iPad is one of the fastest selling Apple products to date, with over two million devices sold in less than 2 months. Now Apple knows what it means to be popular: if there’s a problem more than one person starts shouting, as it happened immediately after launch, when users started seeing problems with iPad’s Wi-Fi connection. The problems experienced by users include dropped connections, requests for authentication on secured networks and low signal even when the device was standing close to the wireless router.

    Some speculated the problem lied in the wifi antenna, mounted somehow into a bad position relative to the metal case. Some were stating that the problem lies in the software, as the aforementioned problems did not happen in wireless networks driven by Apple Airport routers. I don’t want to speculate that Apple did it on purpose to make people buy their routers, but it’s kind of strange to see this problem not appearing once on networks powered by Apple hardware.

    iPad and WiFi may not mix well

    iPad and WiFi may not mix well

    Anyway, Apple acknowledges the iPad Wi-Fi problems and even opened up a web page with a few suggestions about what you should be doing to fix them. Let’s see what are the solutions to your iPad Wi-Fi problems. Not all are working, but expect things to improve, depending on your situation and hardware used throughout your home/office.

    How to fix my iPad Wi-Fi problems

    Here are a few tips you could use to fix WiFi problems with you iPad. Try any of them, no special order required. If it works, good, if not jump to the next one.

    • update your router with the latest firmware – this is done usually through the router web interface. Ensure you’re running the latest version.
    • change the encryption type – some devices are not compatible (or fully compatible) with some encryption protocols, so you could try and change the one you use. Make sure you don’t leave your connection unsecured.
    • choose a name for your network that doesn’t include special chars – I’ve seen devices that couldn’t connect to networks that had a space in their name, so try and stick to letters and numbers. The password can contain any char you like, you’re not limited at all here.
    • make two separate networks for the 2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi N band – don’t mix 802.11n frequencies on the same network SSID. Make two wireless networks, each limited to one frequency band.
    • set your network to 802.11n – this is the latest standard and there’s no point making your SSID backward compatible. If you still have older devices you need to connect, buy a separate router.
    • move your router away from interferences – make sure there’s nothing next to your router that can scramble the transmission like another router, a microwave oven, mobile cell phone etc.

    If none of those tips solve your problem try and get your iPad replaced. It’s not like you could use it without a working Internet connection, right?