Q: Intermittent Wifi issues with iPad 2 and WiFi

What I have done :

Router : Set Wireless B/G (only and forgot N)
Security : WPA2 AES only (not with TKIP)
And it works fine since 4 hours now streaming audio vi

The issue is (for me) in the implementation of the Wifi N in the iPad...Wait & See what Apple will fix....

Message was edited by: Yannou69

A note to people who are reporting their experiences:

All wireless-N is not the same. The 802.11n standard supports either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequency bands. Some routers support both, some only support 2.4 GHz. Generally, the 2.4 GHz band is more crowded and thus more susceptible to interference, but has better range under optimum conditions, while the 5 GHz band is less crowded, but tends to have shorter range. There are also some options that can be set, such as the width of the frequency band used.

So it would be helpful to report what kind of wireless-N you are (or were) using. It might also be useful to report the brand and model of your router, so that people can get an idea as to whether the problems (or lack of problem) are associated with particular brands/models.

So my router : Orange Livebox 2 (from Sagem)
Airport Express 7.5.2

Same problem in the UK - I have a Netgear DG834N router and it needs rebooting to connect to the iPad 2 - however after connection if you stop using the iPad for more than a few minutes it disconnects and you have to go through the whole reboot again - extremely irritating having to use 3G in your own home when you have Wi Fi

CazMacC wrote:
Same problem in the UK - I have a Netgear DG834N router and it needs rebooting to connect to the iPad 2 - however after connection if you stop using the iPad for more than a few minutes it disconnects and you have to go through the whole reboot again - extremely irritating having to use 3G in your own home when you have Wi Fi

If you have the v1 version of this router update the router firmware. The DG834N was released against a draft version of the IEEE 802.11n standard.

For the v1 version of this model router go here (firmware level 1.02.15): http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9306

JimHdk wrote:

CazMacC wrote:
Same problem in the UK - I have a Netgear DG834N router and it needs rebooting to connect to the iPad 2 - however after connection if you stop using the iPad for more than a few minutes it disconnects and you have to go through the whole reboot again - extremely irritating having to use 3G in your own home when you have Wi Fi

If you have the v1 version of this router update the router firmware. The DG834N was released against a draft version of the IEEE 802.11n standard.

For the v1 version of this model router go here (firmware level 1.02.15): http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9306

What he said. The Netgear DG834N was only ever certified with the WiFi Alliance as 802.11N draft 2.0 compliant 1/18/2008. Source: http://www.wi-fi.org/searchproducts.php?search=1&lang=en&filter_categoryid=7&listmode=1

Just to give people a time frame on the 802.11n standard. So you can understand the likelihood of your router being compliant with the ratified n standard.

The following discussion only relates to the 'n' standard.

I don't thing draft 1.0 was ever published outside of the working group and to my knowledge the WiFi alliance never carried out any certification/compliance testing on draft 1.0 'n' products.

The first version of the draft standard published was draft 2.0 in January 2007. At this point the WiFi Alliance commenced certification/compliance testing on 'n' products.

Various changes and intermediated drafts were published resulting in draft 11.0 which was published in June of 2009.

The final ratified standard was published in October of 2009.

You can search and view your routers compliance certificate on the WiFi alliance web site. The certificate will state whether your router complied with the final version of the 802.11n standard or an earlier draft standard. It will also show what security standards your router complied with.

The 'n' standard is very complex, a lot, lot more complex than any of the previous 802.11 standards and requires much more information to be 'agreed on' by both the Access Point and the client wireless device. As 'n' standard devices transmit and receive on multiple channels more sophistication is required to avoid interference with devices working on earlier standards.

Devices must agree on speed, Frequency band (2.4Ghz or 5Ghz), channels used within the band, etc etc. In some countries some channels are reserved for other services e.g. channels 12 and 13 in the 2.4GHz should not be used in North America - this means you need to be careful when loading firmware upgrades into your router from other regions.

I have the same problem wiht my Ipad2, the WIFI is intermittent and I went to a public place, with my ipod I could connect but with my Ipad2 was not possible, the Ipad2 hasn´t detect the network. Please help

moranti_8a wrote:
I have the same problem wiht my Ipad2, the WIFI is intermittent and I went to a public place, with my ipod I could connect but with my Ipad2 was not possible, the Ipad2 hasn´t detect the network. Please help

When you say that your "iPAD 2 hasn't detect the network" do you mean that the public networks name (SSID) wasn't displayed when you veiwed your the wireless settings in your iPAD?

Bought iPad 2 recently. Wifi range works wells; however, whenever I use it after sleep mode, I have to turn off and turn on the wifi in the settings menu everytime. Also, have to reset the wifi when on safari every so often.

Is there a solution to this problem? Does it have anything to do with my router/network settings?

jedbayliss wrote:
Bought iPad 2 recently. Wifi range works wells; however, whenever I use it after sleep mode, I have to turn off and turn on the wifi in the settings menu everytime. Also, have to reset the wifi when on safari every so often.

Is there a solution to this problem? Does it have anything to do with my router/network settings?

It could be your router. What router make/model/version do you have? What security type are you using?Checking for the latest firmware update for your router is a good idea.

There could also be a problem with your iPad. To check it try it on some other networks to see how it functions there.

You should also read this: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1398

JimHdk wrote:
There could also be a problem with your iPad. To check it try it on some other networks to see how it functions there.

You should also read this: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1398

Thanks for the link JimHdk. I found the following suggestion in the link "Disable 40MHz in the 2.4GHz settings on the Wi-Fi router. Mac computers, iPhone, and iPod touch do not support this mode". interesting.

Is this another admission from Apple that the iPads no longer comply with the 802.11n standard? However it's not what's causing the intermittent wireless connection problem as many users claim their iPhones and other MAC devices work fine on the same networks that their iPADs are experiencing intermittent disconnections.

While many people will elect to turn off this mode in the 2.4GHz band to reduce interference, the specification calls for one primary 20 MHz channel and a secondary adjacent channel spaced ±20 MHz away. Using the full 40 MHz option apparently results in slightly more than double the data throughput rates

Message was edited by: FastBikeGear

jedbayliss wrote:
Bought iPad 2 recently. Wifi range works wells; however, whenever I use it after sleep mode, I have to turn off and turn on the wifi in the settings menu everytime. Also, have to reset the wifi when on safari every so often.

Is there a solution to this problem? Does it have anything to do with my router/network settings?

My discovery (which I should state is not accepted in this forum by a few people who do not believe the iPAD is the problem with the intermittent connection issue), is that Apple iPads do not re-initialise the handshake correctly with wireless access points/routers on wake up.

Because their are several ways of addressing this issue and there may well be other issues involved in why your connection is intermittent there are several ways to address intermittent WiFI connection issues on the iPAD.

The most successful pieces of advice have so far been the following:

Upgrade your router to the latest firmware. (Some people in this thread have had success with this)

Turn off the 802.11n mode in your router. (Some people in this thread have had success with this)

Temporarily turn off security options in your router as a temporary test only. If this resolves your problem set your router to use WPA2 security and play with the other security settings.

If you can set your router to re-initialise the connection with your iPAD (rather than relying on the iPAD to do it correctly. I did this by setting the privacy key life to just 60 seconds so that the router re-initialises the connection every 60 seconds - a very clumsy hack but it worked for me.

FastBikeGear wrote:
Thanks for the link JimHdk. I found the following suggestion in the link "Disable 40MHz in the 2.4GHz settings on the Wi-Fi router. Mac computers, iPhone, and iPod touch do not support this mode". interesting.

Is this another admission from Apple that the iPads no longer comply with the 802.11n standard?

That feature is an optional part of the 802.11n standard. It is not required for certification. Use of that feature is not advised in the 2.4GHz band since its use can create interference chaos in an already highly congested frequency.

See Wikipedia article on 802.11n at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11n-2009 The relevant section is below:

+*40 MHz in 2.4 GHz*+

+The 2.4 GHz ISM band is fairly congested. With 802.11n, there is the option to double the bandwidth per channel to 40 MHz which results in slightly more than double the data rate. However, when in 2.4 GHz enabling this option takes up to 82%[9] of the unlicensed band, which in many areas may prove to be unfeasible.+

JimHdk wrote:
That feature is an optional part of the 802.11n standard. It is not required for certification. Use of that feature is not advised in the 2.4GHz band since its use can create interference chaos in an already highly congested frequency.

See Wikipedia article on 802.11n at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11n-2009 The relevant section is below:

+*40 MHz in 2.4 GHz*+

+The 2.4 GHz ISM band is fairly congested. With 802.11n, there is the option to double the bandwidth per channel to 40 MHz which results in slightly more than double the data rate. However, when in 2.4 GHz enabling this option takes up to 82%[9] of the unlicensed band, which in many areas may prove to be unfeasible.+

40 MHz should not be used unless you are out in the middle of nowhere and you can't see any other wireless networks other than your own, because it interferes with virtually the entire 2.4 GHz band. I understand that the final version of the 802.11n protocol is polite, and falls back to 20 MHz if it sees interfering traffic on the 2.4 GHz band--which effectively means that in an urban environment, it will be running in 20 MHz mode most of the time anyway, so the switching back and forth between 20 and 40 MHz just creates an additional complication with little advantage in terms of actual throughput. Older 802.11n draft devices may be more antisocial with respect to stomping on your neighbors' wifi, so just from the standpoint of being a good citizen, 40 MHz should be turned off.