Some Users Seeing Poor Wi-Fi Reception on New iPad

Some owners of the new iPad are experiencing unexpectedly poor Wi-Fi reception according to a thread on the Apple Support forums. The thread, noticed by AppleInsider, began on Saturday, March 17, the day after the new iPad first went on sale.

I am in a hotel with my laptop and new ipad3. The laptop wifi reception is as strong as it gets, but the iPad only registers a weak signal. Anyone else having similar problems? Any suggestions?

There are 110 replies on the thread, with numerous users reporting similar issues and a wide variety of potential solutions including erasing and restoring the iPad, as well as exchanging it for a new unit at an Apple Store.

With 3 million units sold in the first weekend alone, there are bound to be some issues cropping up. This isn't the first time that iPads have had wireless difficulties. The original iPad had similar Wi-Fi issues, including problems with weak signal, forgotten passwords, and more.

Top Rated Comments

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bobobenobi

97 months ago

My iPad 3's WiFi actually performs better than my iPad 2. I couldn't really use my iPad 2 in the back room of my house, yet the iPad 3 is fine.

Rating: 9 Votes

kdarling

97 months ago

Macrumors forum users complain about everything

It's not MacRumors.

The thread link is to the official Apple Support Forums.

The first good indicator of widespread problems usually shows up there, since regular discussion is prohibited.

Rating: 7 Votes

Wyvernspirit

97 months ago

No problems here, except I don't get wifi when I am walking around town, only at home and at businesses that offer a wifi signal? What's up with that? ;)

Rating: 3 Votes

SandboxGeneral

97 months ago

For the record my new iPad's Wi-Fi is working just fine. Signal strength at home and the office is just as strong as my computers and iPhone. :)

Rating: 2 Votes

autrefois

97 months ago

Macrumors forum users complain about everything

I hope that comment was meant to be ironic...right?!

Rating: 2 Votes

wacky4alanis

97 months ago

My new iPad has been randomly dropping my network connection while using wifi. It says I am still connected (with plenty of bars), but I have no internet connectivity whatsoever (all apps) until I toggle the wifi switch off and back on, at which point it starts working again. It can work fine for long periods of time, and then it will randomly stop working. And throughout this whole process, my iPhone is connecting through the same router with no issues, so it's not just a flaky router.

Rating: 2 Votes

perealb

97 months ago

I have no problems with wifi on my new iPad. I use it at home and at work without any issues.

Rating: 2 Votes

pgiguere1

97 months ago

My new iPad is wifi only and I never look at the bars. I just react based on the speed of loading web pages and email, and the ability of streaming content to load quickly and play without stuttering. To that extent, my new iPad is faster than my iPad 1 (probably expected due to better CPU/GPU) and even a bit faster than my iPhone 4s on wifi.

The wifi problems I've had at home have been due to Time Warner modems crapping out and/or needing to reset the router. I use an Airport Extreme and there is a specific order of operations to reset connections in the event of a power or cable outage. If I accidentally deviate from that order, I can get really poor or no wifi connectivity until I re-do the process.

That's precisely what happens to me. Except I didn't try toggling Wi-Fi off and on and usually just wait around 5 minutes until it works again automatically.

Rating: 2 Votes

MacFetish

97 months ago

Bad WiFi

Love my iPad 3 (64GB 4G) but the wifi reception is much worse than my iPad 1, including intermittently dropping the connection. I called Apple on Monday, and they've arranged a replacement.

For info, because this may be significant, I set it up as a new iPad and downloaded my Aps, etc. from the Cloud. Even purchased an extra Airport Express to increase the range of my wifi when I first started experiencing the issue. Definitely a real issue from me. Definitely not because I want to Apple bash.

Rating: 1 Votes

Carlanga

97 months ago

bah, is just interference people...

All the iOS devices I put next to my macbook connected to the same WIFI suffer from this, nothing new, nothing to write about really.

Rating: 1 Votes

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