For many people, including myself, their iPads were working fine and picking up Wi-Fi one minute then, all the sudden, their iPads stopped picking up the all important Wi-Fi signal.
For me, it was Monday night.
One minute my wife was researching something then the next minute it wouldn't connect to the Internet. Nothing had changed; no other device in the house had an issue, just the iPad.
So, of course, you read all of the possible solutions here - from the absolutely ridiculous to the somewhat plausible - and go through each one. The whole time you think to yourself, “But everything else works, including a bunch of iOS devices! In fact, now that I think about it, if it were my router, my iPad would at least see the many other networks in the building.”
So, you go to sleep. You let the iPad play a movie so it will drain all the way. Of course it doesn't. A little joke from Steve Jobs I guess. You finally get it to power down. You wait. You charge it. For a brief second you see the Wi-Fi networks. You get excited. You put your password in. Nothing. You think, oh, maybe I did that wrong. You check. No, it's right. You try again. Nothing. You check other devices to see if maybe, just maybe you got the password wrong. No, it is right. Nothing.
The next step, of course, is to back her up and wipe her clean. You do. You hope, by taking her back to her original state, you will get your baby back.
Upon restart, to your horror, she gets stuck at the “Log on to Wi-Fi Network” screen. You bypass this thinking that, once you get a little further along you can coax her into working.
It doesn't work.
You wipe her again.
She still gets stuck at the “Log on to Wi-Fi Network screen.”
You leave for work.
You are late.
You come home that night. You resist the urge to mess with her too much before dinner. You try again after the last dish is in the washer. Nothing. You ponder. Try again. Nothing. You get angry. Think. Pace. Think more. Ponder. Think. Sulk. Feel helpless. You are defeated.
You must go to the Genius Bar. It is your only hope.
You tell your wife, daughter and two-year old son, if they have nothing to do, to go to the Apple Store to see if their beloved can be brought back to life.
Your wife, being the sophisticated iOS user that she is (and visitor to the Genius Bar - where you only go when you have a problem, if you catch my drift), makes an appointment rather than heading in.
She's smart.
She calls you at work from the Genius Bar and tells you that the Genius says, “It is a hardware issue and your iPad is out of warranty. They will replace it for $250.
Wait...what?
Now, I've been using computers and tech devices for awhile now. They fail. I get that. They, like humans, fail sometimes. Particularly moving parts. Hard drives, back in the day, used to fail so often…
But my BS detector really does not think that the Wi-Fi portion of my iPad failed while sitting on the table between uses by my wife and I.
My BS detector sends me to the Internet where I see many people complain of the same issue. They had Wi-Fi but then it disappeared.
My BS detector tells me to tell my wife to tell the Genius that I do not believe it is a hardware issue. I hear my son crying in the background. For once that is the sound of hope. Who can refuse a woman with a (cute) crying two year old? Who?
Apple. That’s who.
My wife calls back and says, “Well, I got nothing. The guy said he would be back in five minutes. I waited fifteen and he didn’t come back. I spoke to a manager and asked if there was anything else that could be done. He said nope.” I hang up the phone.
I am seething.
I think back on this, read up, realize that the trouble is the last iOS upgrade, the 5.1.1 that many others have mentioned, and not my hardware.
I see no official word from Apple on this. I know I am being hard done.
I want to take $250 in pennies to the Apple Store.
No.
I want to say they can replace something they know to be defective for free or we will take our $250 and head elsewhere.
I calm down.
I read every one of the posts here.
I am both angry and depressed. Let’s call it dangressed.
I realize that, unless some technology miracle happens and it starts working again or Apple either decides to make good or is hit with a class action lawsuit or an iOS update comes out that fixes this issue, I am stuck with a very expensive device that cannot connect to the Internet.
It’s because of a hardware issue and, oh, by the way, it’s not under warranty.
No worries. I will get over it.
I got over it when the batteries died in iPods I bought so I will get over this too.
But, you know what.
This time is different.
I’m not just going to go back and give them my money.
I will take my $250 to another company.
I will find another tablet.
I will take this further.
I will also make sure that my wife gets a non-Apple phone when her contract is up.
I will stop buying apps from the App Store.
I will stop buying music from iTunes (illdotlogic will be the last thing I ever bought - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dreams-in-stereo/id453050405).
I won’t buy movies for trips for the kids.
I will stop singing the praises of Apple.
I will make sure my kids know to stay clear of their products.
I will make sure my family and friends know of the mysterious hardware issue.
Sure, I’ve got 1,2,3,4,5,6,7…no, 8 Apple devices in my home.
Sure, I’ve bought many as gifts for friends and family.
Sure, I’ve got, as of this minute, $28,913.45 in AAPL stock.
But I’ve also got some self respect.
But I’ve also got a brain.
But I’ve also had enough.
Goodbye Apple.
Obviously you won’t miss me and the lifetime of purchases lost because of me and my family. We are just a rounding error.
But, you know what? I suspect there will be many more people like me soon.
That’s Sad.
God Bless You and God Bless the United States of America
