Hardware Is your Switch's Wi-Fi signal weak?

[da1e85]

Please show me a picture because I've only ever seen 3 bars on a Switch...

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I will do when I'm home

 

[Nemix77]

You don't seem to understand how SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO work, they do not increase the "signal" or "speed" of your network, they increase the "bandwidth". And the difference between SU and MU being that MU you can stream to multiple devices simultaneously instead of one at a time with SU.

You assume the Switch even supports MIMO just because it uses a broadcom chip, you are setting yourself up for a big disappointment.

Also you cannot fix NFC or BT "interference" with firmware if something is physically blocking the signal.

It does have a physical antenna for wifi, I don't understand what you mean by this. Just because there is no "visible" antenna doesn't mean there isn't one.

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The switch only has 3 bars????

I stand correct no MiMO however yes a firmware can improve signal strength by tweaking the channels of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC (haven't worked with NFC yet) or even turning on/tweaking a feature found on most Intel wireless cards called Bluetooth Amp (named differently on Broadcom chips) which could help with interference.

All these features the Wi-Fi card on the Switch may or may not have can be turned on or tweak with a firmware update, it's not different than a computer/tablet.

 

[Mr. Wizard]

Anyone else have these mythical 4 bars on their switch? Are there 2 different versions?

 

[Nemix77]

Poor choice of words, physical obviously meaning a real antenna or extender as they call it today, all wireless products have an antenna but to the the real antenna like those rabbit ears helps a lot with signal strength.

Obviously they don't use it to that extent in tablets today heck even in laptops the antennas a very small but it's there and not built into the wireless NIC itself.

 

[Mr. Wizard]

Poor choice of words, physical obviously meaning a real antenna or extender as they call it today, all wireless products have an antenna but to the the real antenna like those rabbit ears helps a lot with signal strength.

Obviously they don't use it to that extent in tablets today heck even in laptops the antennas a very small but it's there and not built into the wireless NIC itself.

So what you are saying is having a tiny round copper wire separate from the pcb that can be pinched and broken off as oppose to having a flat copper trace of the same length with more surface area on the pcb itself and therefore more protected is better?

 

[Nemix77]

Tablet antenna: https://www.google.ca/search?q=tabl...AUIBygC&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=4crkztKA8mEk5M:

Laptop antenna: https://www.google.ca/search?q=lapt...AUIBigB&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=rU3UHKZh_38hTM:

Switch teardown: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Switch+Teardown/78263

 

[gamemasteru03]

I am getting the same problem gets like four or three bars but it still works like it has five,

 

[Mr. Wizard]

Tablet antenna: https://www.google.ca/search?q=tabl...AUIBygC&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=4crkztKA8mEk5M:

Laptop antenna: https://www.google.ca/search?q=lapt...AUIBigB&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=rU3UHKZh_38hTM:

Switch teardown: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nintendo+Switch+Teardown/78263

Nice photos of some round copper wires. What is the point you are trying to make?

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I am getting the same problem gets like four or three bars but it still works like it has five,

Can you please show me a screen shot of these "4 bars"?

 

[Nemix77]

It makes a difference...

Router antenna: https://www.google.ca/search?q=lapt...=isch&q=router+antenna&*&imgrc=9nOm8Pwfw79uIM:

It's old school and looks funny today but people still mod their routers to add these things for higher signal gain.

 

[gamemasteru03]

Nice photos of some round copper wires. What is the point you are trying to make?

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Can you please show me a screen shot of these "4 bars"?

oops forgot the switch only has three bars. All I know is that most of the time it dosent have full bars when all my other consoles do. It has two most of the time.

 

[Mr. Wizard]

It makes a difference...

Router antenna: https://www.google.ca/search?q=lapt...=isch&q=router+antenna&*&imgrc=9nOm8Pwfw79uIM:

It's old school and looks funny today but people still mod their routers to add these things for higher signal gain.

Do you even know why those antennas are better? "Surface area". You still haven't proven in any way shape or form how a round copper wire is better than a flat copper trace of the same length.

Of course a dipole antenna is going to be better have you ever taken one apart? What devices use these antennas? Stationary access points that need the range and bandwidth to serve multiple devices.

Why don't cell phones have antenna sticks anymore? Because we don't need them. There are better ways of doing things now. Like antenna traces.

I still don't see your point.

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Even cars don't have antennas sticks anymore, they trace the antenna around the windshield.

 

[Nemix77]

You know what I'm done here, you're smarter and better is that what you want to hear?

LOL...point is there's room for improvement that does not involve Nintendo recalling a whole bunch of Switch's.

Either they do it through a revision of the Joy Cons and console itself in the future or via firmware update (to improve upon things not fix it and is certainly possible) for current users whom experience less than satisfactory Wi-Fi signal strength.

 

[WiiUBricker]

Mine has always two bars. It gets the job done, though.

 

[Deleted User]

You don't seem to understand how SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO work, they do not increase the "signal" or "speed" of your network, they increase the "bandwidth". And the difference between SU and MU being that MU you can stream to multiple devices simultaneously instead of one at a time with SU.

You assume the Switch even supports MIMO just because it uses a broadcom chip, you are setting yourself up for a big disappointment.

Also you cannot fix NFC or BT "interference" with firmware if something is physically blocking the signal.

It does have a physical antenna for wifi, I don't understand what you mean by this. Just because there is no "visible" antenna doesn't mean there isn't one.

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The switch only has 3 bars????

sorry i meant 2 out of 3

 

[YourHero]

That is pretty good About as good as mine. At least we can get a visual representation of out internet speeds on this system, before we had no clue of the status since nintendo never put in wifi test results.

My only complaint is wired is like a 4th of this download speed. I dont really know why. I wanted wired for online games but if its not gonna have lag I'll just play smash wired when it comes out.

 

[Mr. Wizard]

My only complaint is wired is like a 4th of this download speed. I dont really know why. I wanted wired for online games but if its not gonna have lag I'll just play smash wired when it comes out.

Speed has nothing to do with LAG nowadays with broadband speeds. You should run a PING test to determine your response time and make sure that the MTU of all your devices match that of your router.

 

[YourHero]

Speed has nothing to do with LAG nowadays with broadband speeds. You should run a PING test to determine your response time and make sure that the MTU of all your devices match that of your router.

It wasn't online I was worried about. I hardly take my switch out of the dock. I want to be able to download my games while it's docked too. I mean I guess it's not a big deal to pick it up and use the eshop on its own screen.

 

[Mr. Wizard]

It wasn't online I was worried about. I hardly take my switch out of the dock. I want to be able to download my games while it's docked too. I mean I guess it's not a big deal to pick it up and use the eshop on its own screen.

Alrighty then. I think I see what you were talking about now. Unless your internet connection is faster than 150Mbps you shouldn't really see any difference between wireless and wired on your switch while downloading digital games. And the fact that your wired is so much slower than your wireless I can only assume that you are using a 100Mbit adapter instead of a 1Gbit adapter or you have much more serious issues which are outside the scope of these forums.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Speed has nothing to do with LAG nowadays with broadband speeds. You should run a PING test to determine your response time and make sure that the MTU of all your devices match that of your router.

I think i been a idiot.

I found a tutorial on youtube of ways to increase ps4 internet connections and i just used that tutorial.

• Create static ip address
• Change Primary DNS to 8.8.8.8
• Change Secondary DNS to 8.8.4.4
• Change MTU to 1473

Not that i can prove there is a difference but i just been using it ever since. Although i been having a consistent 50MBPS download and 15MBPS upload on my switch, no issues since day one. Even when automatic is been no problem, as long as i have AC wifi. (Really wish i had a AC ps4 now)

 

[Deleted User]

I've got a very poor reception, only 1 bar, sometimes flickers to 2, but I'm putting that down to my router being at one end of the house and the switch somewhere in the middle behind a large concrete wall.

Elsewhere in the house, it's fine, even to my room above the router.