Re: Lumia 900 Wifi Problem?

jhoff80 · ‎2012-05-03

To me, it'd be better to swap it out and later find out that it was a software issue, than to not swap it out and be stuck with defective hardware after your return period is up.

wizll · ‎2012-05-05

jhoff80 wrote:
To me, it'd be better to swap it out and later find out that it was a software issue, than to not swap it out and be stuck with defective hardware after your return period is up.

I've been trying to do this, but no stores around me have the Cyan version in stock. They only have black and white, and unfortunately I'm really not willing to give up the nice Cyan handset for the other colors. I have 1 more day before my 30 day warranty ends, so hopefully a store gets a shipment tomorrow, but most have said Monday. If i'm SOL, then I suppose I'll have to deal with this issue and hope that it's a firmware problem that can be fixed by Nokia, or perhaps Nokia Support can help me in some way.

Other than a single comment from one Nokia mod, there hasn't been much updates regarding this issue whereas they have been responding more in the other threads for other issues that I do not have.

All those AT&T hotspots out there, and I end up having to twiddle my settings in order to use it, otherwise my data just doesn't work, since I have my wifi on all the time connecting to my wifi networks or at&t hotspots. Quite an annoyance, but definitely not enough to give up the blue hardware!

fawlty · ‎2012-05-06

Yeah, I wish there was some official acknowledgment from Nokia that this is an issue that will be fixed.

I like WP7 a lot better than the competing OSs, but several little things bug me enough that this defect makes me want to return the phone. It now happens every time I connect to a WiFi network, and it's easy to work around manually - but I really shouldn't have to.
It would set me back about $100 (various non-refundable fees) to return the phone though... but at this point it's starting to feel worth it...

CapoTech · ‎2012-05-12

I have the same problem. I've exchanged my phone at the AT&T store for a new Lumia 900 to see if it's fixed. The new phone has the same problem (after I ran the firmware update). I also purchased a new router in hopes of a fix and that as well did not fix my problem. The first router was a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH and my new router is a Linksys EA2700. At first, before changing out the router, I installed the latest and greatest DD-WRT firmware in my Buffalo and that also did not fix my issue.

However, I did notice something very interesting. When the "WiFi" connection seems to die (I can no longer access standard web pages like yahoo.com) I can still access my local router's configuration page by typing in the IP address into the url. In fact, everything appears to be working perfectly if I just type the IP address instead of any address name. This leads me to believe that the phone is getting confused and is using the WRONG DNS server! If I disable cell data it works perfectly fine... which leads me to believe that when cell data is on, it is attempting to use the cell dns server which is not accessable outside of the cell network (via WiFi home network).

So there we have it. There's a bug with the WiFi/Cell driver that switches between using data between the two active connections and utilitzes the wrong DNS server at the wrong time thus making it fail at name resolution. This IS a software bug that I believe was broken with the latest "fix" to remedy Cell Data connectivity. I've heard that Nokia is going to be releasing a software fix for the purple screen issue (which I do not have). I hope they include a fix for this at that time as well. (My local WiFi network is MUCH MUCH faster than AT&Ts HSPA+).

I have to say, other than this, my Nokia Lumia 900 is the best phone I've ever owned by a large margin. So I hope this gets fixed pronto (asap).

Jampe · ‎2012-05-12

Hi all,

Thanks for all the feedback and testing, it has been passed on. Thank you also for your patience on this.

Jampe

If the answer solves your issue, please click the ACCEPT AS SOLUTION button so other users can benefit from it as well. Giving a kudos (the white star) if my answer has helped will be appreciated.

nozzztil · ‎2012-05-14

So here is what Kristina says from Nokia, "I would like to inform you that between Data connection (from your service provider) and Wifi connection, the phone's first priority is Data connection". "Even though your phone is connected to wifi, if the Data connection is On, the phone will connect via the Data connection from your service provider".

WOW! This is almost as bad as when Mr. Steve Jobs said we should hold our phone with our right-hand to avoid the antenna issues.

Come on Nokia!! Data with AT&T is EXPENSIVE AS HELL and if we have a Wifi hotspot to communicate with that should be the priority.

I would think this is simple based on all the other phones that grasped that concept many years ago.

Kosh · ‎2012-05-14

Hi nozzztil,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum.

It appears you have been misinformed here. Windows Phone will give a Wi-Fi connection priority over a mobile data connection so if you have Wi-Fi connection you will use that.

Hope this helps,

Kosh

Press the 'Accept As Solution' icon if I have solved your problem, click on the Star Icon below if my advice has helped you!

wizll · ‎2012-05-15

CapoTech wrote:
I have the same problem. I've exchanged my phone at the AT&T store for a new Lumia 900 to see if it's fixed. The new phone has the same problem (after I ran the firmware update). I also purchased a new router in hopes of a fix and that as well did not fix my problem. The first router was a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH and my new router is a Linksys EA2700. At first, before changing out the router, I installed the latest and greatest DD-WRT firmware in my Buffalo and that also did not fix my issue.

However, I did notice something very interesting. When the "WiFi" connection seems to die (I can no longer access standard web pages like yahoo.com) I can still access my local router's configuration page by typing in the IP address into the url. In fact, everything appears to be working perfectly if I just type the IP address instead of any address name. This leads me to believe that the phone is getting confused and is using the WRONG DNS server! If I disable cell data it works perfectly fine... which leads me to believe that when cell data is on, it is attempting to use the cell dns server which is not accessable outside of the cell network (via WiFi home network).

So there we have it. There's a bug with the WiFi/Cell driver that switches between using data between the two active connections and utilitzes the wrong DNS server at the wrong time thus making it fail at name resolution. This IS a software bug that I believe was broken with the latest "fix" to remedy Cell Data connectivity. I've heard that Nokia is going to be releasing a software fix for the purple screen issue (which I do not have). I hope they include a fix for this at that time as well. (My local WiFi network is MUCH MUCH faster than AT&Ts HSPA+).

I have to say, other than this, my Nokia Lumia 900 is the best phone I've ever owned by a large margin. So I hope this gets fixed pronto (asap).

Yep when I have wifi issues I can still connect to my wifi router web page with no problems. All external pages don't work.

bgutmeir · ‎2012-05-17

im having this problem too, it seems to be a problem with data/gps for me too. phone has been updated, same deal

dirtbound · ‎2012-05-17

Same problem here...

Black Lumia 900 Fully Updated, Spotty Wi-Fi performance.

Thanks to those of you that have pointed out the workaround of disabling the Cellular Data while on Wi-Fi. I've re-installed "ConnectivityShortcuts" to make this a less painful process until there is hopefully a fix issued from Nokia.

Last night I was going video crazy on DailyMotion and YouTube and chewed through 400MB+ on my Data Plan "YOUCH".... Looking forward to using a reliable Wi-Fi connection again with this workaround.

rjmitch · ‎2012-05-18

Further to my earlier post...

On day 29 of my 30 day return period I decided that I could no longer live with this bug. I was not ready to completely throw in the towel so I exchanged for another lumia 900 device just in case there was actually a hardware issue--nothing ventured, nothing gained. I am four days into the using new device and I have not had the WiFi problem. Fingers-crossed. Admittedly, I'm not feeling much comfort as there was a degree of intermittancy to the problem at the outset before until it matured into a constant issue. I compared all of the version digits in the 'About' screen between the two devices and found them identical. Annoyingly, this device has the purple hue problem whereas my old device did not. Joy.

It later occurred to me that I did not perform a hard reset after applying the connectivity patch last month, and I wonder whether that is something that I should have tried doing. I recall needing to do that with the Mango beta last year.

psucale · ‎2012-05-18

Great and complete description. I am having the identical problem after updating my phone. Our family has three Lumia 900s but I haven't checked the white or blue one yet for this problem.

dirtbound · ‎2012-05-25

Followup...

Thanks again for the advice on turning off Cell Data While connected to WiFi...

Over the past week I have been using ConnectivityShortcuts to disable Cell Data when connected to WiFi.

This has worked like a charm.

The only time it has been a "problem" for me is in the off event of me sending a picturemail (MMS) while I'm on WiFi... in which case I have to enable Cell Data to send the Pic and disable it again to carry-on using my WiFi connection.

Hopefully this is addressed with the next update provided by Nokia, but if necessary I 'could' live with this for the life of the phone.

wizll · ‎2012-06-07

Just wanted to say that this issue still exists in the latest firmware update released 6/6/2012.

Another thing I noticed, when testing if the new firmware fixed this, was that when my data connection went from LTE (connected to wifi) to 4G (connected to wifi), the connection no longer worked.

either way, if both cell data and wifi is on, wifi will work for a moment then no longer work a minute or two later. usual tricks work. disable cell data, use wifi exclusively, or vice versa.

ParrotHeadFL · ‎2012-06-07

I can confirm the same experience. When I saw that there was a firmware update, I got really excited that this problem was going to be fixed at long last. I was extremely disappointed to find out that wasn't the case.

C'mon, Nokia... This is a very serious usability issue. It really should've been resolved by now.

donjjones · ‎2012-06-07

Agreed, this should have been resolved after two updates now. It's such a basic usability issue that works fine for pretty much every other smartphone out there. Hopefully someone is paying attention from their team and maybe they can give us an update.

hernked · ‎2012-06-08

I can also confirm that this remains an issue. This issue was not always present. I first noticed it after returning from a city that had LTE coverage (my home state does not yet have LTE). This could have been a coincidence. Has anyone experiencing the issue never been in a LTE coverage area?

dirtbound · ‎2012-06-08

hernked wrote:
I can also confirm that this remains an issue. This issue was not always present. I first noticed it after returning from a city that had LTE coverage (my home state does not yet have LTE). This could have been a coincidence. Has anyone experiencing the issue never been in a LTE coverage area?

Never been in LTE area... but I have this problem still...

Phone is updated and still have to disable Cell Data to use WiFi...

Would be nice to get this addressed and/or acknowledged.

Macer · ‎2012-06-08

I recently updated to the latest firmware and this problem seems to persist. It is obviously a software issue with the phone being able to swap between the different Cell/Wifi DNS. Personally I don't believe it is a Nokia issue but more so an issue with MS since the hardware is functional, it is just bad programming. I suppose there are a few different ways this may be able to be fixed:

1. Allow more advanced options for wifi (the OS only allows DHCP without the ability to set a specific IP/DNS/GW). I found this incredibly odd. You are pretty much optionless when it comes to the WiFi connection.

2. Fix whatever script (can't really check this on a closed OS) is supposed to do the swapping

3. GIVE AN OPTION TO KEEP WIFI ON

4. Make ATT give DNS access to outside IPs (won't ever happen)

The easiest solution would be for Nokia and MS to find out what is preventing the Lumia 900 from swapping between the Cell and Wifi DNS. If you are really hardcore you can probably tweak your router to redirect the ATT IP to another DNS but that isn't practical for Joe User.

Most people here have been using disabling the Cell Data as a workaround. This is an awful fix since once the phone goes to sleep you pretty much lose all connectivity. I use jiTalk for Google Talk and it requires a data connection for Push Notifications. So this workaround does not work. I am also curious as to what else might need a data connection in order to keep you connected while the phone is asleep. I would assume any FB messaging, Live Chat msging, etc. You won't receive emails when the phone is asleep as well since it can't sync with the mail server.

The beta test is over? Someone might want to look into for that false advertising.

Moderator's note; removed suggestion which is not allowed under the forum guidelines.

jooped · ‎2012-06-13

Here is something I just tried and so far it's worked. Under your cell connection settings, change the roaming settings to don't roam. I believe this is default and I switched it to roam shortly after I got the phone.

I made this change about 30 minutes ago and I'm not having an issue whereas before I would never be able to connect if both WiFi and cell data were enabled.