There’s a long thread at Apple’s discussion board about sporadic Wi-Fi failures under iPhone 3.0. It seems that the Wi-Fi eventually poops out, resulting in no Wi-Fi connectivity even inches from the router. The only fix seems to be turning off push email.
Essentially, WiFi works fine after the phone has been freshly booted (i.e. right after a restart) – however, once it has put itself into standby mode it will no longer download data over a WiFi connection after the phone is turned on again. It remains able to find the WiFi network, but simply refuses to download data over it.
This sound similar to the problems you get when trying to add unusual devices – phones, printers, etc. – to WiFi. Something in the authentication chain breaks and the connection peters out.
Sadly, none of the responders mention anything about router and iPhone models, so this is a pretty arbitrary problem. Anyone else dealing with this issue?
[Thanks, Travis]
Yes. I logged into my router and set the network mode to wireless G only. The radio band is set to standard 20mhz channel, and set the standard channel to 11. So far my signal has been solid, the speeds are great, and it picks right up where it left off when woken up. Before that I couldn’t keep the connection to save my life and if I did have a connection it was weak. Go figure, but its working for me now.
I am using a linksys wrt160n and an iPhone 3GS.
>>Sadly, none of the responders mention anything about router and iPhone models
Well the topic is under Apple Hardware > iPhone 3G, thus I’d say it has to do with those users that upgraded their 3G model phones to v3.0 of the software.
I’ve noticed this a few times while traveling this week with my new 3GS, but thought that it was due to me being on WiFi in a different country and frequently jumping WiFi networks (in Tokyo). Today it’s working like a champ – so I’ll keep this in mind and test it further.
Wi-Fi hardware is the question. Which router?
The problem has/had nothing to do with which router. I tried with two different ones, a philips and a BT hub, with same results. I could finally solve it by reconfiguring the router to give out only private ips and not public ones, whereas iphone 2.2.1 worked just fine. I keep hearing this same stupid strain by some idiots in the forums alike who just popped in for a moment asking whats the model whats the router, like the newbie linux forums. it has zilch to do with hardware, and everything to do with poor QA by apple.
Siegler didn’t want to post this article?
he was sleeping
Yeah same problem here. I have an iPod Touch 2G with 3.0 firmware. My router is a Bezeq (Israeli company) router so i dont think it has to do with the router (or the iPhone model since i have an iPod Touch). Its definitely a problem with 3.0.
when your playing music and you then lock it, when you bring up the standby screen (that shows the time, song name, album artwork) the text is now smaller than it was in 2.0 firmware. Is this deliberate or is it a bug? I do realize when doubletapping the home button it shows album artist and song which looks much much better. But I don t like it being small all the time :( I would rather it reduce in size. I googled it and checked forums but i seem to be the only one who cares or if its just me..
I had this same problem, was fixed by turning wireless N off on my router.
I see this happening every day. My room is 7m wide and router provides connection for 100m around. Still iPhone sometimes shows that connection is only 1/3 of the best possible and usually after that connection is dropped. Not to mention other issues I have faced since installing new OS.
They really, really need to switch to Verizon. It must be interference with AT&T crappy network, there’s no other explanation possible.
Drop the Sara Palin ads in my RSS feed!!
She’s at least cute.
I am seeing the same issue after upgrading to 3.0 on a 3G phone….
I have had similar issues and other people on my campus. There are often moments I can’t even connect to an OPEN network.
There is a lot of FUD here…
1. It has to do with your routers wireless chipset, not the router itself. I haven’t seen the problem with my TI based router, so I’m going to suspect it’s related to Broadcom based routers, which extends across several popular routers with popular brands. This is why some people are saying “I had it with multiple routers”… not realizing the brands and features may be different, but the guts aren’t.
2. Apple adjusted either power or sensitivity of WiFi in the 3.0 update, the result of this is that a access point is either strong, weak, or not seen by the device. This might have been inadvertent, an intentional attempt to save battery life, or perhaps trying to prevent people from connecting to a WiFi access point with a worse signal than AT&T’s network would likely provide.
3. This doesn’t seem likely to be authentication based simply based on how 802.11g authentication actually works. Besides that, many people are reporting problems on open networks.
4. This isn’t uncommon. Apple had compatibility problems with Airport cards before. I recall issues with the Intel 2915ABG (known to most simply as “Centrino”) and certain chipsets as well. I believe Atheros based WiFi cards have had issues as well.
Based on the facts at hand, I’m going to venture and guess that Apple tweaked the firmware to conserve battery life a little bit by adjusting the power management capabilities of the Marvell 88W8686 chip. Likely some AP’s are more accepting of this than others.
Apple could just disable this and take a hit regarding battery life… or further try and tweak to get it right, or make it lower the setting should connectivity to a device fail, or make a power saving option in the wireless prefs to let users opt in (least likely).
I’ve had this problem on my iTouch 1G from day one. Now on my third replacement due to unrelated failures, but every model has had this wifi problem. I constantly need to turn wifi off and then back on to get the connection to actually work.
Also the mail.app will often hang on loading new emails while mobile gmail on mobile safari works fine. And all Twitter apps constantly lose connection, like right now. Sigh.
No problem here with iPhone 3G and Zxzel router.
Haven’t had any problems with my iPhone 3GS and iTouch 1G. I use an AirportExtreme.
Wayne, I cannot connect my 3GS to my Airport Extreme (”unable to join this network” and minimal signal strength) but am fine with other networks. What are your Extreme settings? Thanks, Martin.
I upgraded my iPhone 3G to the 3.0 OS the date they released it. I have Linksys routers and home and the office and have not noticed any problems. I generally don’t use the Wi-FI feature if I am in a 3G area, but the 3G coverage at home is very spotty at best. I use the email push functions quite a bit.
I did not have the problem on my iPhone 2 phone not even when I loaded ver 3.0 OS. However I do have WiFi problems with my 3GS. Log on problems, dropped WiFi Problems picking up weaker networks over stronger ones.
I would like to know why I cant prioritize my wifi routers in the network settings.
I have a 3G and updated to 3.0. My connection is not noticeably different on my Linksys WRT54 (I’m going from memory so may have that model wrong).
EXCEPT, when at greater distances (i.e. about 60 feet–when in our back bedroom) it seems to drop the connection easier and revert to 3G. 3G is spotty so sometimes it goes to Edge.
Before 3.0 my wife’s Touch had weak signal there, and my iPhone always had a signal. Now after 3.0 (on both devices) they are about equal–meaning to say, mine is slightly deprecated.
This is most noticeable on youtube, but not during normal web surfing or other “light lifting”.
FYI, the previous post is Mark (N)–different Mark from previous poster. Didn’t want to confuse things (more?). lol
“This sound similar to the problems you get when trying to add unusual devices – phones, printers, etc. – to WiFi. Something in the authentication chain breaks and the connection peters out.”
I’ll take, “doesn’t understand technology” for 300, Alex.
Intermittent problems here, mostly related to switching between the two routers in my home. Each router works pretty well, but I notice a droped connection when going from one side of the house to the other and also when using the Remote app.
Oh yes I am having this issue with my 1st Gen iPhone and Linksys router
possible solution: reset the network settings on iphone: settings/general/reset
i was also getting spotty reception at home with time capsule & airport express. you’ll have to reenter info for used networks, but it did the trick for me.
Now I know that I’m too young
My love has just begun
Sussudio oh oh
Ooh give me a chance, give me a sign
I’ll show her anytime
Sussudio oh oh
=/
I’m having this problem with my iPhone 3G: at home with an AirPort Extreme router, at my office with Cisco APs & routers, at Starbucks, and at public access points. I’ve found restarting the iPhone can help, but push notifications were already off.
I’m having the same issue. I have an iPod Touch 2G and a Linksys router running the Tomato firmware upgrade with WPA2 encryption running on it.
I also have a Linksys B router that is open. Have the same problem on either network. I have to switch networks or shut off wi-fi often in order to get it to connect again.
Before 3.0 I would not have this problem so I’m guessing it’s something within the upgrade. Not technical enough in the details to understand where it is so I’m hoping it’s something Apple will patch shortly as it’s very annoying.
Yep, I had this WiFi problem after I upgraded to 3.0. WiFi would connect fine, data would download, etc, but when the phone went to sleep, it would drop the WiFi connection and not auto-reconnect when I waked (?) the phone. I had to manually reconnect to my WiFi network via Settings, everytime.
I reset my Network Settings (per Apple’s instructions) and everything seems to be fine now. At least the auto-reconnect issue is gone. I could have sworn back on 2.2 my mail would be prefetched sometimes, now it never happens (though not sure this is a real issue, I have my email set to Manual fetching).
My setup: iPhone 3G, Linksys WRT54G (no N) running DD-WRT
DD-WRT is the shizzle :-P
Can’t get my brand new iphone 3G s or my old 3G to work with WiFi at home or work, both apple airport extremes, both worked fine before 3.0 upgrade.
VERY FRUSTRATING!
My connection speed that I achieveover my router also has fallen. The “speedtest.net” iphone app used to regularly register over 7500 kbps download speed. I can’t get it above 5000 now, and my network still tests 8000+ when from my computer.
It was connecting below 100 kbps, until I restarted the phone. That just sucks.
I think they went for battery life.
And to think I keep my Fuze the whole day on WiFi and listen to Pandora, Shoutcast etc at home. Outside, it grabs wifi signals from the road from nearby houses.
My solution,
Just use one of your dns from your router in your iphone wi-fi netwerk.
My setup: iPhone 3G(static netwerk configuration), Linksys WRT54G
@nada_aver
can you please clarify your solution?
how did you set it up?
“My setup: iPhone 3G(static netwerk configuration), Linksys WRT54G”
i have same router, i would just want to try your solution..
thanks in advance!
@yhageii
“how did you set it up?”
How to configure your router or
how to configure your iphone?
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Hi everybody.. I experimented the same problem on my iPhone… what I did actually was the “network reset”.
Settings -> general settings -> reset -> network reset
Waiting for the official fix this is a good fix too ;).
Bye,
Nico
@iwikiphone
Wifi on the new 3.0 upgrade sucks!!!!
Get it right Apple…….
rooms in my house where I used to get wifi-dont kick in..
This is unforgiveable- I will be talking to my people-
Wake up Apple…you’re making too much money!
Ps- Network reset fix…does’nt work
I tried the Network reset and it still doesn’t work. This is my first experience with Apple, this is not what I was expecting…
I have 3 iphone 3g’s in my house, all worked brilliantly with my wifi until the 3.0 upgrade. two were upgraded and one works but one has the very intermittent if any connection. thus I know it isnt my router. i tried the network reset, the join networks off, mail never is and is not set to push, its all manual fetch. hope apple wakes up and does a patch.
Also I downgrade to OS 2.2.1, I used the Itunes option to report a problem in your purchase and ask for my money back (in Spain we don’t have other options).
I think all dissapointed people need to ask for the refund, surely it will motivate someone in Apple to do something. I got the reply from Itunes and I will receive the refund in two days.
I have an Ipod Touch G2 with the wifi fiasco after upgrade to 3.0.
Also I downgrade to OS 2.2.1, I used the Itunes option to report a problem in your purchase and ask for my money back (in Spain we don’t have other options).
I think all dissapointed people need to ask for the refund, surely it will motivate someone in Apple to do something. I got the reply from Itunes and I will receive the refund in two days.
I had the same issue…both on a linksys router and a new Airport Extreme. All setting were off. Network reset, even a phone re-initialization….NOTHING helped. Apple gave me a new phone still with 2.1, and it again works flawlessly. I need wi-fi to sync with FM Touch, and QuickOffice, and so wi-fi not working is unacceptable.
Does anyone know if Apple knows about this, and if anything will be done, and when?
Some how mine started working again. I had tried the reset network trick several times without success, then for no good reason it started working again. I’ll probably never know why.
Hope some of you get as lucky.
I tried all the tips and tricks, then went to Apple and tried them again plus some more. Finally did a wipe and restore as new phone ( no back showed for pre 3.0). it redownloaded 3.0 same build # but still nada to intermittent only if I love you wifi connection from my phone, though as i said in previous post wife’s phone is fine. So now i have appt with apple store genius on Wed. and figure they will tell me it fried some hardware and give me a new phone. I will let you know
I had exactly the same problems after upgrading my ITouch to 3.0 software. Spent a few hours looking for the answer on the web. Tried everything possible in resetting, etc… I installed the SpeedTest app (free) and measured my download speed.. It was often about 30 Kbps which is very slow. Upload speed was about 375 KBps which is respectable. However the slow download speed was only a fraction of what I used to get and the unit no longer automatically connected to my network. Finally I upgraded my access point to a much newer unit and the problem was gone. Unit now connects consistently and downloads at about 2400 KBps! The old access point was still working fine with all other items in my place including a Wii, Roku Netflix box, and 2 computers. Obviously the WiFi in the ITouch has lost compatibility with some older access points and routers.
I had updated my iPhone to OS 3.0. I got Wifi working from day 1 of OS 3.0. after 5 days, Wifi stopped working and iPhone is not detecting any Wifi networks. I am able to find all and browse through my Nokia E90, I had reset my network connections. But no use and I am not able to connect to Wifi.
Me too. Im using Iphone 3G and recently upgraded from OS 2.2.1 to OS 3.0 and two days later my usual wi-fi connection to my ROUTER Linksys WAG54G stopped working. I noticed that the phone can detect and connect to wifi but it wont let me download / surf internet. I have tried resetting network settings, using different DNS addresses and last night, restore iphone software! If anyone can help, please let me know!! cheers
I have learned (through a test of two different wi-fi 3GS phones, that this problem does not exist on the 3GS phones. It is only on the 3G phones that were upgraded to 3.0.
I have a 3GS and have the wifi issue I’d say you’re testing was severly flawed.
I went to apple store. had appt there and since I did all support asked me and still no wifi and i was under warranty, they gave me a new phone and all works well
I have an ipod touch 2g and a zyxel router 660HW-61… Same problem!! After upgrading to 3.0 wifi slowed down to 20-30 Kbps… before with 2.2.1 it ran at 2000 Kbps!! And I tried every possible setting both on ipod and router side… it a software fault!! Connection is highly instable… ping lags… it’s even impossible to download and install a small app without waiting some 20 minutes… really bad. Even were there a fix for the router it would be a bad solution because we all use these devices to have connectivity at homw, at work place, on the road… have we to plan our route and ask all sys admins to fix the setting of their routers?? Anyway I downgraded back to 2.2.1 and everything now works fast as usual. I wonder how such a big issue wasn’t fixed in months of beta testing…
I have a first generation iphone with wifi issues everywhere. Once I updated to 3.0 it has been occurring and I have a newer airport extreme (april09) blasting N and G dual.
However, even when I leave home I am having problems. I have a corporate push mail configured (inotifylink software) and it is killing me.
I also tried everything – updated firmware on my own airport extreme that came out very soon after 3.0 for the iphone.
I keep waiting for an update fix – but none yet. I am at a loss what to do.
PS: my wife has the new 3G and it appears to do the same thing, but she only has push mail configured by me for her email – a very common setup i assure you.
I had the same issues everybody else, and nothing seemed to work or fix it… Until I updated cydia’s mobile substract this morning. That fixed my 3g and my wife’s 2g iphones.
If you have a jailbroken iphone, that might be what you need.
Cheers!
Mine is back in the toilet – It seems to be activity related. There’s a bug when you do Settings->About and there are no mac addresses for the bluetooth and wireless. Apple posted a solution here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1559
FRUSTRATING!!!!!
but 2 of my apps work fine:
the moon phases app and Japanaese word-of-the-day
The weather app works if I leave it sit 5 – 10 minutes
All others fail
Nothing work whenever 3.0 fails to populate thr router IP, the subnet mask ans the DNS – and that appeaars to be totally random.
But until I chnafes to 128 WEP on my netgear router, I had NADA on the iTouch.
Only change: paid and upgraded to 3.0