Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
(UK) So How Bad Is The Wi-Fi Problem?
- Thread starter wrkactjob
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Thanks for the sympathetic words. Unfortunately my firmware upgrade on the router didn't fix my issues, my iPad has dropped the connection at least 10 times since I last posted. I do take the same message from this thread as you seem to do though, i.e. that the odds are pretty good that you won't be affected by the problem.wrkactjob said:
I guess I need to contact Apple support next week, if nothing else to at least register myself as an extremely unhappy customer. If they have any emergency stock then I might see if they'll do a hardware exchange to see if that fixes the problem.
- Julian
Intermittent issues...
Seems like it is just a problem when I have 3 or fewer bars and other SSID signals come and go. Sitting in the room with the router poses no issues.
Unfortunately, 90% of my usage is in those fringe conditions, so happy to have the 3G backup.
Seems like it is just a problem when I have 3 or fewer bars and other SSID signals come and go. Sitting in the room with the router poses no issues.
Unfortunately, 90% of my usage is in those fringe conditions, so happy to have the 3G backup.
From my experience, it doesn't. If it keeps asking for password, just cancel, go to wifi settings, and manually re-connect. Won't ask for password then. Hassle, but not the end of the world.
Intermittent dropouts
Just as an FYI, I was plagued with the random dropouts after I set the screen brightness to minimum and left it there (reading in bed one night). For days afterwards, it was dropping every half hour and my only fix was to turn wifi off an and back on. After a few days, I was ready to throw it out the window.
Then I found the solution: Just nudge the screen brightness off minimum and wifi connects instantaneously. No kidding. Hope it works for y'all.
(Router is a dual-band Time Capsule, BTW)
Just as an FYI, I was plagued with the random dropouts after I set the screen brightness to minimum and left it there (reading in bed one night). For days afterwards, it was dropping every half hour and my only fix was to turn wifi off an and back on. After a few days, I was ready to throw it out the window.
Then I found the solution: Just nudge the screen brightness off minimum and wifi connects instantaneously. No kidding. Hope it works for y'all.
(Router is a dual-band Time Capsule, BTW)
Yeah, in the bigger context (wars, famine, death, etc) none of this is remotely an issue but believe me, it is a major hassle. I'm not talking about the odd dropout every half hour, last night I got to 3 dropouts within 5 minutes. I was in the app store and I clicked down to read an app description, went back to the search list, tried to click down to the next app but didn't see anything because WiFi had hung, went and tried to load a web page to check it really was the WiFi, Safari hung, went to Settings and renewed the lease, went back to the App store, successfully looked at the details for the second app, went back to the search list, tried to look at a third app, no details, WiFi hung, did recovery procedure again, got to third app details, went back to search list, hang again on trying to look at 4th app details, did the fix again and the fourth time it seemed to stay OK for the final 10 minutes before I went to bed. It's more than a hassle, it's a total nightmare, although admittedly that's the worst I've had.
When I get my dropouts I never get asked for the password by the way (which is just as well because it's a very secure 63 character totally un-memorisable random string of upper and lower case characters and numbers).
Sadly nothing is working for me. I've tried this brightness fix a a few times (it's one of the recommendations in the Apple support document). It's also one of the reasons why I was wondering if there is some level of hardware issue here. Maybe something in the design went just a little too close to a hardware tolerance so, in a small percentage of iPads they have issues but even then only certain environments trigger it. A software patch is promised to fix the issue but if there is any hardware element to it then I could get a quicker resolution by doing a hardware swap. I'm also getting the feeling that my iPad starts off OK for the first 1.5 or 2 hours of charge and then the dropouts start and get gradually more and more frequent as time goes on which might indicate a hardware issue of some sort.
- Julian
I have two iPads, both 32 GB, one a wifi and the other a 3G. The 3G had no issues at all, the wifi had started dropping the signal after sleeping. Then I switched the wireless network from WEP to WPA and I tried the brightness trick (did both at the same time) and now both are flawless. The wifi drops have not recurred. Maybe there will be a patch but I don't need it.
I was having no problems at all but now I keep getting no Internet connection, ipad is still connected but nothing with load, I have to turn off wifi and turn it back on for it to work again, I use WPA2 is this being experienced by anyone else? ,my iPad still thinks it's connected lol
Had issues - suddenly gone
Yesterday the wifi would drop when I put the iPad 'to sleep', but only on low brightness (around 10-20%). Was fine when brightness was above 50%.
I have also noticed the wifi strength varies quite often, but there hasn't been any speed variation so I'm not concerned.
Today I've not had any issues. I just hope I haven't spoke too soon.
Btw connecting to Time Capsule.
I love this thing!
Yesterday the wifi would drop when I put the iPad 'to sleep', but only on low brightness (around 10-20%). Was fine when brightness was above 50%.
I have also noticed the wifi strength varies quite often, but there hasn't been any speed variation so I'm not concerned.
Today I've not had any issues. I just hope I haven't spoke too soon.
Btw connecting to Time Capsule.
I love this thing!
Yes, this is exactly what I'm experiencing although I've found that it's faster to hit renew lease rather than switching WiFi off and on again when I need to unstick the connection (as you say, it's still connected, just nothing loads). I'm also using WPA2.nickknight said:
I'm up visiting my mum right now and connected to a different router so I'm interested to see if I get dropouts here. When I get home I think I'm going to downgrade my router to WPA and see if that fixes the issue.
- Julian
Fixed wifi issue
Had serious problem of iPad saying it was connected but no network traffic was working.
I have a belkin n+ router, I updated firmware to latest, even tried new beta version.
These steps didn't work, tried fixed ip, no joy, dhcp, no joy, turned off all things on network apart from router and iPad, still drops connection for no reason. I have to turn wifi off and on again on iPad to get it to work.
So.. My fix, I had an old bt voyager 2110 modem/router. Guess what.. It works perfectly.
This is stupid, why will it not work with my belkin that i bought for it's N capabilities.
I wish they would sort this out!
Had serious problem of iPad saying it was connected but no network traffic was working.
I have a belkin n+ router, I updated firmware to latest, even tried new beta version.
These steps didn't work, tried fixed ip, no joy, dhcp, no joy, turned off all things on network apart from router and iPad, still drops connection for no reason. I have to turn wifi off and on again on iPad to get it to work.
So.. My fix, I had an old bt voyager 2110 modem/router. Guess what.. It works perfectly.
This is stupid, why will it not work with my belkin that i bought for it's N capabilities.
I wish they would sort this out!
Yup. I'm still up at my mum's house so on a different router. I've probably done about 5 hours use so far without a single dropout so it seems pretty clear that it doesn't like my router at home. I chose my home router mostly for the integrated gigabit LAN switch (I have a NAS connected so need the speed) so I really don't want to spend over 100 quid to replace it with one that still might not work. It's such a shame because over the last 24 hours, with perfest WiFi connectivity, I'm really loving the iPad experience; back home with my router I was beginning to hate the thing and making plans to return it for a refund.
One other thing I've noticed with my mum's router is that I seem to have gone from impressive to spectacular battery life. I'm at 60% charge at the moment with at least 5 hours use and I'd say closer to 6. OK, no video, just web browsing and a few games, but still impressive.
- Julian
my experience is the same as JulianL
Shows 3 bars for wifi signal but after some time suddenly I lose connection even though it still shows 3 bars.
Only way to repair is to renew lease or turn off wifi, wait a minute, and turn it on again.
sometimes turning off and restarting iPad does not fix it so the above is the only way to fix it.
I have 64gb wifi model, with Belkin N+ router.
My ps3 , Wii, xbox360, ipod touch, phone, 2 laptops and 27" mac all use wireless and none of them have ANY issues.
I have ensured I have the latest firmware for the router, a full reset and setup of the router from factory settings still hasn't helped.
This is not good
Try either giving your iPad a static IP or reserving the iPad's IP address on the router. I've attributed a similar problem with the iPad holding DHCP leases too long and another device trying to take it.
I got my iPad on the 27th of May here in the UK and Wi-fi hasn't been a problem at all! until today.
I have lost connectivity like 3 times since this morning and I have to click on the network again and it picks up and its fine for a while. Very strange.
BTW, I use a normal 802.11g router only and the iPad was very close to it when it happened.
I have lost connectivity like 3 times since this morning and I have to click on the network again and it picks up and its fine for a while. Very strange.
BTW, I use a normal 802.11g router only and the iPad was very close to it when it happened.
Out of curiosity, how many wireless networks can you see? Apart from being a totally different router, the other difference between my problematic home connection and the flawless performance at my mum's house is that at home I am in a block of flats so I am in range of at least 6 networks whereas at my mum's the only network in range is her router.guicane said:
My iPad never gave any indication of having tried to connect to someone else's network at home but I'm wondering if the general level of crowding of the frequencies could have an effect.
- Julian
Having a similar problem to a few people in this thread.
The symbol appears permanently with full bars but getting no connection, page load or app download quite often now.
Ive got a Netgear DGN200 router using WEP, and static ip's for all my devices.
Ive just noticed there is a new firmware available so I'm going to install that and see what happens. A little disappointed that I'm having to mess around to get it working though, really should work seamlessly straight out of the box.
The symbol appears permanently with full bars but getting no connection, page load or app download quite often now.
Ive got a Netgear DGN200 router using WEP, and static ip's for all my devices.
Ive just noticed there is a new firmware available so I'm going to install that and see what happens. A little disappointed that I'm having to mess around to get it working though, really should work seamlessly straight out of the box.
Started getting the dreaded wifi problems last couple of days. Started off dropping signal and behaving erratically every few hours, now its every 20 or 30 mins or so - the signal symbol fluctuates, drops to bottom, then disappears, yet in settings it shows full signal. Forgetting network, then reconnecting and typing in password solves it temporarily but its a pain in the arse. 99% sure its a problem with my setup - took it to my bro's today, every one was playing with it for ours, hammered Youtube etc, never dropped from his wifi signal once.
Hmm, not sure where to start...
Hmm, not sure where to start...
As long as you use WPA or WPA2 encryption you should be fine. The issue arrises when WEP is used and from memory it may also have something to do with the DHCP lease expiring. Also use AES not TKIP.