Poor wifi reception on new iPad

I've wanted an Ipad for years but could never afford one. This year I painfully took out a student loan so that I could purchase the Ipad 3. I bought it yesterday and it will not connect to wifi. I am extremely dissapointed. I can not afford to keep a $700 piece of broken equiptment. The college bookstore I bought it from has a 15% restocking fee. Does anyone know if Apple is accepting returns?

Follow up to my note somewhere up above. At 11:05, I lost all internet connection on the iPad. Router thinks everything is fine, so does the iPad 1, I have rebooted, and now restored, and I have no internet at all. It is on in the systems dialog, the network shows up, all the settings are as they have been forever for things in this house (save the unique IP) -- it's as if this were a no 4G no WI iPad.

I have an appointment at the Genius bar tomorrow and will report back.

It_caveman wrote:

I've done some measuring on range iPad2 out to about 75ft before dropping to 2 bars and out to 100ft and still get 1 to 2 bars. ......... iPad3 out to 35ft before dropping to two bars and at 45 to 50 ft you're down to one bar. Past that you can forget it. What a rip off this new device has turned out to be. Come on Apple, you can't keep customers doing things like this.

Then return it and buy something else.

Can all users of the iPad 3 on this thread please retry their wifi as follows. Turn off "Ask to connect" in settings. And turn off "Autobrightness" feature. This will default your units to Apple's test environment. See specs here

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP647

For those with issues holding their iPad.; try grounding yourself first (whilst NOT holding your iPad) by touching a metal object that is grounded too, such as a radiator or sink tap (do not attempt grounding via any kind of electrical appliance) Remember the display glass works by minute electrical capaitance from your finger tips, so static build up across the glass and yourself will alter relative potentials. Your built in wireless antennas may notice this if your hands overlap onto the effective area that the display area uses.

I am also for those who have bought one, not aware of any 4G coverage as yet in the UK. Though this is supported via At&T and Verizon in the US and Canadian markets. Please see Tech Specs for details.

I'm am finding that switching airplane mode on / off will get wifi to work again, abiet for a short while. No issues noticed for 3G connection, just wifi dropping, refuses to reconnect then reconnects on its own. Burning thru 3G data plan, so let's hope it gets resolved soon.

Well duhhh, if had read all the posts you would have seen that I did.

Did and as most things that have been tried it was a temp fix.

Am I correct in assuming that since changes in settings can cause a temp fix, that this is not a hardware prob?

I still have my iPad unopened, and waiting to see if I should return it or not.

Another one here. I'm from Spain, just got it a few hours ago and confirmed that here's happening what you say.
So it's hard to say if it's a bad bunch or all of them are having the same problem. I'm getting almost the same speed with my iPad and my iPhone while i'm close to the router, but it decreases a LOT more in the iPad than in the iPhone (close -> iPad: 20/5, iPhone 18.5/5, far -> iPad: 2/0.2, iPhone 15/5).
The portrait grip is algo giving me troubles. I'm not even configuring it, it's already on its box. I will return it as soon as i go to the apple store... this is not a software issue.

You really can't tell if it's good or not until you open and test it for wifi issues and/or color problems. It looks to be a mix of software and in some cases hardware as well. Some have been lucky and got a good one. I saw four and noe of them were good. Just try it and if it's bad take it back await a month and try again. They'll sort it out eventually.......d

I'm sure you've been answered. But yes, apple takes returns, no fee. I returned mine.

I found something interesting with my new iPAD.

I am having some issues, I called Apple and they are sending me a new one. I have an iPad 3, 32GB wifi only model. I would basically lose connectivity if I got further than 30 feet away from my wireless access point (D-Link).

I tried some different troubleshooting techniques last night and one appeared to work. I have two routers in my house, one is a D-Link, the other is a crappy AT&T 2-Wire. I had them both on the same SSID for 4 years no issues. They were set up so my entire house is covered. The D-Link is set up as an access point with the 2-wire router acting as the DSL modem and the DHCP server/router. I've used it for years like this, no problems. The D-Link is a "N" router, the 2-wire a "G" router. WPA encryption was used on both.

I have 3 laptops (windows, Linux), 3 android phones with wifi, a Wii, a Playstation 3, and an Android tablet all sharing the wireless network. I decided after I spoke with Apple to change the SSID of my 2-Wire router. I left the D-Link with the orginal SSID. The iPAD began working normally, on the D-Link but it absolutely will not connect to the 2-Wire modem. Evidently it will not work with that router, I cannot imagine a device not connecting to an IEEE standard. All other devices will connect to the 2-Wire router no problem. My PS3 latency actually improved connecting directly to the 2-wire secondary SSID network.

Anyway, what I am saying is that the new iPAD may have some issue with the wireless card. I am still going to send it back, for what it costs, this is unacceptable. For the hours I spent on this, Apple should send me another one for free.

RyanLucier,

I was able to recreate your video exactly with the Speedtest.net app. I too was able to affect the transfer speeds by placing my hand over the bottom right corner then taking it off.

I realized when I first discovered this issue why my unit, it was while lying on the couch with the ipad in potrait mode with the bottom resting on my stomach. This essentially replicates the hand coverage trick and also reduces the wifi reception to unusable levels.

I am thinking of making an Apple Store appointment for tomorrow and just hope that they have some units without the problem.

@boarhogsm - funny you should say that, about feeling Apple should give you a new iPad for free, after all the time spent.

I was one of the early posters on this forum, also waving the flag for the new wifi issue.

I was on the phone twice with AppleCare over the first weekend, once for 45 minutes. The thing is, no one had heard of the problem, so I was frustratingly overcoming skepticism.

Ditto, when I went to the apple store, and first dealt with a resistant store attendant, who was patronizing me. Finally they began to notice the problem. It was when we went to the front of the store, near the mall entrance, and away from the router mothership, that the problem was finally real, with the manager participating - as we compared 2 new iPad 3's against an iPad 2. My recounting of the episode has been in several news reports.

Anyway, I left the store having returned the iPad 3, and also felt that I had expended hours on the mis functioning iPad 3 and deserved another one of free! *smile*

HeathCliff,

I agree 100%. 4 iPads and 2 -3 hours of testing for Apple and I retuned mine for a refund. Do think I'll get a free one so won't hold my breath. Will go back and try another new one in a month and see if its better. Cheers !!!!!