iPad Air WiFi (5GHz) issues after iOS 8 upgrade

Folks, as far as I see disabling Location services for Wi-fi as advised by some people here helps someone as Apple seems to have issues with 802.11d protocol implementation in iOS 8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11d-2001 and Location sensors for Wi-Fi.

Basically what 802.11d does is that it does not allow you to use certain channels on Wi-Fi in certain countries. As you can see from this table (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels#5.C2.A0GHz_.28802.11a.2Fh.2Fj .2Fn.2Fac.29.5B17.5D) you can not use any channel you like while you are in US, some channels are not allowed in EU etc...

What happens nowadays with lots of routers installed here and there is that some routers are sending 802.11d beacons and these beacons carry country code, but these country codes are not correct sometimes. So some router (most of those are made in China) broadcasts CN country code (which is China), iOS device sees this beacon and applies certain restrictions on channels it (iOS device) will operate. Thus some neighbour with such router might ruin your 5GHz 802.11n. If you have your router setup for US 802.11n channels (or set to Auto) and your iOS device see beacon from some other country earlier than same beacon from your router - you're stuck and your iOS device can't connect to your 5ghz 802.11n.

How to check if this is an issue:

if you're on Mac, start Terminal and run the command /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Resources/airport -s

you will see the following response (list of networks our Mac see)

SSID BSSID RSSI CH HT CC SECURITY (auth/unicast/group)
dlink178 1c:7e:e5:d0:df:хх -65 1,+1 Y RU WPA(PSK/TKIP,AES/TKIP)
hh245 cc:5d:4e:fb:8f:хх -67 1 Y TW WPA2(PSK/AES/AES)
Dread 00:22:90:90:07:хх -69 11 N -- WPA(PSK/TKIP/TKIP)
MajorWiFi 50:46:5d:cc:c2:хх -41 6 Y -- WPA2(PSK/AES/AES)
sohc f0:7d:68:9b:da:хх -75 6 N -- WPA(PSK/TKIP/TKIP)

you can see in CC column that some routers broadcast country code, some not. Thus is I am in Russia and want to use Russian 802.11n channels I might face an issue as my neighbour's wi-fi router is broadcasting Taiwan country code.

Why resetting network settings might help? Because when you do the reset, iOS device resets the country codes it seen before and if you're lucky enough - it will hear the correct 802.11d beacon from your network earlier than any other.

To fix this particular issue you need to shorten beacon interval on your router from 100 (default) to let's say 75 (on my dd-wrt it looks like this)

This will make your router to send beacon more often, so chances that your device sees your network earlier than others are higher.

Another point is to enable 802.11d in your router if it is not enabled yet (it is not enabled if you see "--" in CC column in terminal output higher above)

I spent lots of hours trying to figure out why my Macbook can't use my 5ghz 802.11n network until I found the great post about this (http://wifi-mac.blogspot.ru/2013/03/mac-os-x-5.html). All credits go this guy.

It seems that Apple made a mistake with the priorities device gives to data it receives from location sensor and Wi-fi. So if Location sensor tells device that you're in US and 802.11d says you're in China, obviously Location sensor should be the trusted source which seems to be not the case with iOS 8

Found my solution and want to share with you.

my solution was found after reading gazole reply about ios8 NEW iOS ibeacon feature.

I live at Brazil and have a lot of Apple devices (iPad 1/3/Mini, iPhone 3G/4/4S, MacbookPro 13"/17", Time Capsule) and like all of you this issue makes me very annoyed.

I updated my iPad 3 (Wi-Fi) to ios8.1.1

Made all ios fix suggestions (disable wi-fi networking and others) but still couldn't use wi-fi at 5Ghz N band ( I can log in but can't navigate). It can connect to 2.4GHz as usual.

then I read gazole's about local ibeacons related issues post (but didn't made beacon interval setting change as he wrote) and changed my router (TP-LINK N750) 5GHz wireless setting:

ONLY MADE ONE OF GAZOLE'S SUGGESTIONS ON MY ROUTER (NONE OF OTHERS AT GAZOLE'S POST)

Region setting

BEFORE: Mexico

AFTER: Brazil (you need to change to your actual country)

and rebooted the router.

now I can connect to 5GHz and navigate normally.

I didn't test if was the reboot or the region change (or the both) that made effect (because I don't like to give chance to bad luck =P ) but it resolves my problem.

If your region is still set to USA and you live at USA, you can try to use other country and reboot and still back to USA again and reboot.

Hope and pray for you to find the same solution.

Thanks for gazole and all of members of this thread.

See ya

All,

I tried the escrge 1843 method (iPad Air 2 WiFi Connectivity Issues: RESOLVED) last night and it definitely made things a lot more stable but speed was affected. My usual Speedtest app gives me 50 Mbs Down but after setting the networks to 5ghz - A only and 2.4ghz to B/G the maximum I was able to achieve was 25 Down.

Even after sleep and wake for several hours two out of three (IPad Air 2 and 5S) devices remained connected but unfortunately my iPhone 6 Plus which was behaving better on the previous 5ghz setting lost connection this morning and I had to toggle Wi-Fi on/ off.

So in summary this method is the best temporary fix to date (especially for Linksys/Cisco routers) albeit not perfect for all IOS devices in the same household.

I'm definitely going to buy the new ASUS AC68 router which I think will solve the problem as I'm hearing good reports from numerous sources!

8.0.2 update did not appear to fix issue for me at all. Odd thing is that the upstream part of the connection seems "less broken" if that makes sense. See tests below.

Same results. Using speed test as a barometer of throughput (average speeds on my internet connection usually are 25 Mbps Down, 10 Mbps Up):

On my Netgear R7000.

5Ghz 802.11ac

• On iPad air:
  • Down: 0.5 Mbps (at best. Tried 3x similar result)
  • Up: 6-7 Mbps
• On iPhone 5 & 6 (both running iOS 8) and a Dell Laptop running Win 7:
  • Down: 27 Mbps
  • Up: 9 Mbps

2.4 GHZ 802.11n

All devices behave similar:

• Down: Around 25-27 Mbps
• Up around 7 Mbps

Unfortunately the forget network option was one of the first things I tried, though not noted in my previous posts. Here is a rundown:

iPad Air running iOS 8.0.2 drops connection to 5Ghz network (WPA2 security with different SSID than 2.4 Ghz network on same router) every 10-15 seconds, ever since iOS 8 update. No issue with iPhone 5s running 8.0.2 and two other computers connected to the same router/5Ghz network. iPad connects to the 2.4Ghz network on the same router without an issue.

STEPS TAKEN (none corrected the issue):

• Restarted wireless router and cable modem
• Verified current firmware version is installed on router with manufacturer
• Used “forget this network” option and then reconnected to the 5Ghz network
• Performed normal reset of iPad
• Installed iOS 8.0.2 update
• Performed hard reset of iPad (Home + Power button)
• Reset network settings and attempted to reconnect to 5Ghz network
• Tested with Wi-Fi Networking disabled and enabled under Settings/Privacy/Location Services/System Services
• Reset iPad to factory settings, first from a backup and then as a new device
• Attempted to roll back to iOS 7.1.2 through iTunes, but since Apple is no longer signing that iOS version it would not work

CONTACTED APPLE SUPPORT:

I just got off a chat with Apple support. The agent tried to blame router firmware (verified current with the manufacturer), and then my network configuration. Despite the fact that I have four other devices connecting to the 5Ghz network with no issues. Stuck with 2.4Ghz as a workaround until Apple addresses this in a future update.

Same problem with iPad Air upgraded to iOS 8 connecting to 802.11a, n and ac on 5ghz. Security is set for wpa2.

Turning off wifi and on again on iPad will allow wifi to work for a few minutes until it crawls with low latency and eventually disconnect.

ANyone reporting this issue to Apple support yet?

This was not my idea but it worked and I had the same problem as you are describing. It appears to be common and based on the fix affecting people who have a manual wifi channel selected, mine was 11. The fix described on here again by someone else who I cannot re locate at the moment is to switch to automatic channel selection, in my case on a Time Machine router. You will need to restart the router as part of the process. This fixed my problem completely. I had already tried forgetting and rejoining the network, that did not work. I switched to my 2.5G network and that seemed to work but not optimal. Changing from a fixed wifi channel to automatic is what fixed it on 5Ghz wifi. I have a iPad Air running Ios 8. Use the IOS utility Apple provides to control their routers or use a Mac to change your settings. Third party router I cannot suggest how you will make the change.

I Take it back auto channel setting is not the answer.. Resorted to not using 5 Ghz and using 2.5Ghz unti Apple sorts out. Make sure you repot to Apple this problem, until they get enough complaints they may not bother correcting.

Just came online to search for an answer to this. I have an older iPad 2 and since the IOS 8 update (just did it yesterday) I am having horrible problems trying to stay on my wifi -- that prior had zero issues. The only way I can resolve it is to reboot the iPad, but then after a couple of minutes I get the same problem again, and constantly having to reboot isn't a solution.

I did not have this issue prior to this update.

Update on this for me:

I've discovered that the wifi starts acting poorly/not working if you let the iPad idle after rebooting it or you close the cover. The wifi signal shows up at the top left, but it fails to load any safari or facebook or any internet-needed app.

The only solution that's worked for me is rebooting, but surely this isn't a longterm solution. Once your reboot, it works until you let the iPad idle or you close the cover. Feels like I own a really pretty paperweight right now because otherwise my previously-functioning machine doesn't work;

It's definately tied to the IOS 8 update. I was not experiencing this issue prior.

I had the same issue with the iPad air after upgrade. Slow internet and hung network connection. Streaming would stop. Changed from 5Ghz to 2.4GHz and issue has been worked around. This is not a solution, but a work around.

Ok tried changing it to 2.4 and while it's marginally better than the auto setting, still having sporadic issues with connectivity. Is there a fix coming for this soon, anyone know? It's a bit frustrating.

I have been working with Apple Tech Support for the last three days on the 5G issue and the iPad Air. I am having exactly the same problem with not being able to connect with 5G. They know there is a problem and suspect it has to do with the fact that they upped the security in iOS 8 and that may be the problem. They have called me three times asking for more info, so maybe there is hope that they will get it fixed. Just talked to them again this evening. My iPhone 5 connects and works fine with 5G and so does my Mac Book Air, so I know it's not the wireless router.

100% the same issues you reported. Using a Netgear n7000. 2.4ghz is fine. But 5ghz is spotty at best and constantly cuts out.

This is all right right after upgrading to iOS 8. My iPhone 6 is fine and same with my older macbook pro and dell laptop all fine on both connections.

Apple, what's up?