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iPhone 5 wifi woes

Got my white 32Gb iPhone today, but am having severe problems with WiFi. I have an airport extreme, and the iPhone detects both bands, and after a few attempts accepts the password required to connect. However, I get no internet connection, and the iPhone continuously drops back to indicating "3G" before it'll fetch any data. I have reset network settings, and now done a restore- neither make any difference.


Hugely disappointed, seems like I have a faulty phone- or is anyone else having the same problem?

Posted on Sep 21, 2012 11:33 AM

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123 replies

Sep 23, 2012 6:37 AM in response to Thetechnogeek

MIght be a bad antenna. I had the same problem and tried the same remedies you listed. I went back to the Apple store and they gave me a new iPhone. Problem solved, now it stays on the network continously.


Initially the Apple care representative said it was due to security settings in my router but this seemed unlikely since the other 13 Apple wifi devices (4 of which are running IO6) in my household never have issues with my wifi. After reseting the iphone and playing with network settings it seems it was the phone that was at fault.


Also, FYI even though Apple stores are sold out of iPhone 5's they do have brand new replacement units for warranty issues.

Sep 23, 2012 11:36 AM in response to sinthang

Some advice to anyone in th UK who got their phone mailed to them- Apple will NOT exchange these in store for a boxed original- they will give you a "service" part but then you lose your 14 day return grace period. Particularly crappy that AppleCare don't give this info out, so if you need to exchange at store with an Apple.com delivered phone, your choices are (1) accept the service part and lose out on the further refund option or (2) return your mailed phone for a full refund (by mail) and buy a new phone from the store.


I did the latter- I'm fortunate that my cash flow (at the moment) can cover me until I get the refund from the phone returned by mail.


I understand this is different from the situation in the US, where a phone delivered by mail is essentially the same as one bought in store from an Apple accounts point of view.


Just thought I'd share in case anyone falls into the same situation as me.

Sep 24, 2012 11:44 AM in response to salexnder

Just an update. Went to the Apple store this morning first thing. They took the iphone 5, reset it completely to factory defaults, updated the Sprint service, and was able to connect via wifi to an encrypted network. That's the short answer.


NOW, at first they said, sorry, we don't have an encrypted network to test it on to which I replied, sure you do and so do I. I whipped out my MacBook Pro, set up an encrypted network, had him watch me put in the passphrase and then connected the ipad to it to show it was working. See? Upon seeing the iPhone fail, he then asked if he could wipe it out completely to which I said, what other choice do we have here? I've already tried all the other fixes except for that. It did seem to fix the wifi encryption issue. We'll see if it lasts.


According to the tech, I had apps crashing that were causing the issue (like settings & preferences apps!). He also said that whenever Sprint (not sure if all service providers) updates the service, you will have to reset the phone back to factory defaults. Hmm.


Hope this helps someone out there. If anything changes, I'll post it here.

Sep 24, 2012 6:29 PM in response to Thetechnogeek

I spoke to Apple this morning who told me they were aware of the WIFI situation. They told me to go to Settings>general>reset (right down the bottom)>reset network settings. Then wait 20 minutes and reconnect to the WIFI network again. At this stage it seems to have solved my problem, WIFI connections is strong and fast. Fingers crossed it stays this way. The technician said if that had not resolved the problem then he had further steps we could do.

Sep 24, 2012 7:51 PM in response to Thetechnogeek

I'm experiencing the same issue (wifi connects to secured network, and I have internet for only about 10-30 seconds). I gave my iPhone 4S to my wife (with upgraded iOS), and her phone works just fine.


I saw this thread and decided to exchange my iPhone 5 at the local Apple store today. Unlike others on this forum, this did not fix my problem. The new phone has exactly the same issue. Logically, this seems like a firmware/software issue, but it seems very odd that only a handful of us are experiencing it. Perhaps it's a router and phone combo that is resulting in the mess.


The Apple rep had only heard of the issue this morning, and there was no communication about it from corporate at the time that I exchanged my phone in the store (5pm EST). I'm not sure what is going on, but eating up my data plan instead of connecting to my home wifi has me feeling like an extremely unsatisified customer. It would be nice to hear that Apple is at least working on this issue, if they haven't said that elsewhere already.

Sep 24, 2012 8:09 PM in response to Thetechnogeek

OK, Spent almost 2 hours at the apple store today to get a replacement phone which they refused to do. I get home after all of their troubleshooting and am having the SAME problems. Now I have another appointment tomorrow. URRGHH this is frustrating. The gave me some BS about their in store restore being different than my 3 other restores both from backup and without backup that I did earlier in the day.

iPhone 5 wifi woes

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