iPad Mini: My Mini is getting a weaker wifi connection than my iPhone 5 and iPad 3

[Jacoblee23]

It keeps dropping signal at the motel that I am staying at. It has worked fine with no problems everywhere else though. I find this odd. I already reset network settings. Do you think something is wrong with my mini or is it something to do with this connection?

[jimbo1mcm]

You're holding it wrong!!! ( sorry, couldn't resist!!). I have found that in hotels, the internet is okay at 5 in the morning and earlier, but as soon as everyone wakes up, it goes down the tube. If you think you have a problem, run Speedtest.net on both of your devices and compare. Good luck.

[simplydat]

Originally Posted by Jacoblee23

It keeps dropping signal at the motel that I am staying at. It has worked fine with no problems everywhere else though. I find this odd. I already reset network settings. Do you think something is wrong with my mini or is it something to do with this connection?

Just got my iPad Mini today. I have the same issue! WiFi performance has been very inconsistent on the iPad Mini. I was watching videos on youtube and noticed the videos were either loading very slow or not loading at all... I immediately did a bunch of speed tests on the same spot for iPhone 4, iPad 2 and iPad Mini and saw a big difference in WiFi performance.

iPad 2 consistently scores ~ 15Mbps
iPhone 4 consistently scores ~ 12Mbps
iPad Mini running iOS 6.0.1 scores~ 3 - 9 Mbps

Did Apple decide to slap on a cheaper/inferior WiFi radio chip on the iPad Minis? Or did I pick up one from a bad batch?

----------------------------------------------------------
Did a little bit more testing, I noticed the WiFi performance is a lot worse on the iPad Mini when holding it in comparison to leaving it on the table. Perhaps it's the case of design issue again similar to the initial batch of iPhone 4?

[clyde2801]

Do your minis have 6.0.1? Have you tried upgrading to it yet?

[simplydat]

It is running 6.0.1

[cfs112]

my iPad mini is also having wifi connection issues. tested it at a friends apt this weekend. spotty wifi, disconnected often. at home it connects but the speed is dial-up slow! it's definitely not my modem as all macbook pros connected to it are fine, my iphone 5 connects fine with great speed. my friends brought over an ipad 1 and 2 and they both have great wifi speeds and no disconnections. i'm starting to wonder if this is an iPad mini hardware issue. Anyone else experiencing this?

[bagelmaker]

Now that you mention this I'm realizing that my mini is kind of spotty on wifi too. I've noticed it mostly at work, so I was blaming their wifi. It works well at home for me. I haven't yet tried it on any networks besides those two.

I hope this isn't a hardware problem. I really like this device and I want to be able to use it I its fullest.

[hyteckit]

I don't have the issue.

Getting the same speed on my iPad Mini as my iPhone 4S. MacBook Pro slightly faster.

[schaaf]

I'm having the same issue.

At first a modem/airport reset seemed to be the cause, but the speeds have started creeping down towards 6 megs again.

It seems really inconsistent. Same tests on MacBook Air, iMac, and iPhone 4S are consistently faster, and show a stronger signal on the wifi "pie" in the upper left corner.

I've done all the resets and network configurations recommended, and the hardware resets seem to do the trick for a while anyway, but its a pain in the ass to keep resetting your stuff - especially when I generally never have any issues with the equipment.

[sunrisemusic]

I was sitting at a bar yesterday next to a friend, his iPad 3 had a better signal than my mini. The mini signal sometimes dropped down to 1 bar, and in the beginning couldn't find the connection (I had to move to get it). I was there the week before with my MBAir in the same spot and the signal was fine.

[cfs112]

I can confirm that my iPad mini is also suffering from slower wifi speeds. I have tested this out with an iPad 3 and iPhone 5. I spent nearly 3 hours yesterday trying all the diagnostic steps, reset my router, modem, and on iPad mini resetting network connection, etc. I will be going to the Apple store today and see if its a hardware issue and get a replacement to test out again. I've been seeing on other threads that other users have reported this too, but its split as some work fine.

[freejack]

Same here. Compared against my iphone5 and ipad2. Both were noticeably faster. The mini would constantly lose the wifi connection. This problem is not an issue if you are close to an access point but the mini has a lot less range. Starting to think something is amiss here.

[cfs112]

Originally Posted by freejack

Same here. Compared against my iphone5 and ipad2. Both were noticeably faster. The mini would constantly lose the wifi connection. This problem is not an issue if you are close to an access point but the mini has a lot less range. Starting to think something is amiss here.

agreed. there's talk that this is also an issue in the iPad 4.

[cfs112]

Ok, update: went to the Apple store today and they replaced my iPad mini with the wifi issues with a brand new one. went home, tried it again and now I'm getting wifi speeds faster than what I would get from my iPhone 5! I guess for me it was a hardware issue with the iPad I got. Perhaps some of the first batches of the mini were somehow defective with their wifi antennas? So I suggest, if you're having wifi problems with your iPad mini and you got one from the first day batch then definitely get it replaced with a new one and try again.

[hekokimushi]

then i shall cancel my order. it is not yet shipped

[joelw87]

as soon as i turned my mini on.... I could see I had a problem with wifi reception.

in the same room as my wireless router I get 2 bars.... thats never happened on anything before!


gutted really, how could apple get such a simple thing wrong.

[siritalks]

Can someone clarify how big of a widespread problem this is? Is it a problem with all of them, or just a few batches?

[dlewis23]

No issues here on my mini. They are always within about 1 Mbps of each other.

[kappaknight]

I've noticed my mini's wifi reception seem weaker than the other devices; not sure if I'm imagining it though. No dropped signals yet.

[Croneberg]

Got my iPad Mini today and was testing the Wifi on it. My results are, that the iPad Mini is faster as long as its close to the router. Being in the same room as the router I'm getting 30 MBit/s up and down on 2.4GHz and up to 70 Mbit/s up and down on 5GHz. Thats a WHOLE lot faster than my iPhone 4!
But as soon as I'm in the living room, where the signal has to pass through 3 walls, I'm down to 1-2 Mbit/s! Where as the iPhone 4 still gets 13 Mbit/s up and down.

Is the range of the Wifi-Chip that much smaller? I mean the speed is very acceptable for surfing the web or doing normal stuff but when downloading apps, it's a little problematic...

[Tokes Green]

No issues here, 70 - 75mb download on 5ghz network - got my brothers, my partners and my own (minis) side by side and they all run the same speeds. Also tried taking them downstairs (router is upstairs) and they stayed at a consistant 65mb dl.
Just tried this afternoon with a work colleagues iPhone 5 and the speeds were the same as the minis, even downstairs (roughly 10 meters away and through a brick wall).

All devices tested were running 6.0.1 and the router is a Asus RT-N66U.

Will try another iPhone 5 when I can.

[Croneberg]

Originally Posted by Tokes Green

No issues here, 70 - 75mb download on 5ghz network - got my brothers, my partners and my own side by side and they all run the same speeds. Also tried taking them downstairs (router is upstairs) and they stayed at a consistant 65mb dl.
Just tried this afternoon with a work colleagues iPhone 5 and the speeds were the same as the minis, even downstairs (roughly 10 meters away and through a brick wall).

All devices tested were running 6.0.1 and the router is a Asus RT-N66U.

Will try another iPhone 5 when I can.

Weird... I'm having the exact same router as you do and still the speed drops significantly as soon as there are one or more walls between the iPad and the router...

[Tokes Green]

Originally Posted by Croneberg

Weird... I'm having the exact same router as you do and still the speed drops significantly as soon as there are one or more walls between the iPad and the router...

When I first got the router I spent a bit of time postioning the antenna for the best performance - alot of trial and error! What worked best for me was having the router close to the floor because it's upstairs, and having the 2 side antenna pointing down at slight angles and the middle one pointing up, even on the 5ghz network I have full signal around the house. but the speed does drop ever so slightly

The positioning of the antenna is important to gain optimum performance, and I found it made ALOT of difference to the speeds.

Oh and just to add, the iPhone 4 is not 5ghz compatible so I'm guessing that your mini was still on the 5ghz while your iPhone was on the 2.4ghz and thats why it was still faster than your mini. Put your mini on the 2.4 and I suspect it will be the same or faster than your iP4.

[sparkomatic]

Glad I ran across this thread!

I pre-ordered and got mine on launch day. I restored from a backup of my iPad 3 and have been having the same wifi issues. Even have had issues with connecting to my phone as a hotspot. It'll connect but it's super slow even though I've got a full signal and the speed is fast on the phone.

Same thing with public wifi points. Sometimes, it's slow, then it drops, re-connects, etc.

I just reset the whole iPad mini and started from scratch. So far, it's been good but will really have to test it out this weekend and see if I might have to take it back.

I just put a BestSkinsEver on the back too...doh!

[Croneberg]

Originally Posted by Tokes Green

When I first got the router I spent a bit of time postioning the antenna for the best performance - alot of trial and error! What worked best for me was having the router close to the floor because it's upstairs, and having the 2 side antenna pointing down at slight angles and the middle one pointing up, even on the 5ghz network I have full signal around the house. but the speed does drop ever so slightly

The positioning of the antenna is important to gain optimum performance, and I found it made ALOT of difference to the speeds.

Oh and just to add, the iPhone 4 is not 5ghz compatible so I'm guessing that your mini was still on the 5ghz while your iPhone was on the 2.4ghz and thats why it was still faster than your mini. Put your mini on the 2.4 and I suspect it will be the same or faster than your iP4.

Tried to relocate the router but to no avail... Regarding the faster speeds of the Mini when being close to the router: No it was on the 2.4 GHz network. But I think the Speedtest-Apps are not really accurate as their test is finished too quickly for the 100Mbit-connection I have at home.

I'm going to try it a few days. Since the slower speeds do not hinder my surfing experience too much, I might just live with it. I am going to try out tomreset the router though. I'll let you know if it resolved the problem.

Thanks for the tips Tokes Green!