Poor 5 GHz WiFi performance

[michail71]

When I search most of these threads are on the prior models, older driver version or pre AU. However, my WiFi performance at home on 802.11ac is terrible. I should be able to get 90 Mbps and can't even get over 30 Mbps. On 2.4 GHz I can get about 60 Mbps but then I start suffering from congestion issues more than a room away from my AP from the neighborhood.

Anyone else experiencing this on new and fully up to date SP4?

 

[Chintan Gohel]

have you tried adding the network again to the surface or resetting the router? Does the same slow behaviour happen with other 5Gz networks?

 

[michail71]

Yes, I've done all that. It is rather consistent. The only other fast 5 GHz network I have it at work. We have 600 Mbps there but the WiFi system tops around 20 Mbps so it's not a good test.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Yes, I've done all that. It is rather consistent. The only other fast 5 GHz network I have it at work. We have 600 Mbps there but the WiFi system tops around 20 Mbps so it's not a good test.

okay, what about firmware updates - have you been getting those?
And what about disabling the wifi drivers and then enabling them again - or reinstalling them again?

 

[pwscott]

802.11ac and 5Ghz in general are much more distance and line-f-sight to the AP than 2.4GHz. Do your testing quite close to the AP and see if your performance improves. You could also try a 3rd party USB Wi-Fi NIC as a test in the USB 3.0 port.

 

[realwarder]

There is a Wi-Fi app in the store that can show networks around too along with their channels. On the AP, select a channel least used.

 

[michail71]

802.11ac and 5Ghz in general are much more distance and line-f-sight to the AP than 2.4GHz. Do your testing quite close to the AP and see if your performance improves. You could also try a 3rd party USB Wi-Fi NIC as a test in the USB 3.0 port.

Testing was done at 10 feet in the same room. I'll see what my usb adapter does.

 

[michail71]

There is a Wi-Fi app in the store that can show networks around too along with their channels. On the AP, select a channel least used.

I'm in the clear on the 5 GHz side. 2.4 GHz has significant channel overlap. I did try moving the channel around but that didn't change anything.

The 2.4 GHz channels are so congested I have to use 5 on my other devices to have a reliable connection.

 

[michail71]

This is weird. After I installed the adapter the on-board WiFi is now performing up to the full 90 Mbps from my ISP!

I have no idea if it was a coincidence or caused something to reset but it seems to be working at full potential now.

 

[michail71]

Well, a little over a month now and the 5G performance just about always underperforms 2.4, except under rare occasion.

 

[michail71]

I added a cheap 802.11AC dongle to my SP4 docking station and am finally getting good wifi performance.

I'm not sure if it's the Comcast gateway but the Surface is the only thing that seems to struggle with it. This is from 10 feet to the AP and direct line of sight.

 

[Compusmurf]

There is a thread on another forum with a posted regedit fix. Surface pro 4 Slow Wifi issues | Microsoft Surface Forums

Peek, but the info is:
Navigate to KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ ControlSet001\Services\mrvlpcie8897.
Locate the key named TXAMSDU.
Double click it, and change its value to 0.

I cannot vouch if the info is still valid because I'm not on a commercial infrastructure router. Merely a home model.

 

[michail71]

Thanks, I did that regkey fix a while back but it didn't seems to change much. My router is just a consumer level Xfinity 802.11ac modem.

 

[nonkelStef]

YES,
I?m facing exactly the same problem on my Surface4, since latest Windows10 patches (oct?16):
since then, the Surface
-only selects 2,4 GHz signal,
-and simply REFUSES to connect to any 5GHz signal
(while my other - Samsung &HP - devices have NO problem selecting the 5Ghz one)
? so issue is truly related to the (updated?) wifi driver (Marvell??) on Surface4.
.
NO,
I also haven?t found any solution yet.
Hint:
When I manually install the previous driver version, I get 5 GHZ and can see version xxx
But...the system wants to reboot, and after it reboots, the driver automatically switches to version yyy and 5GHz no longer works.
Basically, the newer driver breaks 5GHz.

 

[michail71]

Mine worked at least, although I mostly use the Surface dock with the WiFi dongle attached. So I haven't tried with newer updates.

I had a 5 GHz Dlink dongle on my PC that would fail after each Windows update. I could go in and manually set the driver to the right one. I reported the break every time but after a year I gave up and just got a different adapter.

It's like Microsoft hasn't caught up to the fact people use 5 GHz and 802.11AC, lol.

 

[FXi2]

SP4 using 2 different Netgear AC routers and the older one had some challenges at extreme distance, but the newer one is excellent. Could be the age of the chipset in your router as the 5Ghz power in the early days was nothing like it is now. In either case I was able to max out a 80mbit FIOS line so I was never unhappy. You might be happier if you were using something other than the ISP's basic router. I can at minimum tell you the SP4 performs fully up to 120mbit on a AC wireless connection if you are using the right ISP and router.

 

[michail71]

I tried to see if anyone else had issues with the Comcast router and the SP4 but didn't find anything. It's supposedly been tested at providing 700 Mbps throughput, which is far from the ability of my 90 Mbps line.

 

[Steveborough]

I work in IT and we have at least 40 surfaces that suck on WiFi until you reboot or toggle WiFi on and off. Its sad