Problem connecting to WAP4410N with HTC Desires

[LukeCostin]

Hi All,

Having a bit of a strange issue with our Access Point at the moment. I recently set up a WAP4410N as our main WiFi hotspot using WPA2 encryption and it seemed to be working fine for all users, We had no issues when connecting Windows 7 laptops or windows phone 7 phones.

However, we have a few people in our office that use HTC desire phones and while the phone will connect to the network it will not allow the user to browse the web or access any internet enabled features on their phone.
The more puzzling thing is that a user with a HTC wildfire phone is able to connect to the hotspot without issue meaning it can't be a general Android issue.

Has anyone else experienced or heard of this?

[vhato]

I can't speak on Android or HTC devices, but the Blackberry Torch 9800 and 9810 as well as Bold3 9900/9930 and Torch 9860/9850 have problems trnasmitting on the 4410 as well. I suspect the HTC and these BB's use the same WiFi modem and some kind of incompatibility exists as iPhones, laptops and other BBs have no issue.

[vhato]

Just looked it up. The HTC Desire and current generation Blackberrys are exactly the same. Both use the Qualcomm SnapDragon CPU and Audrino 205 GPU on Qualcomm's 8255 chip so I am assuming the modems are the same as well. Now to find other devices using this hardware and see if I can track some down and try.

[vhato]

Here is a list of devices using the Snapdragon (MSM8250/8255) from Qualcomm.  Wish I knew the baseband though. The WIldfire from HTC uses the much older Qualcomm 7225, totally different generation whereas the 8250/8255 are the same, but the latter just uses a smaller manufacturing process allowing for lower power consumption.  If I am right, every device listed below should have poor perfrmance on the 4410 WAP.

Acer Iconia Smart, Acer Allegro, BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, BlackBerry Torch 9810, BlackBerry Torch 9860, Fujitsu F-12C, HTC Desire HD, HTC Desire S, HTC Incredible S, HTC Inspire 4G, HTC Radar, Huawei U9000 Ideos X6, Huawei Vision, LG Eclypse,^[19] Samsung Exhibit II 4G, Sharp Galapagos 003SH/005SH, Sharp Aquos Phone f (SH-13C), Sharp Aquos Phone the Hybrid (007SH/007SH J), Sharp Aquos Phone the Premium (009SH), Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman, Sony Ericsson Xperia Active, Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, Sony Ericsson Xperia Acro (SO-02C), Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro, Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro, Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray, T-Mobile myTouch 4G, ZTE Tania, ZTE 008Z

[vhato]

And I have since learned both they all use Qualcomm's WCM1314 802.11bgn modem. The BB's and Wildfire.

So this leaves me thinking MAYBE its the Snapdragon's power mangement causing the problem. On the Blackberry's I can enter Engineering mode and force MAXIMUM power output for WiFi.  During testing in the past, this resolved all issues surrounding WiFi as latency was decreased from 200-1000ms (it bounced around) to a steady 3-5ms. I don't recall how battery life was affected. I will retest.  Since the HTC's run Android, maybe someone has released a tool to adjust power consumption allowing for you to test as well.  We may learn it is a flaw in the design and there is no fix and not Cisco/Linksys's issue.

[LukeCostin]

Hmm... I don't know if this list is 100% accurate or if the problem actually lies with the processor as I have a Samsung Omnia 7 and it connects to the network without issue.

[vhato]

I editted the list.  You were right, the first list used the same Snapdragon but different WiFi listed as the AR6003. So the issue at hand is how the MSM8255 manages the WCN1314. 

[LukeCostin]

Hmm... This list doesn't have the original HTC Desire either only the Desire S. It's a possiblity but without another phone to test this with I'm not sure how true this is.

[vhato]

That is true.  So from a hardware perspective the Samsung Omnia and HTC Desire are the same device using the same CPU/GPU and WLAN.

I can fix my issue by allowing the Snapdragon to run the WLAN at full power which actually isn't a solution.  If there is an Android tool allowing for full WiFi power and it works then we know Samsung must be running WLAN at a higher power and the issue can't really be fixed.

Unless its totally something else entirely. Was just excited to see another device experiencing the same issue all current gen BB's are. Sometimes they will work for short periods of time, sometimes they perform real poorly, most times the just pause.

[dtralex01]

Well, you can check this http://reviewkid.com/htc-inspire-4g-a9192-att-unlocked-gsm-android-smartphone-red-review/ as well.

[vhato]

Just for extra info,

  Can you ping your Samsung Omnia via WiFi from a PC and then ping the HTC Desire then post the average ping results of two here.

On the devices I have difficulty with, they have the Snapdragon S2 and when they are in WiFi Auto power pings

1. Two timeouts until the WiFi wake

2. third is over 1500ms

3. 4th is 500ms

4. next ping is 300ms

5. 1000ms

6. 200ms

7. time out

8. 700ms

and so on. Pings vary throughout the test from 200ms to over 1500ms

If I force Active (Full Power)

Pings vary between 7ms-30ms with no timeouts.

Long Doze gives me mostly timeouts with the occassional 3000ms ping response

Short Doze has no timeouts and time vary between 100-1000ms

Needless to say when in Auto and I use the browser on the device pings fall immediately to 5ms and immediately hit 3000ms as soon as the device is idle for about a second.

Just want to know what you are experiencing with the Desire when compared to Samsung from a ping perspective.

Devices without issue like iPhones and iPads not using the SnapDragon vary ping responses from 2ms-300ms.