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Level 1

1 points

WiFi stopped working all of the sudden

I recently upgraded my 16gb 3g iphone to firmware version 2.2 last week. Everything was fine the past week or so until last night. I had two updates for two apps on my phone. I let them do their thing. The first app updated successfully with no problems. The second update hung up the phone a bit. I ended it and tried a few more times. It seemed like it wasn't able to download the update. Then I tried updating the app while the phone was hooked up to itunes thru the computer. That worked.

Now with that out of the way, that glitch was only the tip of the iceberg. Afterwards the phone started acting up. Any application that uses a data connection wasn't working right in WiFi mode. All the apps are being unresponsive. Most times i get a pop up, notifying me that there was a server timeout, or the server was being unresponsive or not available at this time. This goes for Safari, Mail, Stocks, Maps and weather. Along with apps like Ebay, Amazon.com, photokast...etc.

However, the phone works like normal when I turn off wifi and just use 3G.

SOMETIMES the phone will work with the Wifi on too, but its VERY random. The wifi works if i go thru a process.
1. I turn off WiFi.
2. Use the app in 3G mode.
3. Turn Wifi on.
4. continue using the app.
5. If i exit the app and restart it with wifi still on, the app stops working until restart the process.

It also works for a bit sometimes after being turned on from sleeping.

I already tried, a reboot, a hard reboot, a sync, reset the network settings.

I know its not my Wifi cause my Macbook is sitting right next to me is on the Wifi network and is working beautifully.

I have 3 solid bars of Wifi displayed on the phone and everything seems to be in order. I'm baffled. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

iPhone 3G 16GB Macbook

Posted on Dec 7, 2008 10:23 AM

65 replies

mpresdm

Level 1

5 points

Dec 12, 2008 1:30 PM in response to Noc748

Not quite sure when or how mine started to act up but it was just around two weeks after the update; I was not one of the first to download 2.2 (prefer to wait several days to check for bugs in the forums) but it was around November 25th or so; anyhow, all things were good; real good at first. Did all of the things I loved to do and smoothly did the new things I was able to do with the 2.2 update.
Then, my husband feeling safe and wanting to try out the "download podcasts on the go" updated his 3G (very hesitantly I might add...) and like two or three days later, wallaah-- loss of wifi usage; not connectivity, just usage. Any app requiring the use of wifi on both of our phones are now useless.
Mine, a couple of weeks after the update and his a couple of days.
Both at just about the same time though. We started to notice a difference.
Might have something to do with the fact that I did not sync with iTunes for a week or so after the update and he did much sooner. Not sure though.?????????

mpresdm

Level 1

5 points

Dec 12, 2008 1:40 PM in response to dbarnett99

Sounds oh so familiar here.... sigh.
Ditto for almost all things mentioned here!
But why?
Comcast insists that it is a prob on Apple's end.
Yesterday, I turned off all SMTP Servers for my email accounts
under settings/mail/contacts/calendar
except for that for my gmail and my .mac account.
I then attempted to send an email using one of my comcast email addresses with wifi turned on and whoOoHoO! it was sent. The first email for a comcast address that I have been able to send in over a week!
But the party was short lived.
Today, can no longer send email from my comcast email accounts this way;
Started receiving the dreaded message " unknown username " again which really stinks because I have had these usernames for several years. Arrghh!!!!

Dec 12, 2008 3:48 PM in response to dbarnett99

Hi, everyone,

I just restored my iPhone "from backup" and right after taking it from its cradle the phone discovered my newly renamed home network and asked me to log in. I did, I got a strong signal, and the email seemed to work. I clicked on the Remember the Milk app and it synced!

Then I went to the phone's iPod; I clicked the "get more podcasts" link for one of the podcasts I listen to and was taken to the iTunes store. I looked at the phone and saw a pulsing "download" icon on the bottom right; clicking that I saw the name of the podcast episode I had tried to download right when the wifi stopped working about a week ago.

The download said it was starting up and after a pause appeared to be actually downloading content. But at 1.8 MB into a 9.8 MB file, it stopped. I clicked on pause and clicked start again. It started up after a time and reached about 3 MB where the download stopped again.

All this time I was holding my iPhone 3 feet away from my wireless Comcast Home Networking router (Linksys WCG200-CC). I tried to pause the download and start it again, but after a time it timed out and asked me to retry or delete. I deleted.

Back to the email, but now it wouldn't connect. Nothing worked again.

Crestfallen, I'm back to square one. Can no one help?

dlg1997

Level 1

0 points

Dec 12, 2008 11:52 PM in response to dbarnett99

Hello,

I am having a similar issue as everyone else, with similar timing (last week or so when the problems started). I think the problem may have to do with a firmware upgrade to router. I saw a few others here had the Linksys WCG200, which is what I have. Also, is everyone else with Comcast for HSI?

Some folks mentioned their internet worked on their computers. Are those connected via wifi or by ethernet cable? I can get internet access just fine on my laptop via cable, but not on the wifi.

From what I have read elsewhere, it sounds like Comcast may have just flashed new firmware to the WCG200s, which could be causing all of our problems. Anybody know anything more about this?

Tarekith

Level 1

30 points

Dec 13, 2008 7:41 AM in response to dlg1997

I can connect my MBP via wifi still. One thing my wife and I find weird, we can usually still connect to the Apple site that comes bookmarked by default in the iPhone via wifi, go figure. I'd be curious to see if others can do this too.

Dec 13, 2008 8:03 AM in response to dlg1997

Hi, dlg1997,

I have a Linksys WCG200-CC with Comcast HSI. My current router firmware is 2.0.3.9.31-1022. Someone over on the Comcast forum said he had the same lack-of-connectivity issue and his firmware was 1023. But we all started experiencing the problem a week-and-a-half or couple weeks ago.

Two Windows laptops work just fine wirelessly as does my cable-connected Windows desktop. Since the laptops work wireless, it's bizarre that our two iPhones wouldn't.

There's one other issue to be added to the detective's data. Other iPhone forum posts about not receiving ANY wifi may be an entirely different issue, thus clouding the matter.

On the other hand it's curious that so few of us have been affected (or at least have reported a problem). A more widespread issue would get Comcast's and Apple's attention, but I'm afraid that few in a position to investigate consider the matter serious.

Those of us who can't use our iPhones to connect to our own wireless home network, however, are devastated.

Noc748 Author

Level 1

1 points

Dec 13, 2008 8:11 AM in response to dlg1997

Hmmmm...I have a WCG200 as well. I also noticed the updated router firmware about the same time the problems started. But then again i haven't been to the router admin pages in 6+ months.

I went through all the settings just in case something wasn't right and everything seems to make sense and checked out.

Then i opened up my macbook and started comparing notes between the iphones IP assignments and the macbooks. Both are right next to each other, both are connected to the same router. The signal is much stronger on the Macbook, than the iphone. The IP's are both good starting with 192.168.0.XXX. Subnet mask and router numbers are all good.

Then i went to the DNS servers boxes. The working Macbook has NO DNS servers listed. Whereas the iPhone has 3. I manually deleted the 3 DNS server entries. Then i tried out safari. It worked for few minutes. Then it stopped working again as the router resent the DSN servers again and they got put back into the equation. I tried deleting them again manually, but the 2nd time it didnt work.

I also tried out another unrelated handheld WiFi device, a Sony PSP, and im also getting strange & similar results. It can find the wifi point with no issue. But the second it tries to test the connection its fails.

This is kinda of leading me to believe this actually might be a router issue. But why only certain devices? Its strange how smarter Wifi devices like laptops, PS3's, Wii's.....etc have no problems with WIfi, but handhelds like the PSP and iPhone are having problems.

Dec 13, 2008 8:22 AM in response to Tarekith

Hi, Tarekith,

An interesting point. The Apple site loaded pretty quickly, but so did the NYTimes site and my own school's site. But I couldn't check my email over the Internet.

It does seem that sometimes Safari on the iPhone seems to actually engage with my wireless home network (when little else does).

Sometimes the iTunes store also seems to (in showing a list of podcast episodes to download, for example). But though selecting an episode to download appears to start the download process, it stalls and eventually I have to delete the stalled download.

I can't download or update any apps, and the to-do app I have won't sync.

The mystery deepens. If Safari is indeed actually connecting with the Internet, though most of the rest of my apps don't, why the difference?

Tarekith

Level 1

30 points

Dec 13, 2008 8:24 AM in response to dbarnett99

Yeah, I noticed the Apple store issue too, this is so weird.

mpresdm

Level 1

5 points

Dec 13, 2008 9:32 AM in response to Noc748

Yes, same router on Comcast here also.

Dec 13, 2008 9:41 AM in response to mpresdm

Hi, mpresdm,

Over on the Comcast Home Networking forum I'm asking if we can have Comcast, on a router-by-router basis, flash the PREVIOUS version of the firmware to see if that resolves the issue. I wonder if they would do that.

Dave.Liz

Level 1

0 points

Dec 13, 2008 10:57 AM in response to Noc748

count me as another person with iphone/comcast/wifi connection problems -
Just like the other posts my Generation1 iphone worked perfectly connected to my comcast home wifi for the past 10 months, then about 2 weeks ago something happened (have comcast linksys router) and I have been unable to connect at home and when I do have a strong wifi signal I am placed into a continuous loop when loading web pages and my iphone times-out. The wifi signals and applications work just fine at other open wifi locations which leads me to believe the update on routers that comcast did is the problem (although I am not completely dismissing the possibility that my upgrade to 2.2 might be a possibility also) . Has anyone found a solution? I have spoken with comcast home networking ("we don't support iphone" i was told) and apple store ("reset your iphone" - did that several times- no luck) Help!

Dec 13, 2008 11:47 AM in response to Dave.Liz

Hi, Dave.Liz,

This sounds EXACTLY like my problem! Are you able to connect your laptop wirelessly at home with no problem? I can, and that's what's vexing. One would think that if the problem is a Comcast WCG200-CC router firmware update (pushed out a week-and-a-half or two weeks ago) then NOTHING would work.

But it's also possible that it's something in Apple's 2.2 software (which also may be present in earlier versions since I think I've read somewhere that going back to 2.1 doesn't solve the problem). Maybe the router update software suddenly makes connecting wirelessly with iPhones impossible while connections with laptops are unaffected. Could it be because something in the iPhone firmware is no longer "friendly" to the router?

Another mystery is why there don't seem to be more of us experiencing the same problem. Presumably a lot of iPhone users have Comcast Home Networking and one would expect a deluge of complaints both on this forum and on Comcast's forum. But neither seems to be the case.

I'm baffled.

mpresdm

Level 1

5 points

Dec 13, 2008 11:59 AM in response to dbarnett99

thanks; yes dbarnett, That would be nice huh? I was over there this morning and subscribed to your thread on Comcast that you started for this issue. Please do keep me posted on any info or change. I appreciate it. We will all appreciate it.

Noc748 Author

Level 1

1 points

Dec 13, 2008 12:11 PM in response to Dave.Liz

I just talked to a friend of mine who has a very similar setup to me, but with a few differences. He has a 8gb 3G phone. He also did the 2.2 update and has Comcast too. However his WiFi works fine. I asked him to browse the net on the phone in WiFi mode and he had no troubles at all. But he has a linksys WRT54G for a wireless access point. Where as I have the WCG200.

Everything is pointing to the WCG200 at this point, I think. I just spent the past 3 hours changing settings in the admin panel with no success.

Maybe on Monday im going to try and get ahold of a wireless G Access point or router and tie it in to the system and disable the wireless on the WCG200. If it works then, then its definitely the wireless on the WCG200 and that update Comcast did messed something up.

WiFi stopped working all of the sudden