Using Iphone/Ipad/Itouch

[brossyg]

I am an avid reader of SNB. I just upgraded from a RVS4000 with a WAP610 Access Point. With the WAP610/RVS4000, our I-products all worked perfectly, although the range/capability of the Router-A/P combo was a little lacking, so I upgraded to a Netgear WNDR4500.

Now, our I-products will not reconnect when the go out/come back in range. I have Googled everything ... used the Apple-suggested router settings and tried every concievable combination, including adding the WAP610N back in the mix ... no dice ... the I-products still won't reconnect when they come back in range. RMA'd the WNDR4500 and about to try that, but someone ought to write an exhaustive piece on getting I-products to work with a modern router because if you Google the problems, there is a volume of information, but it is snippets, not helpful to the millions of I-product users. For instance, Apply doesn't seem to support a 40Mhz channel width ... true? Some Apple devices seem to support 5 Ghz/N, some only 2.4. It goes on ... and is very frustrating.

 

[thiggins]

It is well-known that Apple does not allow 40 MHz bandwidth mode to be used in the 2.4 GHz band. But that should not prevent you from connecting or reconnecting.

What do you mean "won't reconnect when they come back in range"? Can you describe exactly what happens, starting from when a device is woken up from sleep?

 

[brossyg]

Yes ... I can, as it has been painful.

When the Iphone comes back in to range, the little wheel next to the network on the Iphone just keeps spinning. I RMA'd my WNDR4500 because it was also dropping WIFI clients and also wouldn't assign an IP to a handheld SONOS controller (but it would assign IPs to the SONOS player units ... also wireless.).

We will see if the RMA replacement does better. Given the volume of comments/reviews about the difficulties of both the WNDR4500 and the Linksys E4200v2, it seems as if the firmware (yes, mine is totally updated) is not ready for primetime just yet. Your reviewing is expert and perhaps when a regular user tries to put 20 devices of different types on the router, different results happen ... or maybe I just got a lemon (but so did a lot of others, given the comments I googled).

Thanks.

 

[thiggins]

How do you get the iPhone to connect to the router initially?

I have heard reports of difficulties with iPhones/iPads with some routers. I don't have problems with my 4thGen iTouch, first Gen iPad or iPad2's connecting to my WNDR3700v1. But none can connect to a Verizon Westell router over at my in-laws.

I wouldn't put all the blame on the routers. Apple's firmware may also be partially at fault here.

Are the iPads any more reliable than the iPhone at connecting/reconnecting to WiFi?

 

[brossyg]

Tim ... thanks. Here is a complete description and I don't want to blame the router, but all wireless devices worked perfectly with an RVS4000 and two Linksys A/Ps. The complete description is attached in a PDF because it would be a pain to re-format it here...

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for the writeup. It does sound like DHCP is flaky for the iOS devices. Did you try static IPs for the iOS devices?

As I said before some gear just won't work well together due to incompatible settings (not user accessible) and/or bugs.

I'd say cut your losses and go back to your old gear. Or try a Cisco/Linksys router. Buy a refurb direct from the Cisco home store and you have 30 days to try it.

 

[sfx2000]

Go into your iOS devices and reset network settings - then reattach the device to the AP, and you should be fine.

if you're using the same SSID as your old setup, this can be troublesome.

Alternately - assign static IP's on the iOS devices (outside of your DHCP range) and see if this changes things.