Checklist for troubleshooting Wi-Fi connection problems.

I have had problems with a dropping internet connection since day one I had the Ipad. I did a lot of reading and found a lot of suggestions. The strange thing is that according to the answers for some people these individual suggestions helped. In my case unfortunately they did not.

I will try to list done all the things that I have read and or tried myself. If you feel up to it you can try them yourself. Since many threads handle this subject I would appreciate it if you only mention if a certain solution works for you. Not if it doesn’t. If people have other suggestions please feel free to add them.

Before trying anything below make sure your router has the latest firmware.

Ipad:

Reset Network settings
Settings/General/Reset/Reset Network Settings. This will NOT delete your apps, music, etc.
Press simultaneously the power and home button for 7 seconds. This will reboot the IPad.
Connect to your Wi-Fi

Push Notifications:
Princeton IT suggested as a work around to turn these notifications off.
Workaround for "iOS 4.1 - 4.3.3 Allows DHCP Lease to Expire, Keeps Using IP Address" Bug

DHCP
Use a fixed IP address
Settings/WiFi/click on the arrow of your Wi-Fi connection/Static/
Fill in the IP-address, subnet, routers IP and DNS

DNS
Some mentioned that using Google’s’ DNS worked for them
Type this in the DNS field: 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4

Magnet
Magnets and electronics do not like each other. It could be that the smart covers are creating some sort of interference. I modified an Ipad case, by adding a small magnet and I do have the feeling (no real proof) that the Ipad disconnects less often without the case. (It still disconnects though.)

Router
The following suggestions require some basic knowledge of your router. I suggest that before you do any of the suggested changes you make a backup of your routers configuration first. That way you can easily restore your old settings.

Since there are many routers available, with each his own layout I will not go into the details. Read the manual of your router to see where you can apply these changes.

Some users have replaced there older router with a new model and this soved their problem.

Dual band
Modern routers have dual band (2.4 and 5 GHz). Try using a single band
Also some routers have a dual range of 20 and 40 Hz. Try switching to 20Hz only

QoS (Quality of Service)
I believe on some routers this is called WMM as well
Some users say switch it on, some say switch it off. I tried both without success

Security
Switch from WEP to WPA2
Today I read on Apple support the suggestion to turn security off and use MAC address access. I have not tried this yet, but will do this tonight.

Power off
Some suggested to reset the network settings on your Ipad (see above) and switch off the router for 60 seconds as well.


If I find other possibilities I will add them here.

Good luck.

 

I have 2 IPod Touch's, 2nd gen and 3rd gen and an Ipad2. My connection was dropping on all 3 for several weeks. Replaced the router with a new one, and have not had a drop on any of them in 5 weeks. My router was 4 years old.

 

Mine has been unsuccessful in my attempts but I will delete Whistle, which looks for incoming phone calls and turn off notifications, both suggested in the link and I haven't tried them . I will post back the results.
Since mine is intermittent with no pattern I'll give it a day before posting back
Thank you for the thread, hope they make it a sticky

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Thanks, read about this also, but forgot to add. This is done now.

 

Well I can report it did not work. Bummer
Edit: forgot to turn off " find my iPad" trying again with Whistle gone, notifications off and find my iPad off.
After further reading I think I understand why mine ,4.3.2, does it on many networks and my wife's on 4.2 doesn't on any. It seems the newer the firmware the longer between leases it affects. I've got mine set for 24 hours

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I would suggest that you turn off and unplug your router for 8 to 10 min. This allows the capacitors to discharge fully so you get a full reset of it's memory. That way you can be sure the memory is cleared completely, and you are getting a clean boot-up of the router. Same holds true for PC/MAC, when having weird problems.

 

Had intermittent problems until Upgrading router and added an extension to reach back of house.

 

We had trouble with all wifi devices in the house on a very inconsistent basis, and it turned out to be the router getting flakey. I replaced it and everything is rock solid now again. The sort of frustrating thing was that it was very inconsistent - sometimes it seemed to be working fine, other times it would drop connections on a random basis.

 

You may also be able to do a hard reset on the router, which sometimes involves holding the reset button before and during power-up.

 

Did that work for you, or is it just a suggestion? The things i listed really did solve the problem for the person that mentioned it. Still, it doesn't hurt trying.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

Another possible solution: router firmware upgrade

btw. this is a very comprehensive and easy to follow list

 

Router upgrade is number 1 on the list,but could maybe easily be missed.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

If you hard reset your router you may lose some settings that your ISP needs to communicate with the routter. If you do hard reset your router, be sure and write down and save the router settings before you hard reset it. You might have to contact the ISP's tech support to reset the modem or restore the settings. You should not have to do a hard reset by holding down the reset button. The power off for a few minutes should be enough if the problem is in the router.

 

As i mentioned at the beginning of my post I advice everyone to backupnthe router settings before making any changes.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

Writing down the numbers from my last good dynamic ip and using them as static seems to be working so far, I've not had a drop since early morning. My wifi " seems " faster as well though the connection speeds are about the same.
I'll post back if it changes.
Edit. Didn't work.
I've tried changing channels, reboot, change frequency, forget on the settings on the router.
I've tried reboot, long reboot, forget network, forget settings, static ip, delete VoIP app, turn off notifications on the iPad.
I'm most frustrated because it started when I updated to 4.3.1 and I can't go back to 4.2 that I know of.
Edit 2 changed router setting to wpa2 only from mixed and am keeping static ip on the iPad. Notifications off. Find my ipad off.
So far it's working, but again I'll post back if that changes
Edit: over a full 24 hours and not a dropped connection .
Lynksis e1000


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