first disappointment with ipad

I have the 64 gig wifi+3g ipad and until today it has been working great. I have a wireless router at home & always have 3 full bars and have been able to view utube videos anywhere including my garage. To day I went to our library which has a wifi hot spot and turn off the 3g. I sat next to a young lady and her laptop had 4 bars and good performance. Well my ipad had one bar and would not load the browser. Moving around I was able to have 2 bars at the most and it kept dropping to one bar. If this is always the case I guess I am glad I have the 3g. I did have it in the Apple case and wonder if that affected the signal? jim_joh

Pretty strange, Jim. I'm like you and would expect it to get the same signal strength as the other one. Did you try completely shutting yours down, then restarting it?

You didn't happen to let it go to sleep for a bit, then try to access the hotspot again? I've read that wifi performance can degrade if you do that because the iPad doesn't establish a new IP address. The solution is to use Settings to turn of wifi and turn it back on.

okay i know this is gonna sound weird but people are saying the low wifi problem has something to do with screen brightness. You might want to try it out and see if its true (and maybe report back what you find). Check this vid out:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwWtIG5jUxE]YouTube - Fix iPad Wifi Connection and Signal Issues[/ame]

No I didn't shut it down & restart it. It was so erratic and seemed flacky. I think that is the right word. At home it seems so steady so I was reallr supprised. jim_joh

Yah that is weird. Lots of people seem to be having wifi issues so hopefully Apple will come out with a fix soon.

You know I did turn the screen brightness to the max but I did not turn auto off. I will go back Monday & try the different suggestions like shutting it down & restarting, etc. jim_joh

Kewl if you find a combination that works please come back and tell us okay?

As Apple has admitted a Wifi issue and that they are going to release a fix, you should wait and see, what the update brings.

I haven't had any major issues with wifi at all. Speed could be faster, but I'm fine with the performance so far.

You know at home it works perfect for me also and this a first time I have taken to a different router, If this norm then travel will not be that great as you know motels & hotels each one is different. I am going to take my eee pc with me to the library on Monday and compare the two. jim_joh

The ipad has a strong signal when I take it into the bedroom at night, but if I try use the Internet during the night it won't re-acquire either of my routers. I will try turning Wi-fi off and on again to see if that solves the problem

Weak wifi signal

I have the same problem. First noticed it at home when I could not pick up my neighbors wifi signals. I easily pick them up on my notebook and cheap netbook. My router signal is strong. When I take it to other locations the signal is weak but at the same locations my netbook and others laptop have strong signals. I already exchanged one iPad because it was having connection problems. It also had the same signal strength problem. This new one does not have connection problems but gets weak signals unless I am within about 75 feet of the router. I did contact apple just to be sure I have a case number for this problem. They told me they are coming out with fix but it appears to me the fix is associated with the connection issues. I will wait and see but I am not to optomistic. Everything I have read about the signal strength problem, the "experts" feel it is a hardware problem.

Same provlem here. I just thin its my router sucks. I have a trednet. About to get a linksys

They will really work well when iPhone OS 4.x comes out. Apple just tweaked the current iPhone OS to get it to work on the iPad.

You are going to have to live with this. Do you need any professional help until the fall?

Wi-Fi Issues and possible fix

I have had some Wi-Fi issues - but more related to my home system. When the iPad shows no connection - usually (for some unknown reason) my iMac Wi-Fi will be down. I either reset the Wi-Fi on the iMac or "reboot" my Apple Airport. It then clears up.

Several posts have said that Apple is aware of this and will have a fix out. Does anyone have any guestimate on when that might be?

Thanks

Yeah, even apple admits that they're working on a SW fix and mysteriously, playing with the screen brightness does seem to have an effect.

iPad: Issues connecting to Wi-Fi networks

I went back to the library today taking my ipad & eee pc. First the ipad, it still only had one bar and sometimes the 2nd bar would appear but only for like 2 seconds. I changed the brightness auto off ,put brightness to max bright and then lower, I did a complete restart and none of these would increase the one bar. I did notice with the one bar I could use the browser and visit different sites and they would load fairly quick but would not play videos on utube. Just start & stop. I turned it off & started the eee pc and it had at the very same location 4 out of 5 bars and said good signal and it also played youtube videos good. So thats it. As I say at home the ipad wireless works great??? jim_joh

I haven't had the weak signal problem but I have a different problem. I bought a 32gb 3G ipad for the wife/daughter and a 64gb 3G version for myself. With the exact same settings, when my wife puts her iPad to sleep and wakes it, it is still connected to the wifi. Mine however usually wakes up without being connected.

The only difference between our iPads is I have purchased the 3G plan for mine and not for her's yet (though mine has been turned off since I purchased it so far)
Anyone have an idea why they would be different??

Routers and signals can be tricky things. I decided to replace my old Belkin with a Netgear dual band and I kept getting temporary disconnects. Replaced that with the new Cisco e3000....another simultaneous dual band and noticed low signal strength. Then I discovered the ipad was connecting to the 5k n signal which is generally weak in the first place compared to the 2.4k signal. So I forced a connection with 2.4k and my signal was all over the place. Customer support recommended I change channels (I think 6 or 11). Anyway, before fiddling wit that, what I noticed is that my router is in the same room as my wireless mouse which also operates at 2.4k. Turn off the mouse, problem solved. My signal is strong and consistent. If you have cordless phones in the house you may also experience signal issues.