iPhone "unable to join network" in Wifi

Get it fixed while you can. I am surprised they did not offer you another one, if you were still under warranty.

My iPhone 3G has the same problem, after upgrading to 4.01 (and still now to 4.1).

It can recognize all the networks (both mine and public, both secured and free) but it cannot join any.

I tried the reset solution, without any result. 😟

Me too. Same issue. Very frustrating.

Maybe a trip to the Apple store is in order. Then they can rule out a hardware issue.

Did you ever get this solved...I am having the same problem (after upgrading 3GS to 4) on my home network, and I have several other computers that have no problem...

Thanks,

Unfortunately, by reading around this forum, it doesn't look like this issue has been or can be solved. At least not yet. Maybe 4.2 but I doubt it.

THE MORE PEOPLE THAT POST FEED BACK AT
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
THE SOONER THEY WILL REALIZE THAT THEY HAVE A PROBLEM!

I posted my adventure on the earlier in the post. To summarize, my phone was replaced.

It seems that some level or management or legal, the genius is told to say the software is not the problem but antenna or WiFi is failing in our G3 phones. Don't want to admit a WiFigate.

But based on this assumption, it is not the software that causes the problem, but the antenna or the WiFi chip, and it only seems to be after you upgrade, but it is not the software. Go figure.

Did I say: THE MORE THAT POST FEED BACK AT http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html
THE SOONER THEY WILL REALIZE THAT THEY HAVE A PROBLEM!

Sorry about the yelling, but everyone needs to report the problem at the sight above. Tell everyone to do that.

Another option is telling someone like macdailynews at http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/contact/
Hopefully after they hear from enough of us they may look into it, or at least report it.

Remember, it took Apple a month to admit there was an iPhone antenna problem, even though there were you tube videos showing it. Maybe if someone had a G3 video before and after the upgrade...

Good Luck

To keep this on topic. AppleCare have been proactive on this and I'm comforted to know that they clearly do read what we post and take note(despite what some people think). I was sent a private mail from then asking me to outline how I see the problem and answer a few specific questions for them. I hope the've done the same for others.

Anyway, her was my response

Hi Jason

Thank you so much for responding to me, it's comforting to know that Apple does read the forum and take note.

I'll do my best to relay back to you my experience so far and answer your questions

1. yes it does have a wifi address (MACID) Do you want me to send you it ?

2. Yes it does prompt me for a password however it don't connect it just comes back with the "unable to join network" message. I did remove the security on my Apple Airport to see if that made a difference, sadly it didn't.

3. I can't really say if the problem is due to 4.1 prior to the release I was on 4.0.2, it had been working on that and then stopped working a couple of weeks ago ( in fact the day after Steve Jobs' last conference). I waited for 4.1 hoping that would fix it, but it didn't. So no, I don't think it's 4.1 related.

4. They only occur at home, on the public networks i use near my work it seems fine (BTOpenzone). That's why this seems so odd to me. I have 6 other apple devices at home none of which are having problems.

5. This is what I've tried so far.

A. Creating a static IP address on the iPhone to connect to the router - didn't work.

B. Turing off my iPad then saying "forget network" on my iPhone, doing a hard reboot and then connecting again, this worked for about an hour and then stopped and I cant replicate that again sadly.

C. Taking off security on my airport, then putting security back on again. this worked for a few minutes and then stopped again. Again I can't replicate that.

D. Did a complete restore on my iPhone. Didn't work.

E. Resetting network settings on my iPhone. Tried this numerous times with no joy.

F. Turned off a few more of my devices in my home to see if I have a clash. No joy.

My personal view is this. I suspect that the iPhone is seeing the network but it's not able to hold that signal for long enough for me to get the password in and connect before the signal is dropped. To me it points to a fault in my hardware on the 3GS which is making the problem intermittent and difficult to pin down. I have been tempted to buy an iPhone 4 because of my suspicion, but feel it's a bit of a risk to spend that much money to find I could be worn and I end up with the same problem on the 4.

My only other guesses are that it's a clash of IP addresses and the iPhone doesn't no how to correct that and drops the connection, or I have interference from a neighbours router that's getting in the way (i have however setup the airport to account for this)

Again, thanks for taking the tine and effort to write to MD asking for debug info and pleass don't hesitate to get back to me if you need me to try anything or clarify any points I've made

Thanks

Andy

Sorry, should have published the mails they sent me as well.

Hi Andrew(Andy Thomas),

My name is Jason, I am with the helpdesk at AppleCare.

I would like to gather more information about the issue you described in this thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2564699 and pass it along to our engineering group.

If you would like to participate, please answer the following questions:

1) Does the device have a Wi-Fi address? This article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1559 provides more information about checking the Wi-Fi address and troubleshooting tips for devices that don't have one.

2) Does the device prompt you for a password when joining the Wi-Fi network?
- if yes, does entering the password resolve the issue?

3) Did the device have any Wi-Fi connection issues before updating to iOS 4.1?

4) Where are the Wi-Fi connection issues occurring, at home or work?

5) What have you already tried while troubleshooting the issue?

I've been having trouble with my iPhone on Wi-Fi networks running DHCP, so I fired up Wireshark to watch the DHCP packets, and the iPhone 4 does not send its hostname (Option 12) when it requests an IP address. I tried an original iPhone, an iPad, a PC and even some Nokia devices and they all send the hostname every time. I also tried with someone else's iPhone 4, and same result, no hostname.

I think that this why so many routers are refusing to give DHCP IP's and even having their DHCP daemons crash. So it's a software bug... please take this seriously and make sure that the 4.2 release isn't going to push this bug out to my iPad and make it stop working too!

(I posted this on another thread too... sorry, it's hard to know where stuff should go around here)

Alexphilly, Since you seem to know how to check such things please post your results at

https://bugreport.apple.com/

The apple engineers check these and in some cases ask for additional details. You must be registered as a developer - no cost to do that - before you can post, but it would be the best thing you could do for all affected by this problem.

If it is too much hassle to register as a developer, then try the other sight

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Select Feedback Type: Bug Report

Fill out the form. Just takes a minute

Thanks for your work and trouble shooting the issue, just hope apple picks up on this.

Ok, done. Thanks.

Another tip

I just changed my wireless channel from 6 (set to automatic) to a manual setting of 12. It has since connected. I will let you know if this holds. I'll pass this on to the AppleCare rep.

Could someone try their router with this theory as well and let us know?

It may point to my theory that I have a clash with a neighbours router that the iPhone cant handle. Lets hope this is it.

I'm not sure the Hostname issue is at the route of this otherwise it would never connect, although to be honest it't the best software relate suggestion I've heard so far. As it stands mine is intermitent, and it could be that the neighbour (or whatever the rouge device is) was off at the time when it has connected.