iPad wireless connectivity

Johannes · 08-06-2010, 03:23 PM

Have my iPad now a number of months, and I hardly use my netbook and laptop anymore. So I'm a very happy user, except... for this lousy wifi connectivity.

Most of the time, my iPad fails to connect to the AT&T 2wire wireless modem at my home. So I find myself manually trying to establish a connection. On most occasions I need close to a dozen attempts before I get a connection.

Do I do something wrong? (It seems I hardly have this problem with public wifi networks.)

Many thanks.

John F · 08-06-2010, 03:39 PM

I have similar problems. If you have connection problems, try this.

1) When it asks you for the password, pick cancel
2) goto to Settings->Wifi and turn off wifi
3) power off the ipad
4) power it back on
5) goto Settings->Wifi and turn Wifi on

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Mike_73 · 08-06-2010, 03:43 PM

Do you have a 3G model or are you referring to the wifi-connection only. If you have bad reception on the cell-connection, there are cell-boosters to increase the range within your home.

If it's solely the wifi connection that doesn't work, try the program connectify. I only have wifi available within a part of my condo (childs beedrom, foyer, kitchen). I loose connection in the living room, master, etc. Connectify works on win7 and it turns your pc into a wifi hotspot (it's basically relaying the original wifi signal as a new private wifi network).
If you talked about wifi and want to try connectify and have trouble getting it running, just let me know.

khronos78 · 08-06-2010, 04:03 PM

Several tricks to improve wifi reception (+ build a Yagi antenna)

John F · 08-06-2010, 04:07 PM

For me, the problem is Wifi, and seems to mostly happen coming out of sleep. I'm guessing it's not strength related (not directly, anyway). I've been sitting right next to my router and had it happen.

Rob_E · 08-06-2010, 04:19 PM

Do a little fact checking before you follow my advice, but I seem to remember having this issue with my iPod Touch after an OS upgrade, and the fix was this:
Go into your Settings ap
Go to General
Go to Reset
Select Reset Network Settings

Be careful because there are lot of buttons on the Reset menu that you don't want to push. And if you reset network settings, I think it may forget every network you've taught to link up to. If that's just your home network, then it's not a big deal, but if the iPad gets around, that could be a pain. But then I don't actually remember having to retrain it when I hit that button, so maybe it's not as dire as all that, but you should research exactly what that button does before pressing it, unless you're feeling brave.

Mike_73 · 08-06-2010, 04:28 PM

Well, if you've been sitting right beside your router, then range may not be an issue. If Rob_E's tip doesn't help either you could probably check if your router has an issue!? (just a thought) Sometimes I don't get a connection to my wifi on my ipad and my laptop. Usually I then have to power down the router and power it back on.

Johannes · 08-06-2010, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John F

For me, the problem is Wifi, and seems to mostly happen coming out of sleep. I'm guessing it's not strength related (not directly, anyway). I've been sitting right next to my router and had it happen.

That's exactly what I experience. Bringing the iPad closer to the wireless router doesn't help.

Johannes · 08-06-2010, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob_E

Do a little fact checking before you follow my advice, but I seem to remember having this issue with my iPod Touch after an OS upgrade, and the fix was this:
Go into your Settings ap
Go to General
Go to Reset
Select Reset Network Settings

Be careful because there are lot of buttons on the Reset menu that you don't want to push. And if you reset network settings, I think it may forget every network you've taught to link up to. If that's just your home network, then it's not a big deal, but if the iPad gets around, that could be a pain. But then I don't actually remember having to retrain it when I hit that button, so maybe it's not as dire as all that, but you should research exactly what that button does before pressing it, unless you're feeling brave.

Tried it (felt brave

) and it does cause me to lose WEP codes etc. But... It seems to have solved the problem. (I established a connection, switched off the iPad, and switched on again. Wifi connectivity was established automatically. I tried a second time, and again flawless... Many thanks, Rob!

--------
EDIT: got enthusiastic too early. The problem recurred...

JSWolf · 08-06-2010, 05:04 PM

If you still have trouble and you have a b/g router, swap it out for an n router as the n signal is stronger and the iPad supports n.

Johannes · 08-06-2010, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you still have trouble and you have a b/g router, swap it out for an n router as the n signal is stronger and the iPad supports n.

I was thinking that indeed I might need a new router. Not so much for signal strength (seems to be ok, I usually have 2 or 3 out of the 3 bars in my house) but perhaps to be better compatible with the iPad. But not sure, I know little to nothing about routers... Mine is a AT&T 2Wire 2701HG-B router. No idea if that is 'n' or not.

Johannes · 08-06-2010, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John F

For me, the problem is Wifi, and seems to mostly happen coming out of sleep.

Indeed it seems that the problem only occurs when switching on the iPad after it switched itself to sleep. It doesn't occur after a hard switch off. At least that is the outcome of some quick tests. Will test it further (don't want again to declare success too early..).

But this could very well explain my wifi problems. I often don't manually switch off my iPad. Just leave it on the table for itself to switch off. Battery life is no issue, after all.

badersk · 08-07-2010, 08:07 AM

The problem results from the iPad disconnecting when it sleeps and then when it reconnects it tries to use the same ip address as before, while the router tries to issue a new one.
Go into your router and set it up to give your iPad a fixed ip and then set up your iPad to always use that ip, subnet, dns etc. It will be much more stable.

DixieGal · 08-07-2010, 08:21 AM

I had horrible connection problems. After many hours on the phone with Apple customer service and the latest iPad update, I have not had a single disconnect.

My ATT modem was the first fix. There is an online update of the equipment. You are probably more high tech than I am, so maybe you can do it yourself. The Apple lady talked me through it. This slowed down the frequency of disconnects, but I still had to reconnect every time I came back and woke it up.

The latest iPad update in July fixed it completely.

Try this, then let us know if you are successful. Good luck!

Johannes · 08-07-2010, 02:23 PM

John, Mike, Khronos, Rob, Wolf, Badersk and DixieGal -- thank you all very much for your help. Slowly I'm getting there!

Deleting and re-establishing the wifi connection and switching off the iPad (rather than letting it fall asleep), seemed to have reduced the problem. Failures to automatically reconnect occur less frequently, and when they occur I no longer need a dozen or more manual attempts before the connection is re-established.

That in itself eliminates at least 80% of the nuisance.

I also got the advice not to put the brightness of the display to a minimum. (Which I often do, no idea how that can be related to wifi connectivity...) Since I put the britness one notch above the minimum, I have not had a single disconnect.

DixieGal, is the update you mention installed automatically? (no, I'm unlikely a better techie than you

)

Thanks again all.

08-06-2010, 03:23 PM	#1
Johannes Enthusiast Posts: 44 Karma: 28 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Houston, TX Device: Apple iPad	iPad wireless connectivity Have my iPad now a number of months, and I hardly use my netbook and laptop anymore. So I'm a very happy user, except... for this lousy wifi connectivity. Most of the time, my iPad fails to connect to the AT&T 2wire wireless modem at my home. So I find myself manually trying to establish a connection. On most occasions I need close to a dozen attempts before I get a connection. Do I do something wrong? (It seems I hardly have this problem with public wifi networks.) Many thanks.

08-07-2010, 02:23 PM	#15
Johannes Enthusiast Posts: 44 Karma: 28 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Houston, TX Device: Apple iPad	Thank, I'm getting there... John, Mike, Khronos, Rob, Wolf, Badersk and DixieGal -- thank you all very much for your help. Slowly I'm getting there! Deleting and re-establishing the wifi connection and switching off the iPad (rather than letting it fall asleep), seemed to have reduced the problem. Failures to automatically reconnect occur less frequently, and when they occur I no longer need a dozen or more manual attempts before the connection is re-established. That in itself eliminates at least 80% of the nuisance. I also got the advice not to put the brightness of the display to a minimum. (Which I often do, no idea how that can be related to wifi connectivity...) Since I put the britness one notch above the minimum, I have not had a single disconnect. DixieGal, is the update you mention installed automatically? (no, I'm unlikely a better techie than you ) Thanks again all.

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08-06-2010, 03:39 PM	#2
John F Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,157 Karma: 63764653 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Kobo Glo HD	I have similar problems. If you have connection problems, try this. 1) When it asks you for the password, pick cancel 2) goto to Settings->Wifi and turn off wifi 3) power off the ipad 4) power it back on 5) goto Settings->Wifi and turn Wifi on Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

08-06-2010, 03:43 PM	#3
Mike_73 Guru Posts: 750 Karma: 1323 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: PRS-505, PRS-600, iPad 16GB Wifi, Kindle Voyage, Nexus 6, Razr HD	Do you have a 3G model or are you referring to the wifi-connection only. If you have bad reception on the cell-connection, there are cell-boosters to increase the range within your home. If it's solely the wifi connection that doesn't work, try the program connectify. I only have wifi available within a part of my condo (childs beedrom, foyer, kitchen). I loose connection in the living room, master, etc. Connectify works on win7 and it turns your pc into a wifi hotspot (it's basically relaying the original wifi signal as a new private wifi network). If you talked about wifi and want to try connectify and have trouble getting it running, just let me know.

08-06-2010, 04:03 PM	#4
khronos78 Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: ipad	Several tricks to improve wifi reception (+ build a Yagi antenna)

08-06-2010, 04:07 PM	#5
John F Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,157 Karma: 63764653 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Kobo Glo HD	For me, the problem is Wifi, and seems to mostly happen coming out of sleep. I'm guessing it's not strength related (not directly, anyway). I've been sitting right next to my router and had it happen.

08-06-2010, 04:19 PM	#6
Rob_E Connoisseur Posts: 73 Karma: 154004 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: iPod Touch/iPad	Do a little fact checking before you follow my advice, but I seem to remember having this issue with my iPod Touch after an OS upgrade, and the fix was this: Go into your Settings ap Go to General Go to Reset Select Reset Network Settings Be careful because there are lot of buttons on the Reset menu that you don't want to push. And if you reset network settings, I think it may forget every network you've taught to link up to. If that's just your home network, then it's not a big deal, but if the iPad gets around, that could be a pain. But then I don't actually remember having to retrain it when I hit that button, so maybe it's not as dire as all that, but you should research exactly what that button does before pressing it, unless you're feeling brave.

08-06-2010, 04:28 PM	#7
Mike_73 Guru Posts: 750 Karma: 1323 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: PRS-505, PRS-600, iPad 16GB Wifi, Kindle Voyage, Nexus 6, Razr HD	Well, if you've been sitting right beside your router, then range may not be an issue. If Rob_E's tip doesn't help either you could probably check if your router has an issue!? (just a thought) Sometimes I don't get a connection to my wifi on my ipad and my laptop. Usually I then have to power down the router and power it back on.

08-06-2010, 05:04 PM	#10
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,897 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	If you still have trouble and you have a b/g router, swap it out for an n router as the n signal is stronger and the iPad supports n.

08-07-2010, 08:07 AM	#13
badersk Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 40 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: iPad	The problem results from the iPad disconnecting when it sleeps and then when it reconnects it tries to use the same ip address as before, while the router tries to issue a new one. Go into your router and set it up to give your iPad a fixed ip and then set up your iPad to always use that ip, subnet, dns etc. It will be much more stable.

08-07-2010, 08:21 AM	#14
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	I had horrible connection problems. After many hours on the phone with Apple customer service and the latest iPad update, I have not had a single disconnect. My ATT modem was the first fix. There is an online update of the equipment. You are probably more high tech than I am, so maybe you can do it yourself. The Apple lady talked me through it. This slowed down the frequency of disconnects, but I still had to reconnect every time I came back and woke it up. The latest iPad update in July fixed it completely. Try this, then let us know if you are successful. Good luck!

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