2013 Archives

[MFM]

Hi, I have noticed that if you use the 5Ghz band instead of 2.4Ghz the wireless performance is actually much better and stable.

Can someone try as well and let us know?

[NC]

We returned our R7 to BestBuy yesterday and got another one.  Before we did the expensive, time-consuming data transfer this time, we performed a simple wifi speed test in our living room.  Acer R7 (on the left) vs. our 3-year-old Lenovo.  This is a crummy picture, but it shows that the Acer's 2.71 Mbps vs. the Levovo's 37+ Mbps.  

Acer Aspire R7 download speed:  2.71 Mbps

Lenovo: 37.73 Mbps

Yes, that's 2.71 vs. 37.73.  It was barely loading a Google search page. You can guess that we're going back to BestBuy today to return the Acer again and get something different.  Neat form+factor, but it's gotta work.  Chalk up $100 in data-transfer & set-up fees to trying to be different.

[superonyx]

It seems that people are reporting issues with both internal wireless cards. Seeing that these cards are not exclusive to Acer or this R7 and not having other computers with this same wireless card have the issue I have to think the issue is actually a hardware design issue. If it was software or a driver I would imagine acer would have already released a fix for it. Also I just can't see a driver or software making the signal be strong from 0-10 feet away and then drop severely once you get beyond this distance. I am afraid it is an interference issue that is caused by the design or hardware conflict internally. The strange part is that some report a USB wireless dongle helps and for some it doesn't.

Either way how can acer not admit to the issue and offer full refunds for the buyers that are outside of their return period?
A new 1k pc should be enjoyed not have the buyers playing around with different wifi bands and USB dongles.

I have never owned an acer pc and this would be my first. Is this type of situation normal for this company?
Imagine apple or samsung having an issue like this?

[qxlb3r]

I also think that it's a hardware problem, maybe even the Ezel-hinge is part of the problem, don't know which material it is.

Oh and my friends said that they also had problems with Wifi when they bought their Acer-notebooks a few years ago and they joked that it would be more strange if I bought an Acer-laptop and wifi would be working without problems... so that's calming somehow... >_<

Sorry Acer, but this problem is sooo ridiculous. You can't tell me you didn't notice this problem during product testing.

[superonyx]

I find it interesting that I have read many "pro" reviews on this PC and I dont recall any reviewers mentioning this issue.

Did everyone who is having this problem buy the Best Buy exclusive model? Does this best buy model have the backlit keyboard? I am wondering if the model Acer sent to the reviewers were different enough that they didn't have this issue since many of the reviews mentioned the reviewer using this PC as their daily driver for a week or more.

Also it was mentioned that Acer wants some to send their PC to get repaired. Has anyone actually done this and found out what the result was? If you send them your PC and they "repair" it yet its still the same when you get it back then what is your recourse?

[kriis]

Yes, this is interesting issue. I've noticed the same, before i bought r7 i red couple of reviews and in none of them wifi issue was pointed... My laptop has been bought in Poland (not bestbuy), and one of reviews was in polish site. I'm waiting for the solution, but my patience is smaller every day

[qxlb3r]

I'm from Germany and bought mine in Germany (not BestBuy ).

I think in laptop reviews they mostly write down technical specs, run some benchmark programs, do their screen tests and that's it. Don't think they ever need to download something at all.

[NC]

It would make sense that this is a hardware issue.  Someone suggested maybe has something to do with the Ezel hinge design.  I don't know, but something catastrophic like that would explain why we're not hearing from Acer.  A complete recall would be very expensive, so the decision is likely caught up in committee.

Acer, are you out there?  Let us know when you're back from vacation so we can have your decision.

[superonyx]

Another confusing aspect of this is that some users have reported that a USB wifi adapter solved their problem yet some are reporting that the speed was no better with an external USB adapter. I've always been lucky I guess so I have not learned that much about wifi signals Ect. So what could cause an external USB wifi adapter to still not improve the connections?

It's puzzling how so many of these have been sold that one would assume more noise would exist other than this thread. When a user is showing 2 meg next to 37 megs then something must be wrong that has a logical fix.

I guess the question is this.... Are any users actually not experiencing a problem? If you read this thread and your pc is working great can you post that as well? I know complaints are 100x louder than quiet happy people. In this case it would be interesting to actually hear from people that tested their wifi signal and everything is working great.

[margeplas]

Re: Hardware issue???

Could the magnets in the unit have some effect on the wifi (interference)?  Could that be why some dongles work, due to distance from the magnets?

I love the R7, but I have to stay close to the router to work.  Could it be that the less tech savvy users out there are having issues, but just aren't aware?