Hi All,
I have a new Framework laptop 13 DIY edition (AMD series).
I have noticed that the Wi-Fi range seems to be weaker than any other laptop I have. It’s not horrible, but the signal strength seems to be 15%-20% weaker. I am wondering if there is something wrong with my device or if this is by design?
Thanks
A lot of the discussion here revolves around constant dropout issues and poor performance. I don’t have any of these issues. I simply have a poor Wi-Fi range as compared to other laptops in my house. It almost seems like more of an antenna issue rather than an issue with the card. Can anyone else confirm similar problems?
Some people have experienced better reception after swapping out their antennas (which had been crushed iirc). You might be willing to try it out since antennas are very cheap, but be careful with the connectors!
My antenna cables are undamaged and the antenna themselves seem perfectly installed, no crinkling or misalignment.
Here I put 4 devices all sitting on top of my desktop very close to each other. If we were splitting hairs the FW and the desktop antenna are the closest to the router with the tablet and smartphones further back (LOS is also obscured by the screen of the FW13).
Thanks heaps for your response. This roughly matches the performance loss I am seeing as well. Sounds like it might be a design issue due to antenna placement?
My laptop is brand new and the antenna module is in one piece with no damage. Framework only offers the same module as a replacement. I don’t see why replacing the antenna with exactly the same one would improve anything, unless mine is faulty.
Judging by the other responses in this thread, it would appear more likely that the antenna itself is bottlenecked by its placement inside the device.
I think it is a design issue too, certainly it is not unique to you and I. I don’t know if it’s worth contacting support over aside from to add weight to it being a defect for the next iteration of the FW13.5
Mine has been horrible since release. I can barely get it to connect to 6ghz network when it’s next to the AP. When my pixel will stay on 6ghz to the other end of the house.
The worst part is that game streaming isn’t possible, the packet loss is so high, and only on this device. On Ethernet, no issues. Tested 3 different devices no issues and much stronger signal strength in every location
You dont mention your O/S and/ driver versions, or what brand and version of AP you are using, but at least one of those must be faulty.
What have you tried to rule out ?
Hey,
FW13 AMD Ubuntu 22.04 here.
I’m also experiencing WiFi issues which is kind of a problem in my day-to-day work.
Signal is by far weaker than with my previous laptop (XPS 13) and smartphone. I have one scenario where the laptop is capable of seeing the WiFi but never manage to connect to it until I get closer.
I also noticed that it has a very hard time switching from different access points (in my office building, when I’m traveling around). It sticks to the “original” one and even when out of range doesn’t succeed to reconnect. I have to put it in plane mode and reconnect to have access to the closest AP. Not very convenient while on a meeting!
Is it better with a live CD ? What about using the recent 24.04 version ? Have you tried playing with the priority of the connections (in Kubuntu, that’d be system settings > connections > pick one > general and adjust “priority”) ?
I didn’t try with a trial version of the OS.
I’m not planning on upgrading to 24.04 until it is officially supported (it is my work laptop).
Priority is set to “0”, not sure what it means. However, I’m not using any other WiFi AP in range, so I wonder how it could get confused and how changing the priority could solve the issue. 
Swapped my mediatek card for an AX210 no problem since.
24.04 is officially supported ? It says so right on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Installation on the Framework Laptop 13 - Framework Guides even though Officially Supported vs Compatible Community Supported Linux Distributions is wrong.