Intermittent Wifi issues with iPad 2 and WiFi

@ae58: Thank you for going to all that trouble. The findings suggest that WMM and/or QoS are involved but I don't think they could be regarded as conclusive.

I agree with you. From a technical standpoint it is clear that the implementation of some protocols in the wifi routers as well as Apple's iPad is clearly not up to spec. Now, discovering WHAT these out-of-spec protocols are is the nature of the game of troubleshooting. As I mentioned before, if you have no patience for this game and DEMAND that your iPad work flawlessly with your wifi-router, well, get an Apple wifi-router.

Then, if you still encounter problems, the Apple customer support HAVE NO CHOICE but to help you solve your problem! (unless they start giving you the run-around amongst themselves).

Just one caveat with buying an Apple wifi-router - I won't guarantee you that it will work with all your non-Apple wifi devices. (sigh) the world isn't perfect. Apple isn't either.

Sunday night my IPad2 suddenly lost all WiFi connectivity while I was using it, and having spent 3 evenings trying to sort this out, reading multiple threads of which none helped, I want to share my solution. There are SO many suggestions on the web for what to do, all failed for me.

My Ipad went through three phases of malfunctioning:

1. WiFi completely greyed out - solved by a number of NW resets and restarts

2. The IPad can not find any networks. This despite being 50cm:s from the WiFi AP

3. The IPad finds the networks but can not log on to any of these, even if unsecure

All suggestions on DHCP lease renewal, switching security modes, switching g/n etc in the router was of no use. I used both a Linksys WRT54GL and an ASUS N66 router with various settings, installed new SSIDs etc. No difference at all while all other devices in my home (including a second IPad2) worked flawlessly all the time. So it was not a router problem. (Having to buy an Apple router sounds the wrong way to go if you ask me).

All the shallow IPad reset suggestions (like resetting NW settings from settings/general) had no effect at all in my case. This was close to driving me crazy and I was about to consider this a HW fault and take it back to Apple (it is only 6 months old), but I decided to go for one more try

So I went for a complete reinstall:

1. Backup contents to Itunes via the USB connection

2. Complete factory reinstallation - wipe it clean! - from within Itunes

3. When asked if you want to restore the Ipad using the backup config, answer NO. I tried this but the Ipad just went back to the old state with WiFi still not working

4. Instead go for a fresh install, no restoring from Itunes

5. Once up and running, disconnect from Itunes and rename the Ipad to the name it had when you did the backup in point 1 (not 100% sure this is needed but it worked for me)

6. Connect to Itunes again and copy the contents and settings back (obviously this is different from the restore option offered during the reinstallation #3 above)

Voila - WiFi back to life - all networks available, all can be accessed, good performance, connection seems stable.

No guarantee this method will help others, but at least you have one more option to try...

My last input to this forum was about 50 odd pages ago. I had all the same problems. My last ditch efforts involved three things (all done one after the other without checking inbetween) two of which I cannot remember without going back and checking and the third was doing a full reinstall as above (and funnily enough that was on the advice of local Apple support). I have had no further issues during the last 6 months. Connects everywhere all the time and several rooms away from the WAP when at home. I have not had a single error during this time.

Reminds me of how, back in the PC world, 1 in every 1000 errors can be fixed by resetting the BIOS settings back to factory standard defaults. Something is getting "stuck" which isn't being fixed by restores and resaving.

@LasseF: Crazy! I wonder what sort of setting got locked in that messed your iPad up. At least your post made technical sense unlike a bunch of others on this thread.

I tried a couple of factory reinstalls with the help of an Apple guy. None worked. I already had two iPads v3 over the last six days, neither functioning on wifi. I just reserved a 16Gig iPad 2 (the older version) to pick up in the morning and taking back the new 64 Gig one. If the older version works I will at least know that its the new iPad that is at fault (shame about the hires screen and the memory though). If that doens't work, I'll have my money back.

I have a work around for the wifi issue where disconnects occur. First it appears only to happen when connecting to wireless-n connections. Wireless-g doesn't seem to have any problems. Note this is only for the repeated disconnects and has nothing to do with the low signal issue some have mentioned.

I blogged the details earlier including ways to reproduce (five different ways). If the symptoms match what's happening to you then feel free to apply the suggested solution until Apple updates the software.

http://michael.olivero.com/post/2012/04/06/iPad3-WiFi-connection-issues-resolved .aspx

Good luck.

It seems that the "new iPad" has inherited some of the issues of its older siblings.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/ipad-wi-fi-problems-anatomy-of-a-released- defect/7381?tag=nl.e019

And that Apple is finally listening to us.

At least, those who bought their new iPads.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-57409671-64/apple-looking-into-new-ipad-wi-fi- issues/?tag=content;siu-container

Bought an ipad 2 16 gb WiFi only, model on the day before yesterday.

I think i should not have bought it.

Facing wifi problems. it gets connected to the internet and suddenly loses connection. i cannot browse though the signal strength shown is excellent.

Once i put it to sleep then when i open it again the connection has to be disabled and then enabled to surf the net.

The customer care person told me to change the password of the modem to wpa/wpa2 psk. have done that but no end to the problem.

i use mtnl delhi connection.

all other devices like laptop, phones are doing fine with the wifi connection.

This is a very frustating experience i would not have bought it if i had known this.

please help me if you can.

indranil.

Hi,

I would advise you to set Beacon Interval to 50 in the wifi router. I also have MAC filtering on and added the mac addresses of all systems inc ipad to it, also set to g mode instead of g/b mode.

vkv

Thanks,

I did what you have suggested but still the problem is persisting.

have never felt so frustrated.

Indranil.

My roters details:

Hi,

I have rts threshold set to 2346 also. using channel 11. for broadcast ssid set to 1. I do get disconnects now but its not frequently and get good download speed from app store. yes the ipad 2 doesn't play nice with certain routers/settings. i assume your router firmware is the latest.

vkv

I have MTNL broadband connection. I am in New Delhi.

The model name of the router 450TC1

The device information :