My WiFi has never worked properly since the day I got my iPad on 28th May. With 3.2 it was almost unusable and needed to be reconnected every couple of minutes to get back connectivity. With 3.2.2 it got a lot better but still stalled on web access at least every 5 minutes. With 4.2.1 the frequency of stalls increased, and sometimes the stalls required a reconnect to get connectivity going again. I tried everything: resetting network settings on the iPad, dynamic and static IP addresses, different DNS servers, reflashing the firmware and numerous power cycles on the router, WEP/WPA/WPA2, switching to g-only WiFi, every channel option on the router, and other stuff besides. Nothing worked until 2 days ago when I did something that seems to have fixed it; I've had absolutely no interuptions in connectivity since the change.
What did I do? My router is a Linksys WRT350N (http://www.trustedreviews.com/netwo...RT350N-Wireless-N-Router-with-Storage-Link/p1) and it has three arials on top and they were set just like the picture in the link. What I did to fix my problem was that I tipped the front rod antenna forward 90% so that it was horizontal not vertical and I rotated the centre flat antenna 90% so that it faced the front of the unit and not sideways on. Problem solved!
What is wierding me out about this though is that I never had a reception problem, the WiFi symbol always showed a full 3 bars and never disconnected from the router (whenever I reconnected with 3.2 it was always me explicitly disconnecting and reconnecting to get connectivity back, it was never a case of the iPad having become disconnected itself). Even more confusing, since 3.2.2 I never lost basic IP connectivity, even when my internet connectivity was stalled I could still go to the Stratospherix File Browser application and see, mount and access any of my shared file systems over the network so the iPad was still networking with the router, just not over the internet.
I really am confused. I've come up with 3 possible theories but they're all longshots:
1) Somehow the previous set of the antennae were causing the router to radiate a signal in a certain pattern that was causing some sort of resonance or disruption within its own circuitry that was causing it to glitch (in the WAN access part of the router) and now that I've changed the set of the antennae the radiation patterns close to the router are different such that they are not interfering with the routers own circuitry.
2) There is a loose connection or dry joint in the router (again in the WAN access part of the router) and the tiny movement that I must have made in resetting the antennae made that more solid.
3) At the same time as I changed the antennae one of my neighbours changed their router and it was some pattern of interference with someone else's router, presumably disrupting something in address resolution protocols, that was causing the issue; it was nothing to do with the orientation of my router's antennae and the timing was a coincidence.
I guess I'll never know the real answer to this and should just be happy that I've finally got my iPad working the way it's supposed to. I was just about to book a genius appointment to ask for a hardware swap but now that it seems to be working flawlessly I'm loathe to change a thing unless it starts acting up again.
To all you fellow WiFi suffers, I can't explain my experience but it's worth a try.
- Julian
What did I do? My router is a Linksys WRT350N (http://www.trustedreviews.com/netwo...RT350N-Wireless-N-Router-with-Storage-Link/p1) and it has three arials on top and they were set just like the picture in the link. What I did to fix my problem was that I tipped the front rod antenna forward 90% so that it was horizontal not vertical and I rotated the centre flat antenna 90% so that it faced the front of the unit and not sideways on. Problem solved!
What is wierding me out about this though is that I never had a reception problem, the WiFi symbol always showed a full 3 bars and never disconnected from the router (whenever I reconnected with 3.2 it was always me explicitly disconnecting and reconnecting to get connectivity back, it was never a case of the iPad having become disconnected itself). Even more confusing, since 3.2.2 I never lost basic IP connectivity, even when my internet connectivity was stalled I could still go to the Stratospherix File Browser application and see, mount and access any of my shared file systems over the network so the iPad was still networking with the router, just not over the internet.
I really am confused. I've come up with 3 possible theories but they're all longshots:
1) Somehow the previous set of the antennae were causing the router to radiate a signal in a certain pattern that was causing some sort of resonance or disruption within its own circuitry that was causing it to glitch (in the WAN access part of the router) and now that I've changed the set of the antennae the radiation patterns close to the router are different such that they are not interfering with the routers own circuitry.
2) There is a loose connection or dry joint in the router (again in the WAN access part of the router) and the tiny movement that I must have made in resetting the antennae made that more solid.
3) At the same time as I changed the antennae one of my neighbours changed their router and it was some pattern of interference with someone else's router, presumably disrupting something in address resolution protocols, that was causing the issue; it was nothing to do with the orientation of my router's antennae and the timing was a coincidence.
I guess I'll never know the real answer to this and should just be happy that I've finally got my iPad working the way it's supposed to. I was just about to book a genius appointment to ask for a hardware swap but now that it seems to be working flawlessly I'm loathe to change a thing unless it starts acting up again.
To all you fellow WiFi suffers, I can't explain my experience but it's worth a try.
- Julian
