Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Why can't it automatically detect whether there's wifi available and use 3G if not?

T

TH55

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Nov 5, 2011
3,328
152
I just realized it is completely stupid and shouldn't be necessary for me to turn wifi on and off every time I leave the house.

If I don't turn it off, the Internet doesn't work for some reason when I leave the house and am not near wifi, I'm assuming because it is waiting for a wifi signal, which doesn't make sense. It clearly has the ability to detect whether there is a signal or not so why can't it just use 3G until one becomes available?

This seems like a totally unnecessary step having to manually turn it off.
 
Leave Wi-Fi to ON and Ask to join networks to OFF. It'll connect automatically when you get home and disconnect automatically when you leave the house, and not bother you with random wifi anywhere else.
 
If your iPhone doesn't automatically switch to cellular data when it's out of wifi range, it's not operating properly.

First thing to do is to reset network settings.

Then reboot the phone.

If none of that works, I'd probably take it into an Apple Store (assuming you're close), and talk to them about it. It needs to be fixed or replaced.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Leave Wi-Fi to ON and Ask to join networks to OFF. It'll connect automatically when you get home and disconnect automatically when you leave the house, and not bother you with random wifi anywhere else.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
You dont need to turn off wifi for the carrier internet to work.
If you dont get carrier data away from wifi or you need to turn off wifi to get carrier data to work something is wrong with your iphone.
 
Jamesesesesess said:
Doesn't this drain battery quicker?
Click to expand...

I dont notice any extra battery use at all with Ask to join networks to OFF.
I always just leave wifi on and it connects automaticly at work, home, or other wifi networks I connected to before.
It doesnt constantly scan for available wifi networks to connect to. I just go to wifi if I need to check for any available wifi's.
 
Similar to op's question, it would be nice if it would auto switch to cellular when connected to wifi but the Internet isn't working. Hate having to turn wifi off when the Internet goes down.
 
TH55 said:
I just realized it is completely stupid and shouldn't be necessary for me to turn wifi on and off every time I leave the house.

If I don't turn it off, the Internet doesn't work for some reason when I leave the house and am not near wifi, I'm assuming because it is waiting for a wifi signal, which doesn't make sense. It clearly has the ability to detect whether there is a signal or not so why can't it just use 3G until one becomes available?

This seems like a totally unnecessary step having to manually turn it off.
Click to expand...

Why the hell would you turn wifi off every time you leave the house?
 
tucker3434 said:
Similar to op's question, it would be nice if it would auto switch to cellular when connected to wifi but the Internet isn't working. Hate having to turn wifi off when the Internet goes down.
Click to expand...

The iPhone 5 (or iOS6, I forgot which) now does a better job of kicking wifi off and connect to cellular faster when wifi signal is weak. Now that LTE is just as fast or faster as wifi, many people would be taken by surprise when wifi had stopped working for weeks and they blow through their data limit, not realizing it.
 
Blorzoga said:
Why the hell would you turn wifi off every time you leave the house?
Click to expand...

Did you not read my op? Because the internet doesn't work when wifi is on but no signal is present. Also, if I'm not using wifi it drains the battery to have it on.
 
TH55 said:
Did you not read my op? Because the internet doesn't work when wifi is on but no signal is present. Also, if I'm not using wifi it drains the battery to have it on.
Click to expand...

If you have to turn off your wifi in order for your phone to recognize a cellular signal, then there is something wrong with your phone and you should return it. If you are so worried about battery drain because you have wifi turned on, you should invest in a spare charging cable and make an appointment with a therapist.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
I took the OP's "no signal is present" to mean internet is down. If the router has signal, the iPhone is going to remain connected but nothing will load if internet is down.
Click to expand...

Gotcha.

Mine does the same, unfortunately. We have Charter, which is the best of the bad options here, and have an outage probably every few months. Short, maybe an hour or two, but still maddening. They're still the best in the area. :(
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
I took the OP's "no signal is present" to mean internet is down. If the router has signal, the iPhone is going to remain connected but nothing will load if internet is down.
Click to expand...

Well, if you are connected but have a super, super weak signal, then there is a high chance of the internet not loading, etc. because of extreme packet loss.

A good example is when you are getting in your car and leaving.... depending on your house etc., at the end of your driveway you may just barely be connected to your WiFi still, but at that time if you try to load a webpage for example, it will not work - or take a longer time. Driving off to the end of the road should automatically kick you off WiFi and load through cellular data though. If it's not doing that - then the phone is defective.
 
TH55 said:
Did you not read my op? Because the internet doesn't work when wifi is on but no signal is present. NORMAL BEHAVIOUR

Also, if I'm not using wifi it drains the battery to have it on. WRONG
Click to expand...

Try being a little less hostile, you might get more help. IF you're connected to a wifi network, AND the internet is not functional via that WIFI network, you will not get internet on your phone. Nor would you with any other device connected to that network, laptop/iphone/ipad/etc. So in that case, turning off the wifi network gets you on the net.

May not be related to your issue, but be aware that if you join a public hotspot that requires you to sign in via a web browser, the network gets remembered. Next time you're in range, the iPhone will connect to that network but you may have to go to the browser and sign in again before having data connectivity.
 
Applejuiced said:
Exactly.
You dont need to turn off wifi for the carrier internet to work.
If you dont get carrier data away from wifi or you need to turn off wifi to get carrier data to work something is wrong with your iphone.
Click to expand...

What about when I'm at home and it says wifi is connected but a page is not loading, presumably because the Internet connection is stalling or went out temporarily. Should it then automatically switch to cellular and resume loading the page?

As of now, when this happens it does not, and I have to turn off wifi in settings for it to switch to cellular data.
 
No, it doesn't compare internet connectivity. All it knows is whether or not it's in range of your WiFi network and what the coverage of your network is like. If your WiFi coverage is good and your internet connectivity is poor then you'd have to manually switch. I'd suggest fixing your internet connectivity but it's also possible that you're experiencing what you're experiencing because you're at the fringe of your WiFi coverage but not out of coverage enough for it to switch over to your carrier.

Canuckle really said the same thing, basically.
 
Ok gotcha, thanks. Good to know it's not my phone and just my Internet
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back