Help with my bizarre iMessage problem, please

[mrcalabash]

I have two iPhones 4 and an iPad 2.

I've been able to iMessage between the two iPhones. But to and from my iPad I hadn't been able to get it to work. I use my iPad primarily at home, and I've had this problem over two routers and two Internet service providers.

I made a Genius bar appointment re this problem, and while waiting I hooked up my iPad and iPhone to the store's wifi, and lo and behold, iMessage is working. The Apple store guy had no suggestion other than to reset my network settings. But when I got home, the iMessage was working fine with no need to reset anything. A few hours later, it stopped working, and continued to stop working until I hooked up to another wifi network. When I got home, it worked again for a few hours until it stopped again.

Weird, huh?

I read somewhere about opening ports and the like, but this wouldn't explain why it works at all, and works on my iPad only after it has been hooked up on another wifi network.

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Lance-AR]

Please be more specific. You have only told us you cannot get it to work.

 

[applefanDrew]

I have two iPhones 4 and an iPad 2.

I've been able to iMessage between the two iPhones. But to and from my iPad I hadn't been able to get it to work. I use my iPad primarily at home, and I've had this problem over two routers and two Internet service providers.

I made a Genius bar appointment re this problem, and while waiting I hooked up my iPad and iPhone to the store's wifi, and lo and behold, iMessage is working. The Apple store guy had no suggestion other than to reset my network settings. But when I got home, the iMessage was working fine with no need to reset anything. A few hours later, it stopped working, and continued to stop working until I hooked up to another wifi network. When I got home, it worked again for a few hours until it stopped again.

Weird, huh?

I read somewhere about opening ports and the like, but this wouldn't explain why it works at all, and works on my iPad only after it has been hooked up on another wifi network.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Make sure they're sending it to the email address registered for iMessage on the iPad.

 

[mrcalabash]

Thanks for your replies.

How can I be more specific?

IMessage only works on my wifi network after it hooks up to another network, and then for only a little while until I again hook up to a network other than my own.

I created a separate email ID for my iPad, and when it does work I can send and receive at that ID. But I can also send and receive to my iTunes ID email, as well as the phone numbers associated with with our two iPhones.

Bottom line: everything works well on other wifi networks, but not on my own.

And I discovered I'm not only person in the universe who has had this problem. From the Apple forums:

"imessage works on AppleStore WiFi but it doesn't work at my wifi"

https://discussions.apple.com/message/18149298#18149298

 

[TLewis]

Well, if it works well everywhere else but your network, that kinda points the finger at your network. Specifically: your wifi access point/router.

Unfortunately, you're best off finding a network-savvy friend to help you with this. There are lots of different things that could be going wrong, and diagnosing this remotely will likely be long and painful. We could spend all day pulling wild-*ss guesses out of moist, dark areas, but most would probably waste your time and not do anything. That said, here are my likely useless guesses to your problem:

• Firmware bug.
• DHCP misconfiguration.
• QoS/firewall issue/misconfiguration.

If I had to bet, I'd put my money on a firmware bug. Wifi access points/routers aren't generally known for their robust firmware.

Edit: Here's another page that's unlikely to help: http://www.softwarewithstyle.com/question/show/id/63

 

[mrcalabash]

I thought of laming this on my router too, but the problem spans two completely different routers and Internet service providers.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don't know of any specifics that would cause that behavior. This Apple support page states, "Some router-specific features or configurations may interfere with FaceTime and iMessage. This includes port mapping on either end, SIP dropping, or dynamic opening of media ports."

Does your router support UPnP?