Can't keep wifi connection active on home wifi network (Belkin), works fine elsewhere

Hello all.

I am writing to ask for help about a very specific wifi problem I am having. My iPad wifi seems to work fine on every network (that I have tried) other than my home network using a Belkin N+ router. At home, whenever I leave the iPad idle for a while (or don't use the wifi signal), the wifi connection seems to time out, such that I have to reset the wifi antenna to regain access. I usually do this by turning on and off aiplane mode, which resets the wifi and makes things work again. Resetting this way works, but it gets annoying when you have to do it 5-20 times a day. Over the holidays I visited two relative's homes and did not have this problem, and I also haven't noticed this problem on public wifi networks. When I lose the data stream on my home network, I still see "full bars" for the wifi signal.

I have tried MANY settings on my router to try to fix the problem, but have run out of ideas. I am running the router and iPad with the latest firmware. My Windows 7 laptop has no problems with the router (but my Vizio TV can't even connect by wifi, perhaps related?). Since the iPad works fine with other networks, I am guessing the router is to blame somehow - either in my settings or some firmware/hardware on the router itself.

I use WPA2 security on the network. I have tried WPA as well, but I do not consider WEP or no security to be acceptable solutions, so I haven't tried them. I have tried many other settings as well, but I am wondering if there's something I haven't thought of.

I hope that give a pretty complete description of my problem. Please share any ideas and tell me if I left something out.

seems that others with similar issues ended up replacing router and were happy campers. Usually they report that other laptops etc on the router were fine...but replacing fixed. Since you have success on other systems you know its not your ipad. Since you have a problem with the other gadget then I'd suspect a new router is in order. You can always take the new one back if it doesn't resolve your problem

@BrennB: Yeah, I was afraid that would be the advice. The router is less than a year old , it wasn't cheap, and money is tight, so I may have to put up with it for now. In the mean time, I haven't given up hope that there might be a fix.

Just as you said though, I know the iPad works fine with a Linksys and a D-Link router (at relatives' homes) so that would definitely be a fix.

I don't have a Belkin router but, on my Linksys, there's a 'keep alive' feature that enables me to set the time that the router will disconnect if there's no activity.

I'm guessing that, on your Windows machine, there's some program or application running that is occasionally accessing the Internet, even if you're not using your PC.

Of course, I realise that this is probably not the case because I'm guessing that you have your Windows PC and your iPad running at the same time, in which case the PC would keep the router 'alive'.

Tim
Scotland

@Tim SPRACKLEN: That's a very interesting idea. I did a quick look in my router settings and unfortunately found nothing that sounds like a "keep alive" or "go to sleep" mode for the router. Also the iPad shows full signal bars at all times, and if the router was going to sleep, I would expect the wifi signal to drop out. It seems like both the router and the iPad stay active (and "connected") but the data stream between the two is interrupted and doesn't start up again until the antenna is reset. Good idea though.

Replacing an expensive router is not going to fix the issue because the problem is with the IPad. I think it is a software issue, and I hope Apple fesses up and addresses the problem.

@scott_R1: I am beginning to doubt that there is anything presently wrong with my iPad, since it seems to work fine with every router except the one I own! When visiting relatives' homes with similar routers from Linksys and D-Link, I did not have the same problem. There is little doubt that before the present firmware, there were legitimate issues with the iPad's own wifi though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by linnormlord

@Tim SPRACKLEN: That's a very interesting idea. I did a quick look in my router settings and unfortunately found nothing that sounds like a "keep alive" or "go to sleep" mode for the router. Also the iPad shows full signal bars at all times, and if the router was going to sleep, I would expect the wifi signal to drop out. It seems like both the router and the iPad stay active (and "connected") but the data stream between the two is interrupted and doesn't start up again until the antenna is reset. Good idea though.

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On my Linksys ADSL wireless router, the 'keep alive' function only affects the ADSL broadband link, not the wireless functionality. Nevertheless, your analysis seems to preclude this possibility in any case.

If you have another wireless device in the house - your PC for example or a WiFi smartphone - can you connect to the Internet with this device when the iPad has been 'disconnected'? This test more-or-less identifies where the 'issue' lays. If the PC can connect but the iPad can't then clearly it points to the iPad. If neither the PC nor the iPad can connect, then it points to the router.

Good Luck and let us know how you get on.

Tim
Scotland

@Tim SPRACKLEN: I have a Windows 7 laptop that is connected to the same router all day long and never has any problems, even when the iPad does. I still don't think the problem is the iPad by itself, since the iPad works fine on other routers. There must be something about how the iPad and the Belkin N+ work with each other that causes a problem. After searching a few forums, I found that others have also noticed no problems on some routers but similar problems on others. It must be certain router/iPad combinations that cause the problem - and maybe each router has a different issue. Maybe the next iPad firmware will address these last few issues.

OK - this is definitely a weird problem. Sorry that I wasn't able to help. When I get problems like this I usually default to trying things at random and for no particular reason - i.e. like switching from an encrypted to a non-encrypted WiFi link - at least for a while - to see if that fixes the problem, or even changing the encryption algorithm.

Eventually I give up and have a glass of wine and then the whole situation seems a lot less problematic....

Tim
Scotland