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Finding browsing on iPad genuinely stressful

J

JulianL

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 2, 2010
1,722
732
London, UK
Does anyone else find browsing on the iPad to be a stressful experience?

Yes, I know that 95% of people here will be tempted to post something like "It's perfect, no problems here" but spare a thought for the rest of us plagued by the well known (and acknowledged by Apple) WiFi issue. Sometimes I get 10 or 15 minutes of browsing without issue but more often I might get 15 or 20 page hits before it locks up, maybe 4 or 5 minutes of browsing. This means that every time I click a link my heart is in my mouth as to whether the progress bar will ever go beyond that initial 20% load or will just stall forever. It's just horrible.

My iPad was my first ever Apple device, and I've posted a lot since on this forum. My impression is that the whole tablet concept is great and Apple have produced a beautiful device but I really, really (really) hate Apple as a company because, after 3 months of a known problem, how can they have such contempt for their customers as to leave this unfixed?

Does anyone feel as strongly as I do? This is a product with a serious problem in the network stack that makes life a misery for maybe 3% to 5% of users and they're just leaving us to twist in the wind. Evil!

- Julian
 
I feel that way when mine's acting up, but I've got to say that you're 1000x more patient than I am. As bad as mine got, it was never ever near as bad as what you're describing. And mine settled down late last week; it's down to about one "connecting..." every two days or so. No idea why...rebooted the router around midweek, but I'd done that half a dozen times before. It even connected to three different hotspots this weekend and stayed that way without problems for the first time. Voodoo, maybe? Who knows?

Anyway--assuming you've tried all the known fixes, and tried it on other networks only to see the same results, I'd say take it back and ask for an exchange. I doubt Apple really expects anyone to endure the kind of experience you're describing, and nothing is worth raising your stress level by that much.

Good luck!!!
 
It's a issue for far many people than what apple say. I have only been a member her for a week or 2 and it's the most common post I see. That tells me it's a far bigger issue. Like you say you will get many fanboys backing up stevo jobs saying theirs nothing wrong with there's so that must mean they are all fine. If only that was true. Perhaps someone should do a thread we can all vote on.
 
Luckily I haven't had any wifi issues with mine. To me i think the biggest problem is lack of arrow keys on the virtual keyboard. It is such a pain in the butt if you mess up typing something and don't notice right away.

If I do end up with wifi issues I will be pissed though as I don't have 3G.
 
If there's so many posts, why would a vote be necessary?

I haven't had these problems (have used the wifi on many networks, home use has been on a buffalo G, and now an airport extreme N). You do have my sympathy, though, as I would have torn my hair out with what you describe. What kind of router and firmware are you using? I notice you're in the UK, do you happen to be using one of those BT Home hubs? You wouldn't believe how many of our customers (I work at an online gaming company) have problems with those things.
 
i were having these problems i'd find it a stressful experience too.

i hope there is a fix down the line, and sooner rather than later too.
 
I had some problems, I googled, I turned off settings that I didn't need on my router, I now have stress free browsing on my iPad.
Best thing about it, I did it with my iPad in 5 minutes. Google is your friend, use it.
 
JulianL said:
Does anyone else find browsing on the iPad to be a stressful experience?

Yes, I know that 95% of people here will be tempted to post something like "It's perfect, no problems here" but spare a thought for the rest of us plagued by the well known (and acknowledged by Apple) WiFi issue. Sometimes I get 10 or 15 minutes of browsing without issue but more often I might get 15 or 20 page hits before it locks up, maybe 4 or 5 minutes of browsing. This means that every time I click a link my heart is in my mouth as to whether the progress bar will ever go beyond that initial 20% load or will just stall forever. It's just horrible.

My iPad was my first ever Apple device, and I've posted a lot since on this forum. My impression is that the whole tablet concept is great and Apple have produced a beautiful device but I really, really (really) hate Apple as a company because, after 3 months of a known problem, how can they have such contempt for their customers as to leave this unfixed?

Does anyone feel as strongly as I do? This is a product with a serious problem in the network stack that makes life a misery for maybe 3% to 5% of users and they're just leaving us to twist in the wind. Evil!

- Julian
Click to expand...

Julian - pack up your iPad and take it back to apple. I had the exact same problem with my wifi iPad and exchanged it for the 3G version and this one is fine. They took mine back with no restocking fees and gave me full credit. No need to suffer!!! It is a huge pain to have an iPad that isn't working properly.

Good luck,
Sandy
 
Make sure you don't have the brightness set on the lowest setting. Not sure if there is one common problem for those that have this problem. Mine just started on like the 4th week of having...or I didn't notice it because 3G would kick in really quickly. I just know if I leave my brightness on the lowest setting, I get wifi problems. If I leave it at 1/4 up, no problems.

At first, I thought you were talking about being frustrated with Safari...which I am that as well...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/962663/
 
nixiemaiden said:
Luckily I haven't had any wifi issues with mine. To me i think the biggest problem is lack of arrow keys on the virtual keyboard. It is such a pain in the butt if you mess up typing something and don't notice right away.

If I do end up with wifi issues I will be pissed though as I don't have 3G.
Click to expand...

Yep cursor control. That and excel compatibility.

I think some of the wireless issues are how people are setting up their networks and iPad power management. That's why the trick with the screen brightness works.

Stressful experience ? I like it better than the laptop or desk top.
 
Have you taken it to the Apple store? Set up an appointment with a Genius?

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3237

Try any of the router Setting Apple suggests? Turn off auto brightness? Make sure it is not at the lowest brightness?

If you have tried everything exchange it. If, as you say, 95% of us don't have the issue? Then there should be a good chance to get one that works.
 
nixiemaiden said:
Luckily I haven't had any wifi issues with mine. To me i think the biggest problem is lack of arrow keys on the virtual keyboard. It is such a pain in the butt if you mess up typing something and don't notice right away.
Click to expand...

Oh yes...arrow keys please!

I get a dropped wi-fi connection occasionally, usually after waking from sleep, but is only lasts a few seconds. Only at home though- it's been fine at work.
 
I haven't had any wifi issues... But what makes my browsing stressful is the auto refresh of the pages. It makes it impossible to view multiple web pages.
I downloaded atomic browser which helps, but it is quite slow and takes up a lot of memory and eventually just crashes.
 
Thanks for all the support and suggestions. Believe me, I've tried absolutely every suggested fix out there, flashed my router to the latest firmware, taken all DHCP off the network, played with brightness, channels, WEP/WPA/WPA2 settings, hard coded DNS servers, etc, etc.

I suppose I might take it back to Apple for an exchange, even if only to get one that's one month newer (Apple might as well give me something for my suffering). I doubt it will change anything though because my device does work perfectly when I visit my mum's house and for a few glorious weeks it seemed to work OK in my house, the problems went away completely. Ironically my problems came back on 24th June when I added a new device to my network, the one you had to queue up for for hours to get hold of that day. Now, even with the iPhone WiFi disabled for a day so that I'm back to the iPad as the sole DHCP device on the network (or with it set to a static IP address), my iPad is still a basket case.

It would be interesting to know what percentage of people really are affected by the WiFi issues. My estimate was based on the various WiFi threads on this forum and my impression of the ratio of "No problems here" vs "I've got WiFi issues too" posts on those threads.

- Julian

P.S. I agree about the arrow keys on the keyboard, it's a pain to have to use the magnifying glass for simple corrections.
 
One of the times I called the customer service they even advised me to buy another router. Funny thing was they recommended I purchased a cheap ass belkin n band router and no the apple router! I bought the router as it was only $40 but it didn't solve my issues.
 
JulianL said:
Does anyone else find browsing on the iPad to be a stressful experience?

Yes, I know that 95% of people here will be tempted to post something like "It's perfect, no problems here" but spare a thought for the rest of us plagued by the well known (and acknowledged by Apple) WiFi issue. Sometimes I get 10 or 15 minutes of browsing without issue but more often I might get 15 or 20 page hits before it locks up, maybe 4 or 5 minutes of browsing. This means that every time I click a link my heart is in my mouth as to whether the progress bar will ever go beyond that initial 20% load or will just stall forever. It's just horrible.

My iPad was my first ever Apple device, and I've posted a lot since on this forum. My impression is that the whole tablet concept is great and Apple have produced a beautiful device but I really, really (really) hate Apple as a company because, after 3 months of a known problem, how can they have such contempt for their customers as to leave this unfixed?

Does anyone feel as strongly as I do? This is a product with a serious problem in the network stack that makes life a misery for maybe 3% to 5% of users and they're just leaving us to twist in the wind. Evil!

- Julian
Click to expand...


We have had three iPads, one had a video freezing issue and was swapped out without problem. None have had any of the connection issues you describe and I have to wonder if you should go to the Apple store and get yours exchanged. Have you had anyone else near you with an iPad see if they have similar issues to you on your network?
 
JulianL said:
Does anyone else find browsing on the iPad to be a stressful experience?

Yes, I know that 95% of people here will be tempted to post something like "It's perfect, no problems here" but spare a thought for the rest of us plagued by the well known (and acknowledged by Apple) WiFi issue. Sometimes I get 10 or 15 minutes of browsing without issue but more often I might get 15 or 20 page hits before it locks up, maybe 4 or 5 minutes of browsing. This means that every time I click a link my heart is in my mouth as to whether the progress bar will ever go beyond that initial 20% load or will just stall forever. It's just horrible.

My iPad was my first ever Apple device, and I've posted a lot since on this forum. My impression is that the whole tablet concept is great and Apple have produced a beautiful device but I really, really (really) hate Apple as a company because, after 3 months of a known problem, how can they have such contempt for their customers as to leave this unfixed?

Does anyone feel as strongly as I do? This is a product with a serious problem in the network stack that makes life a misery for maybe 3% to 5% of users and they're just leaving us to twist in the wind. Evil!

- Julian
Click to expand...

Something strange here, back on June 20th you posted:

JulianL said:
I was having horrible issues in the first few days and nothing fixed them (flashing new router firmware, static IP address, changing wireless channel). Eventually I did a long power cycle on my router, turned it off for 10 minutes and turned it back on, and it's been fine ever since. I'd assumed that the total router reset I got when I re-flashed the firmware to the latest version would have done a total reset of the router state but obviously not.

I don't forgive Apple though, everything else in my house was working fine with my router as it was, it was only the iPad networking that seemed incapable of dealing with the situation so it does seem more fragile than everything else in my house. I'll be happier and more confident when they do push out a release that strengthens their handling of the WiFi connection.
Click to expand...

Did this router fix not continue to work?

I can't understand why those who are having persistent WiFi problems with their iPad don't return them for replacement. Many seem to be waiting for an unscheduled "fix" that 99% of iPad users don't need and they don't even know if this "fix" will address their specific problem.

Now, if a replacement iPad also had problems with your WiFi network, then the reasonable conclusion would be that there is something amiss in your network (even if other devices work OK on it - not all devices use the same 802.11x features). The fact that after you did a hard reset on your router the behavior of the router then changed is not a good sign.
 
Actually I find browsing on the ipad to be great. I didn't have bay WiFi issues so far and I love the way Safari works. Of course nothing is perfect and there is always some improvement potential here:
  1. Open Tabs should stay in memory and not get reloaded every time I revisit them
  2. Ad block is missing. I also have Atomic Browser but I prefer Safari, so I would like to see the feature in the native app
 
I had issues on my home router when I first got the iPad home. I made changes to the router setup and have had no issues since.

iPad has been fine on other routers I have encountered.
 
I have heard of Wi-Fi reception issues, but never any issue like this. I have my own iPad plus I support several of them at my office, and I've never had any of these problems.

My first guess would be router issues, but if it happens on multiple Wi-Fi networks then I would take it back to Apple and raise a stink until they give you a replacement.
 
nixiemaiden said:
Luckily I haven't had any wifi issues with mine. To me i think the biggest problem is lack of arrow keys on the virtual keyboard. It is such a pain in the butt if you mess up typing something and don't notice right away.
Click to expand...

QFT. One of my biggest pet peeves on the iPad also.
 
If you find ipad browsing stressfull you should try (fill in blank here).

Seriously no big deal, take it back, get it fixed / restocked, worry about some real problems.
 
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