iPhone 5 wifi issues

Oh calm down. I hope you're not calling me an Apple Fanboy because I'm a GDI and have multiple burn scars from Apple fanboy flames to prove I'm not one. Love my Samsung stuff.

If your phone doesn't get any signal whatsoever, sure I'd assume a problem with the radio, likely hardware. A bad solder is a possibility, but are saying you know this was your problem? If not, you are just as guilty of spreading "false information".

Hardware defects will exist in a certain percentage of any production run of any product. Apple has people whose livelihood depends on catching "out of the box" hardware defects. (Ones that develop over time, like the 1st gen iMac video cards, are harder to catch.) They have to keep them to a manageable percentage. I don't have stats, but judging from the growing press, I'm thinking this WiFi issue is much larger than your garden variety hardware QC issue.

Also, there are a large number of posters on this board who weren't as lucky as you. They went and got a replacement, and it did the exact same thing.

In my case, the phone will work fine after any number of the "fixes" for about 2 minutes, then lose internet connectivity while still showing 5 bars reception. It also runs if I completely disable any kind of encryption.

I'm very inclined to throw the darn thing thru the window of the nearest Apple Store (attached to a brick because it's too light to do much damage on its own), but the rational thing to do, if you suspect it's software, is keep it for awhile but mark your 30 day return date on your calendar.

We're all mad about this, but no need to turn on each other.

Hi everyone,

Just got the iPhone 5 yesterday and had the same issues. Am on the AT&T network, and while activating the phone in the store on Apple's wireless, everything was fine. Got home and went on the wireless to continue downloading all of my previous apps, and nothing.

**TO FIX THIS PROBLEM*** Here is the fix my wonderful boyfriend just figured out for a temporary fix until Apple wants to address this issue. You must MANUALLY set the DNS address to 8.8.8.8

To do this, go into Settings > Wi-Fi > Choose your network and press the arrow to get into the advanced settings of the network > Press DNS and enter 8.8.8.8 (or any other global DNS that you may prefer to use over Google)

Viola! It works so fast now! Enjoy 🙂

Kait, little grasshopper, you have just started on the journey...

Please check back in and tell us if the DNS fix is still working tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

If you are like many of us, pretty much anything you do to network settings, cache, resets etc. will give you short rush of blissful, insanely fast, connectivity. But then, it fades to black. No internet.

Please check back in. We are likely dealing with a constellation of problems rather than one single thing and every bit of info helps.

My signature: mark your final 30 day return date on the calendar.

Hahaha! Love this reply, Eric. 🙂 I will definitely keep you guys updated... I am positive that Apple needs to come with a permanent solution, but I don't feel like sitting on hold with them for hours to help me solve this issue!!! Instead, FREE DATA PLANS for all 😉 - What do you think? hahaha!

I love Kait's solution, free data plans for all!

@Peter, good point. Just the number of folks on here who got another defective unit scares me. I'll wait a week or so to be sure it's a later production run. You have 30 days to return, regardless of reason. If they put out a kludge I'm not happy with, it goes back and Samsung sells another Galaxy S3. (See how much of a fanboy I am? ;-)

It's an ordeal going to an Apple store in San Francisco. They are packed, and the "geniuses" are jaded and rude. This is ground zero for Apple. Been dealing with them since 92. The relationship is complicated.

Apologies.

I'm not turning on anyone and I'm not calling you a fanboy directly.

My issue was the same as yours.

I had wifi singal and wifi access - it was simply not working at an acceptable standard.

Applying some of the temporary fixes worked briefly.

However this was not satisfactory for me. I want a product that works properly on day one. I went to the store - showed them my units fluctuating signal against a unit with a consistantly strong signal.

My replacement unit works one hundred percent. I checked in store for the usual faults - dead pixels, wifi issues, camera etc and left satisfied.

I don't believe I would have the same outcome if i waited an unspecified amount of time with a product that was not working in a way that left me satisfied for a software update.

My point is that there are a number of people on here that are trying to persuade others to wait for a software update that will be nothing more than a placaebo.

There is a huge amount of press around this issue. As a company Apple has to try to exercise some form of Damage control. They can't have everyone who purchased a new phone marching into stores for replacements. This will severely hammer the amount of units they can then ship to retail and put a huge dent in their proffits.

Most large companies will hire people to exercise crowd control for their products on forums. I believe that a number of people you see on Apple forums are doing just this.

You can't fix bad manufacturing errors with software.

I have been in a situation with Apple before where i left my hardware too long and was unable to get the problem fixed. The situation was exactly the same as this one - many people advising others to wait for a magical software update that will fix absolutely nothing.

I don't want others to fall into the same traps.

You only have an small window in which you can get your unit replaced for a new one (this may vary from country to country depending on consumer laws)

How many of those days have already expired while you simply wait.

Right on oatherton. I think we see eye 2 eye. I'm just a little sensitive. It's a premium product at a premium price. WiFi is not rocket science. They need to make good and as long as we're in the return period we have the upper hand. Don't be afraid to use it.

It took some time, but I finally got mine to work, at least on my iPhone 4. This is the process I used with my xFinity router.

I entered my router address (10.0.0.1) into a browser on my computer to get to my router settings and went to Gateway>Connection>Wifi. After copying my passcode, I disabled security so it became an open network. I connected my iPhone to my network and then reapplied the WPA/WPA2 (using the same passcode so I don't have to reconnect on all my devices). I was prompted for the code on my phone and, voila!, internet. It's been about 45 minutes and it hasn't disconnected, so I have hope!

I know how to fix this issue

Go to setting/general/reset

Then hit reset network setting

After that go to

Settings/wifi

Dont select your network

Hit other then manually type in your ssid

After that select your encryption

Then push back enter your password and your should be good to go

there two kinds of problems:

1) you can access wifi but with a slow connection (and here maybe changing DNS settings can work)

2) unable to access to WPA2/AES networks, and here you can't do anything.

However I have the second problem, my iphone was produced in week 36 (september) in C3 fabric.

today there is update for verizon customers but what about international customers like us i just have one problem slow wifi speed and thats definetly a software bug coz i can connect to anynetwork anysecurity with good range come on apple listen us and give us a valid update

I know this may not be too helpful. I have been following this thread since my first iPhone 5 on the 21st where I noticed the poor wifi speeds and the climbing cellular data.

I was fast approaching my 14 day window with Verizon so i decided to swap out the handset as per Apple's support recommended but they were all out and no stock until end of October.

Long story short, I got a replacement handset from Apple, no questions asked.

I did speed test and thought Crapola! bad intermittent speeds. But I took a chance and have left Cellular data on but i turned off itunes and icloud from the cellular data settings menu. So far so good. I have updated applications and have backed up to the cloud and all seems good, no data climbing, speed seems just fine..

I did notice that when I went into a resturant that LTE downgraded to 3G. but it found the local Denny's wifi and joined.

So, I guess swapping hardware worked. The serial number was in the higher alphabet and is from the 38 week if that means anything

Those wondering return policy may be confusing carrier returns with Apple returns. I do believe Apple is 30 days, but Verizon is 14 days. Not certain about AT&T.

I highly recommend those with crappy handsets make a genious bar appointment after preliminary dealing with apple support telling them you restored every which way from Sunday. The only tidbit they told me is that the phone was seeking other wifi in the area causing the dropouts. They had me try forgetting the automatic FIND and enter the network name and password from "OTHER" which made no change.

Before switching I tried just about everything else in this thread except hacking my router. I am about to get an airlink to instal to extend my range for my daughter laptop and I pray that doesn't wreak havok with my phone.😕

Good luck everyone and I will keep monitoring the thread. 🙂

As soon as I got to work, Excalibur Hotel, I tried wifi and it worked just fine.

I have a new iPhone 4 with 6.0 update.

Doesn't work at brothers house and he has iPhone 4S with 6.0 up date.

My 3GS connected to his wifi so go figure!!

I made an app with apple to get a new phone but now not so sure.

Also this 6.0 has been a little buggy, couple different programs.

Tuesday whe I get my computer back from getting new hard drive I might do a restore and go back to a later software version and re hot sync.

Hi folks,

Just thought I'd update everyone on my situation regarding my wifi issues as ive been following / commenting on this post since receiving my iphone on release date.

After ringing apple last week i was booked in to see apple yesterday,

after explaining my issue, i was kindly given a replacement iphone 5 (funnily enough they did test my original phone with their wifi, which worked fine in store) but obviously i stated that this was no good to me at home or at work.

As soon as i got home i restored my settings and could tell immediately there was a difference (a full wifi signal was the first clue) i'm now at work, where again for the first time i have a constant full wifi signal (i did have to turn off my proxy settings) but it seems any wifi issues i had, have now disappeared. (fingers crossed)

So it seems (in my case) this was clearly a hardware issue, i would strongly recommend anyone experiencing the same issues i had to exchange their phones asap, and not be shunted away, or told to 'wait' for any updates

Good luck people !

I too went to the Genius Bar over the weekend. The 'Genius' could see in store it connecting and losing WiFi with their instore network. He thought it was 'from his experience likely to be hardware'. They swapped the phone and the iPhone 5 I have now works perfectly. Wifi and Bluetooth all good at last.

If you are having problems, I'd certainly recommend exchanging your phone.

Only disappointment was they wouldn't confirm it was a new phone that they were swapping me too and you are made to sign a disclaimer. In the UK I think this is borderline illegal. If the phone is faulty and you are within 28 days then you have a right to a new replacement.