Q: iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems

Interesting. Got Apple watch early today. Now I never have used Bluetooth before but obviously the watch necessitates it now for pairing. By having it on it has halved my wifi download througput on the iPhone. Other devices without Bluetooth on don't suffer such as the iPad. I can get the speed back by turning Bluetooth off and then disconnecting and reconnecting to the wifi. But this is another iOS 8 gremlin. Interestingly 5 ghz wifi is ok, this quirk is only evident on 2.4 ghz band. I re iterate the other iPads maintain speed fine on 2.4 ghz so here is a case of Bluetooth negatively impacting the wifi speed

My iPhone and iPad behave the same. With Bluetooth (and AirDrop) OFF they consistently get my ISP rated speed of 15 Mbps as do my MBP and my two Dell PCs. With Bluetooth ON, the iPhone and iPad Wi-Fi speeds degrade to about 1/10 of the rated speeds (you are lucky if yours only degrade to 1/2). Attached is a screenshot of speed tests on my iPhone. The bottom 2 were taken with Bluetooth OFF, the top 3 were taken with Bluetooth ON. This behavior is very repeatable and consistent - it is still the same today. I have tried many recommended "fixes" (reset Wi-Fi, changed DNS, changed routers, reset iPhone and iPad to factory, reinstalled 8.3 from scratch with no other apps except a new OOKLA, tried iPhone with other ISPs, spend hours with AppleCare Level 2 tech verifying my settings, etc.) but all to no avail.

In November 2014 a programmer reported that there is a conflict between AWDL and Bluetooth affecting Wi-Fi speeds in iOS 8. You can see the logic behind this. Various people on this thread have reported the same issue in the past. This issue manifests itself with some iPhones and some iPads but many are not affected, reasons unknown to me. Hopefully iOS 8.4 (or 9) will resolve this. Since I seldom use Bluetooth (only for an occasional AirDrop) this is not a big deal to me as I can consistently get my rated ISP speed with BT OFF on all devices, problem only with BT and AirDrop ON. Different story for those with the Apple Watch. As you stated the 5GHz band is unaffected (mine is also ok) but as you know the range at 5GHZ is much less than 2.4.

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thats even worse than mine!!! It is frustrating. I'd rather not use 5 ghz for the very reason you mentioned. It has much less range. I do have a second access point at home that helps me but prefer 2.4 ghz as that reaches down the end of the garden. Never been a fan of Bluetooth but unfortunately that's how the watch operates. It can use wifi allowing Bluetooth to go off at home but it's a bit buggy as often it does connect onto wifi if you move out of Bluetooth range. So really you need to have it on all the time. Seen a fair few threads on this (I think a new watch OS is due soon that will make a few improvements as at the moment the OS lacks maturity). Anyway hopefully iOS 8.4 will be better again.

Having similar problems here with brand new iPhone 6 Plus with iOS 8.3 preinstalled and an iPhone 6 that the local mobile service store upgraded to 8.3 after a factory reset. Here are the symptoms:

* Wifi not accepting valid password many times in a row. A couple of reboots and a bunch of tries later and it seemed to finally connect.

* Wifi running really slow, about 3-4 times slower than 4G. I've been trying to d/l about 250 songs for THREE DAYS. About 12 have successfully d/l'd so far.

* Videos on YouTube stopping every 10 seconds (or less), and have to be restarted continually.

* iTunes on the phones just runs a hold pattern continuously many times, and won't allow me to look at "Purchased" items many times, for example.

The Wifi activity indicator seems to churn continuously in the background to no effect. Would be great to get an iPhone that "just works". If Apple could fix this, and maybe do minimal testin on the fix before sending it out in the wild, that would be great...

GGet a Galaxy.  They're having a sale on pre-hacked units.

Return it.  Get one running 8.2 and say you will not buy device if upgraded to 8.3.

Robert

On my iPhone, 8.3 is a lot better than 8.2 so that might not solve problem - unless it worked on 8.2?

Late to this party but I've had issues for the past two weeks. 8.3 and Iphone 6.

It came out of nowhere and now my Wifi only sees 1 network w/ half strength when I'm standing near the router. At work, my friend's same Iphone6 shows 3 other networks and our current network is at full strength. At home I keep losing Wifi and burned through my data half way through the month. I'm looking forward to the bill for my overcharges.

Add me to the list. I have an iPhone 5C IOS 8.3, clock is wrong, Bluetooth never accessible, WiFi only works half of the time, charging make the phone slower, apps continue to crash. Payed a lot for this phone, hurry up and fix your bugs apple!

DaBigBeas wrote:

 

Add me to the list. I have an iPhone 5C IOS 8.3, clock is wrong, Bluetooth never accessible, WiFi only works half of the time, charging make the phone slower, apps continue to crash. Payed a lot for this phone, hurry up and fix your bugs apple!

It sounds like your phone is either defective or you're a troll.  If you are truly having all of the problems you've listed above, you should contact Apple or go to one of their stores and get your phone replaced. 

To avoid going on to 3G without realising just turn mobile data off, when you're not in a Wifi area turn it on. Might be a bit fiddly but avoids accidentally running up a big bill

And I see IOS 8.4 is available, but no mention of Wifi

Doesn't sound like a troll at all to me, device just displaying typical symptoms of Apple's flawed operating system.

Hopefully Apple are supplying an "under the radar" wifi fix.

Seriously Philly_Phan you are just the worst.

Has anyone tried updating to the iOS 9 beta?  Anyone know how to do that?  Does it work?

I'm 6 months going with still no wifi.

Six months without a visit to an Apple Store.  Amazing!  You obviously don't care.

My WiFi has been flawless.  Of cours, I care.