New iPad keeps dropping wireless

jgayman · Mar 29, 2012

Does anyone think Apple may release a software fix for the wireless issues on the new iPad. I've had two original iPads for 18 months and both get used heavily all day long. No real wireless issues to speak of. I usually needed to reset my Access Point every 3 months or so.

Now, I have two new iPads which replaced the old ones. They are both constantly refusing to communicate with the Internet despite saying the connection with the WiFi is alive and well.

The only recourse has been to reset the Access Point. It always resolves the problem but I've now having to do this weekly or sooner. Meanwhile, even when the iPads refuse to communicate my iPhone4S and wireless Windows laptop continue to function normally. I did recently have two instances where turning AirPlane mode on and back off resolved the issue.

There is definitely something less reliable about the WiFi on the new iPads compared with the original.

TheAppleSource · Mar 29, 2012

Are your iPads just wifi or are they with LTE?

bruinsrme · Mar 29, 2012

I don't drop home wifi too frequently.
However, with my mifi and tethered iPhone the new iPad seems to lose connection after 4 to 5 minutes.

batotman · Mar 29, 2012

Mine has great range. Much more than my old ones. But I use wireless g and had issues with the first one and N.

dukeblue91 · Mar 29, 2012

This may not be a iPad problem at all.

jgayman · Mar 30, 2012

TheAppleSource said:
Are your iPads just wifi or are they with LTE?

They are both WiFi only.

The iPads don't "drop" the WiFi, they just stop communicating. If I go to settings they still show as attached to my Access Point. They just stop sending and receiving.

This happens to BOTH new iPads. Meanwhile, my iPhone and wireless laptop continue to work fine.

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dukeblue91 said:
This may not be a iPad problem at all.

Really? I'm open to suggestions. In 18 months of operation the two original iPads never exhibited this behavior. The problem started the moment I started using the new units. Nothing else in my network has changed. None of my other wireless devices exhibit this behavior.

TheAppleSource · Mar 30, 2012

I too have a Wifi-only iPad (a new one). It has, on a couple of occasions, done as you've described. Claims to still be connected to the network, but then will fail to load any data. In both situations, simply toggling the Wifi to off and then back to on on the iPad seemed to fix it.

Not ideal, and as you say, if it turns out that it's quite a widespread problem, hopefully a fix is released with the next firmware update. For now though, I can't really see anything else that I could suggest to help.

jgayman · Mar 30, 2012

TheAppleSource said:
I too have a Wifi-only iPad (a new one). It has, on a couple of occasions, done as you've described. Claims to still be connected to the network, but then will fail to load any data. In both situations, simply toggling the Wifi to off and then back to on on the iPad seemed to fix it.

I am glad to hear that at least others are experiencing the exact same issue. I too feel that if this is being communicated back to Apple, a fix will be forthcoming.

LeeKennedy · Mar 31, 2012

I had this issue, iPad would connect fine to wifi/Internet, but as soon as you touched it the internet connection would die (while still showing full wifi bars). The geniuses swapped it out at the store, and the new one has the same issue.

Switched my router to G only and now it works fine, best range of any device in the house

batotman · Mar 31, 2012

LeeKennedy said:
I had this issue, iPad would connect fine to wifi/Internet, but as soon as you touched it the internet connection would die (while still showing full wifi bars). The geniuses swapped it out at the store, and the new one has the same issue.

Switched my router to G only and now it works fine, best range of any device in the house

I never could get my original iPads to work with 802.11n but never an issue with G. Pretty sure there is a big thread on it at the Apple forums. It sucks they still haven't fixed this issue.

Dane9 · Mar 31, 2012

My iPad never drop connection, always good and fast

D.T. · Mar 31, 2012

Running our 3rd Gen on WiFi-N, no disconnects, no hiccups (same with our 1st gen and 2 MBPs).

Sometimes when you hit a site and it doesnt load its not the connection thats dropped but a DNS issue.

I also as a general rule make sure any protocol thats not being used (like G) is turned off, and if possible try to avoid mixing security specs as well (like WEP and WPA ...).

Finally, at our home network, I use static configs, including static DNS, and I found DNS servers outside of our ISP work best (like Google, 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4)

For reference, Im using an Asus RT-56U (supports dual 2.4/5Ghz channels). I was sitting at the end of the driveway while my little girl was riding her bike and I was getting full bars and no dropouts over 2-3 hours of continuous network use.

Frenchjay · Apr 1, 2012

I've just started having problems today. The connection dropped off but everyone else's device stays connected. Now when it drops it asks me to re-enter the password each time. Has anyone else experienced this?

Before today everything was fine but for some reason it's started acting up.

davereynolds · Apr 1, 2012

I've had this issue with every iPad my family's owned. 2 iPad 1's. 3 iPad 2's and now with the iPad 3rd gen.

Frenchjay · Apr 2, 2012

davereynolds said:
I've had this issue with every iPad my family's owned. 2 iPad 1's. 3 iPad 2's and now with the iPad 3rd gen.

Have you found a solution to it?

davereynolds · Apr 2, 2012

Frenchjay said:
Have you found a solution to it?

I suspect that if I add static IP's in my router's DCHP table for my IOS devices it will correct the problem but I'm always too lazy to test it.

Frenchjay · Apr 2, 2012

davereynolds said:
I suspect that if I add static IP's in my router's DCHP table for my IOS devices it will correct the problem but I'm always too lazy to test it.

Found a solution. Manually enter the wifi details in the 'other' tab which appears when the iPad searches for SSID's. Just enter all the info on there manually and it should solve the disconnects. Mine has been perfect after I did this.

Fatboy71 · Apr 24, 2012

I'm having wireless issues on my iPad 3. It will randomly disconnect from my home wifi network, basically the wifi symbol will disappear ( it's as if the wifi has been turned off with the toggle switch) and then shortly after the wifi symbol will reappear again.

If tried everything I can think of to sort it, including:

Forget network and rejoining.
Resetting network settings.
Rebooting router.
Renew lease.

It's definitely a fault with the iPad, because if I switch on the wifi on my 4S and look at the screen on both the 4S and the iPad, the wifi symbol on the 4S remains visible/on at all times, but the iPad's wifi symbol will keep disappearing and reappearing. This is my second iPad 3 (first one got replaced due to a yellow patch on the screen). I'm only pleased though that I decided to take out the Apple Care, hopefully I'll get a quick replacement, has that's what I'm expecting to happened tomorrow when I ring Apple.

jojoba · Apr 24, 2012

I don't have any issues with mine so far (only had it for a couple of weeks). I don't really notice any difference to my iPad2.

Menneisyys2 · Apr 24, 2012

Fatboy71 said:
I'm having wireless issues on my iPad 3. It will randomly disconnect from my home wifi network, basically the wifi symbol will disappear ( it's as if the wifi has been turned off with the toggle switch) and then shortly after the wifi symbol will reappear again.

If tried everything I can think of to sort it, including:

Forget network and rejoining.
Resetting network settings.
Rebooting router.
Renew lease.

It's definitely a fault with the iPad, because if I switch on the wifi on my 4S and look at the screen on both the 4S and the iPad, the wifi symbol on the 4S remains visible/on at all times, but the iPad's wifi symbol will keep disappearing and reappearing. This is my second iPad 3 (first one got replaced due to a yellow patch on the screen). I'm only pleased though that I decided to take out the Apple Care, hopefully I'll get a quick replacement, has that's what I'm expecting to happened tomorrow when I ring Apple.

Do you have a non-4G model?

iamartimus · Apr 24, 2012

I have a iPad 2 and had the exact same problem. My wi-fi connection to my iPad would go out, first once every month or so, then it would go out every other week or even more. I'd shutdown the pad or go to airplane mode and go back on, then I would uplug my modem and Linksys, and it would work fine until it goes out again. I had the cable company come down and take a look at the cable system, and they changed an outside cable line and it worked fine....for a few days. Same thing. The only thing was that it was happening on my iPhone too, so I knew it was a problem with the cable company. I had them come down again and they finally replaced the modem and I haven't had the problem since. So yeah, it may be a modem problem and not a iPad problem.

mybattery · Apr 25, 2012

ipad

It is may be the problem of network, it is not the problem of ipad. You can call to after-sell service, they help you solve the problem.

Fatboy71 · Apr 30, 2012

Menneisyys2 said:
Do you have a non-4G model?

Mine is a wifi only version.

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Fatboy71 said:
I'm having wireless issues on my iPad 3. It will randomly disconnect from my home wifi network, basically the wifi symbol will disappear ( it's as if the wifi has been turned off with the toggle switch) and then shortly after the wifi symbol will reappear again.

If tried everything I can think of to sort it, including:

Forget network and rejoining.
Resetting network settings.
Rebooting router.
Renew lease.

It's definitely a fault with the iPad, because if I switch on the wifi on my 4S and look at the screen on both the 4S and the iPad, the wifi symbol on the 4S remains visible/on at all times, but the iPad's wifi symbol will keep disappearing and reappearing. This is my second iPad 3 (first one got replaced due to a yellow patch on the screen). I'm only pleased though that I decided to take out the Apple Care, hopefully I'll get a quick replacement, has that's what I'm expecting to happened tomorrow when I ring Apple.

I got a replacement within 24 hours from Apple and so far its worked flawlessly

Rodster · May 3, 2012

My iPad 3rd Gen 32GB which i've had a little over 14 days developed a similar problem last night. It completely dropped the Wifi connection. I knew my connection was good cause I turned on my Kindle Fire to make sure it was working.

My iPad Wifi icon went out. I checked my settings and sure enough my Wifi connection was greyed out. I tried going into and out of Airplane mode, no luck. I finally had to reboot my iPad to get my Wifi connection back.

It only happened twice last night and so far no more issues. Hopefully it was just a fluke.

Pvwcoc · Jul 4, 2012

New IPAD (3G) same problem

I m having the exact problem. I go from 3 bars to 0 bars doing nothing, while my wife has no such problems on her 1st gen iPad.

Fatboy71 said:
Mine is a wifi only version.

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I got a replacement within 24 hours from Apple and so far its worked flawlessly

New iPad keeps dropping wireless

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