are Euro, so there are likely more channels since it is the USA that limits the 2.4 GHz to frequencies that end up only being 1-11. Euro goes up through channel 14 so you maybe better off checking to see if your router auto assigns the channel and if it does turn that off and monitor it yourself periodically.

Holy crap my Internet just got a lot faster. Everything was set to automatic. New setup screens. They must have done a firmware upgrade. Moved 2.4ghz band to channel 13. Enabled 20/40. Enabled 5ghz dual band and put that on 112.

Question, I have a cable box that puts out a wifi signal whether I use it or not (I dont, it's shitty cablecom). Apparently there is no way to disable it. When I change my (swisscom) router channel, it also follows my router to that channel. Any idea how that works? If I could get that disabled my router would be all alone in the 13 channel.

[RShea]

Holy crap my Internet just got a lot faster. Everything was set to automatic. New setup screens. They must have done a firmware upgrade. Moved 2.4ghz band to channel 13. Enabled 20/40. Enabled 5ghz dual band and put that on 112.

Question, I have a cable box that puts out a wifi signal whether I use it or not (I dont, it's shitty cablecom). Apparently there is no way to disable it. When I change my (swisscom) router channel, it also follows my router to that channel. Any idea how that works? If I could get that disabled my router would be all alone in the 13 channel.

Can you go to channel 14? (first and last are usually the best for reduced overlap (but again I have never worked on Euro standard stuff) If there is no way to disable the wifi on the cable modem/router (here in the US with Time Warner- you have to call them and have them disable the wifi if you have your own router), then I would have a serious conversation with the Swisscom support people about which modem can you get that has ONLY modem and not a router/wifi/modem combination. Sorry I can't be more specific, but again in the USA you are allowed to go purchase your own Docsis 3.0 modem ($40 to 100 depending on the model and brand) and plug it in and give the cable company back their modem that they typically rent to you for $8 or so dollars a month. Also if there is any discussion on this on forums like DSLReports.com forums or Euro internet specific forums like that maybe someone else has run into this and would have the answer.

[Ripzalot]

Can you go to channel 14? (first and last are usually the best for reduced overlap (but again I have never worked on Euro standard stuff) If there is no way to disable the wifi on the cable modem/router (here in the US with Time Warner- you have to call them and have them disable the wifi if you have your own router), then I would have a serious conversation with the Swisscom support people about which modem can you get that has ONLY modem and not a router/wifi/modem combination. Sorry I can't be more specific, but again in the USA you are allowed to go purchase your own Docsis 3.0 modem ($40 to 100 depending on the model and brand) and plug it in and give the cable company back their modem that they typically rent to you for $8 or so dollars a month. Also if there is any discussion on this on forums like DSLReports.com forums or Euro internet specific forums like that maybe someone else has run into this and would have the answer.

It only goes to channel 13. Here's the wifi analyzer stats below. On channel 13 you see a upc one (my cable box) which is stronger than my swisscom router (pwa-.....). Ps..it's 245 am so a lot of other signals have dropped out the chart for 2.4. 5ghz seems to be less used around me.

Cablecom is my cable provider. I use swisscom for internet. . I don't think i need a new router now that I've sorted out the speed issue and the wifi drop seems to have gone with the tablet cache clear. I was just wondering how one box would "follow" the channel change of the other. I don't have any access to the internals of the cable box wifi settings, but it's channel changed after changing the Swisscom router. I may call cablecom to see if they can disable their box's wifi. First I'm testing out by unplugging the cable box to temp get rid of its signal. I haven't noticed any difference.

[RShea]

Channel 14 maybe only Japan, so do not worry about the last channel. I would also test the router down at channel 1 and see if any difference. Again though you said many signals had dropped. Only reason I state channel 1 is because of Bloc F5 is sitting over top of your signal on Channel 11 and you are just as strong as the UPC-WiFree sitting on 1. But if more SSID's show up during the day and 13 is still pretty clear, then you should be good. 5 GHz has many more channels and should not be as much of a problem. Your speed on it may also improve, but it does not travel as far of distance compared to 2.4 GHz.

Also a trick I have done before is if the Cablecom box has screw on antennas and you can remove the antennas, it is almost as good as having the Cable company techs disable the wifi.

[reckless toboggan]

I wiped the cache partition and cant get it to fail now. But wouldn't the factory reset have done the same?

It's a common Samsung "quirk" when you are having Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection, scanning, recognition, or dropping issues.

For some reason, unknown to me, the factory restore doesn't clear it. In fact, on some Samsungs, they come from the factory brand new out of the box, unable to connect to Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi and clearing the cache partition actually makes them work. So could be the factory coding is to blame.

[Ripzalot]

thanks again guys! not only does my tablet work now but my internet is many times faster.

i think what happened with the router is the firmware update occurred in the middle of the night, defaulted to automatic, and selected channel 1 because probably fewer other routers were online at the time (swiss are very green and probably have an automatic power off set for overnight). then they all come online in the morning and there goes the performance. channel 13 seems to be working great. no extenal anntennae on the cable box. doesn't seem to be a problem though.

[Ripzalot]

mother fucker i got that tablet issue again already. is there anyways to automatically clear the cache partition automatically?

i found how to disable my cablebox wifi. what a PITA. would have been so nice just to include an on/off switch on the box. but it doesn't seem to make much or any difference so far.

question: what causes all the variations in signal strength? my neighbor's Bloc F5 signal comes in stronger than mine sometimes and my router is sitting 10 feet away from me with an unobstructed view. i assume it's my upstairs neighbors and they have to signal through solid concrete/rebar a wood floor and my ceiling. would it help if i lined my ceiling with tinfoil?

[RShea]

There are a number of cache clean up utilities out there on Google Play. Do not know if any of them offer a paid version that could be scheduled to run periodically or not. I'd try one of the higher rated free versions (should take like a minute or 2 to manually do it) and then see if the wifi reconnects.

As for the signal strength of the Bloc F5- any way of finding out which brand and model of the router? Could be a newer AC model or something like that.

[Ripzalot]

Vibes man and I feel ya cuz I got the tablet issue too. After studying this thread, all I understood was the above. I thank the steve jobs everyday my IPad performs flawlessly cuz my Surface Pro may get thrown down the stairs someday for being such a bitch about wifi penetration.

I bought the Samsung to replace my old iPad 2 which was great for while but the ios 9 updates killed it. Seemed like planned obsolence so that put me off another iPad. That and I loathe the fact that Apple does not have a simple USB port, memory card support, or easy battery replacement. The Samsung worked fine for the first year or so and just the last few months started flaking on me.

[Ripzalot]

There are a number of cache clean up utilities out there on Google Play. Do not know if any of them offer a paid version that could be scheduled to run periodically or not. I'd try one of the higher rated free versions (should take like a minute or 2 to manually do it) and then see if the wifi reconnects.

As for the signal strength of the Bloc F5- any way of finding out which brand and model of the router? Could be a newer AC model or something like that.

I'm gonna go around with my wifi sniffer apps and knock on some doors. I'm sure there are others with cable boxes who are probably not even using their cable wifi, like me.

[Ripzalot]

i found how to disable my cablebox wifi. what a PITA. would have been so nice just to include an on/off switch on the box. but it doesn't seem to make much or any difference so far.

Mother Fucker x1000. So apparently the rabbit hole was deeper than I thought. I disabled the cable box wifi, thought I was good, then it came back. It seems that in order for it to be able to connect to my PC as a client for streaming, it must have its own wifi enabled. Once I reconfigure to connect to my PC, the wifi comes back on and on the same damn channel as my Internet router. So the workaround is to discontinue using my cable box for streaming and just use the fire stick. Which is fine because the fire stick actually works better.

But after downloading and running and subsequently uninstalling a few cache cleaning apps, the Samsung problem is back in full force. I think I'm going to do a full system rest one more time just to check now that I have the router issues resolved.

[RShea]

I would ask WHY the heck you can't just set the TV box wifi to a static channel of your choice? Sounds like a really bad design that when it is enabled, it sits on top of your internet wifi. If you turn that box off completely for testing, I wonder if your Samsung connection will get any better? If it does not then I have to say it is probably the tablet.

[Ripzalot]

I would ask WHY the heck you can't just set the TV box wifi to a static channel of your choice? Sounds like a really bad design that when it is enabled, it sits on top of your internet wifi. If you turn that box off completely for testing, I wonder if your Samsung connection will get any better? If it does not then I have to say it is probably the tablet.

that's really going to be difficult. cablecom has the shittiest customer service of the telecoms in switz. i don't even want to try to get into this level of tech detail with them. at the moment, putting the cablecom wifi on channel 1 and not using their crappy box for streaming is working fine. amazon fire stick + kodi works great.

i should probably not jinx it but the samsung problem has gone away again. i went on a jihad on my installed apps and removed everything that i don't use, including a bunch of preinstalled apps that give warnings about uninstalling. i figure if it stops working i can just do the factory reset again. after uninstalling a bunch of crap, the issue seems to have cleared.