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In the last week or so I've started to have problems connecting and keeping a connection on a couple iOS devices at home. I'm looking for suggestions as to how to troubleshoot this.

  • ARRIS SURFboard SB6183 cable modem and a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND wireless router. I haven't done any firmware updates to either in at least a year.
  • Roku 4, no problems connecting, no delays or pauses while streaming
  • Fire TV Stick on another TV, no problems connecting or streaming with it.
  • A couple Echo Dots, never had a connection problem when using.
  • MacBook Air, I'll use it hours at a time with no connection problems
  • My wife has a Dell Laptop with Windows 10, no connection problems
  • My wife has an Android tablet, no connection problems

I have a iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air 2. Both are current with updates on their OSes. Neither will stay connected to my home wifi. I can restart them and they will connect for a couple minutes but then lose the connection. I can try to connect again and it asks for my wifi password. If I enter it, sometimes it connects, sometimes it doesn't. If it does, it's only temporary.

I'm not having problems connecting with any other devices on my wifi so I don't think the cable modem or router is having a problem. I took the iPad out to a coffee shop and connected to their wifi for about 30 minutes without it dropping.

I'm typing this now on my Macbook connected to my wifi but my iPhone, sitting on the desk next to me, can't keep it's connection.

I'm kind of at a loss as to how to troubleshoot this. I'm not sure what to look for. Any suggestions?

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  • This might be more likely to get a better answer over on the iOS SE page.
    – music2myear
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 0:50
  • You are asking an off-topic question. Please read On-Topic, How do I ask a good question? and What types of questions should I avoid asking?
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 12:10
  • The on-topic link says topics that can be asked here include 'personal and home computer networking'. Since this is a question about personal and home computer networking, can you explain how this is off topic?
    – Terry
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 16:07
  • Apparently it's not the iOS device since it works file on other networks. Based on the number of devices connected, seemingly by WiFi, I'd suggest looking at the TP-Link wireless router. Could be exceeding capacity in general, as in the router just can't handle all that traffic, or the router settings may have a limit on the number of DHCP clients, which you have exceeded, leaving no available slots to give the itinerant devices an IP lease.
    – Chindraba
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 2:11
  • That's an easy-enough check @GypsySpellweaver. Release the IPs on at least one other device and turn it off/disable wireless or networking, then connect the iPhone. It's also usually a good idea to check for firmware updates for your wireless router from time to time, especially when getting these issues.
    – music2myear
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 16:44

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I'm going to answer my own question. After a couple months of having just my iOS devices drop their wireless connections, my wife's Windows laptop starting dropping connections. I ran a cable from the router to her laptop and she was fine but connecting wireless became a problem. Then the Roku dropped a couple times. I decided to get a new router. I bought a Google OnHub router about two weeks ago. I haven't had a single drop on anything since then.

So apparently the problem was the router. I don't know what can go wrong with the router that only certain devices would fail or why other devices started failing after time but that appears to be what happened. No problems with the new router.

I just wanted to come back and close this issue in case anyone runs across it in the future.

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