S4 WiFI AC problem

longplay

SCH-I545

Blue Frost

4.3

I545VRUEMK2

Netgear Nighthawk

R7000

V1.0.2.194_1.0.15

Netgear

A6200

First day I got this phone it wanted to upgrade to 4.3 and I allowed it to. I didn't get any time using 4.2 with my equipment.

5G AC usually connects at 175Mbps and it will transfer data.

If I put a wall or 2 in the way I finally see 433Mbps and it will not transfer data.

Have other AC users gotten connections to work?

I had upgraded to 4.3 MK2 when it became available. I noticed no real differences.

Today I took the big step and completed a hard reset following the instructions at the support site using the preferred method. I chose not to use the automatic restore. Once the phone finished I allowed it restore contacts. It prompted to restore my settings and apps, but I made certain to uncheck this.

The 5G AC acts a little different but is still not what I expect it be.

5G AC usually sits around 175Mbps and will transfer data.

If I put a wall of 2 in the way I see 13Mbps instead and it will not transfer data.

At one point I did see 433Mbps but it still would not transfer data.

What are other AC users getting for speeds?

Can you still transfer data when you get above 175Mbps?

The odd part is when the 5G will not transfer data if I kick it over the 2.4G I get a decent connection and it actually transfer data.

I have been reading about WiFi problems here and have encountered the "internet connection is slow". I clicked to not show it again, and clicked cancel because I do not want my phone pushing me over to 4g when it thinks my WiFi is slow.

I have a 2nd of these phones that my wife uses. It has not bee FDR yet. I was noticing similar behavior on it also.

What should I expect for a maximum connection on the 5G?

What should I expect for a maximum connection on the 2.4G?

What are other users seeing, be sure to state if you are using N or AC AP please.

Thanks,

Larry

Accepted answers

Verizon_Support

Hello longplay!

Let's get you connected again with your Wifi! You also mentioned some other questions about speeds. Here's a link showing our speeds for 4G wireless service compared to home service: http://bit.ly/1f9xZvW

That should answer your questions regarding speed. With regard to your device and the Wifi connection, please complete the following and test functionality after each step. You can stop if you get to a point where the Wi-Fi connection is functioning normally.

1) Power Cycle the Device and power cycle the Router/AP and re-test.

2) Uninstall any non-preloaded security, antivirus, power saver, and data saver applications then power cycle the device and test again.

3) Boot the device into Safe Mode http://vz.to/18srIHJ and test again.

4) Perform a Factory Data Reset http://vz.to/176v3fy on the device and test again.

5) Contact your Router/AP manufacturer to get assistance in both performing a factory reset on the device and also updating the firmware to the latest available version. After both have been done, please re-test Wi-Fi functionality with default settings.

Regards,

ChristinaB_VZW

VZW Support

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

All comments

Neal_1

Hi Larry,

In a way, your post could have been written by me. I got a Verizon S4 on Dec 22 loaded with 4.2. I have an ASUS RT-AC68R router at home and was periodically checking the connection performance as part of my shakedown of the new phone. Testing my phone through a couple of walls at first I was maintaining a 5g(n+ac) speed around 90Mbps (the 2.4(n) would give me about 60). The connection was strong and reliable. On Dec 23 Verizon pushed out the android 4.3 update, followed in a few hours by a "patch" update. After than my 5g(n+ac) basically stopped working. It would connect briefly and then disconnect. Even sitting in front of the router, the 5g would initially connect with a strong signal, OK speed, but soon the connection would be lost. My 2.4g connection was unaffected. All through this time my Google Nexus 10 tablet running Android 4.4 connected fine at both 5g(n) and 2.4g(n)--the tablet is not (n+ac) capable.

So right now, I attribute the problem to a botched 4.3 rollout and hope a 4.4 update will clear up the problem. My phone connects fine at 2.4g(n) so the phone works for all I need it to do, really. I imagine a lot of people might have this problem and not even notice it---I would not have had I not so recently purchased both the router and the phone.

I have not found a solution short of waiting for 4.4. I do not know if it is specifically a 5G problem (for n, ac, and all protocols) or something specific to the ac protocol only. I have read that if you lower your Security Encryption on an AC-enabled router, that the AC protocol will turn off (the higher encryption requirement is part of the ac protocol) and that will make your router a 5n router. I have not tried this, nor have I used a wifi analyzer to determine if any of the public wifi I am using connects at 5g(n)

Verizon_Support

JGG2

What a joke. To think that you have to get your customers to do this just to restore proper wifi functionality as a result of a really shoddy, untested, 4.3 build is absurd. Wifi worked great on 4.2. Additionally, my phone freezes all the time upon wakeup. If I ever released software to my customers in the state that your 4.3 update was released I would be fired. Can't wait to go directly to Google for my next phone.

Neal_1

The Verizon response does not even address the issue brought up by Longplay. He (and I) are having problems with the 5G(n+ac) WiFi connectivity, not the 4G LTE phone connectivity the Verizon response addresses.

Other people have tried the reset mentioned and it made no difference.

lincoln44

Same issue exists here. I have an Netgear R7000 broadcasting both 2.4ghz and 5ghz. My wife and I bot upgraded to new Galaxy S4's on Jan. 21st, yesterday my phone started dropping the 5ghz network but would connect to the 2.4ghz and LTE with no issue. I followed the reset instructions along with contacting netgear support but no resolution yet. The problem is device specific though, my wife's phone is still able to connect to our 5ghz. I can pick it up on my wifi list but still not able to connect. I reset router to factory and reset phone to factory, changed the broad cast channels of my router but still having this issue. It is a well documented problem if you perform a google search...no fix is available at this time from what I can find. I would appreciate more support on the matter if Verizon can provide this, after all I've only had the phone for a month and already having bugs.

Woofer-01

I am having the same problem with my WD router. My phone constantly drops WI-Fi connectivity. When I am down one end of the house it intermittently drops the FIOS router and when I am down this end of the house it intermittently drops the WD Router. It does not matter if I am looking at 2.4Ghz or 5.0Ghz. While using the phone I constantly get a message it has no Wi-Fi connectivity. It is getting very frustrating.

ljacks2

I too had new phones, one worked on the 5GHz and one did not. My wife's note 3 was flawless, my S4 would drop the 5GHz connection and then reconnect. The 2.4GHz was just fine, but I wanted the faster speeds. I contacted Samsung who said to send it in, but I returned it to the store and convinced them to replace it. The new S4 phone works almost as good as the note 3.

longplay

First off I have been busy with 3 different support staff and been asked to visit a 4th.

VZW staff via online chat had me walk through all 5 steps you have asked me to do. Sadly they got confused at first and kept wanting to help me with the 4G cell. I finally got them understanding it was the 5Ghz Wifi AC. And the last step was to blame the router.

Samsung staff via online chat had me do pretty much the same 5 steps. I had the same problem with Samsung staff wanting to help me with the 4G cell and not the 5Ghz Wifi AC. The last step was to blame the router.

Netgear staff via online chat basically told me 5Ghz doesn't reach as far as 2.4Ghz and just use it instead. I was getting pretty frustrated at this point with them and finally got some things to try from a different Netgear rep. Nothing really improved anything. Finally Netgear decided since my other 5Ghz Wifi AC devices were working fine it had to be the Samsung device was faulty.

I went back to Samsung staff via online chat and they started the whole process over. I mean from step 1. I stopped them and explained I had been working on this and I was finally sent back to Samsung from Netgear staff. At this point they asked me to take my device to the Best Buy store where I bought it and visit the Samsung Experience person. They explained this person could test my phone.

So I went to a 4th "support person". Well that was a joke. This person didn't know the S4 had 5Ghz Wifi AC. They also didn't have a way to test the 5Ghz Wifi AC. After some discussion they did offer to push the full 4.3 and I thought what the heck since I still am factory reset with nothing personal on the phone. I noticed that they did not factory reset before applying the full 4.3 again. I noticed when they were done it was just like the way I had handed it too them. Had all my recent text and calls. I thought what I heck I can try it at least. It still fails to function 100%.

I may go back and visit with them some more, but this time I will be taking the router, the phone, and another 5Ghz Wifi AC device with me. I doubt I get very far with this person but at least they are trying to help me. Maybe I can get them to push 4.2 to my device and see if it behaves differently or worse case grab a 4.2 S4 and test it.

One thing I don't understand is why I never get a higher tier of tech support when I seem to reach a point where the current staff can no longer help me.

So ChristinaB_VZW with this additional information is there anything else you can do for me? Your 5 steps did nothing to fix or improve the problem with the 5GHZ Wifi AC and a Netgear R7000 router.

I will admit I am getting tired of not having my email and at least 2 apps installed. I gave in and installed these items so I could at least use the phone to do something while. I have factory reset when asked, and gave it a few days and got fed up and put those items back on. I have things configured that at a moments notice I can pull my SDCard and factory reset the phone. It is not perfect but at least I don't loose things I care about. Just sad I even have to do this in the first place.

Verizon_Support

Hi longplay! Thank you for the additional information today. I do offer my sincere apologies for the issues. We always strive to provide the best service and support at all times. Since your issue does relate to the hardware of your device, we do recommend working directly with the manufacturer of your device regarding this issue. Samsung support can be reached by visiting http://bit.ly/IJvmpJ. Please keep us posted if we can be of any additional assistance regarding the service on your device. Have a great weekend!

MatthewS_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSUPPORT

Lepoer

Same here. GS4 two different AC routers and an AC Axtender. I cannot connect on the 5ghz band. I already have a lot of traffic on 2.4 so I try to add as many 5ghz AC compaitble devices as possible.

My GS3 connected at 5ghz no problem. I was hopeful that the KitKat rollout would solve the issue. It didn't. As for the suggestions from Verizon on how to possibly troubleshoot the issue? Please. Yes, my firmware is up to date. The problem is with the phone or the software.

The issue does not seem to be a Verizon issue. I've read some people on Sprint have the same problem.