If you've been researching the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e for possible purchase, no doubt you've seen some mention of Wi-Fi issues with the device. I've seen a number of reviews that express confusing or conflicting information about what the Wi-Fi issue is or how it might affect you if you choose to purchase this product.
First, let's talk about what the issue is. As you can see from the images below, the signal strength received by the device is weaker on a Galaxy Tab S5e compared to a Galaxy Tab S9 at the same location, however, you're probably not going to see a difference unless you run some kind of Wi-Fi analyzer app that shows you the signal strength.
Signal Strength
If you hold the tablet in a particular orientation, one of your hands will probably cover a particular corner of the device, and the signal strength will become even weaker, and the difference in signal strength between a Galaxy Tab S5e and another device at the same location becomes even greater.
So what does this actually mean in terms of Wi-Fi connectivity for you?
This is the point at which some of the reviews become a bit confused. The answer depends on the peculiarities of your Wi-Fi network and what you plan on doing. The strength of that signal can affect the maximum possible throughput speed your device has on your Wi-Fi network, and if the signal is low enough, it could even affect whether or not your device remains connected to the network at all.
Thus, if your home has a location where devices tend to lose connection with the Wi-Fi network, a Galaxy Tab S5e would be more likely to lose connection at that particular location, and this is indeed the behavior I observe in certain dead spots at home on my Galaxy Tab S5e.
Does this issue affect speed? Yes. Would you actually notice the difference in speed on your particular device? Probably not. That signal strength affects the maximum possible throughput speed between your device and the Wi-Fi router, but chances are that you are not doing anything that would actually saturate the connection between your tablet and the Wi-Fi router.
Your connection between your network and your Internet service provider (e.g. the maximum throughput between your cable modem and the cable company) is probably much lower than the link rate between your tablet and the Wi-Fi router. Whatever streaming video quality you're used to is necessarily using less bandwidth than the maximum bandwidth provided by your Internet service provider.
Thus, even if the weaker Wi-Fi signal at your Galaxy Tab S5e knocks you down to a slower connection to your router, you are unlikely to notice any change in day-to-day use. If you are in the habit of exchanging large files over your Wi-Fi network between devices on your network, then maybe you will notice a difference, but for most people, the connection quality won't have a noticeable effect on throughput speed.
Bottom Line
More than likely, you'll only notice a difference if the reduction in signal is enough to cause your device to lose connection with the Wi-Fi router entirely, which will probably only happen if you happen to be holding the device in a particular orientation and happen to be in a dead spot. Basically, if you have a location in your home where devices tend to lose connection, a Galaxy Tab S5e would be more likely to lose connection at that location, particularly if you hold it in landscape mode with the front-facing camera to the left.
For most people in most situations, you probably won't notice any Wi-Fi issues at all with this device. If you do experience an issue, you can probably resolve the issue by changing the orientation so that the front-facing camera is to your right instead of your left when you hold the device in landscape mode.