"unable to join network" no matter what I do brand new ipod touch

- What if you go to Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings

-iOS: Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections

Do other devices successfully connect the the network
Does the iPod successfully connect to other networks?

I had issues connecting to a Verizon FiOS router. Turned out to be the default network name (SSID) and password.

By default, FiOS uses very long SSIDs and passwords to make the encryption more difficult to break. Unfortunately, iPods don't like long names and passwords.

Honestly, this is a WAG but try a system reset. It cures many ills and it's quick, easy and harmless...

Hold down the on/off switch and the Home button simultaneously until you see the Apple logo. Ignore the "Slide to power off" text if it appears. You will not lose any apps, data, music, movies, settings, etc.

The "reset network settings" worked perfectly for me. iTouch couldn't touch any wifi for weeks. Reset and everything works.

Thank you lllaass

Network reset did resolve the issue on my ipad. I have the same problem with a macbook that can't get connected. I wonder if we have a reset option for MacBooks as well. I'm sure google is going to help. Thanks again.

I've tried all of these suggestions. For some unknown reason my iPod Touch 5 is giving me more trouble than I hoped. I've only had it for about a month now, a little less..

Go back to the Apple Store and politely request a warranty replacement.

I have just had the same with my VigorAP 800 access point.

For 12 month I have never been able to connect to this device, having previously tried many things.

The resolve I found strangely was unbelievably simply, along with unexplainable!

I removed the password completely and made the network unsecure to check if my IP5 connected and it did.

I then put the same password back in and hey presto! It connects. No idea why this happens as all I have done is put this back to exactly how it was before!!!

Hope this helps

The "reset network settings" worked for me too! Thank you

In all my years (very many ...) of networking in general, and WiFi networking in particular, I have never, ever, come across a WiFi implementation as badly broken as Apple's, on all their devices.

I've had exactly the same problem, with iPods, iPads and iPhones on our networks here. Frequently, they simply will not recognise an AP at all, even when it's literally 6 feet away. When they eventually do connect, if ever, they'll typically show very low signal strength. Even a 10 year old HP "iPaq 4150" I happen still to have will connect perfectly, and show 100% strength, as will every single other WiFi enabled device we have. If any of our Apple devices do manage to connect, they frequently won't actually stay connected - with nothing changing (E.g., sitting on a docking station), they'll just randomly drop off the WiFi network for no reason at all, and then refuse to re-connect.

As I said above, I have never come across a WiFi implementation as badly broken as Apple's ...

If you have this problem, a few things I have discovered which might help other people.

1. Don't use hidden networks. Yes, this can be a (slight) help to security, but it takes the already low chance of any Apple device ever connecting reliably and lowers it even further.
2. If using WPA/WPA2, keep your PSK to less than 10 characters. It shouldn't make the slightest difference, but again I've seen keys (passwords) longer than that apparently make connections less reliable.
3. Sometimes turning WiFi off, waiting about 10 seconds, then turning it back on again, will help.
4. If you've got more than one AP, and you're using MAC based security (restricting connections by hardware - MAC - address), make sure you have the iXxxx device entered into the access tables of all APs.
5. If possible (and this will depend entirely on how your network is configured, and whether you have any control over it), use a static IP address for all your iXxxx devices. Enter that static address into the network configuration for that wireless network on the device. The Apple DHCP implementation times out far too quickly and can report that it couldn't connect simply because the DHCP server providing a dynamic address didn't respond fast enough. It seems that Apple assume the AP will always be providing any DHCP server, and can respond "instantly"; if you have another device providing this service (a server, a DSL router which isn't also your AP, etc.) then the tiny extra delay that can engender seems to blow the Apple process of joining the network completely out of the water. This is a particularly stupid piece of implementation as many DHCP servers (and certainly any good one) will "ping" an IP address before returning it, to make sure it's not already in use - the extra delay from the DHCP server performing this "ping"-and-wait will completely prevent a typical Apple iXxxx device from successfully joining a network.
6. Keep on trying. With our iXxxx devices here, it can sometimes take literally 50 consequtive attempts (with nothing changing between them) before a device will connect. Just keep hitting "Dismiss" then the network again - eventually you may well get lucky!

I hope that helps someone. Meanwhile I really hope Apple get around to fixing this some day (particularly the stupidly short DHCP timeout) as it is unbelievable that in 2013, with WiFi having been around for at least 15 years, that they simply cannot get it right. I notice there's been at least one iOS update specifically aimed at improving WiFi connectivity - made absolutely no difference whatsoever ...

Sigh ...

It's interesting that those individuals reporting problems have been few and far between.