Surface Pro 3 Slow WiFi - 72Mbps Max (driver)

As I wrote above, we purchased a Surface Pro 3 (i7-256GB) in the first couple of days of August, but unfortunately the Wifi device inside the tablet seems to be seriously malfunctioning to this day and after this week's firmware update.

While the hourly resets have stopped, the connection is running at extremely slow transfer rates -- sometimes much slower even than the slow "speed" described in the "Wi-Fi Status" window.

Compared to other laptops and devices in the same location the Surface Pro 3 is very slow. For example, the Surface Pro 3 shows 24.0Mbps, but the laptop (a 2005 Dell Vostro) was experiencing no issues and was running at 130 Mbps.

Our test network was a Verizon FiOS setup using the Actiontec MI424WR-GEN3I router in 802.11n only mode.

As stated before, our Surface Pro 3's lot number/date is 1428. All firmware updates and windows updates are installed as of 12 September 2014.

So the Marvell AVASTAR network controller in the Surface Pro 3 will never join the 5GHz band of a 802.11 AC router if the SSID is identical for both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands. Once the SP3 connects to the 2.4GHz band it will cap the connection speed to 144Mbps unless you disable bluetooth. This behavior is happening AFTER Microsoft just released an update to address wireless performance. All I can do is shake my head over this.

On Fri, 12 Sep 2014 01:56:06 +0000, Kahmeal wrote:

>>I have a Netgear RT-AC68U router at home and have experienced identical results in that the wireless card refuses to select the 5ghz band (AC) when both bands share the same SSID. When separated, there is no issue connecting at a full 700+mbps and transfers peak around 30mb/s depending on how close I am to the router. I have not tested with a single SSID since the firmware update on the 9th but will do so either tonight or tomorrow and post my results from both scenarios at an equal distance to the router.

That model number looks like ASUS, but anyway, it seems to be pretty universal

that the Surface Pro 3 connects to the 2.4GHz band when the SSID is the same for

both 2.4 and 5 GHz.

Until such time as Microsoft makes a change to fix this (IF they make a

change) the only way to insure that you connect to the faster AC band is to

specify separate SSID names. And yes, I recognize that other devices don't

suffer from this issue.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barb

Windows Entertainment and Connected Home MVP

My Blog - http://digitalmediaphile.com/

Please mark as answered if this answers your question

On Fri, 12 Sep 2014 05:42:04 +0000, Martynas_B wrote:

>>Can it be some frequency ranges incompatibility between US and Europe?

where are you located and where did you purchase your SP3?

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

Channels 1-11 are what is normally supported in North America.

Are you traveling in Europe or elsewhere where 12-13 are in use?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barb

Windows Entertainment and Connected Home MVP

My Blog - http://digitalmediaphile.com/

Please mark as answered if this answers your question

Built -in wireless improved for me after this Tuesday updates - more stable and far much faster. However, one issue with SSID channels. Once I've set manually SSID channel to 13 on my access point, Marwell stopped to see my 2.4 Ghz wireless network (Comtrend access point). External wireless adapter (Edimax nano) was seeing and working on the that network without any issues. . As I've reverted back to Auto SSID mode (or manually any SSID channel below 10), Marvell starts to see network again. This is not a problem, however that can be an issue connecting in some public networks. Just wondering, what's a cause here? Can it be some frequency ranges incompatibility between US and Europe?