yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Mrfixitx:
As others have said holy crap it works!!!!! My speeds are drastically improved and more consistent after the tinfoil fix. I had thought it was just the house router was kind of crappy as my signal strength between the phone and my transformer prime were very similar.

Now my wifi speed is much better and streaming videos I previously had to either manually download or let buffer for multiple minutes work like a charm with only rare buffering instead constant pauses.

How stupid is it that a piece of tin foil was all it took to make such a big difference.

I am running. 14 firmware for anyone interested.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Erusman:
Exactly a parabolic effect. The top 1/4 inch that surrounds the prime is not the same composition as the aluminum backplate. Its alot thinner when you have it apart and look at it. This is where ASUS put its WIFI / GPS antenna. They creep out over the aluminum backplate. Even though some WIFI is blocked not nearly as much as if you had an antenna down in that backplate. Aluminum foil over the front where the factory WIFI/GPS antenna are located catches the signals coming out over the top in a parabolic effect. Bouncing them back on the antenna. Some people aren't getting very good results. Can anyone guess why? Because it all depends on how your prime is facing the router and your little aluminum foil catching the wifi signal :p I DO NOT buy the whole theory that you are covering and completely blocking one PCB antenna. Forcing tablet to use aux wifi antenna. I have had my PCB antennas completely out and played with all sorts of combinations.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] bgm307:
Doesn't work for me. I'm slower with the foil on. This is my second Prime and it has pretty good wifi. I would love to try this on my first prime that had horrible wifi.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Norcalz71:
You cannot get a parabolic effect with a flat surface...flat is distinctly not parabolic, thus no focusing.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jfarinella:
I can't believe it - but it's true

I downloaded Speedtest becasue there was no way this should work, right? I mean, ASUS Electronics has some of the best and brightest, right?

First test:

Download before foil - 983kbps

Download after foil (first test) - 4831kpbs

Upload before foil - 782kbps

Upload after foil - 1698kbps

You have got be kidding me! This one will go down in history......
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] pileot:
Couple o things...

parabolic effect simply cannot be coming into play here. Its not parabolic, its not focusing on where the antenna is, it would be blocking more signal than it would be channeling. Sorry, but the laws of physics are not on your side.

As to the "blocks the antenna and forces the prime to use the second antenna" theory... I highly doubt it as many people with bad hardware (PCB inside the prime does not make contact with the pogo pin) have rather bad wifi. When they move the antenna slightly (talking like, 1mm) to make contact, or find a way to better the contact with the pogo pin they get better reception. Better primairy antenna contact = better reception in a measurable fasion. Stronger signal, consistantly better connection speeds, download speeds, upload speeds, etc. very measurable results.

To test and actually verify properly: Do aprox 50 tests without the foil. Make sure nobody else is using your wifi, no extra downloads, no widgets hogging data, purely speedtest connecting to the internet.

without moving the prime (or changing its orientation) add the foil and try again another 50 or so tests.

Average both test groups, and there is your answer.

My personal opinion is people are wanting it to be faster and the placebo effect makes people see the good results and ignore the bad ones. Do a thorough, proper test and let the results speak for themselves.

And hey, if i turns out im wrong i'll admit it and throw tin foil on there the same as everyone else! :)

Edit: Using meathods above, i get aprox 16 Mbps down average without foil. (****ty ISP FML) With foil i get an average of 9Mbps. Larger bits of foil (blocking more of the antenna) yielded poorer results. YMMV
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] PolishPoet:
Sorry it doesn't work for you, But Inability on your part to get this to work in no way decreases the mods ability to perform as specified. Others have successfully gotten similar results, so maybe you should give it another go and adjust placement slowly. Make sure you are doing it with a week WiFi signal. Hope you can get it to work.

Proud Owner of a Transformer Prime on Tapatalk
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] PolishPoet:
Sound like a troll. If you tried it and it dosen't work too bad for you.

Proud Owner of a Transformer Prime on Tapatalk
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
I'm not fretting it really. I am smart enough to understand the concept & smart enough to understand moving it around. Naturally I did these things. I did everything you did and that can be done while keeping the testing orientation & environment the same to mitigate confounding variables. It is not an inability on my end to "get it to work" as it is not rocket science on the concept. I simply think its bunk. Just as you I have about 40+ speedtests to show as much. Inconsistent and not repeatable is not a legit "mod" to me. Sorry.

---------- Post added at 10:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 PM ----------

Really? Your gloating over 2 tests? 2 tests?

THIS is why people are reporting success. A few tests is hardly conclusive & a laughable experiment at best.

In 2 tests I got results also. But I did not stop & in 20 more tests I got nothing repeatable. Then I did even more tests.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] pileot:
I have yet to see one person who can show repeated tests both with and without the foil conclusively showing an improvement with the foil. All other standardized tests show the foil does not work.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Chrono_Tata:
This is interesting because I remember that someone opened up a Transformer Prime a month or so back and discovered that the primary antenna wasn't even connected. I'm not sure which one is the primary antenna either but it's still interesting nevertheless. Maybe Asus engineers realised one of the antenna was/is a dud?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] sirnice:
Now that the OP has helped Asus to figure out a fix. Asus needs to implement it and replace all of our units. :D The OP deserve $1,000,000 from Asus (cheaper than paying their top engineers who can't even come up with a fix).
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] frazipe:
This may explain why my wifi speed fluctuates from 5 - 15 Mb. But it doesn't fluctuate while it's connected. If it starts out at 5Mb it will stay there for the whole time I'm using it but the next time wifi kicks on it might connect at 15Mb and stay there. I think i'm addicted to the speedtest app, I check it constantly.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jdudb:
I have read some wonderful imaginative ideas about parabolas and Faraday cages but what is probably happening is you are making a parasitic coupled antenna that being out of the damping effect that seems to be happening inside the Prime gets a much better signal. It then resonates with the internal antenna sharing its signal. You will find that it is not just the location that is important, but also the size of the foil. That is why it appears not to work for some people, they have just got the wrong size. Size is everything with antennas, it has to be in tune with the signal.

If you carefully trim a small piece off until you get maximum signal for both antennas, (by the way the main antenna is on the right), you should achieve an average increase of about 10dbd.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] buxtahuda:
^^^ I had wondered if this could be a good idea of what was happening as well... In which case, an actual external antenna placed on the outside of the glass could really do wonders.

Which some will say is OK for RF designs since the signal does not necessarily have to travel along a physical plane (as in a completed copper line) and can (and have been made to in some instances) make such gaps as this per proper design.

I'm going to pop my beauty apart later on and sever the connection to the primary antenna only and run some tests at a distance. Sadly I live nowhere near any fiberoptics, and the cable's 50/5 plan has a 50GB monthly cap :eek: which confuses me, offer retarded speed but not enough actual bandwidth to use it. Just trying to kill streaming >.>

But I'll see when my speeds start dropping off, mark the location/orientation/facing, and run as many tests as I can stand to. Fastest connection I'll be able to get around is 10/1, but here at work and at my "office" it's just 5/.5.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] mutiny:
This is exactly what I thought. How can the backplate block signal and a piece in the front enhance it? Lol.

---------- Post added at 09:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:16 AM ----------

Yeah, for those of us who haven't drank the Kool-Aid are hoping for this in the next OTA. It's simple for Asus to do, which leads me to wonder why they haven't thought of it. Seriously.

I mean, they know where they put the antennas and even if they haven't figured out that one performs better than they other, they still should have included some sort of code that chooses between the two if one is weaker than the other.

if(antenna1db > antenna2db)

use antenna1;

else

use antenna2;

Is that so difficult, Asus? I mean, they planned on putting two antennas in the device to begin with. That code should be there due to the simple fact that there are two antennas for the device to work with.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] JoTeC:
I have enjoyed reading all 9 pages of this thread so far. Although it has not worked for a few, it has worked for many. PolishPoet stumbled on to something here, we can not deny that. A strip of foil is certainly not the end result fix but it does give direction that was not present 2 days ago. I agree with some that this method may block one antenna and utilize the second, that makes sense but to disregard PolishPoets findings as BS or placebo is just stubborn. There are smart people saying that no difference can be found and there are smart people saying it has made an improvement. Much like some Primes have GPS and others dont. Much like some Primes have weak WiFi and others don't. Much like some Primes lockup and reboot and others don't. There are certainly inconsistencies with the TF201 so I can see where some people have seen improvement and some have not. But the bottom line here is that there IS something here.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] vittogn:
Wifi/BT Fallout

Does this magic system solve the problem of BT wifi fallout??
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BTrack:
Rabbit Ears Anyone?

I'm old enough to remember "rabbit ear" antennae on our black & white console TV. My dad used to put "tin foil" on the tips to improve TV reception. It worked.

The TV also had a 45 lb remote control unit that my dad used constantly...ME!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] buxtahuda:
Lol no this is pretty much just testing through-put with distance.

That is an issue of something unrelated to hardware IMO and also has its own entire thread. Connecting to your BT device before turning on WiFi is a work-around that offers usable BT and proper WiFi through-put.

I only experience WiFi/BT fallout when trying to tether to my phone while WiFi is already connected. Moving files over BT does not affect WiFi throughput regardless of which order you turn them on. Since people connect to headsets the same way I'd connect to my phone (under Prime's BT settings), seems to me that it tries to route data (internet) through BT even when you don't want it to.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] astralmind:
Could someone update the OP with "official" placement and optimal size for the piece of foil? That would be greatly appreciated :)
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] aypanthony:
Probably was mentioned, but I hope Asus or XDA Dev's come up with some sort of Wifi Antenna toggle. That would provide definitive testing opportunities.

I have decent Wifi signal throughout my house and am thankful I don't have to resort to a piece of foil on my $500 TFP.:)
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] MRCANNADY:
I nice Youtube video from someone or the OP showing exactly how to place it, and the before and after effect would be nice. I did try this last night, and after a few test, I got mixed results..but i do believe that if placed correctly, with the right amount of tin, this will help boost the signal somewhat...
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] fazerrider:
My 2 cents after following this discussion. I have tried the mod with different results. Varying from way better to way worse. Although the signal strength didn't vary much. I think, as some others stated, the signal is blocked, and the Prime switches to the other antenna.

I'm not an expert at fysics, but would it be a wise idea to just connect both Wifi antennas? Can be done with a wire from one pogo-pin to the other.

What do you think: better or worse signal?
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] PolishPoet:
I don't know about official but this is what works best for me. The final size of the foil that will remain on the edger is 3/4" x 1" where 1" is the width. I folded a piece of foil so I am using 2 ply. Initially the piece was about 3" long so that I could hang it off the back to keep the front section in place while testing for the best location. I found that you don't want to move it much each time. I ran 4-5 throughput's each time until I felt I had it right. My final location was 1-3/8" from the right edge of the Prime. Make sure that the front piece remains against the glass while testing. Once you have found the sweet spot tape the foil in place and remove the foil from the top edge back so that only the 3/4 x 1" piece remains.

Hope this helps.

One final point to show what it does for me. Without the foil my speeds averaged 1.38Mbps after 10 tests. With the foil in place the results are shown in the photo. I know there are nay-sayers here but these number for me are factual. I live in a neighborhood where I can see 16 different wireless signals all the time with as many as 21 in the evening. Lots of interference around me so that I am really happy with this improvement.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] PolishPoet:
Don't you think that the second antenna would come into play long before there was no signal. It would seems to me that both antennas would come into play all before the signal was non-existent. But then again there's a lot that is going on with these buggers that don't make any sense. All I know is that it is working for me and because of this I don't have to RMA my Prime, nor do I have to take it apart to modify it. MY warranty is still valid and it's working better that my wife's iPad and either of our two phones.

:D
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] vittogn:
tx for the tip, but regardeless the order I use, bt file transfer kill the speed of the wifi transfer....
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] astralmind:
Awesome, thank you so much! I can't wait to get home and try this!

Do you think that covering the foil with a piece of black paper would negate the effect ? In other words, try to hide it (lets face it, foil looks pretty gettho, not that it is a huge deal but still).
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] benlc:
Works for me, I finally can connect to neighbor's wifi on the prime.

Huge improvement, thanks a lot !
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] senili:
I can't stop laughing +10-15 Db
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] PolishPoet:
Actually I have my spray painted black and used gloss tape to keep it in place. A good black wide tipped magic marker on the dull side helps hide it but the black paint on dull side works well.

Proud Owner of a Transformer Prime on Tapatalk
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
Wow.. I just took this "mod" to the next level..

I added plastic Saran Wrap all around the screen and not I have no finger prints!!! :p
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BUYMECAR:
So after extensive testing, I have found that this trick *drumroll*.... works great. However positioning is very particular. I kept getting speed degradation when I had a remainder of the aluminum strip on the back of the Prime. Instead of wrapping the strip around, I had to cut it off right at the bezel of the Prime and avoided tape on the back.

My Optimus looks so ghetto lol
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] greenlitego70:
I can't believe we pay $500 for this tablet and we have resort to this.....depressing. Still going to try it out because I can't control my curiosity.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Moist:
Cannot wait to test this!! I must say that the tfp deifintely does not lack excitement!:-)
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] PolishPoet:
I think your dad knew my dad.

Proud Owner of a Transformer Prime on Tapatalk
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] anti09:
I love the people commenting on how "ghetto" this fix is. Like the alternative of having a cord hanging out out of your headphone jack isn't just as "there-I-fixed-it."
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BUYMECAR:
I thought the alternative was ASUS actually fixing it.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] MRCANNADY:
Hey man, why do you always have to be the Grinch Who Stole Christmas :p Can you for once post something positive, or at least say hello to us?

You can not say with 100% certainty that this is not helping some poeple, but I think if someone would do a video showing the before and after effect then it would help. Has to be more then 3 test like you said since Speedtest gives random results sometimes.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] slybarman:
LOL.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] astralmind:
damn it! It doesn't work at all for me :( I had high hopes this would solve my woes but looks like it does nothing.

Playing around with it did help a bit at some point but dropped in the next test. No gain.

I don't doubt it's helping people but I certainly would like to know why not me ..

.14 BKCOAS

edit: Well after some thinkering it does seem to possibly help a bit but nothing dramatic. The wifi remains incredibly unstable. I'm wondering if the fact that I have a bluetooth keyboard connected to my desktop near by could be interfering
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] nramprabhu:
I am on .14 & BKCOAS serial. This does not seems to be working for me . Wifi actually fluctuate a lot when i move the alum foil t and not able to see any dramatic improvement.

Ram
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] neckbonest:
believe in the foil! it does work on more than you think! i use it on my wireless keyboard. my computer is in another room so i wrapped a piece of foil around the dongle just so i could use it on my big screen TV in the living room. it would not reach that far before hand. i have not done this on my prime since i can use mine outside as it is and anywhere in my house but i do believe it works on alot more stuff.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] fathope:
thanks for this tip.

i couldnt find any foil last night so i went ahead with a key... i guess is the same principle.. having placed the key on the same location i can get 6-8Mbps instead of the usual 0.9Mbps in the far corner of my place...
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] mtotho:
Didn't have foil but I have beer cans....

Cut out a square in the beer can and taped it to the same location. Don't have overwhelming evidence but ran a few speed tests without and I had 7-10 mbps and then with I have 12 -20 mbps. Haven't tested the range much
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] dcAndroidFan:
Has anyone PM'd this to Gary to see if it's something their engineers are looking into? I know one or two other members have posted that they have "secret" sources at ASUS who tell them that the engineers are working on an antenna fix -- I'd like to know if this is something they are considering. I've tried it and it really seems to work. I don't mind it right now since my case hides the foil but I'd like to get the dock and use it without a case sometimes, and it would be nice if ASUS could get a fix for the WiFi before then so I don't have to walk around with a half-penny's worth of tinfoil taped to my $650 convertible tablet just so my WiFi keeps up with other devices.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] bobsf40:
For the nay-sayers, has anybody tried an IPERF test with a local server? This would get rid of the random fluctuations that people see using speedtest.

I'll try this tonight, with IPERF, and see what the result is.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] mtotho:
Here is my beer can cut into a little square :)

Initially it looks like better speeds and improved range. Its hard to test the speed because I am at a university so the speed widely fluctuates due to downloads and what not.

It does look like I can stay in range of APs better
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] parker7:
if this works, i tip my hat to the opening post.

It's still a shame and an embarrassment that people who own prime's have to resort to doing this.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Ride525:
Maybe Budweiser will sponsor Prime mods....:D
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] mtotho:
Haha. This one is actually Yuengling Light, resorted to looking in my floors recycling bin (Dorm setting).
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] quartercirclebak:
Folks, we are now picking through garbage to fix our $500-$600 devices. :p

But hey, resourcefulness is always great.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BTrack:
As they say "One man's garbage, is another man's treasure!".
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] mtotho:
Well actually it was the recycling bin.. so I properly repurposed one of the items in the recycling bin :)
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] rushless:
I appreciate you got to what you have to to improve signal, but still sad having to, none the less.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] regalpimpin:
On my work AP I go from 900-1200k, to 5mb.

Tested Bluetooth streaming with foil. Still drops to about 400k
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Lock-N-Load:
Great new, I read the new .15 OTA update improves wifi even more... part of it is they send you your choice of (1) tin foil (2) beer cans (3) duct tape along with the OTA update :p
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] PolishPoet:
A temporary fix is better than suffering from unsatisfactory performance. Hopefully rumors of a forthcoming hardware are true.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] Axe-08:
Wow! This works Amazing!

I'm getting 15 mbps on the second floor and my router is in the Basement! I have also hit 20.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] buxtahuda:
Why would some see improvement then?

I think there's more to it, have you (are you willing to) opened your Prime? Did you just try foil or actually try it while disconnecting the main antenna? I guess I'll try that program out at my brothers house sometime this weekend and actually sever connection to the primary antenna after a number of tests with it active.

Speed testing does me no real good with the speeds we have available around here, but since this tests the network through-put specifically it could actually be used to determine a good bit for me. Thanks for the knowledge of how to properly test my through-put against distance.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] bobsf40:
I would not be willing to open my prime for a problem I am not experiencing. What I am interested in though, is that some people are seeing 15Mbps actual download speeds, when I don't even see that with IPERF. Iperf is a bit of theoritical number, one that you almost never see in real world use.

I think it may come down to revision number for some people.

For people who test, can you please post part of your serial number as well, so we determine if the version of Prime has anything to do with success rates?

thanks!
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] pvdwaal:
Not working for me.got very fluctuating results but no acual gain.

BCOKAS
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] theanswriz42:
Why would you think it'd make any difference? It's the same hardware.