Surface Book hardware design flaw drops Wifi

[Christopher Lindsay]

There's been an issue in the Surface Book design that Microsoft seems to not acknowledge even though people have complained about it for some time now. The Surface Book completely drops wifi when it is closed. This is noticed the most when using it with an external monitor because you wouldn't need the screen of the Surface Book to display anything. Can anyone else confirm their SB does the same thing as it seems to point to a design flaw. It's been speculated that the magnets in the base are blocking the Wifi chip in unit.

 

[Kevin Pianoman Pleasants]

I haven't experienced that with mine.

 

[Christopher Lindsay]

I haven't experienced that with mine.

No Wi-Fi drop at all when your Surface Book is closed?

 

[Kevin Pianoman Pleasants]

Nah no dropping at all.

 

[anon(5327127)]

"been an issue in the Surface Book design that Microsoft seems to not acknowledge"

No issue with the one we used. Maybe it's just your settings.

 

[peter leung 10586]

wifi worked fine when my surface book was closed. it could receive windows updates when unattended and closed.

 

[Taul Pelu]

Constant magnetic field produced by permanent magnets cannot induce any voltage in a chip or whatever. Therefore, I think the assumption around magnet leading to wifi disconnections is wrong.

Moreover, magnesium, which is the material the SurfaceBook case is made of, is not ferromagnetic, thus electric field from any wifi router should not be stopped by the case.

The best assumption would be that under certain circumstances and distances from your wifi router while the SurfaceBook is closed, as antenna sensitivity is not uniform in 3D space, the sensitivity of the SurfacBook wifi antenna does not match correctly with the sensitivity of your wireless router antenna. Then it could leads to some random disconnections that are not noticable when the computer is open.

 

[worwig]

Moreover, magnesium, which is the material the SurfaceBook case is made of, is not ferromagnetic, thus electric field from any wifi router should not be stopped by the case.

RF can be distorted, reflected, blocked, etc., by magnesium (and aluminum, and copper) and other non-ferrous materials. It can even be absorbed by eddy currents.

The best assumption would be that under certain circumstances and distances from your wifi router while the SurfaceBook is closed, as antenna sensitivity is not uniform in 3D space, the sensitivity of the SurfacBook wifi antenna does not match correctly with the sensitivity of your wireless router antenna. Then it could leads to some random disconnections that are not noticable when the computer is open.

This would be my first guess. Simply that closing the lid has altered the position of the WiFi antenna, or blocked a weak signal, and the signal is lost. Try it near the router.

 

[Adam Sc]

This is happening to me! I'm glad I found this post.
I bought my SB a week ago, everything was fine until yesterday.
I didn't realize it had anything to do with the cover being closed (it took me a few days to get my external monitors set up).

It will barely connect to the 5Ghz wifi at all and drops the 2.4Ghz a lot. I crack open the lid, and everything seems fine again.
I even bought a new router to see if that was the issue. Note: every other device in my house is fine! I don't think I should have to rig up something special for my SB. And it would be nice to keep the lid closed.