Chromebook

[kpucci]

I sent the only useful information that my routers log had..see my previous post.  

[kpucci]

I will also try reinstalling ChromeOS and the beta channel as per tech support suggestions.

[orangecrusher13]

I am posting out of frustration about dropped and inconsistent wifi problems with two Acer 720 chromebooks.  We have had one for about 4 months and the other for about a month.  Both are increasingly having dropped wifi problems.  My guess is the problem is more prevalent than appears in this thread, as many people are not taking the time to find the forum and comment.  My wife and I love chromebooks, and are generally very satisfied with the Acer C720 and consider it a great machine, particularly for the money.  Great value,       BUT....we are going nuts with the wifi issue.  Here one minute and gone the next.  Comes and goes.

We were early adopters of Chromebooks, and also have two Samsung series 3 Chromebooks.  The Acer is definitely faster. Having said that, I have set aside the Acer for now, and am typing this on my older Samsung, which does not have the problem.  

I am also running a window 7 desktop via wifi on the same router(s), without any issues.  We run two different wifi routers with no problems on any other computer.  This problem did not occur earlier in the life of the two C720 computers until recently.  I am not a tech guy, just a user who doesn't want to bothered with updates, tech issues, etc.  I just want a simple, reliable device that I don't have to mess with, hence Chromebooks.  I have tried all the obviously fixes such as clearing cache, rebooting routers, clearing other obvious data, all to no lasting effect.

Sadly, I am preparing to share my thoughts via Amazon reviews.  I think that the folks at Acer need to take the issue seriously, whether it is an Acer problem or a Google problem, or an interface between the two.  I am not tech savvy enough to have any idea what is going on.  I only know that our user experience is greatly diminished, and I will consider the next iteration of the Samsung Chromebook which is just about to be rolled out.

Please Acer. We need some meaningful action or info on the issue.  

[kpucci]

so neither a full restore nor changing to beta channels had an affect....same issue.

[kpucci]

so i contacted support via chat.  I explained i tried everthing i was told, still no luck.  I wanted to send the unit in for repair, but they wanted me to pay for shipping.  I was shocked.  Wanting me to pay for shipping for a defective unit is crazy.  They would rather i return the unit for refund than pay shipping.  So be it.

[kpucci]

some of the worst customer service i have received in all my days.  i am going to return for a refund and buy something from the competition.

[Acer-Cory]

I'm sorry to see that we've got you this frustrated over a computer. Unfortunately, the warranty does not cover shipping, this is one way to keep the overall cost of the a product low.

One last thing I might suggest before you return it, is to make sure that it isn't an issue with your router. Try other access points, maybe a Starbucks or a friends house. If you see different results it may be that your router needs to be updated. There are circumstances where the wireless card just doesn't work well with specific routers in specific conditions.

[kpucci]

The rouer is provided by my ISP and ALL other devices work fine with it so trying another router to make the Chromebook work is obviosuly not going to happen.  Other major retailers have no issue covering the shipping cost of a defective product, but apparently not Acer.  Can't say I didnt't try, but Samsung and HP chromebooks are looking good right now.

[kpucci]

Also, your engineering team have had the logs for a few days now and still no update...

[Acer-Cory]

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kpucci wrote:

The rouer is provided by my ISP and ALL other devices work fine with it so trying another router to make the Chromebook work is obviosuly not going to happen.  Other major retailers have no issue covering the shipping cost of a defective product, but apparently not Acer.  Can't say I didnt't try, but Samsung and HP chromebooks are looking good right now.

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Just because other devices work with this access point, doesn't mean there can't be a compatibility issue. I don't know for sure, it's just options to help identify the problem. I know that doesn't alleviate the frustration, but I've personally seen where 1 device was acting strange on my home network, and I have a couple computers, phones, tablet all going strong. It ended up being that our specific router didn't work with that specific device and it took two replacements to figure it out. An update to the firmware of the router ifxed the issue. 

The logs you provided will help the reviewing team have additional data points to look at, but an issue still has to be identified, and a solution has to be put in place. Neither of those have happened but not for a lack of effort. I feel I must add the context that this thread has never had more than 2 active participants in 6 months on a unit has had tens of thousands of products shipped world wide. I'm confident that there isn't a systemic issue, but we are working to identify and fix this issue. It is possible that it could take some time to accomplish this.