Q: Poor wifi reception on new iPad

I  am having the same issue(weak wifi signal) on my second New Ipad.  The first New Ipad got hot on the bottom and had a weak wifi signal.  If I move 20 ft. away from my router, the signal drops to one bar.  I just spent an hour on the phone with Apple tech support in Utah.  The tech support line I got doesn't even work for Apple, they are contracted by Apple.  My tech told me he has not heard of "any" wifi issues with the New Ipad.  I told him about this forum and his response was...Let's say 3000 people were on the forum with the wifi issue. Apple sold 3 million New Ipad's...so the percentage of wifi trouble is negligible anyway. He persisted to blame it on the Router. Linksys persists to blame it on the Ipad.  Hmmmm, $900 out of pocket for a product that doesn't perform.  Do not feel the Apple Love Whatsoever!!

I am starting to feel I am getting the run around, I get the weak signal at home with my time capsule,  at my office at the college with their strong wifi network and at a neighbors with lynksis.  Did the "AppleCare" cal route, they just had me do a restore, which took 2 hours (got them off the hook) ,  the next suggestion was trekking back to the store,  I don't have a good feeling about this, everything have read on this forum is coming to pass,  I was an apple convert, bit now I am beginning to rethink that.  I will update after my visit to the store,  if I still even. Have an iPad...reards..

Let me be very clear. If you called applecare, you will be speaking to a technician at apple. Apple does not subcontract their support. Ever.

They do have some technicians that work out of their home, but I'm not sure whether that went anywhere.

Use https://expresslane.apple.com to get started and have them call you.

The restore is the best way that they have to make sure it isn't software. although in one cases on the forum, it was firmware, which is below the level that can be corrected by a restore.

My suggestion is that you ask apple nicely to take the unit for testing, and report back to you with a repaired ipad. (since reflashing the firmware worked so well for that other user.)

They may also want to do a DFU restore, which is a last resort restore which may fix issues not fixed with the top level restore.

Be patient. It's well worth it. the ipad is an amazing device, and with ios 6 will get even better.

Hi. Have you tried going to an apple authorized service provider http://www.apple.com/buy/locator/service/. Despite what is stated here, they do work on ipads. Genius bar would be another option, but the third-party options are sometimes good to get a second opinion.

Well I will try the apple store.  It is an hour away, and I don't want to be schlepping back and forth there while they try to figure this out.   If I can't get this resolved without much more hassle, I will see if they will just take it back and call it a day...It is neat, but not that neat

I have the same problem, poor WiFi signal with router only 5 meters away. at the same distance Iphone works well. I reseted the network, the router, and all the possible alternatives to find a solution, but nothing hapens. But, I found a recomendation that was the most insingnificant and it works.... putting the New Ipad inverted ( Home Button on the top ), curiosly it works....hardware issue?? but.... I´m going to the Apple store to return mine..... I do not understand why this company - Apple - do not say nothing about this issue.

If you are going to return it, why do you post? Hopefully that inversion trick helps people.. is your ipad in a case? could the case be blocking reception? what router do you have? Have you tried scheduling an onsite technician call with your local apple authorized repair shop? It might be fixable. Is it all routers or just yours? Is it running the latest firmware? Is it finalized N?

Did you check to make sure it's using apple recommended settings?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4199

Are you a PC or Mac user? I'm asking because the ipads and macs use similar settings.

I went back to the apple store and because I just bought my ipad 3 on Sunday, they just replaced it.  Very pleasant good service.  We set it all up again.   So I am going to try again.   They said that that this was not that common of a problem.  So all is well that ends well.  Sam, I was just frustrated after spending all the $$ and it not working, and my applecare phone session left a lot to be desired. My usual apple experience had always been that it just starts up and goes for years.    In any event,  I liked the ipad interface so much, I went and got an Iphone today,  so now I have two toys to set up and play with..  All these devices,  all this syncing.. I guess I better read up on the Icloud.!

Of the iPads that have this problem -- And there are a lot of them in my personal experience -- they all exhibit severe WiFi signal degradation when held anywhere around the "Home" button, either on the left in landscape or on the bottom in Portrait mode AND they are some distance away from the router, but still IN RANGE. In my experience, the presence or absence of a case makes absolutely no difference in the dozens of speed tests I have run on multiple iPads...

I went through six new iPads (all LTE VERSIONS, BTW), before finding one (# 7) that was perfect. Every Apple rep I talked to, both online and in 5 stores in three different states had never "heard of this problem"... It is in fact not reproducible if in strong WiFi signal field, like an Apple store, for example.

Though I'm sure there are a number of folks on this forum that need to tweak their settings and routers for optimal speed, this issue is not related to those, and can be duplicated at any WiFi hotspot, at least that's been my experience.

If you can find a good one, it is really a great device.. Good luck!!

I post it because the WI FI signal on the top of the Ipad (WI FI 16 GB)  almost disapears. I have an iMac and an Iphone 4 using with the same router without any problem. Today I made some speed tests using speedtest.net and it decrease to very low levels randomly in 10% of the tests ( There´s nobody using the WI Fi Network ) . The router firmware is OK, I use the apple smartcover. I know that using the Ipad inverted is a stupid solution. I read people here with the same problem and state of the art routers therefore I do not think router is the cause of this mal function. I´ll try your suggestions about the router, thanks, but I think that trick Hopefully helps people.

I wonder how many people that are having problems with WiFi can attribute it to the so called "death grip".  I have lost track of how many iPads I've had and returned due to bad screen flaws.  But it is somewhere between ten and fifteen.  In addition, I've tried every single one I could find in the Apple store and various Best Buy stores.  And I have a few friends that have them.  Every single one that I've tried has shown WiFi signal degradation when the area to the right of the home button is covered up or touched in the right location.  Every single one.  This means that I have yet to see one that doesn't.  Before anyone gets defensive, I'm not saying that they don't exist.  Just that I have not personally experienced one.  But so far I haven't seen one that has problems if the area to the right of the home button is left uncovered.  My wife's new iPad drops off right at the same place that my iPad 2 does.  But if I cover that little area to the right of the button, I completely lose signal.  If I'm really close to my router, it doesn't drop off at all.  This is why inverting it, or holding it so that the home button is on your right while in landscape orientation works so well.  If you are a typical right hander, you are not covering up the bad spot, and it functions as it should.

I'm not sure if Apple can, or has any intention of fixing this, as they might not see it as a problem.  The antenna has to go somewhere.  I think that it's kind of dumb to put it where they put it.  It would make more sense at the top of the iPad where it is seldom touched.  But there may be other reasons why it could not go there.  I do think that it's in a similar location in the iPad 2.  If I cover up the area to the right of the button on my iPad 2, it also drops off.  It does not seem as sensitive though, and the area that causes problems seems to be a lot smaller than on the new iPad.

You're in Peru. Welcome. Bien venidos.

What router are you using?

Thanks.

--Sam

Hello!

I am going to buy the new ipad wi-fi only.

Is there a list of tests I should make in the shop to immediately detect the faulty device?

How long should I make those tests - to identify instable connection, etc?

thank you...

Thanks... I use the router provided by my telephone company, I think is the cheapest ( Hawuei echolife 520 or something like that ). I checked the Apple recomended router configuration, and all is OK ( I only changed the frecuency xxx to automatic )  . I didn´t have any problems with this router in the past. Also, I made the speedtest.net test again and speed falls down randomly.... I have the Ipad yet. I hope some future Update will repair it.... I´ve been thinking that a new router will improve my conections but I´m afraid about waste my money unnecesarelly, and continue with the same problem......

The vast majority of routers provided by the telephone company aren't very good. I would almost gaurentee that any cisco/linksys router will work just fine. It is possible it's doing something non-standard.