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Sireno87

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 7, 2012
10
0
Hello. I am having problems with both wifi connectivity and signal strength on my home network with the iPhone 5. On other wifi networks it seems fine, when brought in to the apple store it worked fine there and the hardware checked out okay. I reset the iPhone 5 and also its' network settings. I tried turning off encryption and making it an open network with no difference. Also I tried changing channels of the router, updating firmware, and resetting both the cable modem and router multiple times with no luck. I am using a Linksys WRT54G modem that seems perhaps around 5 years old at least. I asked on the Linksys forum and they suggested I buy a newer router. Do I have any other options? What router should I get? I don't want to pay a lot of money for it, up to $40 if I can help it. I would be happy buying a used router as long as it works well.

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. Thank you.
 

Fattytail

macrumors 6502a
Apr 11, 2012
902
242
Are the other devices on your router working OK? If so, I'd head to an Apple store. They're usually good about exchanges if you explain your dilemma.
 

Sireno87

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 7, 2012
10
0
All that typing and u haven't told us exactly what doesn't it do?

As stated in my first post: I am having problems with both wifi connectivity and signal strength on my home network with the iPhone 5.

To explain on this I mean the signal is week and unstable going from full bars to 1 bar in the same place. Other places in my home where the bars are full on apple laptop computers there is no signal on the iPhone.

I went to the applestore and they said to call tech support and troubleshoot my network at home where it seems to be the problem. I called, and they told me to change settings on router and try things out. I did, and no luck. Should I go back to the Apple store or what? Should I bring the router with me?
 

John T

macrumors 68020
Mar 18, 2006
2,114
6
UK.
I use an Airport Extreme and there is no difference in speed between my iMac and my iPhone. So, my advice is treat yourself to a decent router. :)
 
Last edited:

Megalobyte

macrumors 6502a
Dec 30, 2007
690
119
Florida
The 5 does seem to have weaker wifi range and performance than the 4/4s. A good router will help a lot. But, not a $40 one. :)

If you really want to see a difference, go to bestbuy and get an Asus RT-N66r dual band gigabit, about 150. See if it solves your problem. If not, you can always return it.

I had very poor wifi performance on my 5 and my wife's too, using my 3 year old $79 linksys N router. Bought the Asus, problems are 99% solved.

IMO, the 5's need help with getting a good wifi signal, a good, powerful router does that.

The Apple AirPort Extreme would likely also vastly improve things.

The Asus also improved wifi performance on all of our wireless devices, noticeably.

A powerful router is very nice to have, especially when you have lots of wireless devices in your house all sharing your signal. Of course since I'm a nut, I put everything on the 5 ghz band, while I have only my iphone on 2.4. :) I'm very selfish that way. (My wife and son in a million years would never know or care about which band they connect to.) The 5ghz has enough range for everything in the house, my iphone on 2.4 has a little more range, so I can keep a signal outside my house too, I realize I can connect to 2.4 and 5 simultaneously, but I find my wifi is more reliable and consistent when I set it up to run separately.


No, I shouldn't need to buy a new router, but I kind of needed a better one anyway. :) Between 3 iPhones, an iPad, a touch, a wifi TV, 3 networked TiVos, 3 laptops, a desktop and 2 wireless printers, yes, I was ok investing 150 in a decent router. :)
 
Last edited:

lelisa13p

macrumors 68000
Mar 6, 2009
1,946
47
Atlanta, GA USA
I'm using the same router that you use and everything is fine with my iPhone 5, along with 4 laptops and an iPad 4. Before the iOS upgrade to v.6.0.1, I was having trouble keeping the wifi connected but since upgrading the iPhone 5 when the update was released everything has been perfect. No drops and always connected.

Do you have the newest version of iOS 6 installed?
 

lelisa13p

macrumors 68000
Mar 6, 2009
1,946
47
Atlanta, GA USA
The op should also at least see if he's running his router's current firmware.

You have to be very careful about upgrading firmware in that router. Check the version of the router itself and match firmware accordingly or trouble comes. I wouldn't bother with upgrading it. BTDT. :(
 

Sireno87

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 7, 2012
10
0
The router's firmware version is: v1.02.8 which I believe I upgraded correctly according to the model and serial number on the back of the router.

I am looking at used Apple Airport Express routers on ebay. Which model should I go for? Do I need the newest rendition?
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
I dont think its your router.
My i5 is the only device giving me connection issues and either very slow or no data at all.
Does it to multiple different brands and types of routers and seems to be the only device with issue where everything else connects fine.
Others getting iphone 5 replacements from Apple experience the same.
Im going to wait a while to go get it replaced cause 6.0.1 didnt make any difference.
The only thing that always seems to work is if I turn off the iphone and start it back on. Then it connects and pulls data fine.
I go to another location a few hours later and I gotta do the same to connect and use wifi again.
Its about 5-6 restarts a day for me.
 

ferganer

macrumors newbie
Dec 7, 2012
14
0
I am also seeing slow Wi-Fi connection. All my other devices are working OK on the same router.
 

canuckle

macrumors regular
Dec 18, 2011
137
1
The 5 does seem to have weaker wifi range and performance than the 4/4s. A good router will help a lot. But, not a $40 one. :)

If you really want to see a difference, go to bestbuy and get an Asus RT-N66r dual band gigabit, about 150. See if it solves your problem. If not, you can always return it.

I had very poor wifi performance on my 5 and my wife's too, using my 3 year old $79 linksys N router. Bought the Asus, problems are 99% solved.

IMO, the 5's need help with getting a good wifi signal, a good, powerful router does that.

The Apple AirPort Extreme would likely also vastly improve things.

The Asus also improved wifi performance on all of our wireless devices, noticeably.

A powerful router is very nice to have, especially when you have lots of wireless devices in your house all sharing your signal. Of course since I'm a nut, I put everything on the 5 ghz band, while I have only my iphone on 2.4. :) I'm very selfish that way. (My wife and son in a million years would never know or care about which band they connect to.) The 5ghz has enough range for everything in the house, my iphone on 2.4 has a little more range, so I can keep a signal outside my house too, I realize I can connect to 2.4 and 5 simultaneously, but I find my wifi is more reliable and consistent when I set it up to run separately.


No, I shouldn't need to buy a new router, but I kind of needed a better one anyway. :) Between 3 iPhones, an iPad, a touch, a wifi TV, 3 networked TiVos, 3 laptops, a desktop and 2 wireless printers, yes, I was ok investing 150 in a decent router. :)

IF you end up looking at a new router as a solution, I can second the opinion that the above mentioned ASUS is an excellent router, and also made my wifi environment more stable, faster, and provided far better signal strength to all devices. Considering I have a total of 16+ devices connected at any one time, that is an accomplishment. Also, very easy to set up and update. YMMV.
 

aphexacid

macrumors 6502a
Jul 31, 2007
936
22
Chicago
I wouldn't buy a new router. I believe it's a software issue. I'm on my 4th iPhone 5 (various other problems) and the wifi with my rt-n56u is terrible. I get erratic and slow speed only with my iPhone 5.

Yes it's true that its ok with other routers, but apple needs to figure out what's wrong, so it can play nice with all routers.

If you must, I can tell you that my brother in law has a TPLINK router that works perfect. Very cheap on newegg
 

Nale72

macrumors regular
Nov 13, 2012
216
0
Sweden
So everything else still works great on wi-fi and the iPhone 5 is the only thing not working, but Apple store and everyone here (almost) are saying it's not the phone, it's the router?

Maybe this is one more thing they should inform when buying a new iPhone 5, that you might have to buy a new wireless router also (and not a cheap one). Although, it's not the phone, it's your old equipment that's faulty (but only when using it with an iPhone 5).

I remember having similar problems when we bought a Windows Vista laptop where we had horrible wi-fi problems. It turned out they had activated some function that wasn't compatible with most older routers and when you turned that off it worked fine. No such problems with win 7, so I guess they learned something from the Vista experience. Let's see if Apple learns from this.
 

chambone

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2011
969
25
Netherlands
Could very well be an interference issue. If there's a wifi issue with whatever device, the very first thing to check is what wifi channel your router is set to, and what channels are being used by other people in your street. Especially your next-door neighbours.
 

sim667

macrumors 65816
Dec 7, 2010
1,390
2,915
I have the same problem, on something called a virgin media homehub.... the worst router of all time.

I splashed out on a wrt300n ages ago before I got this iphone 5 with the idea of putting it on DDWRT but it was misold and I cant put DDWRT.

Im not buying another router out of principle, my iphone will just have to have slow wifi at home.

TBH though the battery life is so crap, that putting wifi on kills it.
 

Megalobyte

macrumors 6502a
Dec 30, 2007
690
119
Florida
So everything else still works great on wi-fi and the iPhone 5 is the only thing not working, but Apple store and everyone here (almost) are saying it's not the phone, it's the router?

Maybe this is one more thing they should inform when buying a new iPhone 5, that you might have to buy a new wireless router also (and not a cheap one). Although, it's not the phone, it's your old equipment that's faulty (but only when using it with an iPhone 5).

I remember having similar problems when we bought a Windows Vista laptop where we had horrible wi-fi problems. It turned out they had activated some function that wasn't compatible with most older routers and when you turned that off it worked fine. No such problems with win 7, so I guess they learned something from the Vista experience. Let's see if Apple learns from this.

I for one am not claiming the 5 isn't at fault, I know it is, my 4s works fine where the 5 didn't.

What I'm saying is, getting a quality router, something I'm glad I did irrespective of the phone, as it improved my entire home network, will very likely change your 5's wifi performance from unacceptable to acceptable. It was the 5 that motivated me to get a good router, but I'm really glad I did for lots of reasons not related to the 5.
 

matneh

macrumors regular
Apr 2, 2008
123
0
Here's what worked for me: change the channel width to 20 MHz only.

From http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4199:

Use 20 MHz channels in the 2.4 GHz band. Using 40 MHz channels in the 2.4 GHz band can cause performance and reliability issues with your network, especially in the presence of other Wi-Fi networks and other 2.4 GHz devices. 40 MHz channels may also cause interference and issues with other devices that use this band, such as Bluetooth devices, cordless phones, neighboring Wi-Fi networks, and so on. Note that not all routers support 40 MHz channels, especially in the 2.4 GHz band. If they are not supported, the router will use 20 MHz channels.
 

Sireno87

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 7, 2012
10
0
Here's what worked for me: change the channel width to 20 MHz only.

From http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4199:

Use 20 MHz channels in the 2.4 GHz band. Using 40 MHz channels in the 2.4 GHz band can cause performance and reliability issues with your network, especially in the presence of other Wi-Fi networks and other 2.4 GHz devices. 40 MHz channels may also cause interference and issues with other devices that use this band, such as Bluetooth devices, cordless phones, neighboring Wi-Fi networks, and so on. Note that not all routers support 40 MHz channels, especially in the 2.4 GHz band. If they are not supported, the router will use 20 MHz channels.

As far as I can tell my router does not have this option to change. I can only change channel frequency from 1-11 which I have done.
 

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,929
3,677
These issues appear to be specific to iOS6, not any particular model of phone. Since the release of iOS6 we have had major issues with all iOS devices on our work network. I have not been able to totally solve the issue, but I can tell you one thing to try, which is to revert your router to an older version of firmware.

That may help things, but there appears to be some specific issues with iOS6 and some routers/access points.
 

Harry0620

macrumors newbie
Dec 11, 2009
26
0
Get a replacement

Hello. I am having problems with both wifi connectivity and signal strength on my home network with the iPhone 5. On other wifi networks it seems fine, when brought in to the apple store it worked fine there and the hardware checked out okay. I reset the iPhone 5 and also its' network settings. I tried turning off encryption and making it an open network with no difference. Also I tried changing channels of the router, updating firmware, and resetting both the cable modem and router multiple times with no luck. I am using a Linksys WRT54G modem that seems perhaps around 5 years old at least. I asked on the Linksys forum and they suggested I buy a newer router. Do I have any other options? What router should I get? I don't want to pay a lot of money for it, up to $40 if I can help it. I would be happy buying a used router as long as it works well.

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. Thank you.

I would suggest you get a replacement from where you bought your iphone5. My wife and I upgraded to iphone5 the same time. Her iPhone has no wifi issue at all - throughout our house with G router. But mine has weak signal and sometimes even lost connection. Long story short. Finally Verizon agreed to replace my iPhone. Since then I no loner have wifi issue. Verizon even refund my extra data charge. When I lost wifi the data is using LTE connection.

I would never thought that some iPhone will have wifi issue if I do not have two iPhone to compare side-by-side.

So go ahead ask for replacement.
 

Jason99kr

macrumors member
Nov 12, 2008
96
0
Seattle, WA, USA
Hello. I am having problems with both wifi connectivity and signal strength on my home network with the iPhone 5. On other wifi networks it seems fine, when brought in to the apple store it worked fine there and the hardware checked out okay. I reset the iPhone 5 and also its' network settings. I tried turning off encryption and making it an open network with no difference. Also I tried changing channels of the router, updating firmware, and resetting both the cable modem and router multiple times with no luck. I am using a Linksys WRT54G modem that seems perhaps around 5 years old at least. I asked on the Linksys forum and they suggested I buy a newer router. Do I have any other options? What router should I get? I don't want to pay a lot of money for it, up to $40 if I can help it. I would be happy buying a used router as long as it works well.

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. Thank you.

Seems like iPhone 5 us having issue with linksys router. For me other router works fine but I am only having connection issue with linksys router.
1. You might want to get a replacement for iPhone 5.
2. You might want to change router
3. Use wireless without password
 

glynhughes

macrumors member
Nov 12, 2008
52
0
you don't have MAC address filtering on do you? This is a feature in most routers that prevents connections to hardware items you haven't explicitly allowed.
 
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