are there any Chinese tablets that don't have poor wifi performance?

[cpuken]

I'm trying to determine if all the tablets out of China have problems with WiFi. I have the Pipo U2 and it doest have good WiFi performance, constantly dropping the connection. I'm new to Android and I've only had my tablet a few weeks. I've seen a few other complaints on the web and I'm trying to figure out if some, most or all of these tablets have this issue? Is it a certain manufacturer or certain models or even a certain chip set?
Can current tablet owners please comment? My wife his an iPad and a Kindel fire HD, we both have iphones and all those devices work fine with regard to WiFi all over our house. My android tablet won't work if you stray very far from the router (tried 2 different routers)

Things
Ken

 

[Anchoret]

I'm trying to determine if all the tablets out of China have problems with WiFi. [...] My android tablet won't work if you stray very far from the router (tried 2 different routers)

I would very much like to see a knowledgeable answer to this question, too.

I'm getting a generic tablet next week and want to know what to expect -- what is usual and what is actually defective.

I know this: The Chinese generics have a lot of complaints about this, so if it's an actual defect it's a common one to be on the lookout for before the short free-exchange warranty period expires.

I have seen articles about antennas being badly placed within the chassis and causing dropouts, and a reorientation of the antenna curing the problem, but I don't know how common this is, and it would certainly void the warranty to be opening up the unit to check.

I also suspect, but do not know for sure, that this problem may be related to the unit's relatively low available power to its WiFi circuitry, especially when lacking a full charge.

I do hope an expert will give us some serious input on this!

 

[cpuken]

I would very much like to see a knowledgeable answer to this question, too.

I'm getting a generic tablet next week and want to know what to expect -- what is usual and what is actually defective.

I know this: The Chinese generics have a lot of complaints about this, so if it's an actual defect it's a common one to be on the lookout for before the short free-exchange warranty period expires.

I have seen articles about antennas being badly placed within the chassis and causing dropouts, and a reorientation of the antenna curing the problem, but I don't know how common this is, and it would certainly void the warranty to be opening up the unit to check.

I also suspect, but do not know for sure, that this problem may be related to the unit's relatively low available power to its WiFi circuitry, especially when lacking a full charge.

I do hope an expert will give us some serious input on this!

Welcome to the party. I believe there are a lot of us interested in nailing down this issue... especially if it is wide spread.
What confuses me is that this post has almost 300 views and only a single reply. I'm new to Android and new to this forum so I'm not sure what is going on.
There have to be some other owners of these tablets on this forum. Please share your wifi experience, Please. Maybe it's an antenna issue but that shouldn't be common across different vendors. Maybe a certain chipset? Hard to say if no one here shares their experiences.
Ken

 

[Anchoret]

Please share your wifi experience, Please. Maybe it's an antenna issue but that shouldn't be common across different vendors. Maybe a certain chipset? Hard to say if no one here shares their experiences.

I've spent a few hours Googling this.

I've seen hundreds of posts, but not one from any qualified professional technician who really knew what he was talking about, just users and tinkerers, the blind leading the blind.

The bottom line seems to be that the antennas are inadequate, maybe for some obscure regulation related to radiated power...or a result of who knows? But it is endemic to these devices, yes. By hacking or relocating the antennas, the measurable signal strength markedly increases and the situation improves.

Some units left the factory with antennas shorted to ground, mismounted or put in ridiculous places where the signal would be blocked in normal use.

There are also software/firmware problems for some units and even problems related to units being made for different markets than the ones in which they were eventually sold.

It appears that WiFi performance is explicitly excluded from warranty coverage on a lot of tablets.

There are quite a few videos on YouTube about this general problem.

Again, with no authorative professional support.

 

[Nibiru2012]

This is pure speculation on my part, but as mentioned above it more than likely is the antenna and/or the amount of gain the chipset has.

 

[Anchoret]

Well, mine came today and the signal from my router is showing "excellent" by some miracle.

My only problem now is to find a way of moving my high-security 64-character WPA2 passphrase into the configuration so that I can log on!

 

[Tedro]

Hi. New forum user here. I have the HKC P771A Chinese 7in Tablet, with the latest firmware update, just installed. I bought it thru Walmart in November. Never had a WiFi issue. It does as well as my net book. Never dropped any connections. It is even showing signal reception from my neighbors. There are some issues previous to the latest update, but I am quite satisfied. Great deal for 99.00. The biggest complaint is that the "lemon" ( DOA ) percentage is slightly higher than average. Android 4.04 / 8GB / 1 GB ram.

 

[cpuken]

Well, mine came today and the signal from my router is showing "excellent" by some miracle.

My only problem now is to find a way of moving my high-security 64-character WPA2 passphrase into the configuration so that I can log on!

Anchoret, What tablet did you get?

 

[chromodoris]

I have two cheap and cheerful Chinese Android tabs and my experience of them have been as far apart as imaginable...

Yes, the Pipo Ultra U2 looks great on paper and yes the wifi really, really, really sucks. The stock ROM's launcher doesn't rotate properly and Aldiko reader crashes (even more when used through the Nova launcher) - perhaps it's a Jelly Bean thing. My other tablet, a Ramos W27, is a much slicker tablet, pretty much everything works well, and WiFi reception is imo even better than my iPad 2... chrome does hang sometimes when starting but the 2nd time around generally starts ok, and the screen is not particularly responsive but that's just a matter of getting used to it.

I live in the hope that the wifi issue is a firmware issue and can be fixed and that someone will eventually create a custom ROM for it. I read somewhere that its predecessor, the U1 Pro, also has really bad reception and someone went to the trouble of changing the internal antenna to fix the problem. But in answer to your question, Ken, no, they don't all have poor wifi, but do research extensively user experience before buying one. I love the Ramos, if only it has Bluetooth (which wasn't a consideration when I bought it, and I only discovered its absence when I was contemplating unretiring my BT GPS receiver (which, btw, I couldn't get to work with Google Maps on the Pipo but it did work with Sygic)...

 

[t.anderson]

Flytouch Superpad VII P002.

 

[inanitydefined]

Just got my PiPO S2 yesterday. WiFi performance is pretty good. I can wander further from my router with this than my nexus 7. Where that was at one bar this has three. I haven't tested it to cutoff range yet... haven't bothered with any formal measurements either but it seems pretty quick

 

[fermec]

I have a Natpc x210 I luv the tablet but the wifi isent great I have to be in the same room as the router, other than that I really like the tablet, I was thinking of getting one of them wifi usb dongles to see how that preforms.

Just on the off chance has anyone got a Natpc x210 they are supposed to be the same as the Kingpad Flytouch 9, I was wondering if anyone has rooted one of these and has instructions how to do it as Im new to Android.

Cheers

Fermec