Q: Poor wifi reception on new iPad

My favorite test is anecdotal.. can you stream video?

What is the signal strength of the wireless signal?

Does it seem to matter how you hold it?

--Sam

Usmaak, you are completely right!

Found my way here through searching for "iPad week wifi".

In this house we have an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, a MacBook pro and an iMac 27. Just got my new iPad (16gb Wifi) 4 days ago and it's the only one having week wifi and constantly loosing signal.  I also had feeling that the iPads position had something to do with it, and after reading you post I can duplicate your results over and over again. Covering the area right from the home button cuts the wifi of completely. The dead grip is real :-/

I do wonder if this affects ALL iPads or if they have corrected the problem in some new series?

Here is another thread regarding the so called death grip.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3821890?start=0&tstart=0

Finally I changed my router by one with the newest technology 802.11n, isn't expensive, only $50, and I obtained a significant improvement (video, pictures, stream video). Despite the wifi icon sometimes reduce one bar, data runs well. I do not know if this solution applies for all the people, but in my case works. Maybe, next Apple software updates will improve it.

http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/wireless80211/a/aa80211standard.htm

I have the exact same issue with the grip. If I put my finger anywhere to the right of the home button, I go to just one bar then I get constant buffering. I have been round and round with Apple Tech Support that is the my Router and not the Ipad.  I bought a  NetGear Router N900 and still have the issue.  I can't go 10 feet away from the router and the signal drops.  It just fluctuates between 1 bar and 2 bars but I never get full signal unless I sit in the same room as the router.  Disappointed that I have had to spend so much of my time trying to fix something that should work. 

Even I am kissing wifi connection intermittently and speed is really horrible!  How do I get around this ?

Losing and not kissing

ahahahaha if only you knew what happend to me and my ipads im on my fourth ipad 3 through exchanging them due to the wifi issue i had with them it appears to be a software issue there is app you are downloding that is causing this there are two ipads in my house the ipad 2 and the ipad three which belongs to me ever since i got it i have been struggling with the wifi issues.

first ipad worked then wifi kept disconnecting white ipad

second ipad same issue then one daty it just froze black ipad

third ipad white same wifif issue

fourth ipad wifi issue but now appeas to be fixed

what appears to be the problem is an app you have downloaded that may have caused your ipad to malfactuion atm i am trying to find it

instead of to retore ipad or back up the ipad or restore it from the other ipads i chose to restart my ipad as set up as new do not sync apps you had instead im on a wekk trial of just putting music on my ipad and suring the internet in the diagnostics and usage there is no crashes so far compared to when i restored  my other ipads there were the exact crashes i noticed strangely reappeerd in all my ipads including this one

today i i set my ipad up as new there are no issues with it its working fine no wifi disconnection  evrything is good .what i will do is download one app per day i previously had and then when i get to the wifif issue i will then know which app has caused it i will download 1 by one to know specifically

Thanks to the OP and all posters. I was going crazy trying to figure out the wifi instability problem with this 3rd gen iPAD I just bought.

Build date is 21march2012, factory DM, 32Gb non cellular, purchased at Sam's two days ago.

I'm at the Marriott and had previously used my iPad2 without issues so I was perplexed why the wifi connection kept on dropping despite registering full bars in my room. Went through the usual reset, forget network, called the hotel tech person to add my wifi address to bypass the already unsecured access. Unfortunately the wifi kept on dropping.

I would have to turn the iPad off and let it rest for a few minutes then Internet would work again until I turn the iPad off.

I'm sitting in the lobby right now and the connection seems more stable, but again cannot reliably connect after turning the iPad off.

Spoke to AppleCare and they don't seem to have a clue.

Wish I was at home to test on my own router, but if this problem is so prevalent at other hotels then I fear this iPad 3 will have to go back as obviously it will not suit my needs.

The obvious thing is range. You may be out of range of the wifi in your room. Is the wi-fi authentication message (login screen) different in the lobby vs. in your room?

I'm wondering if in your room, it's failing to give you a DHCP lease? You can attempt to help this by going into settings and releasing and renewing the ip address.

The tech may need to reserve an IP address for you once you're connected.

--Sam

P.S If you can connect in the lobby, it doesn't sound like it's all the way broken, but apple says problems do crop up sometimes in wi-fi only models and that they are interested in testing and replacing them.

Hi Sam,

I do agree with you that there is a range issue as I did not have the problem with the ipad2 nor currently with the iphone4. I could previously use the ipad2 on multiple floors of the hotel where I'm staying frequently without issues.

However, even when in the room the wifi antenna is showing three bars but I still get that circle of death on the ipad3.

I did get the welcome screen before but no longer since the tech added my wifi address to the bypass list, and the welcome screen was the same in the room as in the lobby prior.

I did try the renew and release, turned the screen brighter, placed the iPad flat on my belly, and stood on one leg, looked up to the ceiling, and asked Steve "why now?" ok, j/k on the last part.

I think I'm going to exchange it for another at Sam's tomorrow after playing with it a little more tonight and see if there's any change. My only concern is that there won't be much improvement as per some of the poster's experience. Also, I'm a little peeved that I spent a good amount of time putting on the clear front and carbon fiber back protector and for the first time in my life there are no bubbles and it's perfectly aligned! Now I have to take it off if doing a return! Ok rant done.

Guess I've taken for granted for so long my problem free experience with Apple until now.

Ken

I've been on this forum since almost Day 1 and I dont believe Sam K has ever come across a bad iPad3, or at least admitted such. But I'll give him credit for asking all the usual questions about routers and config, etc... I went through 7 units before getting one that worked right and I'm in the software/networking business.

Check my other posts on this forum and good luck finding one that works correctly. I found my current one at Target and it is flawless.  You just need to be persistent.

Hi pogle,

I believe I did see your post somewhere. You finally found one that was manufactured at another factory right? That's my fear with returning to Sam's as I'll probably get another iPad from the same batch and consequently have the same problem. We will see.

I would search for your posts but it's hard to do as I am replying on the iPhone right now waiting for the iPad to be less temperamental lol

Ken

Hi pogle1,

I am in the IT field as well... I am not saying there aren't problems with wifi on ipad 3s. Apple has acknowledged some in wifi ipad 3s.  I'm just trying to determine what type of problem it is, because I think it will help Apple fix the problem better if it is reported accurately.

Some routers don't adhere to the spec particularly well, or use settings such as "mode" that affect it negatively. Some routers don't do DNS or DHCP well. (I've seen a lot more DNS problems lately...)

While it isn't within apple's ability to connect to every off-brand router that exceeds the specs in an attempt to boost speed or range, or bad engineering, it should work with most common brands, including Linksys which I've had good luck with, and of course Airports. Sadly, Netgear is hit or miss. (This is mostly experience with ipad 2's wireless connectivity.)

Keep in mind that if it is a dns flaw, it is fixable by hardcoding the dns into the ipad. DHCP is harder to fix, and really requires a fix by apple in either hardware or software to be fixed permenantly. We at least can help them identify what kind of issue it is. That's my philosophy.

--Sam

Apple replaced my iPad 3 due to wifi issue,  the new one seems to connect better, but the signal is still a little weak in the living room.  I liked the iPad so much I got a new iPhone 4s as well.  It seems to have no signal problem right next to the inpad  I am just learning to live with it,  it picks up a decent signal at the office, which the first one didn't so that is important.  Other than that apple was great, I got apple care + on both.  And I just had an exhausting but fun weekend getting apps and syncing songs, photos and contacts

Thanks for your help Sam Katz!