ESP8266 - does it really have terrible wifi range by default?

Question

ESP8266 - does it really have terrible WiFi range by default??

First time to try this module out and we're disappointed with the range.. as per our testing we can only get max 5m WiFi range line of sight (LOS) to our regular WiFi router (TPlink and other routers we tried)

LOS Distance (Test results based on RSSI):

• at 6 meters NO CONNECTION
• at 5 meters -77
• at 4 meters -70
• at 1 meter -56
• at 3 meters -59

We also tried using different WiFi Channel from 1-11
We also tried removing wifi password (no password) and WEP password
We tried also using different modes B G N

NO change ..

Are we doing something wrong here? Or is this module just that bad?

Any solution not requiring hardware change? (because we already bought a lot)

here's our little module

Interestingly, I saw these guys test the module and it seemed to work well .. Could we have a fake chip?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BYdZ_24yg0

We have really hit a stumbling block. hope you guys can help

Answer 1

The very first thing I notice is that your WiFi antenna is shielded by the PCB. That is the antenna is placed right over the top of the ground plane of the PCB and your range is going to be severely limited.

You will notice on the NodeMCU design below that they have placed a PCB cutout where the antenna is located. In other pictures you can also see that the ground plane does not go past where the antenna starts.

On other boards the antenna sits proud of the main PCB such as this one from Tronixlabs:

If money is tight and new hardware is out, you could try cutting a cutout where the antenna sits using your Dremel (or other rotary tool). If there are any traces underneath the antenna you will need to fix them up with wire worms. Of course it is best to remove the ESP module first.

Alternatively, you could redesign the PCB and send it out for another manufacturing run. I use PCBShopper.com to find the best price for the bare PCBs.

Edit:
Something else you could do is to unsolder the ESP and mount it 90 degrees to the PCB. You would need to solder wires from the base PCB to the terminals of the ESP. This should work and you won't need to cut the base PCB.