My iPhone isn't automatically connecting to my home wifi network
It seems to connect fine to most other networks, but it's not auto-connecting to my linksys network at home. Help!
53
people have this problem
I have this problem, too!
Tell me when someone solves it.
The more people who report this problem, the more it gets noticed.
The more people who report this problem, the more it gets noticed.
Create a customer community for your own organization
Plans starting at $19/month
-
Inappropriate?What are your settings on your home linksys network? i'm not sure it can be fixed, i know tech-savvy friends who have not gotten their home wifis to work with their iPhones, so there must be some basic issues here. personally i run with no security settings on my home wifi (i'm happy to share with neighbors) and the iphone works fine.
1 person says
this solves the problem
-
Inappropriate?Have you tried resetting the Linksys entirely? Sometimes there's an obscure setting in there that causes problems, and a reset, wipe, and reboot, followed by reentering your network info, will cure it.
Might not hurt to rename the network, too, when you do that, just in case the problem's lodged in the iPhone somewhere -- so if you use a different network name, the iPhone will be forced to start fresh with the settings. -
Inappropriate?Re: renaming, remember that you can get the same effect through Settings by telling the iPhone to "forget" a network.
2 people say
this solves the problem
-
Inappropriate?I had this problem both with my iPhone and my MacBook Pro. I got temporary relief by changing the network name but the connectedness remained touch and go. Eventually I just bought an Airport Extreme and that fixed everything :)
1 person says
this solves the problem
-
Inappropriate?Yes, I hate to be an Apple fan boy, but I have had the same problem with my iPhone at a friend's house who has a Linksys. But, I never have this problem at home with Airport.
-
Inappropriate?Maybe you accidentally chose to 'Forget this Network'? That would cause it to behave like this. I have an iPod Touch that no longer connects to my home network automatically. I am considering wiping it and re-syncing, maybe it will fix the problem.
-
Inappropriate?i was having this problem a few weeks ago. now my iphone says it is connected to my wifi when im in settings but it is not. the wifi icon does not appear in the top left by the edge symbol and itunes cannot be accessed, which is only possible through wifi. any help is appriciated
-
Inappropriate?You're connected to your home network, correct? The name of your network is specified, and not, say, a neighbor's Wi-Fi signal? Just want to make sure first.
-
Inappropriate?I have the exact same issue and yes I'm connected to my home network, everyone else around me is password protected.
-
Inappropriate?I am having the same issue. I have tried to connect to my home network. But I do have that Linsys WRTG## something, and it has issues with the board. Everyone that has ever called the tech support knows that before you can get through to anyone they have a long list of instructions for buyers of that particular router. I am not sure what to do. I will try the reset and post a reply. Wipe out my wep key and see if I can get something. brb one day
1 person says
this solves the problem
-
Inappropriate?I am having the same problem with my unlocked iphone it says the wi-fi is on but, I can't connect to safari,you tube,itunes,installer, and etc. This sucks so much cause the phone is basically useless. I tried to jailbreak it again but, it didn't solve anything. Can somebody please tell me how i can fix this issue. I really need my internet and everything else to work again.
I’m frustrated
-
Inappropriate?I'm having the same problem. In the wi-fi settings, it shows that I am connected to my home network. But the phone uses the edge network rather than wifi. It used to work fine. I have no problems connecting to the home network with imac or macbook pro.
-
I am having the same problem! -
Inappropriate?I have the same problem, still.
I've had Linksys WRT54GC (small one), and that worked fine for iPhone, my 15" and 17" MacBooks Pro.
The little one died (tried to upload firmware via wireless, something got disconnected and I pulled the plug - it was in the middle of flashing. Lesson learned), and I got new and shiny Linksys WRT310N, firmware was 1.00.01 at that point.
Right away I've tried setting up WPA2-Personal encryption, but I kept having problems with all Apples connecting (Windows machines connected fine). I switched to WEP 64-bit, and both MacBooks started working, but iPhone is still touchy.
I've updated Linksys to latest firmware 1.00.04, no help. iPhone is on 1.1.2, haven't had a chance to update to 1.1.3 (waiting for 2.0 now).
As far as iPhone, it sees the network - if you go to wireless, you just click on my network, and it doesn't ask for passkey (it remembers). It works until you put it to sleep, and then you have to do it again (by sleep I mean pressing the top button).
All other WIFI network I have saved on phone work perfectly fine, all the time, auto-join, etc. Just my home, and of course, this is the one I would like to use the most.
I've tried contacting Linksys, and long story short, they said "not our problem, as everything but your iphone works".
I've tried resetting linksys multiple times, tried different encryptions and passkeys and network names - no luck.
I've also tried forgetting the network and rejoining, no help. I really don't want to completely reset the phone, as I'm always afraid of losing stuff on it.
Any other ideas?
Thanks,
Dami
I’m frustrated
-
Inappropriate?I have a similar problem, but mine isn't just home. Any wifi that has a password and is saved, the phone doesn't automatically connect wifi, it stays on 3g evan after i request it to join the wifi.
-
Inappropriate?I had a similar problem with my iphone and my linksys wrt54gx4. My iphone picked up the wireless network, but clicking on it didn't prompt me for a password. Rather, the phone just tried to connect, the network would be checked, and then said the network was unavailable. Before my iphone automatically connected with no problems.. not sure what changed that. After tons of time wasted trying to update my phone and router i finally just ended up changing the WPA password as well as changing the name of the network and now it seems to be working fine. Hope it works out for you!
-
Inappropriate?I'm having this problem at home (Linksys WiFi same as others) and re-entering the WEP key doesn't help, but when I log into the router and change the last digit of the key (don't need to change the whole password), then make the same change on my iphone, it connects instantly. It's a pain to have to boot up my PC just to change the WEP key every time my iphone has this problem.
I’m frustrated
-
Inappropriate?Just to add a voice to this:
- The iPhone does not automatically connect to WEP key protected networks... for some unknown reason! It actually doesn't "see" them, unless you manually go to the WiFi settings and only there it lists them... No idea why!
- The automatic connections work fine on WPA and WPA2 wireless networks... and that's what you all should be using anyway! WEP is the easiest system to crack and you might as well not use any encryption at all...
So, bottom line is:
1- Switch your wireless networks to WPA/WPA2 ASAP!
2- Apple needs to fix these issues with WEP key wireless networks anyway because sometimes, one doesn't have authority over the system to be used (work, public places, etc...).
Hope this helps.
I’m reluctant
-
Inappropriate?I had a similar problem (but using BT WiFi router). I'm using a WEP key, and sometimes my iPod Touch loses my WiFi connection. Other devices (such as this laptop I'm using) continue to work fine, so it's not the router.
One of the WiFi settings I use is to "hide" the SSID, to provide a level of security. And, I've been able to get the iPod Touch to rediscover the WiFi by briefly turning off the "hide" setting until it finds it, and then turning it back on again.
-
Inappropriate?I have an Airport Extreme with no password, and I've had this problem ever since I upgraded from my regular iPhone to a 3G. I gave the regular iPhone to my wife and it connects to the network automatically, but my 3G is ALWAYS on Edge unless I manually select the home wi-fi every time.
Why's my *3G* always on *Edge* ? Because the damn 3G network does not seem to exist! I live and work in Cupertino, CA (Apple's home) and I've NEVER gotten a 3G signal. Off topic, I know. Just wanted to vent. :-)
I’m frustrated
-
Inappropriate?I've read through all these replies, and all of them either have suggestions that I've already followed through on previously (and non have permanently worked) or most don't really help me at all.
I have a Linksys WRT54GX4 with SRX400 Expansion. I've tried a hard-reset on the router, inputting all of my information again, and it only worked for a little while, then the problem came back again. I've tried renaming the router to something besides the default, and that also came back with the same result, worked for a while, then problem came back. With no password on the router at all this problem doesn't come up period, so it has to be something dealing with the iPhone's communication with password-protected routers.
Another thing I've noticed that is rather odd, is that sometimes my phone will connect to it, and sometimes it won't. This is with no change to the router or settings at all, and just the iPhone's quirky "Oh I think I'll connect to it for a little bit" behavior. Sometimes using the "forget this network" option works, and sometimes it does not. Sometimes rebooting/hard-rebooting the iPhone will work and sometimes it will not.
All of these little tricks aren't reliable on a fix at all, and if they do fix it, it's only for a short while. I've noticed if I can successfully connect to the router, I can stay connected to it indefinitely, as long as I don't quit using my phone, or it does not lock itself.
After that the problem resurfaces again and I am back to square one.
Hopefully someone can figure out what is causing this or Apple can actually *acknowledge* that this problem exists and come up with a patch/update to fix it, because this problem has been going on ever since I first bought my iPhone.
I’m very frustrated with this.
-
I have pretty much exactly the same problem as reported by Blake. It's very frustrating. Sometimes it will connect and sometimes it won't. Often, if I turn the iPhone's wifi connection setting off and then back on a few times, it will eventually connect. Then I'm fine until I stop using it for a while. Sometimes I just want to throw the phone on the floor hard (that doesn't make it work, but it sometimes makes me feel better). I too wish that Apple would at least acknowledge the problem. -
Inappropriate?Have you tried resetting the iPhone's network settings via Settings/General/Reset?
Resetting tends to resolve most network-related issues.
5 people say
this solves the problem
-
thnx aton james --- this worked perfectly for me -
Thanks, James. It was the quickest fix ever! -
Inappropriate?I have the exact same problem as Blake... even the exact router. All other 6 devices connect fine without problems but the iphone is off/on the network without stability. Have tried resetting iphone's network settings even resetting the entire iphone. It is only my home router which gives me this grief... Hate to have to spend another $100 dollars to get a new router when other than the iphone this works perfectly well.
-
Have you checked with your router's manufacturer to ensure that you have the latest firmware? Linksys regularly provides firmware updates for their routers and these updates usually address connection issues. Updating my router firmware fixed some connection problems that I was having with my Macbook Pro a year ago. -
Inappropriate?James, I checked the Linksys website to see if there was updated Firmware for my router, and I have the same firmware as the one listed on their website.
-
That is very strange. Have you tried your iPhone on a Wi-Fi network besides your home for an extended period of time? -
Yes, my grandparents have a secured wireless of a different brand (Microsoft I believe) and I have no problems staying connected to theirs at all. And my parents have a different model Linksys at their home with security on it as well and I don't have problems with it either. It seems the particular model router I have doesn't like iPhones.
One thing I have noticed (or a theory I have): I think the problem is stemming from the way the router releases IP addresses to the device. When I reset my router and it has no contracted IP addresses in it's memory, my iPhone will stay connected as long as it doesn't lock. I think when the iPhone locks, it automatically disconnects from any data connection to save battery power. So when it's disconnected, that IP address is still issued out in the router's memory.
So there are a few things I think may be causing the problem: 1) There is a problem getting the same IP that was issued before being disconnected, 2) There is a problem distinguishing which IP address was issued to the iPhone, therefore would confuse the router (?), 3) The iPhone tries to get a new IP address which the router denies because the router thinks one is already issued (?).
On a side note, none of this is surefire to be completely accurate, as I do not know a whole lot about the internal workings of routers, and I haven't a clue about how the iPhone communicates with wireless routers. All of this I have gathered by trial & error, changing different settings on my router and observing the results, and observing the overall behavior of the iPhone/router relationship.
This is an ongoing problem that continues to be a major problem for me. I'm hoping some of the studies/observations I've made can help this get solved. -
Have you tried renewing your DHCP lease? When connected to your router, go to Settings > Wi-Fi > Your network > and hit the "Renew Lease" button. -
Actually I changed the client IP lease time to 1 minute last night and it's still working this morning. It even automatically connects back to my wi-fi when I unlock my phone or turn it on. I'm not sure how long it's going to keep working, but I'll be so happy if this fixes the problem.
I'll update whether or not the fix sticks. Thanks for all the insightful help. =) -
This fix did not last either. I'm back to square one, AGAIN. -
This reply was removed on 12/30/08.
see the change log -
Inappropriate?I wonder if the problem has to do with other devices on the network. It seems strange to me that only SOME people have this problem whereas the vast majority of people don't. I was poking around Amazon and hear similar things from people on all kinds of routers with all kinds of devices. Just curious, does anybody have this problem who does NOT have a Windows computer on the network? Also, someone suggested turning off SSID broadcast - I wonder if that would help?
-
Inappropriate?have Linksys wrt610n using wpa2 and iphone 3g that wont connect and if it does only for a second before it gets kicked out.......all other laptops (pc and mac) and devices work fine......what to do??????
-
Inappropriate?When your iPhone first connected to the 2wire Router, did it ask for a password? If you haven't changed it, the password would be printed on a lable on the bottom of your 2wire router. It is 10 digits and between two brackets [ ].
I’m confident
-
Inappropriate?I too have a wifi problem. My 1g iPhone worked
fine until 3.0.1 upgrade came along. My phone sees
the network but cannot to it. I've talked to AppleCare
they had no idea what is the problem. I think it is a heatsink
problem. I can put the phone in front of the air conditioner for
15 minutes and my phone will connect to my network. It
will only last for a short time and then it looses connection
again.
I’m frustrated
-
Inappropriate?Since the upgrade to the latest version, my phone constantly forgets the network key and I have to manually enter it each and every time I come back within range of my network. I know my sixteen digit hex key by heart now... unreal. I think it's all a ploy to make us go out and buy the airport base station - which I just might do today. Good work Apple.
-
Thanks Barry. I have tried re-sets, re-boots and everything else I can think of you. I agree with you. This is probably an illegal trade practice by Apple to force you into the Airport market and cut your ties to Linksys. -
Inappropriate?i did try this and it did work,,, thanks
-
Inappropriate?I also have a wifi problem at home. This is a recent occurance...used to work just fine. I tried to reset the networks...no help at all!
Loading Profile...

















