NikCh

Q: iPad Air WiFi (5GHz) issues after iOS 8 upgrade

After upgrading to iOS 8, my iPad Air only has a stable connection at 2.4GHZ; using 5GHz causes it (Safari amongst other programs) to hang and lose internet (but not necessarily the wifi link).  Fortunately, I can set up 2 SSIDs on my router and so 'force' the 2.4GHz connection, so I can still use the device.

 

The iPad's internet link worked perfectly well before the upgrade, so I'm assuming it to be a software/OS issue, not a router one.

 

Are others having the same, or similar problem?

Has this happened with previous upgrades?

Is there likely to be a software fix for it?

iPad Air Wi-Fi, iOS 8

Posted on Sep 19, 2014 6:22 AM

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Q: iPad Air WiFi (5GHz) issues after iOS 8 upgrade

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  • by Phil Baxter,

    Phil Baxter Phil Baxter Oct 21, 2014 12:00 PM in response to hrplan
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 12:00 PM in response to hrplan

    This is still broken for me too. I was hoping 8.1 would finally fix this, but it hasn't. I'm on a BT Homehub 5, which is an abysmal router, but for once, this isn't its fault.

  • by Trevor Craig,

    Trevor Craig Trevor Craig Oct 21, 2014 12:06 PM in response to Phil Baxter
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 12:06 PM in response to Phil Baxter

    It works for me on my BT Homehu b5

    I set it back to the default of letting it choose which band a device attaches to, then switched it right off and back on again. It has been working fine for me with my iPad Air since then.

  • by threepointone,

    threepointone threepointone Oct 21, 2014 12:30 PM in response to Phil Baxter
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 12:30 PM in response to Phil Baxter

    Phil, I have the same setup as you using a BT Hub 5 and iPad Air, mine wasn't working after the software update to 8.0 but read that if you changed the name of the 5Ghz channel on Hub 5 I could connect through the 2.4Ghz which it did. I've now since last night updated to 8.1 and my iPad is working on the 5Ghz channel at last. So maybe try change the name after logging into your Hub5?

  • by Phil Baxter,

    Phil Baxter Phil Baxter Oct 21, 2014 1:30 PM in response to threepointone
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 1:30 PM in response to threepointone

    I had already split the SSIDs when I first got the Homehub 5.  I'm still not sure whether I should blame this on iOS 8 or the Homehub, as it's by far the worst router I've ever had the misfortune to use.

  • by etomcat,

    etomcat etomcat Oct 21, 2014 7:04 PM in response to woTToEnO3ZVMheUayQbb
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 7:04 PM in response to woTToEnO3ZVMheUayQbb

    Correct. I meant my router. Anyway, AC should be backward compatible with 5GHz WiFi /n then, as the iPad Air works fine (well not on AC speed 

  • by etomcat,

    etomcat etomcat Oct 21, 2014 7:12 PM in response to Phil Baxter
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 7:12 PM in response to Phil Baxter

    Phil, when I first updated to 8.1, 5GHz was still not working for me. "forget" network and adding it again didn't work either. Then I tried "Release" /"Renew" on the iPad (I don't remember exactly how it was called - the iPad is not with me right now). That fixed it. No issues on 5GHz since yesterday.

  • by Phil Baxter,

    Phil Baxter Phil Baxter Oct 22, 2014 3:29 PM in response to etomcat
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Oct 22, 2014 3:29 PM in response to etomcat

    Sadly renewing the lease made no difference. Since the 8.1 update I've managed to get it to hold onto the wifi for longer, but this happens randomly. Most of the time it will still stop receiving data after around 10 seconds.

     

    This is such a serious bug I'm stunned Apple hasn't fixed it.

  • by LEX-Bari,

    LEX-Bari LEX-Bari Oct 23, 2014 2:40 AM in response to NikCh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2014 2:40 AM in response to NikCh

    I Have ipad mini display retina. With 8.1 i have the same problem with 5GHZ WIFI! Doesn't WORK! With ios 7.1 worked fine.

  • by Briansyddall,

    Briansyddall Briansyddall Oct 23, 2014 2:51 AM in response to NikCh
    Level 6 (8,990 points)
    Apple Watch
    Oct 23, 2014 2:51 AM in response to NikCh

    Go to Settings Reset Network Settings After Reset you need to enter your wireless key Also turn your Router off for 30 seconds Also an option is to go to web site for your make of router to check for a Firmware update. Bsydd uk

  • by Trevor Craig,

    Trevor Craig Trevor Craig Oct 23, 2014 3:01 AM in response to Briansyddall
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 23, 2014 3:01 AM in response to Briansyddall

    My experience with iOS8.1 is that it cured my Wifi connection problem. It would probably be worth while asking peoiple to list what router they are using that either works or does not work so that we can establish if the problem is with just some routers or deeper than that.

     

    I have a BT Homehub 5 router and my issues with the 5GHZ  Wifi connection went away with iOS 8.1 after I reset it back to its default seting where it auto chooses the band width and restarted the router.

  • by jonwilliamcarr,

    jonwilliamcarr jonwilliamcarr Oct 27, 2014 5:01 AM in response to NikCh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2014 5:01 AM in response to NikCh

    Just wanted to add that I'm having the same issue reported above with an iPad Mini 2. I'm also using a BT Home Hub 5 with separate SSIDs for 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The iPad connects to 5GHz, but will typically stop working after < 30 seconds. When I connect to the 2.4GHz network, I have no issues.

     

    My iPhone 5S and MacBook Pro are both able to connect to the 5GHz network without issues.

     

    I actually first started encountering this issue back in late August, long before upgrading to iOS 8. So, I'm not convinced that this is an iOS 8 problem. Originally, I had assumed that it was a hardware fault. I was planning to take it into the Apple Store, but I first decided to test the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks separately to see if the issue only occurred on one frequency so that I would be able to replicate the problem in store. Turns out that the issue was indeed confined to the 5GHz network, so I decided to wait for iOS 8 to see if that would fix the problem.

     

    Like others, my solution is to keep the iPad on the 2.4GHz network. However, this can be a bit tricky because the iPad is able to obtain the password for the 5GHz network from my other devices via iCloud Keychain. So even though I've forced my iPad to "forget" the 5GHz network, it still occasionally connects to it and I have to manually change back. Annoyingly, when I forget the 5GHz network, the password is removed from my keychain, so I have to re-enter it on other devices.

     

    I haven't read every post above but it does seem that this issue is highly correlated with the BT Home Hub 5. Of course, the fact that other devices still work properly with this router suggests that it's not solely a router problem. It seems likely to me that this issue is caused by some weird combination of parameters between the iPad and this particular router (at the hardware, firmware, or software levels). Has anyone been able to replicate this exact issue on a different router?

  • by as41,

    as41 as41 Oct 30, 2014 4:23 AM in response to NikCh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2014 4:23 AM in response to NikCh

    All,

     

    I tried the escrge 1843 method (iPad Air 2 WiFi Connectivity Issues:  RESOLVED) last night and it definitely made things a lot more stable but speed was affected. My usual Speedtest app gives me 50 Mbs Down but after setting the networks to 5ghz - A only and 2.4ghz to B/G the maximum I was able to achieve was 25 Down.

     

    Even after sleep and wake for several hours two out of  three (IPad Air 2 and 5S) devices remained connected  but unfortunately my iPhone 6 Plus which was behaving better on the previous 5ghz setting lost connection this morning and I had to toggle Wi-Fi on/ off.

     

    So in summary this method is the best temporary fix to date (especially for Linksys/Cisco routers) albeit not perfect for all IOS devices in the same household.

     

    I'm definitely going to buy the new ASUS AC68 router which I think will solve the problem as I'm hearing good reports from numerous sources!

  • by iAmRenzo,

    iAmRenzo iAmRenzo Oct 30, 2014 7:28 AM in response to NikCh
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Apple TV
    Oct 30, 2014 7:28 AM in response to NikCh

    Here also problems on 5GHz. My Mac (Yosemite, with drops) and iPhone connecting fine. iPad Air 1 won't, it will only on 2.4GHz.

    Did a complete restore (8.1) without putting backup back.

  • by as41,

    as41 as41 Nov 3, 2014 4:53 AM in response to NikCh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 3, 2014 4:53 AM in response to NikCh

    I got rid of my Linksys EA4500 and got the ASUS RT-AC68U - AC1900. I was due an upgrade to get on the AC standard anyway so wasn't overly annoyed!

     

    Since testing it over the weekend it seems that my Wi-Fi issues have been resolved. I haven’t had a single drop or had to toggle the Wi-Fi switch on/off to get it the connection live again. Speeds have been consistent and this is across all my devices including :

     

    iPhone 6 Plus

    iPad Air 2

    iPhone 5S

    Macbook Pro Retina – 2012 non AC version

     

    I hope this lasts but so far so good although I appreciate this is a deep routed iOS 8 problem that only occurs with certain router brands / chipsets. 

     

    Either way apple need to resolve this in the next update for the vast majority of us and  this certainly shouldn’t force us to upgrade our existing equipment!

     

    Good luck to all and I’ll post back if things start to get sour again!!

  • by waxhawsam,

    waxhawsam waxhawsam Nov 3, 2014 5:27 AM in response to waxhawsam
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 3, 2014 5:27 AM in response to waxhawsam

    It looks like 8.1 has fixed my issues, my iPad mini retina, 2 iPad mini's, and my iPhone 6 are all working perfectly with my 5Ghz network. Again I am using a Netgear R7000 router, and I do use different SSIDs for my 2.4Ghz vs 5Ghz networks. This was my setup when I started having the issues with iOS 8, it wasn't a change I made trying to fix it.

     

    I wonder if this has more to do with the routers. Best of luck to everyone.

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