iPhone 5 wifi issues

************ FIXED FIXED FIXED ***********

Or at least for me! I followed your steps CleoTony and the switching to Automatic to a Fixed channel did wonders! Streams that were dropping out on my iPhone 5 suddenly continued to stay streaming (with only the occassional pause, which I had when I had my iPhone 3G). My back bedroom is furthest away from the Airport and I had major troubles ever since I got my iPhone 5. This helped tremendously!

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4322714?answerId=22332519022#22332519022

************ FIXED FIXED FIXED ***********

The only thing I didn't understand is the part of step 7 that shows other WiFi networks (neighbors). It did not show anyone else's but mine. But then again, I am running 10.6.8, and maybe it shows only with Lion. There WERE other networks as they showed-up in my menu bar WiFi drop-down menu, but not in the "About This Mac" screen.

Same problems with iPhone 5 and Airport Extreme AC. iPhone 5 wifi disconnects from my home Airport Extreme network on the main and guest channels. I have no iPhone connection problems at work. The other devices in my house run constantly without issue.

Similar thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5034739

Worth trying a few things at home:

1) Select a different channel, but don't choose anything other than 1,6, and 11 (choose anything for the 5Ghz).

2) Cloick on your Wifi in settings of yer iPhone and add a DNS. 8.8.8.8 is a good start.

3) Change HTTP Proxy to Auto, and type in the URL field: http://www.apple.com/library/test/success.html

I've been having similar issues with a 32gb 5 that was purchased in Apr this year (direct from Apple).

I started having difficulty in accessing wifi about 3-4 weeks ago. I initially thought I’d changed some settings that had messed things up, then I came across this and numerous other threads with people with similar issues.

I tried everything as suggested in the threads - set up a guest network with no encryption, channel switching, reset network settings hard reset, restore from cloud, from pc, tried on various routers, home, work, elsewhere and simply could not get to the root of this problem.

One thing I did find in comparative testing, was that iPad mini, iPhone 4 and Macbook pro all work fine while the iPhone 5 has to be within a few metres of the router/access point to be able to use wifi.
Any further than that and the phone struggles to connect to the access point.

Using a speed tester while connected at close range I found that speeds drop off significantly (from 30mb download to 1-2mb) by just moving away from the access point by a few feet.

The post by ozsmacd https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4322714?start=4320&tstart=0

that mentions TCP retransmissions – could carry some weight in terms of slowing things down, but that wouldn’t explain the poor signal/inability to connect. Would it?

I don’t think my problems coincided with an IOS release - I’ve been on 6.1.4 for some time now and hadn’t noticed any issues until fairly recently. I have noticed battery performance has been very poor since these issues occured, I’ve had to bring my charger to work with me, otherwise it doesn’t last the day (and did previously).
’ve put this down to the phone working harder to get a wifi signal – but cannot be certain of this.

In the end I've contacted apple support and they've agreed to express replace, which I assume means a refurb device will be sent and I’ve to send back the defective one.

My wifi chip is an apple one according to the address in settings, but again not sure if that has any bearing on matters. Once the replacement arrives I’ll repost and let you know the outcome.

I got my iphone 5s tonight, got it home, couldn't connect to my home wifi at all. Meanwhile, my wife with her brand new iphone 5s connected right away. After nearly 2 hours of frustration, I turned it on airplane mode and amazingly, it took my wifi password and now is connected. Haven't had a problem since.

I tried every concievable/suggested option to no avail until I came across:

This worked for me: http://helpios7.com/fi

It works!

I was having the same issue and found this post and followed the instructions. Problem fixed and my phone now connects to my home Wifi instead of using my carriers data package. This only took a few minutes to do, so I recomend giving it a try.

BioTonic

Re: iPhone 5 wifi issues

Aug 20, 2013 8:57 AM ( in response to tobifs)

For those of you who have this problem, follow these steps.

1. Change your router settings from WPA2 - AES to WPA - TKIP. This will be the optimal setting for this issue.

For those of you who dont know how to do this, google it. If you are using a linksys or cisco router, you can type 192.168.1.1 in your web browser to acess the settings. The user name and password should be admin and admin. Navigate to wireless settings and change security type to WPA - TKIP.

2. On your iPhone go into Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network > Confirm.

3. For additional measures Update to Latest Firmware on Router and iPhone.

4. Enjoy.

General Information on the Issue:

The issue is caused by the iPhone 5 not playing well with the wireless security incription WPA2 - AES

No WiFi Security - No Loss

WEP - No Loss

WPA-TKIP - No Loss

WPA2-AES - 70% Loss.

Sorry for the thread necromancy, but I'm a little confused.

I want to disable WMM on my router (E2500) so I can boost my speed, but as this thread indicates, it kills iOS wifi. After glancing through the responses, it seems that some people have been able to get wifi working DESPITE WMM being disabled. Anyone know how they did that?

See this post from apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3727

<confused>

My iPhone 4S kept dropping out. Going back and forth.

I found the following setting in my router

Mode

Select the wireless mode you want to use. The options are:

• Up to 54 Mbps. Legacy Mode, with a maximum speed of up to 54 Mbps for b/g networks.
• Up to 145 Mbps. Neighbor-Friendly Mode, with a speed of up to 145 Mbps in the presence of neighboring wireless networks.
• Up to 300 Mbps. Performance Mode, with a maximum Wireless-N speed of up to 300 Mbps.

The default is Up to 145 Mbps, which allows all 11b and 11g and 11n wireless stations.

Changed it to default, and so far it connects and stays connected ?

I just wanted to give everyone an update on my experience. I went to the Apple store and got a replacement phone. Same issue did not fix, the interesting thing is when I first connect it worked the first download it did work well, after that they all took a crap makes me wonder if the wifi chip is overheating? I have a clean, Apple Store Wiped and Reset Phone, I have not restored my setting or anything from backup, just clean phone with only speedtest app.

Here are my results with various tests on my clean fresh phone, I have done multiple tests of each of these items, my ipad2 has NO ISSUES to confirm, I can also confirm the I have tried most of these tests with Netgear WNDR3700 and ASUS RT-56U:

• Proxy Setting to Auto, or Off - No Change
• Turn Off Cellular / LTE - No Change
• Set router to Unprotected, big Improvement, I am able to get download speeds between 12-20mbps and upload speeds up to 5mbps, not as fast as iPad but improvement... Updated note: After letting this sit for a while, my speeds have now diminished and have been reduced to mush.
  iPad shows no change, still fast 30mbps, 5mbps up.
• Set router to WPA2 Personal with AES - Download 2-5mbps upload is 0.20 mbps.
  iPad shows no change, still fast 30mbps, 5mbps up.
• Set router to WPA2 Personal Auto with AES + TKIP - This seems to have shown a noticable improvement, but no where close the the iPad or consistent. About 9mbps down and I get 3-5mbps up. Note: after letting this sit for a bit and stay connected a trying a few moments later, this has now dropped down to less then 1mbps.
  Again, iPad shows no change.

Something else interesting items of note: iPad spits out the same results almost everytime even if its only showing 2 bars. The iPhone 5 on the other hand the less bars I have, the even worse it gets, at 2 bars, I can almost never go over 2mbps download in the speed test, and the upload speed pretty much doesn't go above 0.20.

One other thing I noticed is when I have these poor wifi downloads, my phone just ***** life out of the battery, so fast the computer charger can't keep up.

I got a direct line to a tech at apple, to try and figure this out. Will keep you updated.

Tossing my information into the ring. Surfing over WiFi, while a bit slow, is still doable. My WiFi problem comes in where the signal strength icon reports one bar, even with the iPhone sitting atop the access point. Also, any intensive data stream (like YouTube or Podcasts) loads the first ten seconds or so instantly, then drops to dial-up speeds. Letting the iPhone buffer a 2m YouTube video took over an hour over WiFi over a 15/5 FiOS connection with no other net activity registering in the logs (in other words, the iPhone was the sole device requesting or sending data over the network, LAN and WAN).

Things I've confirmed:

• It's an iPhone 5 issue. This problem cannot be consistently duplicated on the new iPad or iPhone 4 w/ iOS6. No reports of WiFi issues from my Mom's iPad 2 w/ iOS6 or any of their iPhone 4's with iOS 5 or iOS 6.
• It's not an iOS issue (per se). Devices using iOS 6 (like my Verizon LTE iPad) have no reproducable difficulties.
• It's not the access point. Multiple access points were tested, from makers including NetGear, Cisco Enterprise, Cisco LinkSys, and a FiOS Router from Verizon (mfg. unknown).
• It's not the net connection. ISPs tested included AT&T DSL, Comcast Cable, & Verizon FiOS.
• It's not the content. Tossing said YouTube video onto the AppleTV via Airplay resulted in a near-instantaneous buffer of the entire video. Tested again with clips from TeamCoCo, with identical results (dial-up speeds over Wi-Fi, instant playback on the AppleTV via Ethernet).
• It's not the WiFi itself. YouTube videos buffered over the iPad's WiFi just fine, and data intensive applications on the Vita and 3DS had no difficulties.

It sounds like a strange misconfiguration on the WiFi antenna in the iPhone 5, at least from my perspective, something easily fixed with an iOS patch or firmware update. I'm eagerly waiting for it.

So, my second iPhone seems to have pulled itself back to a usable state. I am at work today and have had no speed issues using a LEAP network.

Yesterday and the day before speed were fine.

Some recent observations

1. Original iPhone 5 MAC was 54: and had download speed issues
2. Original iPhone 5 had no speed issues when connecting to Open network at Apple Store
3. My new iPhone 5 MAC 68:96, 64 gig black, Rogers
4. Never had an issue with this or the original phone dropping wifi connections (always slow speed related)
5. Cleared cookies and cache on iPhone 5
6. Running Google or OPENDNS did not make any difference
7. Ping is strong and 0% packet loss internal and external
8. I run 2 networks at home (WPA, broadcast on via Apple Extreme and OPEN, MAC filtered, broadcast off on Netgear running DD_WRT)
9. Currently been having similar speed with either of the above (~10 mbps download)
10. For some reason, YouTube videos tend to pause at around 20 seconds on an irrregular basis (home networks only)
11. Speedtest.net app is flaky and inaccurate. Crashing on me every so often.

I know this doesn't provide solutions for people but I do think this is software related.

D

This whole situation has been very frustrating. I noticed when I went to a nearby town that has LTE that it was REALLY fast. Faster than my broadband at home (on the iPhone). Since then, I've done some testing and troubleshooting and reading and testing and...you get the idea. So for me, here's the bottom line:

Home setup:

• Charter Cable Internet - consistently shows between 10-20Mbps on iMac, MacBook Pro, 1st Gen iPad, 3rd Gen iPad using testmy.net as a speed test.
• AirPort Extreme Dual-band router (5th Gen) - latest firmware available
• All iOS devices and Macs are updated to the most recent software available for them (iOS 5.1 for the 1st Gen iPad)
• Inconsistent results on my iPhone 5 on Wifi. testmy.net usually shows under 1Mbps - around the 400-500K range. Using the Speedtest App - it shows 70Mbps so it's obviously not reliable.

Troubleshooting steps (based on what I've read on the forums - here, Macrumors, etc.)

• Disable all Wifi security - no change
• Try multiple routers (I have 4 different with 3 different firmwares between them) - no change
• Different DNS settings (tried Google's free DNS servers) - no change
• Disabled LTE & Cellular data period - no change
• Reset all settings and erased all data on phone - no change
• Checked with friend using iPhone 5 w/iOS 6.0.1 using testmy.net - on a 10Mbps DSL - on his phone he gets between 5-7Mbps consistently.

At this point, I decided to call Apple Support and here was my experience:

I spoke with a support specialist who, when I told him I was having slow WiFi issues on my iPhone 5, informed me "We've been instructed to send all iPhone 5 WiFi issues directly to our senior representatives (or specialists - basically tier 2 support). I spoke with the new rep and he asked if I had tried restoring my phone by connecting it to iTunes and completely reinstalling iOS from scratch. I had not. He was going to walk me through it but I didn't have my cable at the time so he gave me his direct number and extension and said "if the restore doesn't work then we're going to talk about replacement options." I restored the phone and same issues - even without restoring my backup (which he told me not to do in case some settings were to blame). I tried calling the rep back directly, left a voicemail, didn't hear back so I decided - with my case number - to call another rep.

On this call, the first tier guy acted like he knew nothing about this as any kind of "known issue" (he didn't immediately escalate my call nor when I told him that's what happened last time did he escalate my call). Instead, he decided to try troubleshooting a few things - I told him I'd tried everything and I was informed I'd be getting a replacement. Then he said, "well, what we'll have to do is send you a temporary phone, you'll send back yours, we'll repair it, send it back, then you send in the temp phone." I was like, "what? I was under the impression it would be a simple swap." He replied, "Well, you can talk to a senior level tech and they might have a process of which I'm not aware." So now I'm talking to a DIFFERENT senior tech who sees the notes but also acts as if this is something he's never heard of before. I mentioned how LTE was much faster than my WiFi to which he responded "well, that's actually the case as of now." To which I said, "then why is my WiFi on my other devices working like it should?" I insist that I'm not trying to get a new phone for no reason - I just want my WiFi to work like it should! Long story short - he finally decides everything has been done (he didn't try anything different) and sends me a replacement phone.

I received the phone today which was preloaded with iOS 6.0 and I immediately bypassed any setup I could to just use a "barebones" setup. I connected it to WiFi - same problem. I upgraded to iOS 6.0.1 through iTunes. Same problem.

Right now I'm in the process of re-storing from backup. The initial phase is done and it's now downloading apps at a snails pace. I realize I have gigs of apps - (16GB iPhone 5 here, probably 5-7GB of apps) - but each individual app is taking much longer than I know it should. Even the smaller apps are downloading rather slow. Not only that but when attempting to download a 4-6MB podcast, it takes several minutes.

My wife's iPhone 4S also seems to be having the same issue running iOS 6.0.1 - I haven't tried restoring it yet.

So many people have mentioned so many random fixes that seem to randomly and inconsistently fix the problem. What I can't figure is - if it's a hardware issue, then why is my wife's 4S having the same problem? If it's software, why ISN'T my friend with a 5 having the problem? If it's a router issue - why are my computers and iPads working fine but the iPhones are not? It would seem like a software issue at this point with iOS but most people who are running the latest beta of iOS 6.1 seem to be reporting the issue still exists there. This is very frustrating to say the least.

For what it's worth, I've tried a few of the other suggestions to no avail.

• No difference in performance on 2.4GHz range or 5GHz range
• The "reset network settings" then "toggle wifi off for 10-15 seconds" did nothing either

At this point I think I'm just going to wait until 6.1 is released and hope that it fixes the problem. If not, I guess I'll be getting my 3rd iPhone.

It's rather (painfully) obvious that this is really going nowhere but I realized that with a plethora of speed test sites and apps, it was probably better to do a test that could be easier to compare.

First, my basic setup:

• Charter Cable Internet - 15Mbps Service
• Apple AirPort Extreme 5th Generation with latest firmware (7.6.1)
• Completely reset the router - using WPA2 Protection

I did a test downloading the same podcast file (~23MB file; 57:18 in length)

1. 21.5-inch, Mid 2011 iMac (2.7GHz Intel Core i5, 8GB, OS X 10.8.2) - took less than a minute (I'd say approximately 15-30 seconds.)
2. iPhone 5 - Verizon - 16GB, White (Wi-Fi Address starts with 04:F7:E4) - took approximately 7-8 minutes.

Keep in mind, this is my replacement phone to fix the problem. Part of me thinks maybe I should just wait for 6.1 to officially be released in case that is in fact the fix. Part of me says I'll keep asking for replacements until I get a working phone.

You know, the irony in all of this is that by releasing this update which seems like it's only partially resolved the problem, they've actually drawn more attention to the problem. Hopefully that's good for us in the long run.

My own personal experience since upgrading to iOS 6.0.2 has been inconsistent.

• My speed on Speedtest.net iOS App varies depending on which server I use.
• Testmy.net always gives me very slow results on my iPhone - always less than 1Mbps.
• The FCC's broadband app's speed test also varies depending on which server I use.
• Traffic Monitor iOS App consistently gives me slow results - always less than 1Mbps
• Downloading an album on my iPhone from iTunes - 10 songs, standard size - several MB per song. Some download in seconds; some crawl but when paused and resumed, download quickly, sometimes after a couple of pauses.
• Downloading Apps - same as iTunes, some download very quickly but not always; inconsistent

Overall: At least in my case it seems to have helped some but that's not saying much. I never had any issues connecting to Wi-Fi and my signal has always been fine. General browsing and other internet dependent functions seem somewhat better. Time will tell. I'm going to try doing a complete restore of iOS from iTunes later today.