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Daghis Author

Level 1

4 points

FaceTime fails with "WiFi Connection Lost"

My Google skills haven't found any matches for this, but perhaps others have seen it in passing at least.

I've noticed recently that I've been having problems with FaceTime calls to a friend of mine. For the past month since he got his iPhone 4, he'd end up losing the WiFi connection, but now it's happening to me, too.

The symptom is that the FaceTime call will be going fine for a while, and then it will just hang with no motion in the picture from the other phone for about 10 seconds, then the phone will beep and display this error:

FaceTime Failed

WiFi Connection Lost

<OK>

At this point, I find that my WiFi indicator in the status bar is gone and replaced with "3G". It has indeed lost its connection to the WiFi access point (a Time Capsule).

Going into the iPhone's settings, I see that it shows there that it is still connected to my WiFi network (showing a checkmark next to my WiFi network name, although it still says "3G" at the top). Cycling WiFi off and back on corrects the problem.

My friend is also using his iPhone 4 connected to a Time Capsule, so we have similar setups. I'm beginning to wonder whether there's some problem either in iOS 4 or the Time Capsule that causes the wireless connection between them to disconnect in an aberrant fashion.

So, anyone else seen or heard of this?

iPhone 4, iOS 4

Posted on Aug 12, 2010 4:05 PM

56 replies

Oct 31, 2011 7:16 AM in response to Daghis

I'll add my name to the list of people having the same problem. I have an iPhone 4 and my husband has an iPhone 4S -- both running iOS5. We also have a Time Capsule as our wireless network, with one Airport Express to extend our network. When we using Facetime -- either with one another in the same house or with others outside our home -- the following events happen:

Facetime crashes;
Our connection to the wireless network is lost;
Our Time Capsule reboots; and
We have to wait until it returns to connect again.

I haven't seen this happen using our iPad, but I will check that tonight.

chrismix

Level 1

15 points

Nov 5, 2011 6:53 AM in response to timmodugdale

Exact same problem!

Have been using FaceTime on our iMac and MacBook with family on the Internet since it came out over WiFi.

Now we also have an iPhone 4S in the mix and no longer than 10 seconds after initiating or receiving a FaceTime call on the iPhone 4S is the call dropped, WiFi connection lost for all the devices in the house and the ADSL modem/router displays either a full reboot or PPPoE connection terminated message in the logs.

Something very odd and unusual is happening here and the iPhone 4S is definitely to blame; not FaceTime itself.

Karton

Level 1

0 points

Nov 5, 2011 9:59 AM in response to Daghis

I have the same problem as the most of you :-( I´ve tried almost everything, opening ports, disabling firewall in router and nothing helped. Firstly I thought, that I´m the only one who has this kind of problem, but I´m glad, that not.

I don´t know if the problem is in my router or with iOS and iPhone .... hope that Apple will fix the problem with new firmware. But I don´t think so :-(

ricdaw

Level 1

5 points

Nov 8, 2011 12:49 PM in response to Daghis

The same symptom manifests on my 4s when I try to do Airplay (sling music from the phone to an airport express). Total network crash after 10 seconds. Identical problem with Facetime. Related?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3413370?answerId=16520032022#16520032022

cedlaz

Level 1

0 points

Nov 14, 2011 1:49 AM in response to Daghis

Just adding myself to the list, same issues with iphone 4s and Facetime... When will Apple do something?!

leocklee

Level 1

0 points

Nov 16, 2011 7:19 AM in response to Daghis

My girlfriend and I just bought the 4S few days ago also facing the same problem!!!

We've upgraded to iOS 5.0.1 already.

What happen to Apple??

Nov 25, 2011 1:25 PM in response to Daghis

I have an iPhone 4S and I have the same problem. The modem I'm using is from Quest and has the WiFi and router built into it. Only difference is it will drop the connection to every device connected to it and after about a minute or so everything reconnects.

Nov 26, 2011 10:13 PM in response to Nick14erJunky

Update just received on my Apple TV 2 hours ago - working flawlessly now - very zippy connection!

Get updated !!

Nov 27, 2011 1:02 PM in response to Daghis

This is extremely annoying. I use this feature every day. Since upgrading to 4S I can no longer FT. I really hope Apple gets it together and fixes this quickly. I Have Qwest (Century link) internet. Apple actually gave me a new device thinking I had a defective IPhone 4S! I have a feeling we could be waiting a while.....

Dec 9, 2011 12:48 AM in response to Daghis

I'm guessing no one has found a way to resolve this issue. It's really starting to **** me off. My phone has randomly made my router crash every couple days. Usually I'm trying to load a video while on facebook or trying to pull an update when wifi disconnects and drops EVERY device connected to the router. Now I have the problem several times a day. My dad is to the point he won't allow me to use it on wifi. I was at Starbucks the other day using wifi because I have been trying to use facetime just ONCE and I killed their network twice. Something is wrong with the iPhone 4S anyone have any ideas on this?

Dec 9, 2011 3:02 AM in response to Nick14erJunky

Sorry, I should have posted an update on this before.

I have been successful in solving this problem. There was a recent firmware update for Apple wireless hubs (Airport Express, Airport Extreme, Time Capsules) , in addition to recent iOS updates that seems to have resolved the problem.

Once I updated my Time Capsule firmware and iOS firmware, my facetime crashing problems were resolved. I do believe it was a combination of the iPhone 4S AND the wireless hub that were the cause. At any rate, I'm facetiming away with no problems.

Dec 9, 2011 4:36 AM in response to timmodugdale

I concur this for me seems to be resolved with Apple Airport Extreme firmware update.

Wufnu

Level 1

9 points

Dec 11, 2011 4:51 AM in response to D Anderson

For those of us that do not use Airport Extreme, it's not resolved. Not even in the slightest. I did get the 5.0.1 update. My 4S is still a little router killing laser. Were I still younger, I'd probably use it to cause mayhem about town but now I'm just too old to be bothered. For now, I just want to see my family member's faces when I'm so far away. Apple, please teach your toys to play with others.

Maybe fix that image "cannot be saved because there is a problem with this image's file properties" problem while you're at it as well.

Dec 11, 2011 5:08 AM in response to D Anderson

To be clear I am using an iPhone 4 not 4S here.

Airport Extreme firmware update worked for me.

I'm sorry others are still having problems with third party routers.

Dec 21, 2011 12:13 PM in response to Daghis

I finally broke down and spoke with Apple tech support and they know about this problem. Apparently most of the routers provided by DSL/cable service providers do not support the protocals used for Facetime. I was told to update the firmware which it looks like most of you have done but some of the routers like mine are already udated to the currect version. They suggested getting a new router to resolve this issue.

FaceTime fails with "WiFi Connection Lost"