iOS 7 wifi "unable to join the network"

Hi All I had the same issue of not being able to connect to the Wifi where I could once connect. I found out it was my 4G signal that was blocking the Wifi signal. The following may also work for 3G too but I cannot say as i don't have 3G

I fixed the issue this way:

1. Go into setting and "forget" the Wifi connection you want to connect to.

2. Reset all network settings and wait for phone to reboot.

3. Once phone has restarted, disable 4G via settings>mobile.

4. In Settings > wifi, choose and join the network you want. It should now connect (well at least it did for me). Check by loading up a page via safari.

5. Switch 4G back on.

Go to your router's admin page and set the wifi's channel country to the United States.

Apperently connecting to wifi from any other place in the world is a no no.

Remaining suggestions didn't work for me. There is definitely something wrong with my iPad WiFi and nothing to do with any access points/routers - WiFi devices will come and go. Sometimes I only have 2 devices visible when I know there are 10+ nearby.

I went into the Apple store and they did some diagnostics and gave me a replacement quote CAD$300+taxes to swap it out. They ordered a replacement iPad3 and it arrived later that day. They indicated it was probably a hardware failure but were not willing to go into much detail as it was out of warranty and I have no Apple Care.

I have 5 days to pay the fee and swap it out if I want or they will sell it to someone else. I am still waiting for my credit card extended warranty claim to be processed and approved before I proceed any further. I am not paying $300 to fix a 2yr old iPad when I can buy something newer unless the extended warranty cover it...

It’s obvious that there is no ‘one’ solution for this issue

After unsuccessfully trying a number of those listed above… I found when I selected the “Renew Lease” button … WIFI snapped back into action.

(…just something else to try folks…)

Try different channels in your router's settings. There are 11 channels. Try all of them. No reboot is necessary for the router to take effect.

My fix was to buy a new iPad Air today.

Still waiting on the extended warranty repair of the iPad3. WiFi is often dead - no WiFi networks visible. Bluetooth was becoming very slow so my workaround of pairing to my phone or MacBook was not working well. I gave up and will wait for it to be repaired then will sell it.

I'm having this issue on my iPhone 5 running iOS 7.04 (11B554a).

This is not just happening on one network but on several networks I often connect to. This is not specifically a router issue otherwise I wouldn't have the same problem on several networks. This suggests to me that this is an iPhone/iOS issue.

Anyway:

Symptons are:

1. Choose a network can take a lot longer than usual to display available networks

2. When I attempt to join a network I get the 'Unable to join the network' message

I have restarted the router(s)

I have reset network settings

Yet still there is a wireless issue with the phone. For instance, while I have been writing this post I have been waiting for the phone to find networks but none are found right now (there are usually six or more) and one is about 10 feet from where I'm sitting.

Has Apple got a definitive solution to this?

Having the same issue "unable to connect to network" with iphone 5 for a couple months now. Have tried various solutions as stated above over time (reboot, forget network, change settings etc), but nothing has seemed to work. I have noticed that I can connect to any free wifi, however I cannot connect to anything that's secure and requires passcode whereas all of my other apple and non apple products connect right away. Went to the apple store and since it connected to their free wifi, was told they didn't see any issue. Hardly use my phone anymore bc I'm trying to limit the data usage and not get charged for extra. Starting to consider switching to a non apple product if I can't use the phone for what it's designed for. My guess is that it's an io7 issue as this didn't happen until I upgraded the software and had not made any other setting adjustments whatsoever prior to it dropping wifi.

Hope apple finds a solution soon...

We have been able to get this to work on at least 5 homes during the last 2 weeks, with no issues.

Sample 1 in 1 home

Installed Motorola Surfboard extreme SB6141, DOCSIS 3.0 along with RT-AC68R Dual-band Gigabit Router 802.11ac Wireless AC1900 and it worked like a champ.

Sample 2 in 4 other homes

Hi. I have been reading all these posts and posts on other forums, all about the exact same issue. What I have noticed is that most of you that find fixes only come back on again some time later to state it didn't last and you're back to square one. I have seen fixes such as:

Reset Router/ Update router firmware / Change router channels / Reset Phone ipad / reset phone network settings / move other wifi devices away from routers / put ipad iPhone in fridge / buy new router / change security settings / rename SSID / Change country of origin on router etc, etc, etc....

None of these work and many others work for me and as far as I can see for anyone else.

To add insult to injury whenever anyone goes into an apple store to highlight the issue, the Apple staff test the item there and VOILA it magically works on their router. We are then left going home either A. Delighted that it now works again (only to find out when you get home or to the nearest hotspot that it doesn't) or B. Completely confused.

What is really unbelievable is that Apple are not acknowledging this problem which appears from these posts to be a issue affecting thousands. I know that only a small percentage of affected users will ever get into forums such as these to highlight problems. You can therefore multiply by 1000 the affected users reporting this issue to see the true figure.

I have two ipad minis and three iPhones at home. All of them are on the same firmware level of 7.0.4. All of them work on the wireless router except one of the ipad minis. There is no difference between the two ipad minis in their configuration except that the black coloured one with the issue is over 1 year old and the white coloured one is 3 months old.

My ipad mini was working perfect one night and the next morning I tried to read the news on it only to find it would not connect to the wireless router which is in the same room. Since them (1 month ago) it will not connect but everything else will.

I then found that if I put the ipad mini really close to the wireless router (a Devolo) it will work. If I step back to or three feet .... It's gone. If I go into the room where the modem is located it will work but again if I go any short distance away.... It's gone again.

When I search for wifi connections on the problem device I am getting the wireless routers displayed on screen, with the same strength as the other ipad mini. When I try to connect I get that dreaded "unable to connect..." message. On the white ipad I connect immediately without issues.

I was considering changing routers but then why would I do that if the issue won't be resolved outside the home. I travel a lot and really need access to the internet on the go, and the ipad mini is the perfect travel companion for this job. I really love this device and I hate having to possibly abandon this product for another brand.

If Apple know what the problem is can they please tell us. Instead of making complete fools of ourselves, running around changing all our settings, putting our devices in the fridge and walking out of Apple shops confused, just tell us what to do.

We are all discussing this amongst ourselves on an APPLE hosted forum but their silence is really damming. Are they not looking at these posts and wondering to themselves "maybe we should step in her and say something useful"?

Personally I think it is a hardware degradation issue that can't be fixed and the only way around it is to buy a new device. The problem with this option is that the days start counting down to the moment when your new device won't connect again. As I'm writing this on my white ipad mini, I'm watching the signal bars in the top left hand corner wondering if It will last to the end of this post or if I will be the next victim!

This is very like the "ring of death issue" with the xbox, except we should call it the "signal of death". It's coming but you just don't know when.

It's getting cold inside the fridge here now so I'm going to sign off and climb out.

Cheers!

Henri.

I'm going in to the local Apply store here in Plymouth (UK) this afternoon so I will report back what happens!

Being a techie myself, I've been looking at:

Settings>General>About>Diagnostics & Usage>Diagnostics & Usage Data

Seems like this contains error or bug reports in the BSOD style and many match in terms of time the moments I'm attempting to join a network and failing.

Does anyone know what any of these mean?

I experienced the same exact problem with my iPad Mini immediately after upgrading to iOS7. It would no longer connect to some routers (including my home router), except at extremely short <3 ft distances. I took it in to the Apple store and they gave me a new iPad. However, they were silent on the reason for the failure. A techie friend thinks that older iPads have an old WiFi antenna that are not compatible with the new iOS. Not sure.

I recently read that Apple released iOS 7.0.5 but only in China to address "network provisioning" problems.

I agree Apple needs to own this issue and provide transparency.

@ Henri13 : This forum is not monitored by Apple. If you have a complaint or hardware issue and you want Apple to know, call or send them a message. Otherwise they will never see your rant above.

When I went into the Apple store, the Genius attempted to connect to his iPhone using the WiFi hotspot. When it failed that was proof enough that it could not connect to other hotspots outside of the Apple store. If you are still under warranty, just go to the Apple store, ask them to connect to another hotspot to proove it does in fact fail. If I were you, carry a WiFi router with you just in case as additional proof.

Hi again,

Well the results of the visit to the Apple Store weren't good for me. Of course, my phone connected to their store network without issue. The Genius there disabled Call Forwarding which was enabled but not doing anything on my phone which he felt was causing an issue. So as far as he was concerned there wasn't a discernable problem with the phone. Furthermore he said that if I found that the problem persisted, I would need a replacement phone! Oh and of course my warranty ran out in December :-(

And yes, I got back to my office and it doesn't work. Also now at home and it still doesn't work. It sometimes appears to connect successfully but doesn't actually 'see' the Internet (no access for safari and all those other apps). Usually though I get the 'Cannot join' message.

So I'm led to believe the following:

There is a hardware issue that I cannot resolve unless I pay for a new phone (or wait until my contract runs out).

Pretty disappointing as this phone is in fact a replacement of the original one because the original one had a different hardware issue. I'm struggling to convince myself to get another iPhone after this problem. Wireless is essential for me and I'm sure for many others.

It's also a pity that noone from Apple actually follows discussions on their own forums. If that's truem they are missing out on a wealth of information that could help them improve their hardware and for that matter their support (which I might add is pretty good).

So, sorry no solution here :-(

Message was edited by: Jabbsi (bad spelling!)

Do you not think that Apple should be monitoring the forums? Does it not make good business sense to see what is going on out in the real world. Don't be fooled of course they are monitoring these forums. However why would they state or release any helpful information when there is no solution except to cost themselves millions in replacing defective devices. Furthermore, I have seen the comments coming back from users who have called into Apple. ALL of them have the same answer, Apple does not know what the problem is. In relation to your comment on the testing of the wifi utilising the hotspot option, I agree that is a good idea and should be used by anybody here when they go into the Apple Store to present their wifi problem. Unfortunately as I already stated, my device is over a year old and a such is not covered by the warranty anymore...