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

Well done to Grnintrn88 for bringing this issue directly to a person in Apple Support. The more times this happens, the more likely they are to take it seriously. My iPad is more stable at 2.4ghz but even under heavy usage I have noticed it slowing right down after half an hour or so surfing the net. It cannot be the BT home hub router I use because all other nine Apple devices in my house work perfectly at 5ghz and BT deliver updates to their software automatically overnight directly to the router so it is always up to date.

My iPad is brand new from Apple too but experiences exactly the same issues as my previous one and everyone else affected in this discussion thread. Come on Apple, either fix this bug quickly or at least let us downgrade to iOS7 which was at usable on the iPad.

OK ... I did the "forget this network" and it seems to have helped for about 12 hours now. I need more time to see if it is permanent. But there are so many Internet issues still that it is tough to document. Nothing is consisted when loading web pages and often the pages are tiny instey of full size. Very buggy.

Anyway please try the forget this network option and report back here.

i was having the same issue as everyone else and finally got it fixed today. After calling support, doing a restore, and a few other things, I finally went to the Genius Bar today. They reinstalled the firmware on my iPad. Working fine now

Just to add to my woes I have discovered that I cannot make a call from my iPad Air to the outside world via my iPhone. This useful feature works perfectly well on an older iPad 3 and also on Yosemite Beta working on my MacBook Pro. The settings are identical on all devices and I have tried turning off and on iPhone calls in the FaceTime settings and rebooting all devices as recommended in a post by someone else.

Are other users in this thread experiencing the same problem or am I an isolated case? I am making calls on my iPad 3 and MacBook Pro through BT Homehub 5 set at 2.4 ghz as this is the only way I can use my iPad air.

This is most definitely an IOS8 issue - and whilst the 8.0.2 patch makes the iPad more stable, it does not fix the fault that kills 5GHz connections. I have exactly the same issue whereby 5GHz networks cannot be used with the iPad subsequent to upgrade from IOS 7.1.2 to IOS 8 - or IOS 8.0.2.

I have completed tests that consistently prove that the problem is nothing at all to do with the ISP (BT) or the router (also in my case an BT Homehub 5). At present, I have a recent iPad Mini Retina (wifi & cellular) and iPad Air (wifi & cellular) purchased same day. Both have been running IOS 7.1.2 without issue, with various 5GHz networks - including the domestic HH5 router and business networks My domestic network also has an AppleTV and PC forced onto the 5GHz network, also working without any network issues at all.

The domestic router has 2.4GHz & 5GHz networks configured thus:

5GHz: SSID = NetworkName-A, WPA2

2.4GHz: SSID = NetworkName-B, WPA2

The iPad Mini Retina IOS 7.1.2 would interoperate with both 5GHz & 2.4GHz networks without issue, both domestic (above) and other networks such as that at my place of work. After "upgrade" to IOS 8, the iPad is unusable with any 5GHz networks; it will associate, but will not exchange network traffic for more than a few initial seconds - after which networking app's such as Safari and email will hang. All other devices (including non IOS 8 Apple kit) continue to operate completely normally - as will the iPad Mini Retina if is forced onto a 2.4GHz network.

The iPad Air (still running IOS 7.1.2) continues to operate with the same 5GHz & 2.4GHz networks without any problems at all. Given the issues experienced with IOS 8 & IOS 8.0.2 - and as consistently described by others within this forum - the iPad Air has not (and will not) be upgraded until this serious network connectivity issue is resolved by Apple.

All of my attempts to resolve the IOS 8 iPad 5GHz networking issues have failed, escalating from "forget network" to "reset network settings" and "reset all settings". Restore doesn't fix the problem either.

For those affected by this serious network bug, the only apparent workaround (but not fix) that might make your iPad semi-usable is to utilise different SSIDs for routers that you are able configure - and only configure the corresponding 2.4GHz network SSID on the iPad. If your router or wifi network utilises a common SSID for both 5GHz and 2.4GHz networks, client connection strategies will usually attempt to preferentially connect to the 5GHz network where both are available. Unless you can force your iPad to only use 2.4GHz, with IOS 8, all kinds of issues will ensue as the iPad will not tell you which "band" it is attemping to utilise - and available settings will not allow you to explicitly disable either band.

Come on Apple - you can replicate the same test conditions. Admit and resolve this issue. I can appreciate you concentrating on the launch of the new iPhone 6, but your new IOS 8 update has introduced a major network bug in most other iThings.

Lotus Pilot... You are compeltely correct. Workaround can be done but certainly not something I would appreciate livining with forever.

So I created two seperate connection profiles on my BT Home hub5 in advanced wifi settings, thereby separating 2.4ghz and 5 Ghz networks which is possible to do on BT Home Hub 5 (if you have access writes to it such as at home).

I now only connect my ios8 iPad mini retina to the 2.4ghz (forgetting the 5ghz network so it never tries to connect to it). I have left my other ios7 devices to use both and 2.4 And 5ghz automatically as before and all devices now work fine.

So the problem is now usabale, but currently working as a workaround at least at home. However, as soon as I moved my ipad with ios8 to other networks outside my house, (to use the bt connect cloud which you get free as a BT infinity us timer), the problem restarts, so problem only temporarily fixed at least in my house And 2.4ghz does seem slower, but at least fully usabale for the time being until Apple acknowledges and fixes the 5ghz wifi connection problems in IOS8.

Anyone know is there is a way to force ios8 devices to ONlY connect to 2.4ghz networks while the bug is still present in ios8, as when out and about, you have no access to the router settings, which is only controlable at home when you own the router.

thanks

KIngdoz/Lotuspilot, I completely appreciate what you are saying here and it is so frustrating.

In terms of logging this issue with Apple how is the best way to do this? I can't get tech support as my iPad was bought back in March time and I dont have Applecare. I do want to log this though, but not sure how best to do it.

I'm also still having problems after the 8.0.2 update on my ipad Air(as well as after 8.0!). I've tried the forget network and it doesnt' work. I refuse to do anything else as I know it is something Apple did w/ iOS 8. Everything else I have on my network is working fine (2 iPad Retina, 1 ipad Air on 7.1.2, Mac Air, multiple PCs, multiple Xbox 360/One/PS3/PS4). Only the iPad Air on 8.0 doesn't work. Fix this ****, Apple. I'm really getting irritated. It doesn't even seem like this is something they're focusing on. How do we let them know this is a problem?

As with any other workaround, it comes with penalties. In this case, forcing the iPad to only use 2.4GHz in preference to 5GHz has implications for network throughput. However, as the IOS 8/8.0.2 update has effectively destroyed 5GHz network connectivity on the iPad, you have an easy choice; either force 2.4GHz working where you can, or give up pending a proper fix from Apple.

In the meantime, I recommend that you concentrate your efforts on highlighting both this proven issue and it's workaround - and not leave Apple Support alone until they fix this fundamental fault. Other than applying the workaround, customers can do nothing to resolve this fault.

The more that customers complain about this serious issue, the more likely that Apple will assign resource into fixing it.

I have the same problem on my mini retina. I had blamed the problem on my router, which like others here is a BT Homehub 5, but it's interesting to see others blaming it on iOS 8. The fact that this one router is being singled out is telling I think, and leads me to suspect that the fault less there, and not with iOS 8. Perhaps iOS 8 handles Wi-Fi in a slightly different way and the router is incapable of sustaining the connection because of that. My default position with network problems is to blame BT, as their service is so comprehensively terrible in all areas it's usually a safe bet.

I have other 5ghz devices too- an iPhone 6, an iPad 3, and a Samsung Smart TV. They all have three occasional problems with 5ghz but to nowhere near the level of my iPad mini retina, which usually stops receiving days after a minute or two. As with others here,2.4ghz is much, much more stable, but also really slow, and still prone to dramatic slow downs. At best I get 20mbit on 2.4ghz, while my PC on 2.4ghz will get 40mbit. On 5ghz my iPad will get 60mbit, it's just too bad that only lasts for a few minutes.

I Have the same problem with a Netgear Router with up to date firmware. Everything worked fine until I installed IOS 8 on my iPad Air. Everything still works fine with my other devices that include an iPhone 6.

Am having exactly the same problem with my IPad Air and have also had to force it to connect using 2.4 ghz as 5 ghz doesn't work at all. Even then the Internet connection is way slower than before. I had no problems at all with IPad Air and IOS 7.2. This is shockingly bad service from Apple - IOS 8 clearly wasn't ready for release. Hope they can fix this issue in 8.03 asap.

As described in my original test observations, the issue with 5GHz network connectivity being trashed by the IOS8/8.0.2 "upgrade", applies to all 5GHz networks. Tests have been conducted with domestic routers and business networks.

For many, wifi connections will be limited to to their home broadband router - and is therefore an easy target for Apple to blame. To be fair, to a certain extent, many users may not be capable of setting-up their routers correctly - but a greater proportion will be capable of setting-up correctly.

Like other users on this discussion topic I have spent a great deal of time try one to resolve the iPad Air wifi issue this weekend and am now certain that this is an Apple software issue. In frustration I sent an email to Tim Cook asking him to get the issue resolved. I suggest that more emails from others to him may help speed up the resolution of this problem.

<Edited by Host>

... Continued from above.

Let's not lose sight of the simple fact that IOS7.x devices that have not been upgraded, other Apple devices (e.g., AppleTV etc.) and all equipment from other vendors still operate perfectly normally with the same routers that Apple agents have suggested are at fault (remember also that this is issue not limited to HomeHub routers).

If only IOS8 devices have issues connecting to 5GHz networks after their upgrade, by simple elimination, it is obvious that the issue is with the updated IOS. test evidence clearly demonstrates that iPad IOS8 network connectivity is fundamentally broken with 5GHz networks.