iPhone 5SE will not stay connected to home WiFi, pls help
June 17, 2018 5:32 PM Subscribe
Since Thursday, my iPhone 5SE, bought March 2018, drops my home WiFi, although other electronics are having no problem. Verizon has checked the line, good to go. Says it is my phone. Is this something I can fix from home? I am not entirely mobile so a trip to Apple/Verizon is a … difficulty. Did all the unplug/plug in stuff, checked the pwd, network shows up in queue for selection. Help? Ask me anything, speak slowly. ;)
First off, I apologize if I screw up the vernacular somewhere. Other electronics (Dell computer, Fire, Surface laptop, printer and Roku) all manage to maintain WiFi connection. Verizon asserts that my DSL connection is fine/strong, and will sustain all my devices, including phone. In fact until Thursday last that has been true.
Since then my phone will not maintain WiFi connection; and, I have to select my network on the phone as the connection only lasts about 5 minutes. My network shows up as one of the options to choose (I am in an apartment building in Midtown NYC) and when chosen, the phone immediately connects. But the connection does not sustain, although I just managed to do an iCloud backup which took just a few minutes.
Friday I spoke to Verizon techs for a total of 3.5 hours. Checked the following:
-- unplugged modem , Actiontec GT784WNV
-- turned the phone off/on numerous times
-- re-entered the correct, main password, successfully used by all the other devices
-- airplane mode is off
-- WiFi is on
-- Bluetooth is off because … none
-- Cellular is off
-- Personal Hotspot is off
I do not connect to random WiFi when I am out e.g., at the hospital, doctors' offices, wherever. Verizon is my provider.
Software is iOS 11.4; updated about 1.5 weeks ago? Yeah, that might have kicked off a problem and made things wonky? But it wasn't immediate.
I don't have too many apps.
Mostly I text, and receive texts.
I have no music, no movies, very rarely use Safari.
As mentioned above the fold:
Tl;dr: Since Thursday, my iPhone 5SE, bought March 2018, drops my home WiFi, although other electronics are having no problem. Verizon has checked the line, good to go. Says it is my phone. Is this something I can fix from home? I am not entirely mobile so a trip to Apple/Verizon is a … difficulty. Did all the unplug/plug in stuff, checked the pwd, network shows up in queue for selection.
Help? Ask me anything, speak slowly. ;)
First off, I apologize if I screw up the vernacular somewhere. Other electronics (Dell computer, Fire, Surface laptop, printer and Roku) all manage to maintain WiFi connection. Verizon asserts that my DSL connection is fine/strong, and will sustain all my devices, including phone. In fact until Thursday last that has been true.
Since then my phone will not maintain WiFi connection; and, I have to select my network on the phone as the connection only lasts about 5 minutes. My network shows up as one of the options to choose (I am in an apartment building in Midtown NYC) and when chosen, the phone immediately connects. But the connection does not sustain, although I just managed to do an iCloud backup which took just a few minutes.
Friday I spoke to Verizon techs for a total of 3.5 hours. Checked the following:
-- unplugged modem , Actiontec GT784WNV
-- turned the phone off/on numerous times
-- re-entered the correct, main password, successfully used by all the other devices
-- airplane mode is off
-- WiFi is on
-- Bluetooth is off because … none
-- Cellular is off
-- Personal Hotspot is off
I do not connect to random WiFi when I am out e.g., at the hospital, doctors' offices, wherever. Verizon is my provider.
Software is iOS 11.4; updated about 1.5 weeks ago? Yeah, that might have kicked off a problem and made things wonky? But it wasn't immediate.
I don't have too many apps.
Mostly I text, and receive texts.
I have no music, no movies, very rarely use Safari.
As mentioned above the fold:
Tl;dr: Since Thursday, my iPhone 5SE, bought March 2018, drops my home WiFi, although other electronics are having no problem. Verizon has checked the line, good to go. Says it is my phone. Is this something I can fix from home? I am not entirely mobile so a trip to Apple/Verizon is a … difficulty. Did all the unplug/plug in stuff, checked the pwd, network shows up in queue for selection.
Help? Ask me anything, speak slowly. ;)
Since you bought it so recently, you should have AppleCare, and you can call them to fix issues. My wife had LTE connectivity issues and they were able to help her over the phone.
posted by Amity at 7:16 PM on June 17, 2018
posted by Amity at 7:16 PM on June 17, 2018
I had a problem like this once, and it turned out my router was assigning the same IP address to both my phone and my AppleTV. I don’t know why or how, but it was always giving them both the same address through restarts etc. The solution was to go into my router (the cable modem that is) setup and give one of the devices a static IP address instead the standard dynamic address allocation.
posted by rodlymight at 7:22 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by rodlymight at 7:22 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
You can probably test rodlymight's theory by turning off all the other devices connected to that WiFi network and then seeing if the phone stays connected.
posted by BillMcMurdo at 7:52 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by BillMcMurdo at 7:52 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for all the responses thus far.
Quick update:
-- I don't think I have Apple Care as I purchased the phone directly from Verizon.
-- The phone was on offer for $150 total (5SE Silver) and I did not purchase any insurance. $40/monthly plan.
-- Factory reset. Ouch! I have done an iCloud backup but that's like a deep burn of my phone right? Apps+?
-- Friday, I did turn off all the devices, then turned on only the phone and problem persisted.
-- Assigning a static IP address/going into the DSL modem is currently above my paygrade. :(
posted by alwayson_slightlyoff at 9:26 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Quick update:
-- I don't think I have Apple Care as I purchased the phone directly from Verizon.
-- The phone was on offer for $150 total (5SE Silver) and I did not purchase any insurance. $40/monthly plan.
-- Factory reset. Ouch! I have done an iCloud backup but that's like a deep burn of my phone right? Apps+?
-- Friday, I did turn off all the devices, then turned on only the phone and problem persisted.
-- Assigning a static IP address/going into the DSL modem is currently above my paygrade. :(
posted by alwayson_slightlyoff at 9:26 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Have you tried Settings - General - Reset - Reset network settings?
Several years ago I had a somewhat similar (device would slow down and lock up with Wi-Fi enabled) problem with an iPad that required a factory reset. This was several versions of iOS ago, the problem was documented, and workarounds didn’t work. A reset on iOS isn’t too bad, although I trust an iTunes backup over iCloud but that’s just me. There’s a ‘My Purchases’ section in the App Store to help you reinstall all the apps you’ve downloaded.
posted by mutagen at 10:54 PM on June 17, 2018
Several years ago I had a somewhat similar (device would slow down and lock up with Wi-Fi enabled) problem with an iPad that required a factory reset. This was several versions of iOS ago, the problem was documented, and workarounds didn’t work. A reset on iOS isn’t too bad, although I trust an iTunes backup over iCloud but that’s just me. There’s a ‘My Purchases’ section in the App Store to help you reinstall all the apps you’ve downloaded.
posted by mutagen at 10:54 PM on June 17, 2018
Best answer: I've been having the same issue with my iPhone 7 Plus that is updated to 11.4 too. So it looks like wifi issues are a thing with this update. Here's another article. Hopefully the next update will fix?
posted by clone boulevard at 10:55 PM on June 17, 2018
posted by clone boulevard at 10:55 PM on June 17, 2018
In case Reset Network Settings does not fix it, I would recommend also force-quitting all apps. During an upgrade, some running apps aren't restored correctly but there's no way to tell which one is acting up. Restarting the phone and doing a reset may not fix the problem since all the apps, including the one causing the problem, may be restored into the same bad state.
This page lists some faster ways to do it: https://saintlad.com/force-close-all-apps-at-the-same-time-on-iphone/
posted by meowzilla at 4:58 AM on June 18, 2018
This page lists some faster ways to do it: https://saintlad.com/force-close-all-apps-at-the-same-time-on-iphone/
posted by meowzilla at 4:58 AM on June 18, 2018
Response by poster: Final (I hope) Update:
I read thru the two links provided by clone boulevard above, especially the second article. I took to heart the advice from mutagen.
So I did the Reset Network Settings and it has been holding a WiFi connection since that point. Doing a happy dance, you have no idea!! Thanks, people, many thanks for all your kind and thoughtful responses!
posted by alwayson_slightlyoff at 7:56 AM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
I read thru the two links provided by clone boulevard above, especially the second article. I took to heart the advice from mutagen.
So I did the Reset Network Settings and it has been holding a WiFi connection since that point. Doing a happy dance, you have no idea!! Thanks, people, many thanks for all your kind and thoughtful responses!
posted by alwayson_slightlyoff at 7:56 AM on June 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I don't think I have Apple Care as I purchased the phone directly from Verizon.
Was it new? You still get Apple Care if you purchase it from an authorized reseller and Verizon is authorized. Hopefully your problem is now fixed, but if not, Apple should be your next stop.
posted by soelo at 8:03 AM on June 18, 2018
Was it new? You still get Apple Care if you purchase it from an authorized reseller and Verizon is authorized. Hopefully your problem is now fixed, but if not, Apple should be your next stop.
posted by soelo at 8:03 AM on June 18, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by k8t at 6:08 PM on June 17, 2018