iPhone 5 wifi issues

Yes, I have a black iPhone 5 16GB model and have done everything possible to it and the flakey problems persist. I have reset, restored, changed encryption on router and channels to no security. I have signed out of the account I have. I have even tried changing to a VPN. Nothing seems to help. It works fine and when switching signals at different locations, it appears to get a strong signal but nothing comes through on WiFi. We have terrible AT&T service here, so a one or two bar Edge network is all I get from cellular. That is why WiFi is VERY important to me. This is the fifth iPhone I've had and the only one to have this problem. I did buy an iPad 2 with WiFi only that would lose the signal when walking out of the room and I exchanged it and the new one worked great. I don't know what it is with Apple and their WiFi issues but am darn glad the Mac Mini in my office doesn't have these issues because it isn't hardwired to the network. I hope like the Passbook issue, is that I'll wake up one morning and all will be well.

An update on my issues. Got it replaced Monday. Everything worked great. Then last night the issue resurfaced. Was really upset and went to bed with hone charging. Woke up this morning and ran speed test again. Here is what my history looks like. http://twitter.com/xDJHx/status/250997556845359104/photo/1

So the problem comes and goes. There were no network changes between last night and this morning. Then today I had my lte and 3G data drop out. This is baffling. I am a bit bummed about the return at apple since it prevents switching away from apple now. It's my first iPhone and I got it so it would all just work. I guess not. Hopefully this is a software issue.

I am also having WiFi issues. 16GB iPhone 5 (white) Verizon.

Basically, if I reboot it'll work fine for at least a while. But at some point in time it starts acting up. Always stays connected but it'll just hang. In a SpeedTest it might work fine halfway through the test, and then the connection with just drop to 0Mbps.

When loading sites it may work fine sometimes and other times it'll just hang. I will have to refresh a few times before it starts working again. But I have not noticed a weak signal at any point or the iPhone 5 not detecting access points.

So, should I go in for an exchange or just wait and see whether a software update fixes it? I am hoping it is just a software issue because the phone has been great otherwise.

Just putting in my two cents. I picked up a white 32GB VZW iPhone on launch day. While waiting for the rep to finish setting up my account, I started the initial setup on the phone. It asked me to connect to WiFi, but I was not at home, so I asked for the WiFi password at the store. The rep handed me the small black square that I am assuming was a VZW hotspot, providing internet for their location. I entered the password and it connected immediately with no problem. Although I am assuming this was so easy because it was a hotspot providing the same internet the phone uses, rather than true WiFi.

Upon arriving home, I began to finish setting up my iPhone. At this point, I had not yet been able to log in to the App Store and wanted to get on WiFi so my repeated attempts wouldn't use up all my data. Unfortunately, as soon as I clicked my network and entered my password, I got a popup saying "Unable to connect to network". I figured it was just a simple setting that needed changing and started poking around. After over an hour of troubleshooting I still had not connected. I had rebooted the phone and reset network settings over and over with no avail. I even tried unsecuring my WiFi and that didn't work, and finally I completely reset my router to factory settings. Still nothing. (mind you, I wasn't able to connect AT ALL.) FINALLY... I found a web site that had a workaround. I had to go to the router's manufacturer web site, download old, outdated firmware and install that over the existing, up-to-date firmware. Well, that did the trick! I connected immediately with no problem. I haven't tested the iPhone and a computer side by side, but I am familiar with my network speeds and since the firmware downgrade, the iPhone has been performing normally. No connectivity or speed issues, and I am truly blown away by the speed of the device when browsing web pages.

However, this isn't right. In this day and age of data caps, throttling and overage charges, WiFi needs to work. I don't care how fast my LTE is... no one should be forced to use it because a normal function of the phone doesn't work. What about the poor souls that don't have 4G access yet? Stuck on 2G or 3G with no WiFi would be a nightmare, not to mention a complete waste of the insane speed this phone is capable of. I hope Apple gets the iOS update out SOON! I just don't understand how they didn't catch this during testing.

In case anyone is interested... the router used that needed firmware downgrade in order for the iPhone to connect is a Netgear WGT624v3.

So, I have a 64GB Unlocked iPhone 5 and wifi/network is "okay".

Using an Airport Extreme, I definitely get BETTER speeds using the 2.4GHz than the 5GHz signal. and the moment I leave my apartment door, the signal just disappears completely.. and my phone can't find the wifi connection at all.. from less than 5 feet away.

When I get out of the building, and onto the street, with a clear view of the sky.. 3G pops up and LTE soon after, but .. it wont resolve requests on the web-browser, or any app that uses online connectivity, the solution for me is to turn off my phone and restart it, wait for it to connect to the LTE network and it's all good again.

I have a very similar issue. WIFI cuts out after a minute. 4g and LTE speeds are anywhere from .5 mb to 30 mb. I've gone to the apple store for troubleshooting. they erased and started from scratch -- nothing. they replaced my phone, same problem. I'm hoping that its truly a software thing to be fixed in the ios 6 update. i can't keep taking time off work to go to the apple store and troubleshoot this. i just want it to work better than my ORIGINAL iphone 4. at this point, my original iphone 4 worked better than this does.

I'd like to think it's just a software issue, but my iPhone 4S on iOS 6 is just laughing at the 'faster wifi speeds' my iPhone 5 is supposed to be getting, my new iPad however is also getting crappy wifi connection similar to the iPhone 5.. so it could be a combination of both, but still.. ultimately can be fixed by software.

If this was the only issue on my 5, it would have been fine.. but on top of the out-of-box aesthetic damage, random flickering on my keyboard and a dead pixel.. this has got to be the worst 'new' iPhone experience i've ever had.

Log onto your network, click the rt arrow on the same line as the name of your network, scroll down to Renew Lease.

If you have changed the settings on you router, make sure you power it down and restart it.

Hope this helps

Hi Cat,

Thanks. This has not worked for me at all. Tried this on two different Airport Extreme routers, on four different bands and two separate Internet Service Providers.. even tried at a starbucks once (I got 0.3Mbps).

ah cheers for that,iknew id seen it at some time,think i am one of the lucky ones my iphone 5 seems to be working fine,got mine on 21st nice phone but really think we should of all waited for the s or 6 to come out as theres not much difference between 4s and 5 cheers for your help

All of these fixes by us users are only temporary work arounds until Apple figures out what is broken and how best to fix it. Swapping phones with other broke phones is rediculous crisis management. They should be screening their inventory for faulty phones. I have never seen such a cluster @#&% in my life. Apple has evidently lost all form and function quality control.

I am trying to decide to take my unit back to verizon before my 14 days are up and just wait for the dust to settle or keep it and hold on to the dream.. It is scary when the top dogs say publicly it is NORMAL to expect scratches as wear and tear right out of the box.

I feel "lucky" that my phone seems to only have the "sometimes sluggish" wifi issue but I feel threatened to keep "Cellular Data" turned to "OFF" for fear of data overages when that wifi lockout happens.... This is not right.. What is Tim Cook thinking? I once had a boss who thought like this, better to ship on time THEN sort out the brokens rather than fix the things BEFORE sending them out. Its all about the stock price.

I really expected an update to 6.01 to be announced by now. And then Apple could say Issues number one will be fixed by this update. Issue 2 has been recalled. Something along this line..

Anyway, we the die hards will continue searching for clues and getting the lucky straws even if it only lasts a half an hour at a time...

I also want to note that at least one network I am having issues with has a WEP key. So, in my case, it is not limited to WPA2 networks.

Still unsure on whether it's software or hardware. I also don't want to go in for an exchange and find out that they don't have any replacements for my particular phone.

The issue with this problem is that Apple has not responded officially on this, and so we're left to figure out what to do.. and a simple replacement wouldn't guarantee it being flawless. You could contact support, arrange a replacement and what now if your replacement has the same issue? What if you had one of the flawless out-of-box (aesthetically) phones, and the replacements has those nicks/chipping on the chamfered edges?

A quick look into history will reveal that APPLE NEVER officially responds to these types of issues. Only "antenna-gate", which affected EVERY iPhone, drew a public response from them.

Expect a 6.01 firmware update sometime in October, which they will absolutely NOT rush to release. Release notes will say "Fixes various issues and bugs" and nothing more.

yappledapple wrote:

The issue with this problem is that Apple has not responded officially on this, and so we're left to figure out what to do.. and a simple replacement wouldn't guarantee it being flawless. You could contact support, arrange a replacement and what now if your replacement has the same issue? What if you had one of the flawless out-of-box (aesthetically) phones, and the replacements has those nicks/chipping on the chamfered edges?

Yea. I thought about returning and going back to my HTC Rezound, but the iPhone 5 just offers me a better experience. Excluding WiFi and Maps.. And the not yet useful Passbook. But the battery life is MUCH better. Even when I used Juice Defender on my Rezound the battery life was awful. The iPhone is also the perfect size for my hand. Anything larger feels too big and is difficult to use with one hand.

So, I guess I'll just wait it out. Apple will get things right. Sooner than later, I hope.