[biggulpseh]

I swear to all that is holy I am not trolling. I have a playbook and have been experiencing some serious wifi droppage. I was very hopeful it was just a software thing and not hardware. I then tried doing various death grips. In landscape mode simply cup the top left corner of your playbook. Bingo.

[kyopo]

I'm trying what you suggest and it's not really doing anything. Perhaps because I have a case on it. But still I'm not seeing any wifi drop.

If you are running the current OS and don't have some kind of router problem i.e. you are dropping wifi even on different routers and wireless networks and what the distance to the router is. I would assume it is a hardware issue and get return your Playbook for an exchange. So far I've had no wifi drops at all.

[biggulpseh]

I'm trying what you suggest and it's not really doing anything. Perhaps because I have a case on it. But still I'm not seeing any wifi drop.

take the case off and try it...

[snackberry26]

tried it. nothing happened on my end.

[kyopo]

take the case off and try it...

Tried it without the case and still fine and no wireless weakness.

[TLS2000]

I'm no more than 6 ft away from my 802.11n router and I was just able to drop my wifi signal down to almost nothing by doing what you suggested. Screenshots attached:

Full wifi signal


Killed wifi signal by cupping hand over top left corner (from back of the PlayBook)


I don't see this as a huge problem for me. I don't have a reason to hold my PlayBook like that.

[howarmat]

i have seen this mentioned on another thread, same location. dont know how widespread it is but there are many poeple that report wifi issues. There was also a person who confirmed some problems with the packet handling over the connection i think.

[biggulpseh]

I don't see this as a huge problem for me. I don't have a reason to hold my PlayBook like that.

Its a big problem for me because of portrait mode.

[Zwickliffe]

Mine definitely does this.

[TLS2000]

Its a big problem for me because of portrait mode.

I really hate to sound like I'm quoting Steve Jobs, but if you turn it the other way it should help with your problem. I'm not saying that you're holding it wrong, because this shouldn't be an issue, but if you turn it clockwise for portrait mode instead the antenna will be on the top right corner.

[MattBerry08]

Thought it was a trolling post but does it here as well. however, i cant say in over a week now have i held it that way in either orientation.

good find - but it doesn't match antennagate. in fact, of the four corners, thats the one it should be on!

[Deathcommand]

I mean they have to put the WiFi radio somewhere right..?

Did you know my phone doesn't work under water?

Its kinda.. like.. I mean RIM makes phones correctly, I would hope the put the WiFi Somewhere safe.

That said, I don't think it is much of a problem. If you cup the bottom half of a blackberry it loses signal.

[stubbornswiss]

OK....so I too noticed this. Thanks for pointing it out!

Doesn't seem to be too much of a problem, as long as one is aware of the issue.

[Newfangled Gizmo]

Somebody pointed out the antenna location in the forums: upper left in landscape. I used to lose my WiFi frequently, but not too much now I know to avoid that spot. When the corner is held, I can watch the bars drop away and web pages will stop loading.

[Branta]

I swear to all that is holy I am not trolling. I have a playbook and have been experiencing some serious wifi droppage. I was very hopeful it was just a software thing and not hardware. I then tried doing various death grips. In landscape mode simply cup the top left corner of your playbook. Bingo.

A simple test with my Bold shows putting my hand around the antenna reduces the signal by about 20dB - that's 1/100th the unobstructed signal. This is a simple fact of life for radio signals, your body *will* attenuate the signal, and if you wrap an attenuator around the antenna, the received signal will drop.

Whether it goes low enough to show on the bar indicator or drop the connection depends on the strength of signal and the calibration of the on screen meter. the bars on the meter are set to show the most important area, as the signal gets weaker towards loss of signal - anything more than full bars is considered "more than enough" and resolution is sacrificed to give better performance in the area where it is important. If you are right next to your WiFi router with a very strong signal it might saturate the measurement and still not reduce enough to show on screen. If you are 3 brick walls away on the next floor, the unobstructed signal might be only just strong enough to be holding 4 bars, and with your hand in the way it will reduce to zero or one bar. Same % attenuation, different starting point.

[slingxshot]

biggulpseh, I have experienced wifi drops before with older routers on 802.11b/g. Sometimes you have home phones running on the same frequencies as (2.4ghz and 5ghz) and other wireless devices. Everytime my landlord's phone rang, wifi signal dropped. Easy fix, you go into wifi settings on the router and change the "channel" number to something different, for example 11 usually gave me no problems.

Also in addition to that, microwaves will disrupt wifi signal, that is 100 percent if you are ion a vicinity of it.

Good luck on that.

[Blacklac]

Yes, mine does this, but is it really a problem? Every phone i have owned does the same thing. I think people are just obsessive about this now since the whole iPhone deal. I mean, obviously if you hold the device in landscape by the top left corner, it will effect you but why would you hold it there? Like someone else said, you have to put the antenna somewhere... Seems like a decent place to me.

[smhosmer]

I hate to say this, but i can reproduce the issue. i am 20 ft from the access point and i can go from full to 1 bar.

[pkcable]

It's a problem to be aware of, BUT as many have pointed out the radio HAS to be placed somewhere in there. Let this thread be a caution for us of where NOT to cup our hands.

[sportline]

Buy a bumper from apple. They are an antenna expert of the world.

[Foreverup]

I got to say I can't reproduce it to the degree that is said. I can get a one bar drop in my wifi but that is something I expect when I'm intentionally trying to cover the antenna

[Mojoski]

Same here.. Maybe it is different ways that we are "cupping" the corner. Someone post a pick of how they hold it to make it drop all the way to only one bar?

I got to say I can't reproduce it to the degree that is said. I can get a one bar drop in my wifi but that is something I expect when I'm intentionally trying to cover the antenna

[Commie Canuck]

All wifi devices do this, it's just a matter of finding the spot.

[fastrx]

I reproduced this but it only drops 1 bar from full.

[biggulpseh]

I guess the severity depends on other factors too. From what I understand, wasn't the iPhone 4 situation improved by upgrading the software? I'm sure there are improvements to be made with connection handling etc. I basically just tried to pinpoint this problem in order to see what the heck was causing my wifi to cut out constantly. Each time it cut out was i holding it in some way to obstruct the signal? I guess I'll find out later, but to be honest I haven't dropped my wifi since discovering the attenuation zone.