Q: iOS 4.3 breaks Wireless N (802.11n) in 2.4 and 5 GHz bands on iPad, iphone4
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Mar 19, 2011 10:44 PMby TallBearNC,Completely reasonable. Any devices like that, that relies on wiresless should always be tested on at least the major brand routers and key models. That's not too much to ask at all. If they can't at least do that, they have no business making wireless devices.
This isn't some random bug, its a feature (well requirement to use full 802.11n speeds) that apple decided to "require" users to use without any heads up or notication. Not to mention idevices have inherent issues with WMM that apple has never bother to even fix. So why they chose to suddenly be fully 802.11n compliant, and enforce it, and not let ppl know is beyond me.
Before iOS 4.3, if u were in N only mode w/o WMM, the router would stay in N mode but limit it to 54Mbit, and ur idevices would connect. Once 4.3 came, devices just up and refused to connect with no reason why, and apple kept silent and acted like they had no idea what was going on. Technical users, like me, figured out the problem and posted to the forums and let apple support know
Again, that's not our jobs, we are not alpha and beta testers. I know now that iOS is about as buggy as MS windows with their updates, etc, and I won't put any new iOS on any devices till I read the forums and check the Internet for major issues. Often downgrading is not possible as apple stops signing the old build within 24-48hrs. Personally, I think they should keep signing the prev version for 30days so ppl can rollback that have major problems
So far the most stable 802.11n config I can come up with under iOS 4.3 is WMM, no acknowledgement disabled. If NA is enabled the iPad and atv2 constantly drop off the network at random times on many cisco, linksys, and net gear routers. When Apple release 4.3 it was their duty to let ppl know that should configure their routers in such a way that best
Lastly, I used to work for Apple, and many other major software and hardware companies over the past 20+ years. I know what's realistic or not, and how big companies deal with PR issues by either coming forth or playing dumb/silent. -
Mar 20, 2011 9:45 AMby tgibbs,I've already used my iPad2 on quite a few public wifi networks with zero problems, but I imagine that they generally use commercial grade routers that are set up by IT professionals. I think that the problems tend to be with consumer-grade routers and with individuals who make poor configuration choices. -
Apr 8, 2011 7:24 AMby tgibbs,suhel wrote:
All consumer wireless routers work with all the other PCs and Iphones
so why should ipad2 not work?
Wow, that's a pretty sweeping claim. Especially considering the huge number of hits I get for all sorts of different devices when I google for "Wifi router incompatibility" -
May 10, 2011 8:09 PMby Stussydx,I have been suffering from the same thing on ipad 2 my wife's ipad 1 works fine on 2.5 and 5 ghz N and in mixed mode both iPhone 3gs and 4 work in mixed mode and 2.5 ghz N mode but don't even recognize 5 ghz N mode. I have and airport extreme with latest updates. The Ipad 2 and Ipad 1 work perfectly on 5 ghz N mode but in mixed and in 2.5 ghz n mode the ipad 2 drops the wifi connection.
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May 23, 2011 4:56 AMby stevenfromgermantown,We have a Netgear WNDR3700 and everything had been working perfectly.
When the ipad 2's stopped working and the iphone 3gs were struggling I was convinced it was as router problem until I realized it was only iOS devices that were having the problems.
I had configured B/G in the 2.4 Ghz and N in the 5 Ghz. Once I turned the N off all of the devices returned to working normally. Streaming video to the iOS devices was one of the primary reasons I spent the extra money to get a dual band N router.
I hope this issue is resolved quicklky so I can turn the N back on!
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May 23, 2011 5:35 AMby RestlessFool,Do you use the same SSID (network name) for your 2.4 and 5GHz network settings?
If so, try using 'networkname' for the 2.4GHz and 'networkname5' for the 5GHz networks.
It means that devices become band-specific in their setup to ensure that they're using the network on the right band for them (given by network name) rather than having a device try to work out that there are two networks on different bands that use the same name, either/both of which could be used.
WiFi routers are not (yet) like GSM networks which have agility in almost every direction....
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May 23, 2011 6:11 AMby shredhead1080,Interesting conflict at my house... my main router is N, and I have a G router configured as a second access point (same SSID, security settings etc). If I turn on WMM on the G router, my iPhone 4 will not connect to either access point. If I shut WMM off on the G router, the iPhone connects perfectly but seems to prefer connecting via the N router. I have not checked the iPod Touch 4G's my kids have but I suspect the behavior is similar. So there's some issue with WMM being on while you have both G and N on the same wireless network.
