Are Wifi and 3G Independent of One Another?

[droidsw]

Little something strange going on the past hour or so. Web pages are taking a long time to load. Sometimes, they time out and the "No Internet Connection" message pops up.

I shut off wifi and after about 15 seconds, "1X" popped up. After another 30 seconds, 3G finally popped up, with one (unreliable indicating) bar.

Web pages continue to load very slow (always have on 3G in my opinion), but more than normal.

I rebooted the phone and the router. No difference. Router signal is normal.

My question is IF there is tower work going on, would that affect both wifi and 3G? I'm thinking yes. And, that must be the issue, since they are both affected.

I could understand an issue with one or the other, but not both at the same time.

By "independent", I mean is the wifi performance based on the data (3G) signal "in the air" and merely a faster receiver than the 3G receiver in the phone?

So a phone problem with 3G would be superceded as the router would still perform normally and that would indicate that it's the phone and not the signal in my location?

No biggie (unless it remains an issue). I was just thinking about how the 3G vs wifi thing works and knew this is the place to ask.

And if anyone has any other thought why my data is so slow.

[Wildman]

Usually after you toggle one one the other takes a minute to establish a connection again but at times the phone does not do the transition well, usually toggling airplane mode resolves and if this doesn't work you can do a restart to resolve. 

Basically the device has to generate a new ip address when it switches from one connection to the other and some time this causes a issue with connection, this really isn't the devices issue but the web connection more than anything.

[droidsw]

Thanks wildman, but neither are working normally. Wifi is timing out and 3G is taking over a minute to load a page, including this one.

Does wifi use the phone's 3G receiver, or is there a separate wifi receiver inside the phone?

I've even done the *228 step with no improvement. Currently, my 3G is toggling between 3G and 1X.

[crb79]

---

droidsw wrote:
Thanks wildman, but neither are working normally. Wifi is timing out and 3G is taking over a minute to load a page, including this one.

Does wifi use the phone's 3G receiver, or is there a separate wifi receiver inside the phone?

I've even done the *228 step with no improvement. Currently, my 3G is toggling between 3G and 1X.

---

No, the EVDO Rev B radio does not allow Wifi, and visa-versa.  There is an actual independent WIFI radio in the phone.  In the past if you would open your browser on the VZW network, then open your Wifi connect the browser would stick with the VZW network.  I haven't tested this since the 2.2 update though.

[droidsw]

Thanks crb79. I really think it is a signal issue because both wifi and 3G are affected.

No change this morning. I will know when I get to work if this is something going on with the signal at home. Otherwise, my phone has big problems......

[ElPatoMysterio]

I'm "glad" to see someone else having this issue.  For the past few days the internet and apps that need the internet (USA Today, Facebook, etc.) have been going much slower than usual.  I haven't made any changes to my phone, and was getting concerned something major was going on.  I'll let it ride a few more days before I start to get worried...

[bearone21]

poor wi-fi signal and living in a remote area.

you don't list where you are so it's hard to speculate.

fwiw, i see 4 bars almost every place in phx and my home wi-fi is faster web page loading.

my home internet is a wired/wireless up to 15megbit connection.

[droidsw]

No, I didn't mention where. Dallas suburb.

Everything is back to normal this afternoon. Zooming right along, wifi and 3G.

[bearone21 · Accepted solution]

perhaps it was your service provider for internet on the wi-fi side.

[droidsw]

bearone, good point. Thanks.