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iphone 5 wont stay connected to wifi

My iPhone 5 keeps dropping wifi connection after about 30 seconds of being connected. It's not my router or internet because we bought 2 phones and the other phone works and stays connected just fine. It's only my phone. It tries to connect to a website, youtube, email, whatever and then just times out. If I attempt to renew the lease it renews with some strange IP address that isn't tied to my router and leaves the Router and DNS fields blank. I have reformatted, reset network settings, reinstalled the OS, forgotten the access point and re-entered, changed the wifi channel for troubleshooting steps so far. Any further ideas other than a bad antenna?

iPhone, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 21, 2012 2:53 PM

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Posted on Sep 21, 2012 10:38 PM

Very similar and very frustrating problem. My regular wifi connections (which are up to date and very fast) will onl work if I'm literally no more than 5 feet away from the router. If I'm farther than that it disconnects and won't even find it! My iPhone 4S still works and connects perfectly from anywhere in the house.

229 replies

Oct 1, 2012 6:35 AM in response to Nilotec

I too was having this same problem. The WIFI connection would drop about 30 seconds after the screen locked.


As crazy as this sounds, I tried a variation on Frockstar's method he listed earlier in this thread (page 2?) and it actually worked!


Turn on "ask to join networks."

Lock screen.

Wait 30 seconds or so.

Unlock screen - should still be on WIFI. If so, proceed.

Turn off phone.

Turn back on.

Go to settings and turn off "ask to join networks."

Lock screen.

Wait 30 seconds or so.

Unlock screen - should still be on WIFI.

Turn off phone.

Turn phone back on.


Not sure what made that work but it did for me.

Oct 1, 2012 10:50 AM in response to TJ Asher

I went to the Apple store and I could not replicate the issue with their WIFI.


The Geniuses suggested a couple workarounds. One was to make sure my WIFI network name was unique since I left it as default. This would make sure the iPhone was finding the correct network.


The other was to see if there was a firmware update for the WIFI router.


I did both of those things.


After updating the router firmware my WIFI stays connected.


Bottom line - you may need a router update.

Oct 1, 2012 4:13 PM in response to Nilotec

My iPhone 5 is doing the same thing. My new 5 will not stay connected to WIFI. Have had no problems with my old 4 even after updating to IOS6. Mine is even picking up a completely different iTunes account even after I input the correct one and connected it to my ITunes account on my Mac. Don't know what happened with Apple but in my opinion this new phone is junk.

Oct 3, 2012 1:38 PM in response to Nilotec

Another relatively easy solution to try for those users who are still having problems...


I just received and activated my iPhone 5 yesterday only to find that it would not connect to my time capsule router at home. Two Mac laptops, two iphone 4's, and two iPad 3's (all on iOS 6) had no problems connecting to this router which has WPA2 and Mac Address Filtering enabled and SSID broadcasting disabled.


This morning I went into work and the iPhone could recognize my work's wifi network. I went into the local Apple Store to talk to a Genius and he was able to get the iphone talking to the Apple Store wifi (both secured and open networks). [NOTE: I even tried the iphone 30 feet away from the store in the parking lot and was able to connect.]


The Genius recommended I bring my time capsule in so that they could troubleshoot the wireless connection between both devices. I went home, and, being the problem-solving type, I systematically disabled the security settings on my time capsule (one-by one) and found out that the Mac Address Filtering was preventing me from connecting to my time capsule. I disbled this security setting and my iphone 5 has been stably connecting to the time capsule with no degradation of speed all afternoon.


Bottom line: My router has WPA2 enabled and does not broadcast the SSID. The Mac Address Filtering is DISABLED. [NOTE: For anyone that asks, my iphone has "ask to join networks" disabled.] With these settings my iPhone connects to wifi without issue...

Oct 3, 2012 1:47 PM in response to funkadelic415

what has worked for me was to delete the wifi access point and then readd it (in my case it was my work wifi which uses WPA2 Enterprise).


Once i deleted the record, and added it back, I no longer experienced unexplained dropped WiFi (both on my iPhone 5/Verizon and my iPhone 4/AT&T).


Those that are experiencing unexplained dropped wifi, try deleting and readding your wifi access point first before looking at other potential causes (eg. your router -- in my case i haven't touched the routers at all).

Oct 9, 2012 11:51 PM in response to TJ Asher

iPhone will dropped wifi connection while in sleep mode when it's not plugged in to save battery. This is normal. If you want you wifi to be on at all time even while in sleep mode you need to plug it in. What's not normal is when you are using your iphone and wifi can't connect to your wifi network, which is what I'm experiencing. I hope this is just a bug in iOS 6 cause I would hate to have to return my phone back Apple Store.

Oct 11, 2012 4:20 AM in response to Nilotec

I got the new Iphone 5 after having my Iphone 3 and 4 work with my wifi without issue.


Everytime I would join it would be fine if the phone was on, once the phone was off, upon turning it on it, was off the network, with LTE there instead.


I came across this thread looking for a solution, what worked for me after trying all the toggling, etc that people mentioned, was the following that someone mentioned


In setting, Wi-Fi, select "other", type in the wifi router name (mine was the one the phone would identify anyway) So I typed it in again, Selected the encryption method, and put in password.


Ask to join network I put on in any case.


And now when I turn my phone on, LTE might be there for a half a second, then it will connect to my wifi.


It seems that manaually selecting and adding your wifi details does the trick, over selecting it from the list that is scans.


I can tell you I was tired of having to type in my long password everything I wanted to connect to my home wifi.


To me it's not a hardware issue, it some type of software issue.


I agree some phones might have wifi technical issues and might be faulty but I think in most cases just select other in your wifi selection, and adding it, will then save your details and always connect, (well, knock on wood, it has for me so far.)


Even after shutting down the phone and starting it, it connects to my wifi right away.

iphone 5 wont stay connected to wifi

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