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

On Fri, 8 Aug 2014 14:36:27 +0000, newpop1 wrote:

|1) Channels are not specified, it is on Auto.  In my location there are no

other WiFi stations around anyway and I do not like to tinker with channels,

never had to before.

Please test this. For me, the HIGHER channels always work best.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barb

Windows Entertainment and Connected Home MVP

My Blog - http://digitalmediaphile.com/

Barb's Connected World Blog Reader Windows 8 App -

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Please mark as answered if this answers your question

The bottom line he should try fixed channels and tell us the result.

It doesn't have to do with channels. The problem is that when the SP3 wakes up it automatically reverts to 2.4Ghz even though it was connected to 5Ghz. The only way to fix this is to all us to choose the preferred band like we can with any other wireless driver or to specify a different SSID for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. I don't want to set different names I like for my devices to be able to go between the two based on how far away from the router is.

Why won't MS let us choose the preferred band on the wireless card?

It doesn't have to do with channels. The problem is that when the SP3 wakes up it automatically reverts to 2.4Ghz even though it was connected to 5Ghz. The only way to fix this is to all us to choose the preferred band like we can with any other wireless driver or to specify a different SSID for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. I don't want to set different names I like for my devices to be able to go between the two based on how far away from the router is.

Why won't MS let us choose the preferred band on the wireless card?

If it goes back to 2.4 is because it does not find the 5 Ghz. So we want to know why. So we need somebody to use different SSID for both bands and fixed channels. Just for testing purpose.

On Sat, 9 Aug 2014 00:26:08 +0000, NicholasKasprinski wrote:

|Why won't MS let us choose the preferred band on the wireless card?

because that is not part of the 802.11 spec.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Barb

Windows Entertainment and Connected Home MVP

My Blog - http://digitalmediaphile.com/

Barb's Connected World Blog Reader Windows 8 App -

http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/barbs-connected-world-blog/02f35769-52bf-461c-b1d5-06e54a58d298

Please mark as answered if this answers your question

Ok I wanted to test over the weekend this issue.  My router (Linksys WRT1900AC) has the ssids with different names, so I disabled my USB Wi-Fi card I have been using and enabled the internal one and connected it to the 5 GHz SSID, then I rebooted to give it a fair test.  It took about 2.5 hours before it got very slow and then it went to "Limited Connectivity" with it sitting about 5 feet from the router and a few seconds later the whole network adapter went offline as it normally does and forces me to reboot, no WiFi adapters found, I could not even select another WiFi ssid anyway.

After a reboot it reconnected to the SSID and after 3 hours it did it the same way.  I then repeated the same test on my Wireless G router (Dlink myCloud) and it took about 4 hours to lose the Wi-Fi connection and go to "Limited Connectivity", this is a "G" router.  So it is easy to make it happen over and over each time.

Next I set it to FORGET that SSID under network options and changed my router's 5GHz to the 36 channel as requested.  I rebooted the SP3 and had it join that SSID.  The behavior on this setup changed significantly.  It has been on that Wi-Fi connection all weekend, here are some notes:

• I saw the "Limited Connectivity" 2-3 times but I did not have to reboot in order to get it to come back, within 20 seconds of the "Limited" word showing, it reconnected on its own.  Granted it was annoying since I was using the internet, it kicked me out.
• The speed while connected was fine, download and upload speeds were consistent. 
• I did not have to reboot the SP3
• The annoying bug with the SP3 remain there which is, when the screen is turned off and I tap the power button, it does not do anything for at least 5-10 seconds, since I know this is a bug, I just wait and the screen eventually comes on but I do see every time this behavior occurs is because it is initializing the wireless card, I see no bars, then I see bars with an X, then with an exclamation sign and eventually I see the full bars that means it connected to the wireless.  It is worth mentioning that through my phone notification I knew I had an email, but the SP3 never made a DING!, so I know it was offline.  
• Last issue I had, and tested quite a bit, the battery lasted less than when I am using my USB nano Wi-Fi adapter.  It may be subjective but with normal use I had to recharge it constantly, much more than last week when I was using the USB Wi-Fi adapter.

So out of this I get:

• Wi-Fi card still buggy and does not work
• Switching to a higher band in 5 GHz SSID does make the SP3 stay connected for the most part but there are times when the Wi-Fi is lost which is still annoying but at least it is usable.
• Still fails to maintain a connection to a plain old G router, maybe if I change the channel it would do better.  No need to test.
• Battery use may require more testing, I thought for sure the internal Wi-Fi card would have given me more battery life, at least I thought that was the case.

I am going to wait until patch Tuesday comes tomorrow and do the test again, if the updates have not fixed this, then of course I am going to use my external USB Wi-Fi nano-adapter once again and turn off the internal card for now.  I never have any issues with the USB Wi-Fi adapter.

Hope this helps

Thank You