Does turning off gps improve the wifi signals on the Primes? It did for mine - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

Hey guys! First off, let me say that my Asus has had constantly weaker wifi signals than my Xoom or Samsung galaxy tab devices, using the speedtest app my Prime always gets 3mb less than the other devices which is an issue that most of us are having, so I decided to do a few test using all three devices and found something interesting. I ran the speed test on all 3 devices 4 times, one after the other, and noticed of course that my Prime lagged behind by an average of 3mb. I then decided to go into settings, location services and turn off the gps. Now guess what, my Prime is now beating both my Xoom and Galaxy tab by an average of 3-4mbs! I tested this multiple times, moves further from the router, and this was a constant result..
Which made me think, could the weak wifi issue be caused by the interference by the GPS signal trying to obtain a lock, which is being *blocked*by the metal casing on the back of the Primes?? This would make sense as when you use the speed test app, it tries to find your location by using the gps built into the device. I hope Gary will read this and test it himself, to confirm. Guys, please try this out an let me know if your wifi speeds increase once GPS is off?? Please dont reply with rude comments, I am only reporting what has worked for me.
I dont mind sacrificing my GPS for a now faster wifi

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I always have my gps off since is was killed in the 1/17 update. That update made it completely useless. Even with gps off, i still have a weak wifi signal compared to my evo 3d. It also drops in and out.

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Hate to be a broken record but Wi-Fi will always be weak as long as your prime still has a solid aluminum backplate on it. If you guys haven't noticed yet what other devices with Wi-Fi can you think of had a issue with weak signal where there ended up being a software fix for it? I've been working IT for 20 years it doesn't happen the Wi-Fi adapter in the Prime is perfectly fine it's just being shielded by the aluminum.

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jdbaker82 said:
Hate to be a broken record but Wi-Fi will always be weak as long as your prime still has a solid aluminum backplate on it.
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Is that the same reason why my GPS and WIFI works so well in my HTC Desire HD with it's aluminum unicover body?

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leppie said:
Is that the same reason why my GPS and WIFI works so well in my HTC Desire HD with it's aluminum unicover body?
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Big difference is that it has no problem getting out of the front face of your phone Primes Wi-Fi antenna is sandwich in alum

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I tried turning GPS off as the OP suggested. My results were mixed at best.

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>Is that the same reason why my GPS and WIFI works so well in my HTC Desire HD with it's aluminum unicover body?
The Desire HD doesn't have an all-aluminum back.

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e.mote said:
>Is that the same reason why my GPS and WIFI works so well in my HTC Desire HD with it's aluminum unicover body?
The Desire HD doesn't have an all-aluminum back.
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Lol good stufff

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e.mote said:
>Is that the same reason why my GPS and WIFI works so well in my HTC Desire HD with it's aluminum unicover body?
The Desire HD doesn't have an all-aluminum back.
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OMG's the grammar!
This image makes a lot more sense now.
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Okay, after reading around on the net for a bit, I did the following.
1) Use Wi-Fi Analyzer to check for any kind of wireless spot that your Prime may pick up at home. Check what channel they use and pick something different for yours. Mine had the same channel as a couple of others so I picked one that is higher.
2) Mine is dual band and had guest on so I disabled both guest and 5GHz, leaving only 2.4Ghz enabled.
Testing results:
Close to the router, the max down went up to 9Mbps compared to 6Mbps from before. Of course, my tablet is pulling an Apple. I had to have the backplate facing the router to get that or else I get about 2Mbps less with it away from the router.
In the living room downstairs, not a big jump. ~6Mbps compared to ~5Mbps from before. Of course the Acer laptop got >13Mbps at the same place last time.
In my bedroom, also downstairs, the max I could achieve was 5Mbps where I could only get less than 3Mbps before.
I ventured down to the basement, just by the stairs and didn't go far. I got like 6Mbps there. I never tested in the basement before since I thought it would be worse so I didn't bother.
So, it definitely did improve for mine. Of course this is temp because you can only make changes to your network and not anywhere else. I have a few things that are only Wireless-G, such as PS3, so I have to use Wireless-G. Maybe I'll try later with Mixed mode or play around with Wireless-N mode only and see. I got about 20Mbps with my bro's D-link Wireless-N only, in the same room.

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Okay, stayed up until 3am last night to do some more testing on Wi-Fi. I fed my router Tomato firmware.
Results:
*Max achieved if hit the sweet spot. And somewhat consistent but only if I hit it. Wired speedtest showed ~23Mbps or a bit better consistently.
-G-Only mode:
--By the router, max ~13Mbps consistently (up from 9Mbps before)
--Living room downstairs, max ~16Mbps and >13Mbps consistently (up from ~6Mbps and comparable to the Acer laptop. Then again, I haven't tried with Acer laptop post-Tomato just yet)
--My room downstairs, max ~12Mbps and consistently hit ~ 10Mbps - 12Mpbs (up from 5Mbps previously)
--Basement, max ~3Mbps (down from 6Mbps but it was late and I got tired of finding the sweet spot!)
-N-only mode:
--By the router, max ~2Mbps consistently. WTH!!! (was able to pull ~20Mbps by my bro's twice as cheap D-link router. So I didn't test the rest.)
By the way, Wi-Fi Analyzer showed weaker strength after I slapped on Tomato. Followed some instruction to modify settings to improve the signal strength that proved to work for some, but didn't help with mine. Not sure if it helped with throughput though. I gotta play around some more when I have time.
Now, I also had to use channel 8, one that no other surrounding networks have. That again helped. If I moved it a little bit away from the sweet spot, the speed dropped like mad. Wi-Fi strength didn't really mean much. The sweet spot in my room was where I only got 1 bar. Moved a few inches, not even, to get 2 bars. Thought it should be better? Not a chance. Couldn't get it to > 4Mbps.
Now, my house is 2400 sq ft not including the basement. If map it out in 2D, my computer room is far top right and my room is far bottom left. Each level's separation is pretty big because of high ceilings.
I'm somewhat happy with it because I know what it's capable of but it's just not practical. I may hit great throughput with the sweet spots in my house but not doing much outside of my house since I can't modify those networks. And some sweet spots, not too comfy. In the living room, I have to hold it up and tilt it upward a little. In my bedroom, I just lay it flat on my bed.
Forgot to add that my up speed almost always hit the max of 2.5Mbps no-matter-what.
Oh, and turning off GPS didn't help with mine.