wifi issues with iphone 6

Just posted this is a similar thread, but wanted to put it here too. Hopefully it works for some other people as well.

Hey guys,

I spent a lot of time working on this tonight, as I've had similar issues since I got my iPhone 6 in March, and it's been beyond frustrating and no solutions in multiple threads have worked. I *believe* I have this figured out, as I just watched an hour-long stream without wiFi dropping (which never happens), so hopefully this applies to others.

I have a dual band router (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz), with both using the same Name and Password, so devices latch on to either one (how it decides, I don't know). My router is the G1100 through Verizon Fios. I don't know how I got headed down this path but after hours of attempting things I decided to see if I could block my iPhone from having access to the 5 GHz band.

The router login is myfiosgateway.com and the username/password were on my router. In Wireless MAC Authentication I had to check the box that said "Enable Access List" in the 5 GHz Wireless column and then added the iPhone's MAC address to the "Deny devices listed below" list, and hit Apply to save the changes.

Since my iPhone could now only connect to the 2.4 GHz band I turned off Wireless QoS (WMM) for the 2.4 GHz. Whether the two are related (for example, both have to be done, just the first has to be done, or just the second has to be done), I'm not sure, but my phone hasn't lost its WiFi signal since. Granted, to this point we're only talking about a few hours since I made the changes, but typically it'd drop every 10-15 minutes or so and take another few minutes to get it back.

Thanks for this update. I ended up exchanging my wife's 6 for a different one, so I'll see if I have the same problems again. Her phone was also doing other strange things, like not recognizing her password, or not waking from sleep mode, etc.

My home network did not have 5Ghz enabled, so I don't know if your solution above was a fix, or just a coincidence. I'll have to check to see if WMM is enabled. I know that my own phone, a 4, is running the same exact iOS as my wife's phone was, so I don't think it's an iOS issue. Methinks it's hardware in the 6.

I can't edit my post, but my wiFi has been dropping to LTE again today, so my "fix" clearly isn't a fix at all. I'm so frustrated with this.

I've been fighting the same issue on both an iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s Plus, latest OS installed. I had a single SSID for the three bands offered on my Linksys AC3200: 2.4ghz and two 5ghz bands. I've since set them to two different SSIDs and connected both iPhones to the 2.4ghz SSID only.

This seems to have resolved the issue for me. However, I've lost the feature of having a single SSID for the three bands on the router. It's funny, not a single other device (two Windows phones, a Windows tablet, Roku, desktop running Windows 10, and two laptops running Windows 10) have ever had a single issue with the Linksys AC3200 router.

I firmly believe this is an issue with the wifi chip in the iPhones or the driver. It's on Apple to fix. I find it a bit disconcerting it's been going on for over a year without a peep from Apple though.

This is my first iPhone and when I'm ready to trade up, it will be my last.

Same. I was under warranty and went to the Apple store yesterday. They replaced my iPhone. Day 1 and I am having the same issues. Just upsetting that I went from the iPhone 5s, which worked perfectly, to the iPhone 6, in March and now I can't switch until March 2017.

I would just update to IOS 9 to patch the issue.

LionsFanDET wrote:

Same. I was under warranty and went to the Apple store yesterday. They replaced my iPhone. Day 1 and I am having the same issues. Just upsetting that I went from the iPhone 5s, which worked perfectly, to the iPhone 6, in March and now I can't switch until March 2017.

Go to your router's settings. Do you have MAC filtering enabled? Try turning it off if you do. Also, if you haven't yet, reboot your router.

By default MAC Authentication was disabled, so I had the problems when it was off. Tonight, turned my 2.4 GHz channel from Auto to 6 and my 5 Ghz channel from Auto to 149, then added the iPhone's MAC Address to the 5 GHz block list, forcing it to latch on to the 2.4 Ghz. We'll see how it plays out.

There's something else going on. It isn't the WiFi band; I'm successfully connecting 2 iOS devices to the 5 GHz channels on my router. The reason I asked about MAC filtering is iOS devices do not use their "real" MAC addresses when scanning for a network for privacy and security reasons. They use a random MAC address that changes constantly. This isn't the problem in your case if MAC filtering was off, but it's something to keep in mind.

I don't think it's specifically the bands, 2 or 5ghz, it's that the iPhone (or all of IOS I don't know, or the drivers they use) have an issue switching bands when using a single SSID. That's what I think is going on. Since I put the iPhone strictly on a single band and split out the SSIDs on my router, the iPhone wifi hasn't disconnected in about three days or so now.

Like I said, no other device I've had has this issue.

My wife's replacement iPhone 6 has been working just fine. My iPhone 4 running the exact same iOS is also running fine, as are the other 10 or so Apple devices in our home.

My latest theory is that there was a bad run of Wi-Fi chips, or some other hardware component. It would be nice to compare serial numbers of the phones crapping out. They've sold more than 10 million 6's, so even a 99.99% success rate would result in 10,000 broken phones.

Funny thing, I was reading throughout the posts and kept trying crazy steps to make it work. In the end I realised I am using a cheap aluminium bumper. Took that off, worked like a charm. So if anyone is using one of those bumpers, take it off, try again 🙂

Hope it helps someone out there!

I don't think it was a bad run of WiFi chips, since I'm having the same issues with the one I got Tuesday (warranty replacement) as the one I got in March.

I just don't want to split my router into two separate SSID's for the different bands.

@Lawrence Finch what router are you using? Do you think I could buy a different router, connect via power cord and ethernet to my Verizon Fios extender, then connect my iPhone to the new router?

I have a DLink provided by my ISP. Verizon at one time provided Actiontec routers, which were very good. If it's an old one you might ask Verizon if they have a newer one, or a firmware update for it. But you can also connect your own router to it; connect your router to a port on the Verizon router, unless you get a router that has a coax (MOCA) port on it.

i am having the same issue. my iPhone 5s connected at home with no problems. my iPad and macbook air also connect without problems. I upgraded to 6s. i had to go to room my router is in for it to connect at home. took it to apple store of course it connected there with no problem. they gave me a new phone. new phone did ok initially. now i have to go to setting and click wifi. once it connects, it often drops the wifi. if i am not paying attention, it will be back on cellular network. any suggestions?