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

Wifi still disconnects randomly

iBlazed

iBlazed

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 27, 2014
1,594
1,249
New Jersey, United States
I thought 8.3 was supposed to fix wifi. It didn't fix crap. My wifi randomly decides to switch back to LTE at random times. When I go to the wifi menu, my home network is right there on the list of available networks, and I have to manually select it to make it connect again.

Totally unrelated, but my MacBook Air on 10.10.3 also many times won't connect to wifi right away when I wake it up. These people are working on a damn car but still can't master stable wifi connectivity. The software updates are placebos and don't do anything.
 
I've been experiencing this on my 6+ since day one and I agree, nothing has changed with 8.3
Mine only seems to disconnect in low signal areas but it rarely reconnects itself and I have to do so manually the vast majority of the time. The network is always there for me to reconnect to.
 
sunking101 said:
I've been experiencing this on my 6+ since day one and I agree, nothing has changed with 8.3
Mine only seems to disconnect in low signal areas but it rarely reconnects itself and I have to do so manually the vast majority of the time. The network is always there for me to reconnect to.
Click to expand...

Yep, this is identical to the way the problem manifests on my iPhone 6. Sometimes I just leave it and don't reconnect it, and eventually it'll reconnect again after a while. But if the network is there for the choosing and it easily connects to it when I choose it, apparently the areas where it disconnects aren't really that low signal and it's just too sensitive.

I think I see what Apple may have tried to do. Back on iOS 7, it used to try to hold on to wifi connection for dear life before finally switching to LTE. This had me connecting to wifi in every strip mall I passed while driving down the highway. It was extremely annoying when trying to stream music and driving. So with iOS 8, it seems that Apple may have made the wifi signal strength threshold higher so that you switch to LTE easier without disruption. Admittedly, the strip mall problem stopped since iOS 8 and my phone switches to LTE much quicker now when pulling out of my driveway. Unfortunately, it seems the threshold is now too high, because it switches to LTE when I'm in the next room from my router.
 
iBlazed said:
Yep, this is identical to the way the problem manifests on my iPhone 6. Sometimes I just leave it and don't reconnect it, and eventually it'll reconnect again after a while. But if the network is there for the choosing and it easily connects to it when I choose it, apparently the areas where it disconnects aren't really that low signal and it's just too sensitive.

I think I see what Apple may have tried to do. Back on iOS 7, it used to try to hold on to wifi connection for dear life before finally switching to LTE. This had me connecting to wifi in every strip mall I passed while driving down the highway. It was extremely annoying when trying to stream music and driving. So with iOS 8, it seems that Apple may have made the wifi signal strength threshold higher so that you switch to LTE easier without disruption. Admittedly, the strip mall problem stopped since iOS 8 and my phone switches to LTE much quicker now when pulling out of my driveway. Unfortunately, it seems the threshold is now too high, because it switches to LTE when I'm in the next room from my router.
Click to expand...

The bolded is my experience on my 5S on 8.3. It's really annoying. What I now do, I turn Wi-Fi on and off as needed using the control panel.
 
I7guy said:
The bolded is my experience on my 5S on 8.3. It's really annoying. What I now do, I turn Wi-Fi on and off as needed using the control panel.
Click to expand...

I do the same thing. When I am home, I disable cell data and turn on wifi. When I leave the house, I turn on cell data and disable wifi. I haven't noticed any problems with cell data or wifi. They both work as expected. :D
 
My wifi disconnects randomly a lot. It seems to occur most frequently when watching YouTube using the youtube app. It will disconnect, and since I have YouTube turned off for cell data, it will fail playback then I swipe up for control center toggle wifi on and off and back on again and it connects and it works just like normal. It did this on iOS 7 for me too...
 
richwoodrocket said:
My wifi disconnects randomly a lot. It seems to occur most frequently when watching YouTube using the youtube app. It will disconnect, and since I have YouTube turned off for cell data, it will fail playback then I swipe up for control center toggle wifi on and off and back on again and it connects and it works just like normal. It did this on iOS 7 for me too...
Click to expand...

You're right.

For the last few years Apple seems to have either lost their way or no longer makes reliable Wi-Fi connectivity a priority. Every year without fail it's one of the reasons I replace my year old fully optioned 15" MacBook Pro retina. Hoping that Apple will have fixed the erratic wireless performance. Traveling as I do, Wi-Fi is mission critical. In the last year my solution is to carry my thin, light, ultra reliable ThinkPad because it's Wi-Fi never fails.

Five years and five new MBPs later and Apple still struggles both with laptops and iPhones. One tiny consolation is Apple has replaced most of the units. Yet the inconvenient lost time is dreadful. The replacements have been slightly better yet not 100% reliable.

The fact that they steadfastly refuse to build in cellular connectivity when ThinkPad and other competitive brands have had it for years may indicate a level of denial, fear, or some other road block that prevents them from offering current, modern day connectivity.
 
I7guy said:
The bolded is my experience on my 5S on 8.3. It's really annoying. What I now do, I turn Wi-Fi on and off as needed using the control panel.
Click to expand...

Same on my iPhone 5. It will still try to connect to my apartment wifi when I'm sitting down at the bus stop a block or more away. I have to turn it off while waiting for the bus if I want anything to load.
 
KUguardgrl13 said:
Same on my iPhone 5. It will still try to connect to my apartment wifi when I'm sitting down at the bus stop a block or more away. I have to turn it off while waiting for the bus if I want anything to load.
Click to expand...

Apple however did fix the bug where wifi lost your password. Wifi is now as fast as 7.1.2. This particular issue, if anything is a minor annoyance.
 
I haven't had these specific issues, but ever since I got the 6+ wifi has been very slow for me most of the time. Often times I have to turn wifi off and on again because a site won't load. Also I have the issue with the phone not wanting to disconnect, many times in the morning I will get in the car and be pretty far away and it still says its connected to wifi but the internet won't work. At this point I have to cycle the wifi again and it finally switches over to LTE/4G.
 
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