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iPad mini Need advise on newly purchased iPad Mini

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Anthonym.noto

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 20, 2013
6
0
Hi, so I purchased an ipad mini about three weeks ago at the apple store. However ever since the purchase my wifi has been mediocre and always revolving around two bars. Besides that I love my mini and would love to just exchange it to see if I have a flawed wifi antenna. Well three days ago I made an appt at the Genius Bar and I could not mimic the problem that I experience at home. Therefore, he said see if the problem persists then bring it back. Well at school, work, and home I get two bars wifi. I live in a small two story townhouse apt. The router is upstairs, well when I go down downstairs my wifi is two bars (10mbps download) and the speed test shows its half the strength of my speed test on my mini when it's upstairs (25 Mbps). I hope it's just a flaw on my particular device, but after numerous adventures online it seems that it's a problem persisting in many ipad minis. Sorry for the long post, but any advice is greatly appreciated. I have also tried all tricks under the sun btw.

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Also I believe the reason I have good wifi connection at the apple stores are due to their highly efficient airports. However, in the real world my work, typical coffee shops and my school network don't consist of airports. I want to make a second genius visit and insist an exchange or is there an remote chance that its a software problem and will be resolved with future updates?
 
SnowLeopard2008

SnowLeopard2008

macrumors 604
Jul 4, 2008
6,772
17
Silicon Valley
Have you checked other devices? Such as your phone and if it exhibits similar behavior? Or a laptop? I don't get a strong signal when I'm downstairs at my parents' house (also a two story townhouse) with the router being upstairs directly above my room. But it's the same behavior with my laptop, PC laptop, desktop, iPhone, etc. so I know the signal is weak and my devices are fine.
 
HazyCloud

HazyCloud

macrumors 68030
Jun 30, 2010
2,779
37
If you are indeed only getting 2 bars at other places, there's a chance you may need to exchange your iPad mini. There's a thread here about issues with the Wi-Fi chip.
 
A

Anthonym.noto

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 20, 2013
6
0
My roommates ipad 2's wifi is always three bars downstairs and never fluctuates. That's the same story with my roommates galaxy s3. My apartment is very small as it is directly across the university. How do I explain this to genius when it rarely acts up at the apple store?
 
SnowLeopard2008

SnowLeopard2008

macrumors 604
Jul 4, 2008
6,772
17
Silicon Valley
Anthonym.noto said:
My roommates ipad 2's wifi is always three bars downstairs and never fluctuates. That's the same story with my roommates galaxy s3. My apartment is very small as it is directly across the university. How do I explain this to genius when it rarely acts up at the apple store?
Click to expand...

What I'd do is take a video. Start with being close to the router and clearly show it's 3 bars full strength on the mini. Then walk downstairs or wherever location that isn't far away at all and clearly show it's fluctuating/low bars on the mini. Maybe at the same time, get a shot of your roommate's iPad 2 for comparison.

Edit: I think if you got a shot of the WiFi settings screen on both your roommate's iPad 2 and your mini to show that they are both on the same WiFi network. Then get a shot of the bars to show that your mini is clearly not getting as good a signal as the iPad 2. And show this video to the Genius.
 
A

Anthonym.noto

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 20, 2013
6
0
SnowLeopard2008 said:
What I'd do is take a video. Start with being close to the router and clearly show it's 3 bars full strength on the mini. Then walk downstairs or wherever location that isn't far away at all and clearly show it's fluctuating/low bars on the mini. Maybe at the same time, get a shot of your roommate's iPad 2 for comparison.

Edit: I think if you got a shot of the WiFi settings screen on both your roommate's iPad 2 and your mini to show that they are both on the same WiFi network. Then get a shot of the bars to show that your mini is clearly not getting as good a signal as the iPad 2. And show this video to the Genius.
Click to expand...

Thank you that actually sounds like a good plan. I'll go ahead and do that. My last concern is if I get a second mini and I have the same problem. I have heard that a lot through numerous other posts.
 
E

Essenar

macrumors 6502a
Oct 24, 2008
553
186
Picture idea sounds like the best plan. Honestly my mini had wifi as good as my iPad 4.
 
D

davyvfr

macrumors regular
Sep 3, 2012
148
0
You can't compare a laptop to a Mini. My MacBook Pro 2012 has two dual-band wifi antennas which allow it to achieve technically up to 300mbps (5GHZ) under excellent conditions. My iPad 3 has a max data transfer rate of 65mbps on the 5ghz band.

In other words, you really need to compare mini to mini. I can't compare my iPhone to iPad because my iPhone 5 has a data transfer rate of 150mbps, much faster than iPad 3. Please note the Iphone 5 has a faster wifi chip so speeds will be much faster.

I would also like to mention my first iPad 3 had Wifi problems. Apple replaced it with no problems, but, it helped doing research and trying everything possible. Also, iPad 2 and Mini have the same Wifi chipset so speeds should be nearly identical.

1) Restore Router to default settings
2) Enable/Disable QOS, Enable/Disable WMM (these settings are normally found under the router admin settings)
3) Update Router Firmware
4) Restart Modem/Router
5) Restore iPad from iTunes new
6) Reset Network Settings
7) Tested with different Routers
8) Changed DNS to Google DNS/Open DNS
9) Tested on 5GHZ/2.4GHZ band
10) Compare to another iPad, BOTH on Wifi (same network and same band)
11) Moved Close to Router
12) Turn off Bluetooth (reported to fix slow Wifi issues, in my case, it didn't)
13) Contacted ISP and plugged MacBook in direct connect to achieve fast wifi (compare speeds)
14) Test iPad on Wireless N/B/G
15) Hard Reset and iPad Restart
16) Turn Wifi On/Off
17) Disable Wifi Security
18) Try different router channels instead of autoscan (each one individually, 5GHZ and 2.4GHZ)
 
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A

Anthonym.noto

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 20, 2013
6
0
davyvfr said:
You can't compare a laptop to a Mini. My MacBook Pro 2012 has two dual-band wifi antennas which allow it to achieve technically up to 300mbps (5GHZ) under excellent conditions. My iPad 3 has a max data transfer rate of 65mbps on the 5ghz band.

In other words, you really need to compare mini to mini. I can compare my iPhone to iPad because my iPhone 5 has a data transfer rate of 150mbps, much faster than iPad 3. Please note the Iphone 5 has a faster wifi chip so speeds will be much faster.
Click to expand...

I agree with you; however, I am comparing my mini to an ipad 2. Ipad 2 has an excellent connection given the same circumstances. Did you notice a difference in your new ipad 3?
 
D

davyvfr

macrumors regular
Sep 3, 2012
148
0
Anthonym.noto said:
I agree with you; however, I am comparing my mini to an ipad 2. Ipad 2 has an excellent connection given the same circumstances. Did you notice a difference in your new ipad 3?
Click to expand...

Most certainly, night and day. I messed up by waiting though, thinking it would be fixed by software, which was not the case. Please see my suggestions in my original comment. I used that criteria and they didn't even question me. The more testing you do on your end, the better it works out in the end.
 
A

Anthonym.noto

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 20, 2013
6
0
davyvfr said:
Most certainly, night and day. I messed up by waiting though, thinking it would be fixed by software, which was not the case. Please see my suggestions in my original comment. I used that criteria and they didn't even question me. The more testing you do on your end, the better it works out in the end.
Click to expand...

I have literally checked through every point of your criteria besides the different router and the 5 ghz option as my router is strictly 2.4 ghz. I found that changing the channel of my wifi helped alleviate some of the wifi connectivity problems. But it is ridiculous that I am 10 yards away from my router and cannot maintain a full connection for more than 10 seconds. Thanks for the help btw.
 
D

davyvfr

macrumors regular
Sep 3, 2012
148
0
Anthonym.noto said:
I have literally checked through every point of your criteria besides the different router and the 5 ghz option as my router is strictly 2.4 ghz. I found that changing the channel of my wifi helped alleviate some of the wifi connectivity problems. But it is ridiculous that I am 10 yards away from my router and cannot maintain a full connection for more than 10 seconds. Thanks for the help btw.
Click to expand...

You most likely have a problem with the iPad. In my case, and in most cases, they run a quick diagnostic on the iPad under Safari. They can tell every step performed on the iPad. Likewise, they could confirm I reset my iPad prior to going to the appointment. And in your case, you shouldn't have to ask permission to go to the persons router and change their channels. The device should just work.

Finally, make sure to bring a list of all the things you did to fix the issue. This is by far the best thing I ever did walking into an Apple appointment. With this key piece of information, you will not be proved wrong and they likely won't ask you questions on things you have already tried.
 
A

AppleRobert

macrumors 603
Nov 12, 2012
5,726
1,132
The wifi at Apple stores screams. So much so I don't do updates or installs anywhere else especially with large files.

It doesn't matter if I get three bars at B&N, Starbucks, etc. etc. because my Mini in those places compared to Apple stores isn't optimal so I'll live with it.
 
A

Alundra

macrumors regular
Dec 31, 2012
186
10
I've bought an Ipad mini last week and I had exactly the same problem with weak wi-fi signal, that was until i jailbroke it and used an wi-fi booster hack on it, now its on par with my laptop and samsung galaxy note 2.
 
charlituna

charlituna

macrumors G3
Jun 11, 2008
9,636
816
Los Angeles, CA
Anthonym.noto said:
The router is upstairs, well when I go down downstairs my wifi is two bars (10mbps download) and the speed test shows its half the strength of my speed test on my mini when it's upstairs (25 Mbps).
Click to expand...

Walls and distance can diminish wifi strength, that could be all that is going on in your house given that it sounds like your connection is fine when you are upstairs. At coffee shops etc its not uncommon for connections to be throttled as a way to prevent squatters hanging out for ages.

That said you could always grab your box etc and try to nicely get the manager to let you exchange it even though you are past 14 days. I've been able to get a few exceptions over the years by being very polite and asking before it was more than 30 days.
 
HazyCloud

HazyCloud

macrumors 68030
Jun 30, 2010
2,779
37
Yeah, I'd try taking it to Apple. That's probably your best bet.
 
Last edited:
temna

temna

macrumors 6502a
May 5, 2008
713
410
Odd, I had a similar issue with an iPhone 4S last night. iOS 6.0.?. I was trying to upgrade to iOS 6.1. Had to be within two feet of the router, but then I upgraded to the latest (6.1.2?). Now my wifi issues are gone. Is your mini fully upgraded?
 
A

Anthonym.noto

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 20, 2013
6
0
Yeah it is fully upgraded. I was hoping that the update would fix the wifi issues, but that wasn't the purpose of the 6.1.2 update.
 
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