Severe Bug: WP7.5 chooses Data connection over Wifi

tal99

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Hi,

since Mango (?) I have a very severe bug: although WiFi is connected and working fine my WP7.5 phone uses the GSM data connection. For me this is mostly annoying, because it its painfully slow at home but if you don't have an unlimitted data plan this means that you use up your included data while believing you are connected via WiFi.

I'm not sure who widespread this is. I searched the WPCentral forums but found nothing, on pocketpc.ch there are a couple of users with this behaviour across different phones/manufactures/networks) and I believe at least some of those who complain about excessive data usage will probably experience this behaviour, too.

I also came across this post on MS answers and added myself to the list. So in case there are more WP owners with this problem, please add yourself to that MS answer question in order to push it to Micorsoft's attention.

have for others this is even more severe since yo
WP7.5 chooses Data connection over Wifi - Microsoft Answers

For me this means turning of GSM data connection when at home and then everything is fine (but I loose push notifications and when I leave home I have to remember turning data back on - very annyoing).

Final word: Nonetheless I love my WP7 phone and wouldn't want to switch assuming that a fix will come. And as a software developer I know to well that a bug like this can happen on any plattform esp. since I believe that this probably isn't easy to reproduce (for me WiFi works fine for some time and suddenly while surfing network got switched to GSM). So in case some MS employee likes some detailed information from me I'm happy to assist ;)
 

palandri

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There was a thread about WiFi not being able to communicate with a certain WiFi channel. Maybe resetting your router will temporarily solve the problem.
 

jimski

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Looks like the OP is talking about it switching over randomly while in the house for example, so probably not the channel issue, unless his router is set to auto.

I have never experienced this on my Surround running Mango. WiFi is always running as soon as I wake up my phone. And my data usage has been consistent, pre-post Mango, so no change with the upgrade.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express
 

dragonide

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Looks like the OP is talking about it switching over randomly while in the house for example, so probably not the channel issue, unless his router is set to auto.

I have never experienced this on my Surround running Mango. WiFi is always running as soon as I wake up my phone. And my data usage has been consistent, pre-post Mango, so no change with the upgrade.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

same here,
Never experienced this ...
 

sinlessearth

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I have a T-mobile US branded HD7 that is running on Telekom.de. current OS is 7720.68. I have the same issue. Both my GSM data and WIFI will be connected but sometimes it will try to use the GSM to update webpages..etc so I will have to go to setting and turn off cellular data to get WIFI to work. Yes very annoying. Does not happen all the time but enough to bother me.
 

tal99

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Looks like the OP is talking about it switching over randomly while in the house for example, so probably not the channel issue, unless his router is set to auto.
Exactly. WiFi is still working fine. For example if I turn off GSM data connection the phone easily switches back to WiFi.

The thing is that I probably wouldn't even notice this bug if my GSM connection at home wouldn't be so terrible slow (I have a flatrate so I don't care how much data my phone uses)!

Typically if I turn on my phone at home, I'm on WiFi just fine and suddenly (while surfing,..) it gets slow. If I check which network is used (I even installed an app called "System Information" to check on it) I'm on GSM although WiFi is still perfectly connected.
 

iluvokra

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I have just discovered the same problem as well: I have an unbranded HD7 in Australia. I discovered that the 7740 and tethering updates were available only a day or so ago, and applied them successfully. Now, my cellular data connection is preferred over my WiFi, even though the latter is connected (and works fine if the cellular data connection is switched off).:mad:
 

going west

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Is there a way to tell which connection my phone is using? I'm afraid mine may be doing this as well, but I can't be sure. In any case it sure is burning up a lot of data--more than is should be...especially since I spend most of my time in recognized wifi zones.
 

tal99

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Is there a way to tell which connection my phone is using? I'm afraid mine may be doing this as well, but I can't be sure. In any case it sure is burning up a lot of data--more than is should be...especially since I spend most of my time in recognized wifi zones.
I use an app called "System Information" (free in the Marketplace) which in its network section tells you what connection is the currently active. I use that to check if I have the feeling WLAN isn't used.

Note that at least for me at the start of a wlan session I'm usually connected just fine and after a few minutes suddenly WLAN isn't used anymore although the WLAN symbol still is shown. Si it's probably best to check back after a few minutes.
 

tal99

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But is there a way to make your router channel on auto so every time you have another channel? :) could that fix the problem or you need a specific channel?
No, because WiFi is working just fine but WP sometimes(!) chooses GSM data nonetheless. This is very anoying since GSM data is slow and for some people expensive.

I just verified that WiFi is working just fine by accessing from my WP a computer on my LAN with local IP address (which therefore is ONLY possible using WiFi not GSM). This worked perfectly from my WP while at the same time internet access was using GSM data. I additionally verified that internet access through my WLAN is working fine by using another WP and that just worked without a problem at the same time.

Conclusion: it really seems that somehow sometimes WP thinks it cannot access internet through WiFi anymore although being connected just fine and therefore sticks to GSM.
 

welsbloke

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Sounds like this could be a router issue though especially with you accessing a local device fine via WLAN and being forced down GSM for Internet access.

What model router are you using? Might be worth making sure the firmware is up to speed. You would be suprised how often a router can cause issues like this.
 

Dormage

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I quickly read the posts and the way I see it you might be checking the used connection in a wrong way. Having slow speeds may not necessarily mean the phone is using data connection.
The app you mentioned shows active connections in this case both should be active.

I would recommend logging in your router and monitoring traffic.
If searching the logs isn't your thing you can use a traffic monitoring program like Wireshark to trace data transmitted over Wifi. Open a page and see if Wireshark picked up the http request.

I might be shooting blanks but I did try it on my Omnia 7 and it does show up in my logs.
 

mberdych

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Yes, there is a problem with wifi. Multiple devices, different people. Wifi gets slow suddenly, sometimes data stops, after a while it is fine. I am experiencing the same with my Titan. I have Time capsule router, experiencing this, now testing a Comtrend router and it seems better, although not solved. There is something wrong with wifi on Mango.
 

jeremyshaw

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Yup, I have this issue HTC Titan, AT&T branded running 7720. Don't have any hard evidence, but some things I've noticed are adding up.

Will see if my forced 8170 upgrade fixes this, but I no longer use my titan as primary.
 

jdevenberg

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I noticed yesterday that my wife's Titan was connected to wifi, and when I tried a voice search it said "Sorry, Voice search not enabled over network". So even though the phone was on wifi it was trying to send data over the cellular network.
 

tal99

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To bad latest update doesn't fix that problem. So I still am stuick with turning 3G off when at home and WiFi off when leaving home :mad:

I'm really surprised that this problem isn't more "front-page" like discussed (I find it to be much more severe than the just fixed disappearing keyboard). Reason probably is that not everybody suffers from this bug, although there are quite a few people who have this problem (WP7.5 chooses Data connection over Wifi is one of the most "me too" open bugs at Microsoft Answers). Additionally I believe there are lots more who have this problem but don't know about it and just complain about excessive data usage, slow WiFi or slow 3G data.
 

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