iPhone 5 iOS 6 / 6.0.1 WiFi problem eats into data
Something very interesting has popped up covering the iPhone 5 iOS 6 WiFi problem or as many call the bug, this is not just happening in one country it seems to be more widespread than first thought. We here at Phones Review have received many emails from readers complaining that since they updated to iOS 6.0.1 on their iPhone 5 smartphone they have had nothing but issues connecting to WiFi connections.
We here at Phones Review have the iPhone 5 and we are a little late letting you know about this problem we have experienced because we have been very busy, as you are aware the iPhone 5 already comes with iOS 6 pre-installed and of course when we connected the new handset to iTunes to get all our music, photos, contacts etc it updates to iOS 6.0.1, which apparently was put in place to fix a few issues. It seems it did not fix all of the problems and here we will explain.
The new iOS 6.0.1 software update was made available to provide bug fixes and improvements, these included a fix to stop iPhone 5 from installing software updates wirelessly OTA, horizontal lines were showing up across the keyboard on some iPhones, apparently a few customers reported that their camera flash would not go off and this update fixed that issues, amongst a few others the new iOS 6.0.1 was supposed to fix the reliability of iPhone 5 when connected to encrypted WPA2 Wi-Fi networks, this is not the case for a few iPhone 5 owners.
When we visit certain places, friends or family we connect to their WiFi and even though we are connected it takes for ever for pages to open in Safari, so we decided to fire up the laptop and then do a broadband network speed test and the network speeds were between 20 and 30MB, so very fast speeds you would think. After a few tries of getting on the net using WiFi we got frustrated and decided enough was enough and used 3G instead as this worked well. It is ok saying it worked well but what is not well and good is those that only get a certain amount of data usage per month, if you have 1GB per month then you can bet all the money in the world it will not last long.
All the emails we received basically asked us if there was a fix, well to be honest we could not answer this simply due to the fact the iOS 6.0.1 update was supposed to fix it, and this is not the case for a few customers. You may want to read this article and the comments there.
We decided to look a little more into this and came across CTV News, they report that the loads of data is being consumed without the users knowledge and this is down to the iPhone 5 software. The source above talks about a man called Derek Finnamore getting charged a huge $180 in data overages on his last bill, this is a little crazy considering he rarely uses his smartphone where there is not free Wi-Fi zones.
The emails we received here at Phones Review were widespread, customers included those from Verizon, AT&T, Fido, O2 UK and a few more were mentioned. The new iOS 6.0.1 seems to have sorted the iPhone 5 WiFi problem for most but a few are still having issues, if you are one of the few could you please let us know if you are still having problems and what network you are using please.
Are you having problems connecting to WiFi in your home when using the iPhone 5 or any other iPhone come to think of it? We would love to know if you have had problems connecting has this caused an affect where it has eaten into your monthly data allowance?
Comments
47 thoughts on “iPhone 5 iOS 6 / 6.0.1 WiFi problem eats into data”
I have an iPhone5 iOS 6.0.1. Cannot get onto wifi unless I’m a few feet from my router. And when I do get on it’s very intermitent and slow! My wife also has the iPhone5 but is still on iOS 6.0 she has full wifi from anywhere in the house but has data leak issues.
Other members in my family have apple devices (iPhone 4, 4S, 3Gs, ipad1, ipad3, Macbook pro & apple TV.) and all get full wifi reception for anywhere in the house.
Forgot to mention, I’m in Canada my provider is Telus. My wifes provider is Rogers.
In my home and office I’ve assigned addresses for my devices and use WPA2 and n. I haven’t had WiFi issues though I’ve had an eye on this since hearing about a potential flaw via GigaOm’s Commuter podcast 3 weeks ago. In fact, my speeds have been wonderful at between 30-80mb/s on 100+mb/s up/down lines.
I have experienced the (a) data leak where 2,5gb were eaten up on one day. The problem was Apple’s Podcast app which they acknowledged and has since been updated with a fix. Closely monitoring it with no problems for a month now.
The WiFi issue occur in my new ipad running IOS 6.0.1 while steaming video. Not that the WiFi signal was weak, infect after hopping to the 3G connection it halt automatically.
We have 3 iPhones in this house (verizon 4s, AT&T 4s and AT&T 5). They are all having problems staying connected to wifi. The iPhone 5 uses a multiple of data compared to the 4s’. Last month’s bill stated over 9Gb for the month. Unacceptable!
You have a router that’s not working
hi just got a new iphone 5 wifi rubbish it doesnt even reconize my router but my 3gs works perfect hope they sort it quick
Just got an iPhone 5 for my daughter and it can’t find wifi at local free wifi locations or at our home unless you are in the same room as the router. My iPhone 4 works great at all these locations and it has the same OS 6.0.1. Seems like a hardware issue to me. Going to return the 5 tomorrow. Carrier is Verizon.
i just got my 2nd iphone 5 cause the first one was not finding my wifi at home or at work but i have a 3 and two 4s that are fine and they can get on the web faster then me i hate this phone i wish i never got the 5 if i could change my phone i would go to the 4s or the next best phone from the iphone..
I’m still having wifi hell in the uk on EE with my 64gb iphone 5. Worst phone I’ve ever owned and the most expensive!!
I am in Australia on the Telstra Network and i use wifi at home and at work all the time. I never had any issue with my data till i got the iPhone 5. lats night i was on bed checking facebook and believed that i was on wifi. however it seems that it had dropped out and i was on the cell network instead. My issue is all my other apply devices seem to work just fine on my network and have for the past 5 years though this iPhone 5 which was only just replaced by apple on the 3rd of december still can not hole the network or preform well when it does home on to the wifi. I live in a house and i am never less than 5 meters away from the modem and still just doesnt work.
Just got iPhone 5 and having issues with wifi, even at home. Drops connections and when it does link is extremely slow. Extremely frustrated that I upgraded from iPhone 3s and can’t even use Internet or download music. This sucks.
Got an iPhone 5 3 days ago. Will connect but be so slow it does not work on wifi. All my other apple iOS devices worked great EXCEPT when my wife upgraded her iPhone 4 to iOS 6.0.1. Now she has a similar problem. I can put these on a ‘guest network’ using my linksys ea4200 router. Have to log in each time, but it works.
Still having problems. My phone 4 never lost wifi while I was at my house. Sometimes my 5 cannot even find my wifi address the connect to. I’ve tried restarting my router, it would help a little but ecru ally my phone would loose wifi. My laptop and Xbox stay connected to wifi and do not lose it.
Bought two phones yesterday one works fine and the other barely picks up wifi with the phone sitting two inches from it. Spent an hour on the phone with apple they are replacing it tomorrow!
Wifi doesn’t work, keeps dipping out on t-mobile and talk talk uk
And add this is my 4th iPhone 5! iPad works fine as did iPhone 4. This isn’t good enough apple. An expensive product
Yes I am having major issues connecting to wifi really frustrating
Maybe android is the solution
Experiencing the same problem. iPhone 5 cannot connect unless in the same room as the router. In restaurants / coffee houses with free wifi it can rarely “see” the connection and it will drop repeatedly if found…
On the 5th day of my data plan I get a text from AT&t that i have used 65% of my data plan, this is because my iPhone 5 can’t load a simple YouTube video, and I know it’s not my Internet because, I can play my Xbox 360 fully online without interruptions, F U WIFI
Have had my iphone 5 for 4 days and went thru all of my data. Figured out that it keeps loosing my home wifi and uses 4g and all of my data. My husbands 1 month old iphone5 has no problems. We have At&T for wireless and Verizon Fios for internet and home wifi
I have a full strength signal on my air, but the iphone 5 right next to it can’t pick up the signal! It is eating into my data plan with Optus in Australia.
just got new iphone 5 from vodafone and have no wifi can find my router on and off but will not let me put a password in stress levels are rising and i tempted to send it back
Just got a 5 and yes, it is dropping out, sometimes it cannot even find my home network, husbands 4 is not having this problem & of course it is going to eat into my data plan
Having wifi issues with my iphone 5 using a d-link router. Every 2’minutes or so I lose the connection. I turn off wifi under settings, turn it back on, select the wifi and two minutes later its off again. My iphone 4 is good as well as galaxy III s Samsung phone.
I feel it’s the iphone5 failing. Going to take it back to Telus store downtown Calgary.
My sons iphone5 will drop out of wi-fi and then connects to our wireless internet provider and in 5 days he has had 3 bill up dates and his bill is over $200.00aus we rang our provider and after some discussion they kind of let it slip that its happening to heaps of users, so people its a fault with the phone so do not pay the unrealistic bills that you will receive, its not your fault it is the manufacture and our phone company wiped the bill clean. Still he received another bill up date after one day he owes 60bucks again, there efd up. Good luck, I can feel a class action coming on.
32 gig Iphone 5 in Canada on Virgin and only have about 25% reliability on wifi wih data off. Itunes Remote and remote mouse time out or drop connections within 5 minutes, and Safari works half the time. Just another reminder why i never buy Apple. What a POS.
Just got iphone 5 last week and wi-fi is horrible. seriously thinking about returning phone.i have verizon service from massachusetts
I am in Australia using the Telstra network with an iPhone5 16gb. Sucking up heaps of data usage!
I’m on Vodafone and the wifi issues are so severe that I’ve reverted to my 4s. The problem developed with the upgrade to 6.0.1.Vodafone took control of my phone whist conected to my computer and preformed all kind of witchcraft! needless to say, nothing good came out of it. A friend just updated his 5 only for exaclty the same thing to happen. If ever there was a way to destroy goodwill, Apple are in the vanguard of it.
I’m in the US and I have a problem with data consumption. Half way through my first month and I was into my 3rd GB. I have never gone above 2 GBs per month until I bought my Iphone 5. I had to turn my cellular off and limit my browsing to WIFI areas .
I also down-loaded a data compression app, Onavo, which has saved some MBs of usage. I have a lot of problems connecting with my router at home. All this is very aggrevating. I have contacted my provider to no avail. They just play dumb.
Grrrrrrrrrrr!!
Received iphone 5 with most current software update last week. I used wireless on my old iphone 3 to download a podcast, and performance with my old iphone 3 was 5 times faster than my new iphone 5. I went into the store to replace it with another iphone 5, and the same problem existed on the apple store free wifi. While I was there, replaced it with a third iphone 5, and still the same issue at apple store wifi and home wifi. The tech support person in the store just kind of shrugged her shoulders saying that maybe it was an AT&T problem??? Took SIM card out and connected to wifi (which would eleminate any AT&T component) and still horrible performance. Tech Support lady again just kind of shrugged her shoulders saying, “yeah, it does seem pretty slow…you can try a 4th phone, but it’s not going to make a difference???”
I’m having Wifi issues as well – although not a good thing, I’m glad that all the comments I’ve read here are exactly the same problems I’m experiencing. I’m from Malaysia and the signal is weak, drops occasionally and definitely eating into my data plan. Never had this problem with my Iphone3GS 🙁
Very intermittent on wifi, even with the latest upgrade. Argh… Wonder if its a ploy to get us to use data on LTE? My daughters iPhone 4 surfs faster at home when both on the same wifi. Frustrating!
My home WIFI is Clear and I’m having problems connecting to my WIFI. When it does connect its very slow.
I bought the iphone 5 at Best Buy and quickly found that I was using
over 100MB a day. Previous 4s was only using 400-500MB a MONTH. Did
some checking and rarely did I get a wifi signal, even in the same room
as my router. Downloaded 6.0.2 and same problem. Luckily I caught it
before I burned up all my data.
Went to trouble shoot at the
Apple Store and they told me to exchange the phone at Best Buy. I did
and I now get full strength signal throughout the house. Keeping
fingers crossed I don’t run into the same problem as guy next to me
exchanging his iphone at Best Buy. His issue was very short battery
life. A third person in line had heard of both of our problems, sounded
concerned, but she was still taking a chance and buying one too.
Why is this not making news stories like the antenna issue on previous
iphones? And the bigger question…How come we’re so addicted to this
device that people are willing to exchange their phones 3-4 times?
I’m on Vodafone uk iphone5 64gb still takes for ever to connect to wifi, iPad 2 is fine
I am having problems at home using AT&T U-Verse. My iPhone 4 works perfect, but my iPhone 5 does not. After having the 5 for 3 days and downloading all of my apps through icloud, I logged on to see my usage and it was over 1 gig. Never have I been over 500 mgs, now in 3 days I am over 1 gig? I talked to Apple and I have switched off cellular data which restricts usages to only wifi, however, I cannot get emails or other small data help without it. It is a pain. Never had this problem with iPhone 4. What gives?
I have the iphone5 very slow connected to home bradband and very difficult to connected to any other wifi. In fact what wasn’t good before the update to fix has now become so bad that I can not se wifi at all. I have a contract with vodaphone.
I’ve had my iPhone 5 since it came out with no wifi problems at all until a couple of weeks ago. The new update hasn’t fixed the wifi problem either
I got a 5 in October and it seemed like all my wifi problems started happening after the last update. I went into AT&T because I got the 5gb data plan and not even halfway through my billing cycle I get the text saying I used 100% of my data., I am very upset about that. I mainly use my 5 at home where I have wifi so I didn’t understand how on earth I was using that much data. The sales associate at AT&T then bluntly tells me the wifi for the 5 isn’t working, he didn’t state this at first . But was beating around the bush then says to talk to apple. Who in the apple company do I talk to? My phone says I am connected to wifi but apparently I’m not really connected? Technology I tell ya!
Yes, my wifi at home worked fine until tonight. It connects with our iPad mini, but I’m getting a message saying unable to connect to network on my iPhone 5 and home wifi network.
I have an iPhone 5 with tesco. Wifi is so slow and often just won’t let me watch videos. Really wish I’d stayed with iPhone 4gs!!!
Wi-Fi downloads still lock up about every minute and have to reboot iphone 5.
I have a iPhone 5 had it the weekend it came out on 02. I have problems with connecting to my Internet using wifi sometimes it will work but mostly doesn’t. I know that it is my iPhone cos I have iPad and that is fine with connection. I have updated software to 6.0.1 and still the problem persists.
I have an iPad and and iPhone 5. The iPad picks up WIFI everywhere and everytime it is available. The iPhone sitting right next to it will pick up WIFI 1 in 10 time if I am lucky. It is so bad at this stage I do not have the expectation that WIFI is an option with this phone. Time to get rid of it. Very poor product.
I received bills of over £2000 three months in a row since receiving my iphone 5 from Orange UK. I have music streaming most of the day, with my iphone 5 showing wi-fi connection. I have been advised to switch off mobile data manually when using wi-fi. Today I connected to the same wi-fi network as a friend on his laptop. His browser opened on a window requesting bill payment. My iphone. 5 allowed me to browse websites. This concerns me as I think I may be connecting to mobile data, even when is is turned off in “settings”