Trouble connecting to specific wifi

[edd]

I've mentioned this in another thread but I'm having trouble fixing it so maybe someone has seen this.

I live in a building that provides free wifi which is sweet. There are actually a couple of different networks available. Our two laptops, our Roku, and my work smartphone all work pretty well with it.

My 4s works with it occasionally. It actually connects every time but fails to actually connect to the Internet. It's pretty weird. I've tried forgetting the networks a bunch of times with little luck.

The phone has no issues connecting to other public networks when I'm out and about. I've been troubleshooting this for months. It is random. Happens in the middle of the day and the middle of the night. My success rate with connecting to the Internet is less than 10%. Luckily my 3G is decent here.

Has anyone seen this? If I can't solve it is it worth a trip to and Apple store?

 

[Just_Me_D]

You're assuming it is your iPhone, but based on what you've posted, it's highly unlikely. If you can connect to 'other public Wi-Fi networks' then you should be able to connect to the one at your location. My guess is that the problem lies with the Wi-Fi router/access point you're trying to connect to. The Internet connection could be down or overcrowded or a firewall could be controlling the number of users it allows access to the Internet at a given time. Are your neighbors connecting to the Internet okay?

Just Me, D
(Tapatalk - iPhone 4S)

 

[kch50428]

Does your building also have free wired internet to your apartment? If so - get your own wireless access point, and set all your devices to connect to that rather than the public wireless. If you lock it down with a password, you'll be guaranteed to be the only user.

 

[edd]

It doesn't have a free wired connection. As far as the router being the problem I get hung up on the fact that our other devices connect ok.

It almost seems like the phone and router don't speak each others language very well. The one thing I haven't tried is getting another iOS device in here to see if it succeeds when my phone fails.

 

[Just_Me_D]

Keep in mind that your iPhone's Wi-Fi reception might not be as strong as that of a desktop or laptop. have you gauged the Wi-Fi signal strength?


Just Me, D
(Tapatalk - iPhone 4S)

 

[kch50428]

It doesn't have a free wired connection. As far as the router being the problem I get hung up on the fact that our other devices connect ok.

It almost seems like the phone and router don't speak each others language very well. The one thing I haven't tried is getting another iOS device in here to see if it succeeds when my phone fails.

You other devices are on the network all the time??

It's likely the network is at or near capacity - and your iPhone, being connected intermittently, is likely experiencing IP address conflicts when it tries to connect, and fails.

 

[edd]

I haven't gauged the signal strength. You can see the bars fluctuating on the phone but the signal fluctuations don't appear to correspond with failure to get online.

I've considered the notion that the PCs have more powerful receivers. I need to play with my work smartphone a bit more before declaring the iPhone guilty.

As far as network congestion, again, the pattern is random. I routinely stay up all night and I can fail to connect 100% of the time during an 8 hour period.

I've played with wifi repeaters for the issue. One actually appeared to work but the thing died in about 3 days. I didn't have it long enough to be convinced that fixed it. Maybe I'll try that again.

 

[sherlock]

Sounds like the router/network settings and the credentials/settings on the phone don't match or they're blocking your iPhone.

 

[edd]

Sounds like the router/network settings and the credentials/settings on the phone don't match or they're blocking your iPhone.

Is that something that could happen intermittently? If so, how would I address it?

 

[Just_Me_D]

Is that something that could happen intermittently? If so, how would I address it?

There are only so many connections that a Wi-Fi router can handle simultaneously before it causes problems and if you're not close to the router like other clients, you may get bumped. Also, your phone could be retaining the IP address from a previous connection and is now in conflict with a device that is currently connected with that IP address. Anyway, like me and others have stated, the problem is more than likely due to the Wi-Fi network and not necessarily your iPhone.


Just Me, D
(Tapatalk - iPhone 4S)

 

[kch50428]

Is that something that could happen intermittently? If so, how would I address it?

Yes... it can happen intermittently.

To address it - the building's network provider is going to blame your device... a wifi repeater might be worth looking into... and instead of doing full-blown network resets - try turning airplane mode on, then off again - this will force the phone to do a re-negotiate of IP address on the wifi network.

 

[edd]

Turning airplane mode off and on did not work unfortunately. I give the repeater and other try. Thanks to everyone for the responses.

 

[kch50428]

Your phone works fine with wifi everywhere else, right?

A wifi repeater isn't going to fix an over-capacity issue... you may have to bring it up with the building management to consider adding another wireless access point to their network.

Another option would be to get wired internet access into your apartment and your very own wireless access point...

 

[edd]

It does work fine everywhere else. I may bring it up to management. I did after first moving in. The guy cycled power on the building router and that appeared to fix it but that lasted a day.

The repeater thing doesn't make sense to me either. This problem is a bit weird though.

 

[joe_fresh]

When you sign on via your laptop do you have to accept terms and conditions in order to connect to the internet?

 

[edd]

When you sign on via your laptop do you have to accept terms and conditions in order to connect to the internet?

No, the laptops just connect.

I sort of mentioned this earlier but, to be super clear, the iPhone connects to the router itself every time. The fail occurs when it just will not load up web pages or do anything else requiring an internet connection. You can see that you're connected to the router but it just doesn't do anything. Then you turn off wifi on the phone, use 3G and it works ok.

You can pick up one of the laptops right after that and surf the web on wifi no prob, or watch HD Netflix on the Roku no prob.