first disappointment with ipad

[Lwood]

Wi-Fi Issues and possible fix

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

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.

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

 

[NumbLock]

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

 

[jim_joh]

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

 

[mpengle]

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??

 

[Kargurin]

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.

 

[Lwood]

3G vs Wi-Fi differences

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??

Off the top of my head I would guess that your wife's system comes up with Wi-Fi on because it is the ONLY communication path it has. Your 3G with Wi-Fi has options - the system does not know which you might want to use - as both are probably available.

Does this happen when you are away from a local Wi-Fi area?

Also - check your system settings under both Wi-Fi and 3G - you can usually toggle 3G on or off. To save battery life, it is probably set at off.

Lee

 

[mossman]

I have the same issue as mpengle. When I first played with the iPAD, the wifi would always be in place when I came back from stand-by mode. Now, most of the time, it doesn't. I never thought about the 3G aspect of this before, but it could be that my issues started when I activated 3G coverage. In my case, I do turn off 3G, but still the device does not always recognize the wifi signal when I come out of stand-by mode.

This is the only wifi issue I have, and it's a pretty minor one as, for reasons I don't understand, simply opening the Apps app will reconnect to wifi. Thus instead of having to go into settings or reboot the device, I just press on Apps and then back home again in a second. Having done this, my wifi connection is stable until I go back into stand-by mode.

 

[mpengle]

I figured out what my problem was and it hasn't affected me since I found out how to fix it. I was having the issue of having my brightness down to zero with auto on like it states on the Apple site.. I just turned the brightness up a little and I haven't had any problems keeping my connection. Weird that they would be connected eh? lol