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To be honest I hope someone just figures out if the problem is either hardware or software based so I know if I have to return my phone or not. I have yet to hear of anyone returning their phone and not having the issue any more.
As I said earlier i had the problem and returned my iphone for a new one and the wifi issues went away. Before you return yours try restoring yours through itunes and setting up as new.
 
for what it's worth, no wifi issues at all here. 100/10 cable, AEBS, 5GHz N, about 20 feet from the base station.
speedtest-wifi-iphone5.png


oddly enough, my phone gets better upload speeds than my desktop.
2206687227.png
 
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Software issue and possible fix

Hi All,

I've also been suffering from very slow and unreliable wifi on my new iPhone 5 but ALSO on my previously reliable iPad 3 after I upgraded it to iOS 6.

I'm using two airport extremes at home and have had previously excellent wifi service throughout my home. My Macs and PC are also still performing perfectly.

Ergo it's iOS6.

After looking on the net in various forums a lot of folk seem to be suffering the same problem. Some including me, have fixed it by turning off their routers N capability. Strange but true. After turning the Airport Extremes to a, b and g only and power cycling my iOS devices all is performing well! :)

I hope this helps.

Best, Rob
 
DATA POINT:

So I went to Apple Store today and showed them the video of comparison tests I posted earlier along with all other things that were happening since Friday. They swapped my phone for a new one and I did a few tests at home and it looks good so far. Now I am restoring from my backup and will see tonight how well does it go. My old phone used to work well sometimes during the day (or non peak hours) but very bad in the night, as I posted earlier. If this phone works fine during the night, then I guess problem is solved and was hardware related in my case.

I have spent hours of troubleshooting and still haven't been able to come to a conclusion. This is perhaps one of the most confusing troubleshooting I have ever done, probably due to a mix of hardware and software both issues.

To all others who are having similar problem, go to the Apple Store and give them some evidence. They didn't replace my phone in the first meeting. But today, since I gave them multiple evidences, even though they were not able to replicate the problem, they replaced the phone. So record a video and give them some evidence.
 
Hey guys, possible solution:

After swapping different brands of routers, trying all kinds of wifi security protocols, iPhone setting resets and reboots, I discovered that the actual issue was the my company was using the public Google DNS servers for our internet (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4). I pointed my phone to the default comcast business DNS for our area and BLAMO, speeds are back to normal. This was definitely the issue for my phone, not sure why.

Tim
 
My 5 was getting half the wifi speeds of my iPad and 4S both running iOS 6. I reset network settings last night and it seems to have worked for wifi. However, there is a weird thing that happens every morning at school on the cellular side of things. The phone has full bars when I get to school and sit in class. Over about 30 minutes or so I lose about a bar every 5 or 6 minutes until it shows no bars. Previously I thought that I literally had no service, and restarted the phone and all was well for the rest of the day. Today when it got to no bars I tried opening web pages and apps and everything was normal like I was connected to cellular data. I even ran a speed test (see attached). Even though I was connected to cellular data it was like the phone didn't recognize it. It ran my battery down over 15% in the 30 minutes like it was trying to find a signal even though it was already connected. Really weird behavior. Does this all sound like a software issue or is it hardware?
 

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So I restored from dfu in iTunes and my battery usage seems a lot better but I can no longer get decent speed on wifi. So once again I restored from iTunes this time without going into dfu, restored from iCloud and my wifi issues went away completely. Not sure how the battery life is as of yet. This is a software issues!
 
So it seems like the replacement didn't do the trick for me. Everything was fine until now with the replaced device. But now it again started behaving exactly same as my last phone. This happens only during night when my internet is slow in general (probably due to peak hours of usage). But this is not acceptable! I don't wanna say that the replaced device being is also faulty. That should be a rare case. So I am concluding this as a software issue now. But it still doesn't explain much coz I am not able to replicate this problem nor narrow it down to somethinge except slow speeds at nights! :mad:
 
Some key factors that I've been noticing is that the upload speed is dead on. This is easily indicated when in cases the upload speed is faster than the download speed when we all know that should never happen. Also during certain speed tests it would completely stall mid test then finish with a low number.
 
My Apple store did not want to swap out my 5 today for me to troubleshoot. The tech told me to buy a cheap router from Walmart and test that. I tried to show him all the graphs from Speedtest.net, but he had no interest in it whatsoever and didn't seem to listen to me. The poor wifi speed happened just outside the glass front of the store, so I rushed back in after having just been dismissed a minute earlier and he had already disappeared. Another employee called him for me and he came out said he was already punched out for the day, but would take care of me, whispered something to the scheduler girl about it having to be my router and said "sorry I have to go". The scheduler girl didn't say anything to me and I followed the dude to the front of the store thinking he was going to see my signal thing first hand and instead the guy hunched down and stormed out from the store and immediately exiting the mall without looking at me. WTF?!?! I went back into the store to the scheduler girl and she said "I don't have another opening for 50 minutes". I spent all of 5 minutes with the dude that wouldn't listen. I'm really upset about these geniuses and the fact I was talked to like I don't know what I am talking about (evidence in hand too they wouldn't even look at). I am an IT engineer and didn't appreciate how I was sized up. That guy just wanted to go home. Why the heck I was setup with someone at the end of their shift is impossible to fathom. I think I am going to complain to Apple corporate. Nothing is solved although I have a case # now.

I guess I go to Walmart and buy a cheap router now?
 
I was able to swap mine out at the apple store fairly easily. Genius did some hardware tests said nothing came up. Said I should do the reset network settings thing I said I had done that already and he said alright I'll swap it out.

My wi-fi has been much better now. Also my cell reception bars have improved too. Don't know if it's hardware or software but I'm happier now. Also my replacement was in slightly better condition than my slightly scuffed original.
 
New iP5 16GB "Oct 5" shipment. After a restore, I could place the phone on a table aproximately 25 ft from a Netgear N600 router and watch the network connection symbol flicker back and forth between the wifi fan symbol and the 4G or LTE symbol. I diabled LTE and got the same thing. If I looked at the WIFI settings screen I could see it flick back and forth between my wifi network and disconnected. I got my wife's iP5 16GB and laid it beside mine. Same thing. This is not hardware; it is firmware or other such programming. I am not going to waste my time taking them to a Genius bar.

Like others, I believe this has something to do with the code that switches the reception between wifi and cellular when the wifi signal declines and/or WPA settings. I started looking for ways to increase my router's signal. I came across http://www.ehow.com/info_12171295_low-signal-problems-netgear-n600.html

I ended up disabling the SSID broadcast for my G and N protocols Since then, the problem has gone away and my connections are much more solid. Whether this is legit or a red herring I don't know. But it may be worth a shot. Hopefully Apple will get their netcode ironed out to be more robust in busy environments.

BTW, our iP4's, iPad2, Ipad3, (and iPad, but iOS5.1)) all work fine with iOS6 in our house. Nintendo DS's and laptops also work fine. The two new iP5s are the only items that are having heartburn with the network.
 
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Just got done doing a DFU restore and set up as new on my white 16GB GSM iPhone 5. The results are actually good! Speed test app results have doubled and they are now above upload speeds. I will post again if this changes.
 
Recorded a video of me not being able to connect to known networks. And a very weak signal. Anyone else having this issue? If not I will return my phone


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGFCTjt8s74&feature=youtube_gdata_player
 
Same issue!

I have a 16gb black Iphone 5 from the first batch. I noticed that the WIFI wouldn't work AT ALL! 48 hours straight of this, and finally went to the apple store this morning. Of course the phone works on Apple's WIFI, but that is probably because it is not secure. They think it was a bad batch of phones that have this glitch, it has something to do with secured networks. They replaced my phone for a brand new one. The new one works perfect.

It is NOT a software issue, its the phone. I would suggest getting a replacement.

----------

No, i had to fight with an apple employee today also to get a replacement! They don't see the issue because the phones work on their unsecured wifi. I called bullish% on them and thank the lord another employee overheard my troubles and had the same issue with his Iphone 5. He told me that apple is aware of it, and apparently it is the PHONE, not the router or software or firmware. He gave me a replacement and the new one works perfect. Don't take no for an answer! You got one of the bad phones like I did






My Apple store did not want to swap out my 5 today for me to troubleshoot. The tech told me to buy a cheap router from Walmart and test that. I tried to show him all the graphs from Speedtest.net, but he had no interest in it whatsoever and didn't seem to listen to me. The poor wifi speed happened just outside the glass front of the store, so I rushed back in after having just been dismissed a minute earlier and he had already disappeared. Another employee called him for me and he came out said he was already punched out for the day, but would take care of me, whispered something to the scheduler girl about it having to be my router and said "sorry I have to go". The scheduler girl didn't say anything to me and I followed the dude to the front of the store thinking he was going to see my signal thing first hand and instead the guy hunched down and stormed out from the store and immediately exiting the mall without looking at me. WTF?!?! I went back into the store to the scheduler girl and she said "I don't have another opening for 50 minutes". I spent all of 5 minutes with the dude that wouldn't listen. I'm really upset about these geniuses and the fact I was talked to like I don't know what I am talking about (evidence in hand too they wouldn't even look at). I am an IT engineer and didn't appreciate how I was sized up. That guy just wanted to go home. Why the heck I was setup with someone at the end of their shift is impossible to fathom. I think I am going to complain to Apple corporate. Nothing is solved although I have a case # now.

I guess I go to Walmart and buy a cheap router now?
 
I know my router isn't that great and in the one area of my house I spend the most time after work (by the TV) the signal isn't stellar. Here's a comparison video showing my old iPhone 4 on the left against my new iPhone 5 on the right testing the speed in this area of the house.

iPhone 4 VS iPhone 5 Wifi Speed Test Using Speedtest.net

And there you have it... iPhone 5 obviously is less able to handle the signal in that 'fringe area' inside my house. If I test both phones 5ft from the router the speeds are great, as expected though the iPhone 5 ALWAYS tests slightly slower on the download (upload the same) compared to the iPhone 4.

Thanks kdraw1213 for sharing your experience. I am going to schedule another Genius Bar meeting and hopefully get the swap. I still am flabbergasted at how I was treated there. :(
 
Are both your old devices and new using the same 2.4ghz network or is your ip5 using the newer 5ghz? The reason I ask is because the 5ghz has weaker wall penetration than the lower frequencies so will have more dead areas.

Also to those seeing slower speeds at night in peak usage hours. You do realise this is when your ISP sees the most contention. Chances are if you did the speed test from a desktop you would see similar speeds. Another reason is the wireless becomes more messy at these times as more people use their wireless, cordless phones and other devices on the 2.4ghz spectrum. Switching to use the 5ghz spectrum can help this as its less congested.

Try using a dual band router. Also one capable of handling the multiple streams the ip5 supports. I use the linksys ea3500 with great results.
 
Brought my iPhone 5 home last night, getting 108KB/s down and 1595KB/s up.

This is on a Apple router (latest one) when my 4S is getting 2,000KB/s down and up, my Nexus 7 table and laptops are getting similar results. The home broadband is capable of 6,000KB/s down and 2,000KB/s up.

NOT HAPPY after spending £700!

Also makes no difference on either 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequencies.

I'll not wast my time unplug/reseting my router; backup and restore my phone. WIFI has been on the 1st iPhone, there is no reason for it not working on a 6th generation device or the 6th version of the software. :mad:
 

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Router issue ? Non Apple Router or Apple Router ?

Are any of you guys using the New AirportExpress router, and having the same issues with WiFi ? Or using the Airport Extreme ?
 
I reset my network settings and logged back into my WIFI. I am getting fast speeds once again.. I am certain this is a software issue.
 
I reset my network settings and logged back into my WIFI. I am getting fast speeds once again.. I am certain this is a software issue.

I've been keeping track of the thread over at Apple support forums and the consensus is software problem I believe.
 
What is infuriating, the problem seems to affect people differently.
That tells me its a software and router thing.

I have a newer, dual band Netgear router.

When I get home from work, both my iPad 3 and iPhone 5 connect no problem, strong bars and everything.

It just doesn't get any internet. It just spins and spins.

I can renew my lease, no change.
I can reboot my modem and router, no change.
Connect to the 5GB or normal band, no change.

The only thing that works is rebooting the device.
Then everything works like before.

Both devices are on iOS6 of course.
 
Infuriating is right! I can't decide to raise a stink at the Apple store again and push for the replacement phone or upgrade to a router that works better (or do both). If it is a software issue manifested by signal magnitude, then I want a good strong-signalled router. Please share some recommendations. The D-Link DIR-655 I use it like 6 years old now and isn't a very strong signal where I need it most in the house anyway.
 
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