iPhone 6s not fully joining WPA2 secured network

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David_D49 Author

Level 1

52 points

iPhone 6s not fully joining WPA2 secured network

Hardware

iPhone 6s at iOS 12 and now iOS 12.0.1
ipad air 2 at iOS 12 and now iOS 12.0.1
iPhone SE at iOS 12

Networks

WiFi from BT Homehub 6 on latest firmware, all devices connect on 5ghz and 2.4ghz on both unified and separate SSIDs
Wifi from BT Whole Home mesh networks with latest firmware - all devices connect and work correctly and fully on unified SSID except iPhone 6s - see below.

Symptoms whilst attempting to use Mesh WiFi....

iPhone 6s asks for network password
correct password supplied, goes into “joining network”
appears to join network, ✔ appears next to network name and stays there
VERY briefly the WiFi symbol appears in usual place at top of screen and then vanishes.
despite this the device is shown as connected in the mesh network logs. If you move it to another network or just turn its WiFi off, the disconnect shows in the logs.
If you try to access a web page or send an iMessage- seems to work fine, even if you remove the SIM to be sure phone data network not being used. This seems a little slower than expected, but it works.
if you try to send mail - outbound mail servers fail.

Attempts to fix, all of which have failed..

Forget network on iPhone and reconnect
reset all network settings on iPhone and reconnect
reboot mesh devices both individually and as a group from control web page
reboot router to which they are connected.
Factory reset mesh devices (and update to latest firmware that happened to appear at that time) reinstall mesh network.

I have now exhausted all options except

Trying iPhone with another mesh network (somebody I know tells me their iPhone 6s works perfectly with the same mesh devices).
clean reinstall of everything in iPhone, despite recent iOS upgrade

Anyone out there with similar issues or an idea I’ve not thought of?

thanks

iPhone 6s, iOS 12

Posted on Oct 8, 2018 11:17 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

David_D49 Author

Level 1

52 points

Oct 11, 2018 7:16 AM in response to David_D49

A posting elsewhere triggered me to examine what was different between my iPhone and iPad- VPN was the answer. I have TunnelBear on both, but it only autoconnects on the iPhone (because my iPad is 99% used on my own, trusted, networks).

Turning off auto connect fixed the problem and I have now marked the network as trusted and turned auto connect back on.

This begs the question of why I was not getting some better alert than the WiFi symbol disappearing to tell me the connection was not completing properly (timing issue?) but that is a minor point. Just delighted to have Wholehome working for all devices so I can turn off previous network.

Now getting a steady 180Mbps WiFi speed or close to it all over the house.

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Answer 2

David_D49 Author

Level 1

52 points

Oct 10, 2018 8:29 AM in response to ervau

Not sure which devices you mean, but.....

all my Apple devices (4) have exactly the same settings for WiFi. It is just one of them that misbehaves.
The three nodes of the mesh network are configured through a single interface which shows they are all at the same firmware level etc.
They receive their ip addresses from the router DHCP
Dont understand “filter” on DHCP server, but I have not changed anything on the router since installing the mesh network. The miscreant device will connect correctly to the WiFi of the router when it is turned on And works fine when connected.

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Answer 3

David_D49 Author

Level 1

52 points

Oct 10, 2018 7:26 AM in response to David_D49

I am now totally frustrated and puzzled.

I have tried my iPhone 6s on another Wholehome network which is known to support an iPhone 6s and it did not connect properly, doing exactly as it has done on mine! (The “settings” line shows connected and it has a tick, IP address etc all correct, but the WiFi symbol appears then vanishes at top of screen. Web pages deliver but very slowly, mail will not send.)

Following that I have done a total erase/install of my iPhone - to no avail, I still get exactly the same partial network attachment.

One more try at power off and restart Wholehome, forget network, power off restart iPhone and I am giving up and will probably send the whole thing back.

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Answer 4

ervau

Level 2

252 points

Oct 10, 2018 7:58 AM in response to David_D49

Very simple questions: Did you compare the WIFI-settings of your three devices? Are they all the same, are they identical? Are there any filter set up on your DHCP-server?

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iPhone 6s not fully joining WPA2 secured network

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