iphone 5 wont stay connected to wifi

I actually have 2 routers here, a business and personal one (I work from home). Have the same problem on both and they're both less than 6 months old. So, no, I won't be buying new ones!

If they are the same model (or using the same firmware) then both will have the same problem.

Does your Iphone work on other WiFi networks?

You do realize that there are tens of millions of iPhone 5 users (myself included) that aren't having any WiFi problems?

I agree with JimHdk.

If you do not have a powerful enough router you chances are very good that you will have connection problems.

In my case the Netgear N600 that was less than a year old was not able to do the job.

I replaced the N600 with a Netgear R6300 and I haven't had a problem since.

I have 4 Iphone 5's and non of them would connect with the N600.

They've all connected and have not lost connection with the new router.

I may be wrong but Apple tech support may not be able to tell you to get a more powerful router as it would seem like a cop out and they would be hammered with negative feedback if they did.

Wookeywarn and JimHdk,

I think the problem is real and effects many users although clearly not all.

Recently purchased two iphone 5s from Verizon US based carrier on CDMA system. Phone is great in all respects except this one issue.

I have no problem connecting to wifi and retaining wifi networks.

Problem is this, when connect to wifi it also uses cellular data. Sometime trivial amounts--hit for 90k, 150k etc. Sometimes moderate amount 700k, 1.5meg, and sometimes fairly heavy amounts 9 meg, 12 meg. This happens both at home and at work on wifi systems.

I am losing hope that there is any solution other than turning off cellular, that works, but should not have to do it.

We may be able to live with these amounts under our 4 gig data plan but it bugs the heck out me. I am surprised I do not see more discussion on this? I am I just obsessive and most people live with it and do not sweat it? I monitor data usage closely.

I have posted this before on this thread but I will do it again.

In our household, we had in iPhone 4S, and iPhone 4, and an iPad 2. None of these items ever had any issues connecting to my Wi-Fi router. However, the moment that I upgraded the iPhone 4S to iOS 6, it no longer connected to my router. I thought I could hold out until my iPhone 5 arrived two weeks later. However, it did not connect to my router either. It does seem as if there are multiple different issues being discussed in this thread. Most of the resolutions that people are very confident and forceful with, only fixes one of the two issues. My specific issue is that I can see the wireless network, I can select it, and I can enter the network password, but the ios 6 devices return an exception when authenticating. I was confident that Apple would fix this issue with their first iOS 6 update. However, it still did not fix the issue. In an effort to get my phones to work at home, I went out and bought a new router. Now, all of our phones, our iPad, and a new iPad all connected correctly to my new router.

At first glance, you would think that the router was the issue since it started working with a new one. However, this is not the case. I work in IT, software development specifically, and I can tell you that through simple problem-solving you can determine that this is not an issue with the router. It is an issue introduced in iOS 6. We now have four iPhones and two iPads. I still have both routers connected to my network. Only the two devices that are running iOS 6 cannot connect to the old router. The other four connect to the old router perfectly fine. All six devices connect to the new router correctly. I am frustrated by the fact that due to a continued oversight by Apple qa and development (remember I work in development), that I had to go and buy a new router. It was a waste of money and should not have been necessary. I have owned every single version of the iPhone since the original phone, but the continued frustration since the beginning of October, has caused me to now consider moving to android for my next phone.

See this thread, which is now 215 pages long, and growing daily. This is not a router issue, nor should anyone be asked to resolve it by buying a new router. The fact that connections with some routers but not others are affected does not prove anything except that Apple has a very complicated problem on their hands. For me, the only solution was a new phone, which was offered on my second trip to the Apple store. I am not upgrading to 6.0.2, even though that may not be the cause of the problem, simply because my phone is performing beautifully as is.

JimHdk - I've seen your posts on other threads dealing with this and related issues. It is true that the vast majority of users do not have wifi problems, yet those who do are numerous and the problems are serious. Even it if turns out that certain routers are part of the issues, which may prove to be so, Apple has a business imperative to make their phones as universally usable as possible. When I exchanged my iPhone 5, the "genius" wanted my router details, including it's config, saying that is the kind of data the Apple engineers need.

yes, I do realise there are lots of users without problems. Just because there's only a handful of people commenting on a problem does not mean it's only 5 of us affected. Over 60,000 people have read this thread and it cant be THAT interesting for people just to read cos they have nothing to do! I never had any antenae problems with my iphone4 but it doesnt mean many others weren't. I have 2 ipads, 2 ipods and an iphone 4 in the house so simply am comparing my experience with them.

I will take my phone to my friends house tomorrow, and perhaps the pub 😉, as i cant remember if it's happening with all but i will say that my router is pretty clever to know my lock screen has come on and disconnect my wifi but also to know if i have turned off my mobile data so not to do it. I have to say i'm pretty impressed with that.

My 2nd line support guy from Apple has called me again and stated that all their products are designed to drop wifi after 10 mins - REALLY?! I took him round my house (virtually of course) whilst i woke up the other devices which have been asleep all day whilst the kids have been at school and without exception they are all still connected to wifi.

The point of buying a wifi device (or my reason, certainly) is that i dont want it to use mobile data when i'm able to use wifi - in my home in particular (where my mobile signal is not great) but also in the hotspots that i would use. Its not practical to own a device that will only work on super-powerful routers - they're supposed to work practically everywhere arent they?!

I want to add, finally, that i'm not having a whinge here - i have loads of Apple products that i love but i expect them all to work seamlessly. If i wanted a product designed to drop wifi when its been asleep for 10 mins then i would have spent my hard earned cash on something else.

I will update tomorrow after i have tested at several locations and/or my Apple guy calls back.

my 4s will stay connected when plugged into my computer but dropd connection when unplugged and varies between requiring activly searching for network or worst case greys out the wifi toggle and requires FULL restore and even had to set the iphone into recovery mode tonight! going to genius this weekend.

connection to my pc did not ensure wifi continuity! I reset and erased ALL data and set up as NEW iphone no legacy apps or anything other than the ios to enable the devise to work... guess what? Yup still drops wifi,

took into work and our IT manager tried the erase network settings as we douldnt see the router at work either. after the network reset the wifi button is now greyed out permanantly I will not reset and restore the iphone4s till I have travelled 50mile to see the genius bar, I'll be back.

Not sure if this fixed the problem but it seems to have so far on my iPhone 5. When you are selecting a network for wifi do not select the one it shows even if you see yours. Instead select other and type in the name of your router manually then set up the password. So far it has worked. hope this helps.

we have a couple of iphone4 and 2 ipads, different households and different ages, ALL with this issue. We did the "setup wifi as other" i.e. manually and for the past 2 months it has solved ALL our problems!

if I could get the wifi button to remain ungreyed it may, but the **** thing has greyed out again, I did try the "other" option but it didnt work before! thanks for posting!

Thanks this sorted the problem simple fix but why does the Iphone 5 have this problem - needs sorting very frustrating having paid a premium for the phone!

this is my first time posting on here so apologies if I'm asking questions that have already been answered in the past.

ive had an iphone 5 for a month now, with verizon. everything was working fine at first. after entering the password my phone was able to connect and stay connected to wifi - until i shut it off. I was getting bad reception where i was at the time and switched off the wifi to see if LTE was any better. but ever since then, after turning wifi mode back on, my iphone will not connect to ANY wifi network, including public ones, so I know the problem is not with my home router. It will show me a list of networks that it detects, but won't connect, just sits there with the little progress wheel turning indefinitely. I can't believe that it's the antenna because it worked before and the LTE reception is perfect.

Before I take it to the Apple store and trade it in, is there anything I can try to get it working again?

edit: I should also mention that I have OS 6.0.2 and I already tried the "other" trick and it didn't work.

I have an IPhone 3GS,4, 4s and 5, an IPad 1, 2 and 3 and have not had any problems with any of the devices until the 5 was delivered at Christmas. This has to be the worst piece of excrement I have ever had in my hands and I empty the cat litter tray several times a day. I make a call and it connects so the receiver can here me but I don't even get a dialling tone so I have to disconnect and redial, I answer a call and there is a 5 second delay between me saying hello and getting a response i have to then say hello again and i appear harsh due to having to repeat myself, and the wifi no longer connects to my home router, my squash club router or a public access router like Starbucks. This piece of dog waste is utter crap but I'm stuck with it thanks to 18 month contract useless!