Widespread reports of Sony Vaio notebook Wi-Fi issues

[Shawn Knight]

Several people have come forward to report wireless problems with select Sony Vaio notebooks – particularly the Vaio Fit – over the past few months. Issues range from capped speeds over Wi-Fi to signal strength significantly diminishing the further the system is from a router.

One of the most prominent threads on Sony’s support forum seems to suggest the issue stems from the Broadcom wireless card (BCM43142) inside the machine. One user reported a max signal strength of just two bars with speed tests resulting in just 1MB/sec download speeds and anywhere between 1-5MB/sec upload.

Sony issued a series of updates for the wireless card about a week ago according to Vaio Fit owners but these did little to quell the connection issues. Multiple users said they have contacted customer support and have been offered numerous fixes – most of which didn’t work. The only solution it seems is to physically replace the Broadcom card with a unit from Intel (Centrino 6235).

Replacing the Wi-Fi card is a simple enough procedure that could even be accomplished by those that aren’t very tech-savvy but having to do so on your own dime on a brand new notebook is uncalled for. We’ve reached out to Sony for a comment on the issue but we have not received a reply as of writing. If we do hear back, we’ll update this story accordingly.

Do you own a Sony Fit laptop that has experienced similar Wi-Fi issues? If so, have you had any luck with Sony customer support in solving the problem?

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/53879-widespread-reports-of-sony-vaio-notebook-wi-fi-issues.html

 

[wastedkill]

Could it be they skimped out on the wifi to save money? haha or it could simply be bad wifi from their router?

 

[Jad Chaar]

And that is why I dont buy Vaios. They have too many issues.

 

[GhostRyder]

And that is why I dont buy Vaios. They have too many issues.

Yea, its a pricey laptop that does not have top of the line products in it. There's better alternatives to buying a Sony Vaio.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Yea, its a pricey laptop that does not have top of the line products in it. There's better alternatives to buying a Sony Vaio.

My sister has a Vaio and she hated it so much she bought a Mac haha.

 

[RzmmDX]

Wifi Card? Easy to replace?

Last time I removed my wifi card and plugged it back in, I could no longer turn it on...

Herp derp.

 

[NTAPRO]

Refund time

 

[Guest]

Replacing the Wi-Fi card is a simple enough procedure that could even be accomplished by those that aren’t very tech-savvy

are we talking about Vaio? Sir I think you live on another planet

 

[Guest]

Techspot is publishing this news to get more customers for Apple.

 

[Guest]

Shushh... Strawman.

 

[Guest]

Just bought the vaio fit 2 days ago... I've had the wifi stop working at least 10 times already.
futureshop allows me to return within 14 days... if this isn't fixed by then... it's going back.

 

[Guest]

Same story here, in the Netherlands. Bought a Sony VAIO 13", 3 days ago but the wifi is dropping all the time. Using skype is not possible, only for chat, and chrome is telling that webpages are not reachable anymore. First thought it was only at my house but it is also the same on other locations where my HP used to work perfectly. So I checked the internet and I see I am not the only one with this problem. But so far I could not find a solution. Frustrating.

 

[Guest]

Search the net and it seems that many Sony products have wifi issues, from mobile phones to laptops. Quite a disaster.

 

[Guest]

I've sent back two Vaio Fit's with bad wifi cards now. First one was an exchange, this one is a straight return. Sony's support was terrible. I've bought 5 straight Vaio's before this, but will never purchase one again.

 

[Guest]

Received this beauty yesterday and had my head scratched over night....decide return it today...what a shame on SONY to ship a product like this with obvious flaw...

had another sony for 5 years but now they force me looking for something else...

 

[Ayjay Cee]

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a Vaio Fit 15 (Core i7) for UK £950 (around US $1500) which had all the issues mentioned elsewhere. Initially, I thought it was a great laptop but once I stated using it in anger, it kept losing the internet connection due, I think, to very poor wifi reception. Sitting alongside my 2 year old Samsung Ultrabook and a Nexus 7, the sony showed 2 bars signal strength and 19Mbps whereas the Samung had 5 bars and 150Mbps and the Nexus 7 4 bars and 65 Mbps. Sony support were very nice but ultimately useless - they admitted it was a known issue and said they were passing the case to 2nd Line support who would respond 'within 48 hours' - it's now been 4 days and I have not heard a thing. As Sony had not responded, I took it back to the store who exchanged it for a Sony Duo 13 but I had to pay another UK £ 250 / US $400. Initially, I thought this was a very cool piece of kit until it started showing all the same wifi problems as it's predecessor. Looking into the Device Manager, it would seem that the Duo had the same Broadcom wifi adapter as the Fit and was equally rubbish. In the end, I kept the Duo for one day and then returned it to the store who gave me a full refund without any argument. As a consequence of all this, I am now in the market for another laptop in the £1000 - 1500 price bracket but WILL NOT being looking at another Sony - indeed, I think the whole experience has poisoned me as far as Sony products in general are concerned. Don't know what to go for yet though - any suggestions much appreciated.

 

[Guest]

The same here.. I bought Vaio Fit 15 Touch in Slovakia.. It's really frustrating

 

[Guest]

The same in Poland. Vaio Fit 15 and bcm43142 issue! Sony has informed me that it is a driver problem and they are working on it! We will see how long we have to wait to fix this problem.

 

[Guest]

Sony is not being responsible! They should stop selling this defective Vaio Fit and should recall the ones they've already sold. I have a laptop that can't get Wifi - what good is that? Do not buy this laptop!

 

[Guest]

Well, I purchased my VAIO Fit through Best Buy months ago and have had this problem since the beginning. I posted on the forums immediately upon discovering it in hopes that a viable compromise might be made somewhere down the line, but apparently that is out of the question. The fact that the moderators refuse to even discuss the problem with us on their own support forum is disgusting. The solution is simple enough; SONY needs to recall all of these defective machines immediately and replace the Wi-Fi cards themselves instead of forcing their consumers to clean up the mess. I paid top dollar for this notebook so I didn't expect something as trivial as a Wi-Fi card to be an issue... ridiculous...

Also, replacing the card myself is not an option simply because the $300 warranty I purchased through Best Buy will be voided if something goes wrong when I open it up. Then it becomes a much larger problem for me.

Seriously SONY, get your **** together. Your reputation is suffering even more-so now over something that could be fixed so easily.

 

[Guest]

Same story here in Belgium. Bought a VAIO FIT 15, terrible wifi performance, talked about it with support, they fortunately acknowledged it's a generalised problem. I sent back the unit and received email notification today that I would be refunded. Owned several other VAIO's before and NEVER had this kind of problem. My trust in Sony suffered greatly, fortunately they were easy on doing the refund, which shows they know there is a serious problem. How did these units ever make it past Quality Control? On the outlook now for another laptop, and seriously doubt it will be another Sony.

 

[Guest]

I bought from USA and now use in Qatar and it is the same problem. I use MacBook, Kindle, I Pod Touch, I Pad and Dell computers with the same router and there is no problem. I think Sony should recall this product and fix it considering we paid almost 1000 USD. Meanwhile, it is a Vaio Fit Premium.

 

[annie9000]

I just got this beautiful laptop yesterday, and now I am having the same wireless problem!! it is so frustrating. called the sony service, they said will send me a wireless adapter.. is there anyone use that wireless adapter before? should I just return the laptop? but it is really beautiful from the outside and it is slim if I change the wireless card inside to the inter Centrino 6235 model , will that work perfectly??
can anyone reply me about this??

 

[Guest]

It is best to return the laptop, for more beautiful it is, not worth having a device that expensive and you have this type of problem so serious, I returned my vaio yesterday and wait for another option (yoga, surface pro, etc)

 

[Guest]

I called Sony and said I wanted to return my Vaio Fit and before I could complete my sentence the guy on the phone said wi-fi problems eh?

They know about the problem but the continue to sell the laptops.

However, search the net for just about any - mac, samsung, hp etc - 2013 laptop and you will find similiar discussions on wifi issues. It seems sony are not the only ones using the broadcom card.