14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7 launched nearly a month ago and the device went on sale in late October, but it looks like it’s already affected by a rather widespread issue.
Several users have confirmed that the Surface Pro 7 (and presumably the Surface Laptop 3) is hit by a bug causing Wi-Fi to be extremely slow after resuming the device from sleep.
At first glance, the problem appears to be caused by the new AX201 Wi-Fi chip replacing the Marvel version on both the Surface Pro 7 and the Surface Laptop 3 with an Intel processor.
However, Microsoft has remained completely tight-lipped on the bug until now, so a confirmation does not exist.
Several reddit threads, including this one where a workaround is also available, suggests the problem resides in Intel AX201 driver version 21.40.1, with network speeds substantially reduced after waking from sleep. Using hibernate instead of standby is one way to prevent the bug from kicking in, according to user poss.
Microsoft tight-lipped for now
One Microsoft’s forums, one user claims they noticed a speed drop of no less than 90 percent after waking the device from sleep.
“I just acquired a Surface Laptop 3 13.5'' and I noticed that wifi becomes (way) slower after waking up from sleep mode. A speed test shows a decrease in the order of 90% (from 100 Mbps to 10 Mbps),” the post reads.
On the other hand, as Microsoft MVP Barb Bowman warns, users are recommended to avoid installing the generic Intel AX201 drivers, as it’s believed these ones could cause more problems. This is because Microsoft’s latest Surface models come with a custom version of the drivers, and installing the generic ones might make it impossible to return to the custom configuration.
I have also reached out to Microsoft to ask for more information and will circle back when more info is available.