Q: Intermittent Wifi issues with iPad 2 and WiFi

Thank you everyone for your replies. Knowing that this is a widespread issue empowers us to deal with Apple assertively.

The 1st level telephone support technician I spoke with at Apple claimed to not know anything about this problem. The software checks he did on my ipad were fruitless so I was taken up to 2nd level support. As soon as the 2nd level  technician found out that the IP address on my ipad started with 198...... she said "oh that's a router problem, you'll have to contact your router company".  I told her I didn't believe that and I didn't accept that because we have 2 macbooks, 1 iphone 4 and 1 windows laptop that all work perfectly off the same wifi.  Also, when my son and I are in wifi hotstpots (cafes), he can access their wifi on his iphone 4 and I cannot access wifi on my ipad2. I told her this was a widespread problem which I had learned of from the Apple forums. She ignored that information.

She said to me: "You phoned us, so if you don't accept what I am telling you (router issue), then we can't help you". End of story.

So I phoned Netgear - they did checks - they said the IP address was "invalid" and said it was a device issue.

I went back to Apple, told them I didn't want to go through all the palaver again and insisted on speaking to 3rd level support.  When I told the 3rd level technician that Netgear had reported it as a device issue, he said I would have to take my ipad to an Apple Store Genius Bar to be checked by their technician to see if it needed to be replaced. He gave me an appointment for 3days away.

After I spoke with him I then discovered that everything that had been taken off my Ipad2 by the 1st level technician when he was checking software, had not been restored. Therefore I had no Calendar, Contacts or Notes - all critical to my every day administration. I didn't want to touch anything in case they blamed me for the issue. I phoned Apple the next morning and said I had to have an appointment that day to restore my data and it had to be at the City store because I live and work in Sydney CBD.  The consultant started saying she'd see if there was a location that had an available appointment. I asserted that I had to go to the city store and it had to be that day.  Magically she was able to find an appointment in the City Store that evening ("only one left")

The iPad connected immediately to the Apple City Store wifi. So the Genius Bar technician told me there was no problem with the iPad.  I re-iterated all of the above history.....the other devices we have which connect to home wifi and the ipad does not.  Non ipad connectivity in wifi hotspots and the iphone 4 does connect.  He told me that sometimes the signals in wifi hotspots were weak and that I might have to  have a password to connect. I told him that the iphone 4 never needed passwords to logon at those hotspots where my ipad could not connect.  He replaced my ipad.  Brought it home and it connected to wifi.  I'm still living in trepidation, though.  No guarantees that this one won't go the same way as my previous ipad (which worked of wifi fine for the first 3 weeks).

I have reported this problem to A Current Affair and said that Apple needs to public acknowledge this issue. Perhaps if more iPad owners report to A Current Affair they will pick up the story???

thanks, all

I have yet to see anyone mention that wifi works beautifully at ip on router being set in the 10.0.1.1

Hi.

I test with 4 different routers. The ipad works fine with a 2wire in 802.11G ONLY, WEP (wpa or wpa2 not available in this device).

With Buffalotech 802.11 N, Motorola 900 Cable, Cisco 802.11N, Linksys 802.11 N, mixed b/g, enhanced G, wpa, wpa2 I see the ipad lost signal even 5 meters away from the router!!! amazing!. with the cable motorola modem without wep or wap (free wifi no password) at 1 meter distance, works perfect. 10 meters away, signal appears minimum and lost internet every certain ammount of time.

No other wifi device have issues: xbox, blackberry, iphone, pc, 3 laptops, asus oh-play, only the ipad2!!!

apple need to develop a new firmware fixing this issue. There is no sense to use 802.11G short range - old wifi version when now we have 802.11 300MB wifi available routers.

And Apple support is USELESS!!!!

I know what you mean.  My iPhone 4 works fine, as does my iPod touch 2nd gen and my daughter's iPod touch 4th gen.  Also, both of our PS3's connect fine wirelessly.  And so do all of our laptops.  We've got two access points here at home, one secured and one unsecured, and neither one is accessible by the iPad 2.  I'm almost afraid to try the iPad 1 from the office, though I should, since it's on the same firmware (4.3.3).  Like everyone else, I was unable to access the wifi after a short while so had to turn the wifi adapter off then back on.  It finally got bad enough that I couldn't even connect by turning off the iPad then back on.  So I turned off the wireless adapter then the iPad, now it doesn't even see it and won't let me turn it back on because it's grayed out as if it's not installed.  Even resetting the network settings doesn't help.  I'll call Apple tomorrow, but they'd better not suggest a trip to a Genius bar for me....that's a 300 mile round trip or more!

OK, this IP thing starting with 198.0 or 10. whatever is a total pant load from Apple. Are they that dumb at Apple or ar ethey just trying to ignore the issue?

I'm sorry, but when every other devices I own, the Wi-Fi works everywhere and my iPad or iPhone does not, logic dictates that the iPhone or iPad have an issue.

Get real Apple belly up and admit there is an issue!

I will also report this to the media and maybe that will get Apple's attention!

Hi WA0Z0G

Before I got Apple 3rd level Support (having already spent 1 hour on the phone to them), I said I would report this issue to the Office of Fair Trading if they didn't resolve it. (I have had 100% satisfactory results from the Office of Fair Trading on three separate occasions when they caused the merchants to effect my desired outcome, ie 2xrefund of money and 1xfixing the issue.

Seeing as you are so far from a Genius Bar - you might like to take that tack with Apple if they muck you around. You can lodge complaints online with the OFT online complaint form, so it is not an empty threat. The OFT are extremely efficient - give them as much accurate evidence as you can. This is the only govt department I know of that is high performing and doesn't get the cudos it deserves.

and btw - the new iPad Apple gave me 3 days ago - has already dropped the wifi signal three times! (whilst our four other wifi devices are operating business as usual)

Let's try and work on the solution.

Apart from stating the obvious that Apple clearly have a problem here that needs resolving, there are things you can do.

It is worth following Apple's recommendations as they provide a clue to the problem and help. Do not hide your Network name, it only provides minimal security anyway! Ensure you keep your security as high as possible by using WPA2 if possible. Update the firmware on your router. Select the router mode that allows b,g, and n. And all the other points. I also turned off the auto brightness and turned the brightness down, only just after the middle.

Now none of this is ideal but as I've said before in other posts on this discussion - you can keep the ipad2 with it's wifi fault or return it. I've decided to keep it. It is my second ipad2 and within the 30 day return period. But it works now with the adjustments stated. I'm not saying it is a solution but it appears to be the power saving options work best with this wifi fault. I haven't lost the wifi signal for about 4 days now.

But again remember this site is for users and is not monitored by Apple so please post direct to Apple. The address is on a previous posting.

Thanks Rene for your tips. Our router was already set up as you have described - still wifi drop outs.

I'm going down the track of some others who have suggested the issue may be related to the power-save mode, so I will start taking diagnostic notes whenever I lose wifi connectivity.

Apple ARE aware of the problem - they are just choosing to not publicly address it. I encourage disgruntled iPad users to raise media awareness to bring Apple out of hiding behind this issue.

I can't get a weblink to work, but you can google "a current affair tell your story".

People Power !!!

Despite finding this item in my router;

I'm using a Cisco WRVS4400N Router and found a setting in the router in the Wireless menu item, "VLAN & QoS" called "U-APSD (WMM Power Save):" which was disabled.

 

The Cisco help describes this as follows;

 

"U-APSD(WMM Power Save) is an enhanced power-save mode for IEEE 802.11e networks. If you Enabled the UAPSD, the wireless client is allowed to enter Power Save mode."

I've run into the same issue with the Wi-Fi not doing anything useful after a period of idle time. Back to turning Wi-Fi off and on again.

Definitely happens in multiple locations, home, work, coffee shops, so this is not a router issues despite what Apple says, especially as other devices are not having the same issues in any location. It doesn;t take rocket science to prove that the iPad or iPad2 have some sort of Wi-Fi issues.

Still so far so good with the Apple supplied replacement device seeing as how I am posting this from a Southwest flight from Las Vegas to Burbank.   The unit has had no issues connecting a hotels, businesses, airport, home.

I am convinced that in a rush to manufacture enough devices in time to get them to market there was a significant amount of manufacturing flaws. It would be very interesting to determine if the serial #s on the defective units all point to a singular production line and/or date range.

Hello Donnafromredfern,

    Actually, I didn't have to mention to Apple that I was that far from a Genius Bar.  The tech looked it up and asked if I was going to be traveling near either of the two fairly nearby locations (both 150 miles away).  When I told him that I wasn't, he offered a mail in exchange, either from a UPS depot (which down here has odd and limited hours) or via an Apple supplied box.  I chose the Apple supplied box, and he created the order.

     He did mention that he's seen this a few times before, but that it wasn't yet considered a common issue.  Looking at the number of people here with this issue, I would think they might want to reconsider.

     At least the Apple tech thinks that he's verified that my WiFi card on my iPad 2 is bad.  I had turned it off when it disconnected during a game, then rebooted, and it hasn't worked or been recognized by iOS since (even after several restore attempts - even with a fresh device profile).  For anyone with similar issues who's wanting to compare notes, I'm running iOS 4.3.3 on a 32gb WiFi only IPad 2.

     As soon as I get this iPad exchanged, we'll see how long the new one holds out.  Hopefully better than the less than 2 months that the first one did.

WA0ZOG wrote:

 

     He did mention that he's seen this a few times before, but that it wasn't yet considered a common issue.  Looking at the number of people here with this issue, I would think they might want to reconsider.

How many 'here' out of how many 'everywhere'?

In my experience there are more issues with people with poorly-configured routers/not-updated-firmware routers/channel-conflicting routers than with genuine iPad wifi problems (just as there were with the iPod Touch and the iPhone). 

That is not to say that there are 'none', but anyone with a problem should get straight on to Apple, directly to get it sorted, directly!

RestlessFool wrote:

 

In my experience there are more issues with people with poorly-configured routers/not-updated-firmware routers/channel-conflicting routers than with genuine iPad wifi problems (just as there were with the iPod Touch and the iPhone). 

 

That is not to say that there are 'none', but anyone with a problem should get straight on to Apple, directly to get it sorted, directly!

Well I can tell you that I've been an IT guy for over 25+ years, I know networking and I can tell you for certain, that the iPad & iPad2 have Wi-Fi issues.

Let's layout a simple fact here ...

If every other device you own that connects via Wi-Fi works fine and then your iPad is the only device that acts up, then you know without a shadow of a doubt that your iPad has an issue.

This whole thing with Apple getting people to upgrade firmware and other such crap is just a lazy way to brush off the problem. Again, if every other device works fine, but you iPad, the iPad is the issue, then it's not the router!

Sure there are routers that are not confiured securely, but if the configuration is at fault, nothing will work. Does the iPad check that your router is misconfigured in any way? No, it just expects an IP and connectivity from the router.

Sure, go directly to Apple and have them brush you off with "Oh you have a router issue" ... BULL CRAP!

I'm not saying that everyone here has a geniune issue, but apparently here in this forum and various threads and other forums seem to inidcate we have a true Wi-Fi Gate in the making and Apple is just brushing eveyone off as a router issue. As usual, Apple is in denial as they were with the iPhone 4 and ANTENNA GATE. How did they fix it, gave everyone a skin for their phone, another load of CRAP!

Next tablet will be a Blackberry Playbook ... at least the Wi-Fi works and supports flash. I only wish it came out sooner than later, I would never have picked up an iPad.

I agree with WebGeeksUnlimited here.  I've been in IT support for over 20 years myself.  If every other device connects without issues, it's certainly not the access point/router.  I haven't had any problems with the iPad 1 so far, but admittedly I haven't put it through the same tests that I put the iPad 2 through.  I will, though, sometime soon...just to see how it behaves.  I'm curious to see if it's going to have the same problem.  I want to test the same application that failed on the iPad 2, as well as test the specific failure mode that caused the ultimate need for replacement.

I probably wouldn't have gone for the Playbook, but that's mostly due to my investment in iOS devices and their foothold at work.  We don't support Blackberry at all, so that's why I have the allegiance to Apple in my portable devices.

But the frustration is a real killer with this one.  Waiting for a software patch is one thing, dealing with hardware failures is quite another.