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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

Nov 25, 2012 10:11 PM in response to Aduran86

I have an iphone 4 showing similar behavior. It only started when I installed iOS 6.0.1, but admittedly we have 2 others that also updated, and do not have the same issue. I suspect it is a hardware issue with mine, but don't know for sure just yet.


All 3 i-phones are 8 months old.


Connects just fine to the wifi, sometimes for 10-15 miuntes, sometimes for 1-2 minutes. As soon as I start passing data, it drops, and goes back to the 3G connection. I've redid all network settings, forgot the home network, etc etc etc, all to no avail. The phone does seem warmer than usual, but certainly not hot by any means. The other unusual thing is that it no longer joins my network automatically, If I manually slect it, it works and connectes, but no longer joins automatically - even after wiping all wifi connections and starting over.


Stumped here

Nov 28, 2012 1:11 AM in response to Nilotec

I am yet another person in what appears to be a long list of people experiencing the same issues. I have tried about every single fix on here, and nothing works. I am now on my second phone which is doing the same thing on ALL wireless networks, not just the home.


It took over 20 phone calls to Apple tech support with the first phone to make any sort of headway. One of those phone calls i was hung up on after i dropped the F bomb when the idiot asked me "im not sure what you want to come from this phone call" to which my response was, i want you to send me a phone that works. Anyway two more calls after that, and endless transfers to "supervisiors" in all those phone calls resorted into me having to go back to Verizion and order yet another phone.

Oh and i failed to mention the mulitple lies i was told thinking im an idiot. During the 10th phone call or so, i was told they would send out a new phone but would need to put a hold on my card for the cost of a new phone, which i understood. So i get the "new phone" its in a plain white box and clearly not new from the scuff on the bottom where you plug it in to be charged, not to mention its not in a new black box. Red flags are really going off by this point. So i was suppose to then put my current phone in the box, send it back, they would then turn around and issue a "new phone" and when i got it, i was suppose to send the replacement phone back. Following all of this? Makes no sense does it?


So this is when the frustration kicked on. On the very last phone call i finally got the guy to admit those phones that come in white boxes are refurbished phones essentially, or ones that did not pass inspection at the factory and were re-worked, and packaged up in those white boxes to be used as scratch replacements. So they wanted to replace a 5 day old phone with a "scratch replacement" and after i told him of the fiasco of what was going on, he said "you were lied to, your suppose to keep that phone, there is no other phone thats going to be sent to you". So needless to say i went back to Verizion etc etc, and got another phone.


So i have done all of the listed things in this forum, i have done the factory resets and restores. I have changed the DNS like the person in a recent post, nothing seems to work. Everything else works fine on any wifi network i join, home, work, etc, but not this phone.


-When the phone is plugged in to charge, it does not stay connected

-When its sitting on my desk, i watch the signal drop, go to LTE and some times reconnect, and sometimes not.

-When the phone is locked or goes to sleep on its on, after about 30 seconds or so, and you wake it, its not connected, and it usually immediately reconnects once the phone is unlocked, not before.

-While its sitting on the desk and drops signal, if it does not reconnect, i put the phone to sleep using the button on the top of the phone, then waking it again immediately and it reconnects.


once again, i have done everything ive seen on here, plus what the techs on the phone have suggested, nothing has worked on either phone.

Dec 5, 2012 1:14 PM in response to Nilotec

Not worked for us. We have 2 iphone4 and an ipad2 (new under warranty). And my mum has a new iPad 2. We all disconnect from wifi when idle and won't reconnect. We used to. And used to reconnect when returning he. But not anymore. We're on ios6.01

We've tried network resets. iCloud deletes and resets. Phone resets. Nothing works.

Dec 9, 2012 2:19 PM in response to simanna

Hmmm interesting. May have solved it. First indications are good, I'm still connected after leaving phone idle all evening. Yet to leave house though.

The solution I tried is from a thread 'ios6 won't remember home network. It said:


I had this issue too. Found an answer on an older iPhone thread when ios5.1 came out.


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3805039?start=0&tstart=0


I've found the solution.


Go in settings

->wifi

->disable wifi if you are connected to the router

->re-enable wifi

->tap on "other"

->enter the router name (exactly the same!) and the password.

->DONE!


This procedure has fixed the issue for me. Now the password is saved and I don't have to type it everytime i want to reconnect to my router. Also the button "forget this network" is now there.

Dec 12, 2012 8:04 PM in response to maureen253

I had the same issue after updating to IOS 6.0.1 and tried every trick listed here, as well as on other threads, and nothing worked. Finally took it into the local retailer, and they backed up my data, did a reset, then moved my data back. After losing my contacts, I also found that the reset did not fix this.


After rebuilding all my apps and contacts, I gave itunes a try. Saved a backup there, then did a reset via itunes, and voila - my wifi worked again. Tested for two days and had no issues. Finnaly got comfortable enough to let itunes recover from the backup file, and as soon as I did the wifi started dropping its connection again just like before.


I have now reset the phone again, and manually rebuilt all my contacts and apps, and now have a working backup via the icloud.


Only problem is this, all my images and videos that were part of the itunes backup are still there, but doing a backup via itunes is going to bring my wifi issue back.


Does anyone know of a way to do a selective restore via itunes, where I can select images an videos only? If there is an option there, I sure can't find it. Any suggestons would be appreciated.

Dec 12, 2012 9:48 PM in response to Vgolfmaster

I fixed my Wifi issues to a large degree on the Iphone 5. I like my Iphones, but everyone else around me seems to have Samsung Galaxy phones, and none seem to be complaining.


I am having a few other issues with my Iphone 5, and seriously thinking of moving brands, I would hate to loose some of the apps, but I need a good working smart phone. Iphone 4 was fine, Iphone 5 is turning into a nightmare.

Dec 13, 2012 4:23 AM in response to Nilotec

I think its safe to say, these phones and mainly IOS 6.0.1 update is badly flawed and defective. I posted earlier stating i did all the fixes mentioned on here and all the ones Apple asked me to do, and i went through the ordeal of getting a second phone. There is nothing that is more frustrating than to see my phone sitting on my desk, connected to wifi, drop and got to LTE and not reconnect. Then to either go in a manually reconnect it, or put it to sleep and wake it back up, unlock it, then watch it reconnect.



Lets be honest, this is really seriously ridiculous. This is my first smart phone, and my first iphone, and i must say if this is common, then im glad i put it off this long before i made the switch. i cant help but feel that the carriers love this because it makes you use your data if you cant connect to wifi properly. Apple should be forced to do a major recall, and replace the existing product with a properly functioning device.


The only reason i got the iphone was because i have a macbook and imac, i wanted the Samsung but its a bit big and does not intergrate with mac as well.


Oh well, we are screwed.


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iphone 5 wont stay connected to wifi

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