Wifi works and then suddenly stops working...

[chewbacaface]

I don't have the typical issue with it being greyed out or unable to connect... mine will work flawlessly for a while as I watch a movie... the the movie fails... then I notice the wifi is no longer connected and I have to go back into the settings to reconnect it.

I will say that I have owned every version of the iPhone except the 5 and I am seriously considering something different rather than upgrading in May when I'm eligible. The 4s (first production version) is probably the worst version of the iPhone yet in terms of reception/wifi issues. I use this for work. So, I need it to work consistently. I can't say the 4s has made the grade thus far and iOS 6 and 6.0.1 are pretty buggy and awful. I haven't had this many app crahses since the original iPhone. Stock is tanking. Heads are rolling. Is Apple's reign ending. I hate to think so because I've been so pleased in the past with their stuff and I'lll always use it for my music production business but their phone is starting to lack severly.

 

[mdmcatee]

Welcome to the Forum. Now prepare yourself. I'm going to give you a short, sweet lecture.

Fact: You build the app for the IOS, not the other way around! If you have apps crashing then write the devs and ask why they don't update their products. It' not's Apple's fault.

I've been an Android phone user up to this year and every comment you made I have seen made by people who own Android Phones. Also to let you know Apple is not the #1 phone system, Android is but there are a lot of different manufactures of Android phones.

Your complaint about dropping wifi? I have to admit on my Droid Bionic it held wifi better then any other phone I had running Gingerbread 3.2, but now it has ICS and I haven't had a chance to test wifi.

What have you done on your end to make a better wifi connection? You see with every new OS changes of some sort happen. Maybe simply changing the channel on your wifi will help. Skull says on a "N" router to make sure both antennae are connected (not quite sure what he meant by the but I'll pass it along."

One of the things we say in Forums is search before posting. You are correct, there is an issue with connecting with wifi and it being grayed out on the phone. Try doing it from your computer, I have had better luck. Just make sure your devices are awake. Or connect to your computer and back up. It's not that hard.

Some of your issues may be fixed with a simple hard reset (hold top button down while pushing bottom button). Give that a try if you haven't already.

A n router is as below;

802.11n
data rate: 540 Mbit/sec (that's faster than Fast Ethernet (100 Mbit/s))
range: about the same as 802.11g
operates on 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz

802.11g
data rate: 54 Mbit/sec
range: 15 metre (from base station)
(Or if use 11 Mbit/sec data rate, the distance is 45 metre)
operates on 2.4 GHz
also known as: AirPort Extreme

It's a dual band and both bands need to be connected when possible ie: like at home when you have control of it for the best performance. It makes a world of difference in download speed and conectivity you will get.

FWIW...some home based routers work better than others with the various modems the ISP's give out. My Charter modem which happens to be a Cisco modem did work with a NetGear router..but not as well as it does now with a Cisco (Linksys) and would cause drop outs and slow downs..They aren't suppose to do this according to NetGear..but I can tell you for a fact they did just this on mine...all brand new equipment too..replaced 3 times.

Also..if his wi-fi is dropping out away from home,like at his work location...he should check with his IT department and see if they have enabled any timers on the connections. My work does this and will either drop the connection after intervals of inactivity or depending on which router on large data transfers or some at set hourly times. Some will notify you of this when you connect...others don't and can leave you guessing what is going on.

Also...as said..a hard reset and restore as new does clear up many issues..as well as taking your I-device into the Genius Bar at a Apple location and allowing them to reinstall everything if possible...and was what I did to fix the same issue he is having.

His issue isn't one that many have..

I don't have the typical issue with it being greyed out or unable to connect.

I had the same issue as well...and looked unsuccessfully for a reason here after 6.01 came out..so lecturing a person on this is ...well...is simply not needed.

Chewy...Welcome to the forum..and don't sweat Apple's position in the mobile world...they have been and will remain to be the gold standard all others are measured against for quality for some time. There may be more Androids produced and offered by many...but that sure as hell doesn't make them #1. Since you have had many of their devices...and have been with them for as long as you have you should already be aware of this. People are always so quick to Bash them on their short comings..and for doing things the way they do...it is nothing new.. Wondering if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence is natural...but don't just believe any hype...go and check out the competition yourself...you'll know for sure what works best for your needs...Apple has new management now...so.. I suspect things will get much better than they appear right now...so in the mean time go get your phone fixed and start enjoying it.

Mac

 

[chewbacaface]

Hey guys. It's good. I appreciate both sets of feedback. I can handle myself around technical devices but I can appreciate what the lecturer is saying. In this case though, I am thoroughly technical with both mobile and desktop devices, as well as routers and networking in general. I currently have 4 iphones (3g, 4, 2x4s), 2 ipads (ver 1, ver 3), a macbook, an imac, two power mac towers, a pc, a roku, an apple tv, and an xbox 360. It's all running through an Airport Extreme. The iPhone 4s is the only device with this issue. I’ve tried several things to resolve the issue, however, when I have an army of devices that remain stable on my network, there is really only one place to point the finger.

The reality is that it is a poorly made version of the phone and the antenna and/or it’s compatibility with the various iOS versions is poor to mediocre. App crashes can only somewhat be blamed on the developer as software OS is typically made to be somewhat backwards compatible and a simple minor version upgrade shouldn’t cause rampant crashing of 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] party software. Imagine is every time there was an OSX or Windows update that all of the sudden Visio, or Firefox, or any other (of the millions of) vendor software didn’t function. You wouldn’t go pointing the finger at the vendors. You’d wonder why the maker of the operating system (which is a foundation or platform for all of the vendor applications) made such a drastic change as to not allow existing applications to function properly.

@Hookbill, I understand that you are probably very tied to Apple. I am as well. I love their products. I use almost all of them daily. I’m just saying that the last two iPhones I bought and the last two versions of the software have been disappointing and unstable. I may have grown to accustomed to their legacy of excellence.

I work from home and at my studio. So, I have the same issues on both networks, which I am in control of. I do end up doing a lot of hard resets and that seems to prolong the issue, but eventually it returns. I will test the suggestions you mention that I haven’t tried. Thanks for responding, guys.

 

[chewbacaface]

I hate to say this dude but you got it all wrong. First, I'm not loyal to Apple. What I said about the app has to be designed to work with the OS is an absolute fact.

You say every time there is an upgrade in Microsoft or OSX what would happen if the apps didn't work? That is what happens frequently. For example, take a software like Parallels. You can use it for either Mac or Windows. Now when I had my iMac I used it because there were some Windows programs I absolutely had to have. When Mac went from Leopard to Snow Leopard, to Lion, etc. Every uprgrade that software needed to be upgraded too to get it to work.

It's the same with apps. When you have a minor update like 6.0 to 6.01 more then likely your app will continue to work. But if you go to 5.0 to 6.0 if you haven't had an update on an app through 2 prior major upgrades then there is a good chance the app may not work.

When I upgraded to 6.0 on my iPad just about every app I've had has received an upgrade and if you look at what your apps upgrade says it's doing (specially after major upgrade) compatibility is what it's doing. Sure, there are other reasons for upgrades in apps but right after the release that's the number one reason.

This is my first iPhone. I had used Android for about 3 years prior to that and prior to that I used Blackberry. In every Android phone I have own, through any upgrade there is a ton of apps that will want to upgrade as well. I just turned on my Droid Bionic the other day and it wanted to upgrade from Gingerbread to ICS. While it was doing it I also received no fewer the 15 updates on apps. And the Bionic was late in getting the upgrade so I saw plenty of apps being updated to be comparable to ICS.

Simply put, you build the app to the OS, your thought process is totally wrong my friend. You have more experience with iPhone then I do and what you experience is what it is. I have had several upgrades with my iPad of IOS and I believe each one improved my iPad. As far as whether or not an app works or not like I said, write to the dev and tell him it doesn't work. If they want their product to continue to be used they will update, if they don't care anymore then they won't.

Hey hookbill,

I spent years working for a small/medium development shop and I can tell you firsthand that you are actually mostly incorrect. I'm not looking to argue with you because I know. I've worked on it personally, and I know. There are standards like the Windows Standard Interaction Guidelines that they publish which are meant to be version independent for just this reason. You write your app to conform to a standardized dev kit that should function forward and backwards across versions. Sure, there are major feature upgrades for major versions and security fixes and driver fixes, but the guts, the "standards" should not change other than being improved upon. Plus, in my post I stated that the crashes occurred after a minor upgrade from 6 to 6.0.1. This definitely shouldn't happen. Further more, they claim the Wifi issues were one of the defect focuses of 6.0.1 which obviously they failed at fixing. I'm not sure what you're defending or if you just like to argue but you can until your blue in the face on this one. They dropped the ball.

 

[chewbacaface]

Alright, you're gonna make me sight actual documentation, which I hate doing, but since you started with a "lecture", here you go.

This is a link to one of the oldest development kits you can find on the internet for Java... this is a basic programming language that pretty much anyone who has any experience with computers will have heard of. It's always a solid example though since it has been around forever.

README -- Java Platform, Standard Edition Development Kit

Take note of this section, a section you will find in every dev kit ever, EVER. It says almost exactly what I stated above. Pay special attention to things like "Every effort has been made to support programs written for previous versions of the Java [SUP] TM [/SUP] platform" and "Any failure to do so is considered a bug". Now, tell me again who is convincing themselves they are right? But, if you wanna keep arguing, I'll go pull the Apple dev kit and the Cocoa dev kit and site the compatibility sections of those kits as well. I've never written anything in Cocoa, but as with every programming language, I'm sure it includes a foundation and a framework supported by iOS. The operating system supports the applications written in a specific language. The version of the OS should not be particular about the application as long as the language (Cocoa) is supported. In the case of iOS 6, 99% of those updates you saw after iOS 6 came out were related to supporting the higher resolution of the iPhone 5 that did not previously exist due to hardware changes. It has nothing to do with changes to Cocoa or how the apps actually function.

"Compatibility

See Compatibility with Previous Releases on the Java Software web site for the list of known compatibility issues. Every effort has been made to support programs written for previous versions of the Java [SUP] TM [/SUP] platform. Although some incompatible changes were necessary, most software should migrate to the current version with no reprogramming. Any failure to do so is considered a bug, except for a small number of cases where compatibility was deliberately broken, as described on our compatibility web page. Some compatibility-breaking changes were required to close potential security holes or to fix implementation or design bugs."
​

 

[Skull One]

LOL. I feel a little like Beetlejuice right now. Say my name and I show up. Or wait, maybe it is because I read nearly every post? Hmm... Ok, lets get some technical details out of the way so we have a level playing field for a point of reference.

iOS only uses ONE type of application and it is native compiled.

Android users TWO types of applications. The largest set of apps (90%+) use a Java based compiler that is run thru the Dalvik VM. The newer set uses the NDK (Native Dev Kit) and still has limited adoption.

Now that we have discussed the two platforms and what they use lets look at the bigger picture of upgrading iOS.



First and foremost Apple does not legally, morally or ethically have the responsibility to make the next version of iOS backwards compatible for the applications currently on the marketplace. Let that sink in for a bit. Because it is a factual statement with huge ramifications. So lets knock out the three words I used and the why behind them.

Legally. Apple's SDK states that a compiled app is only valid for the version(s) of iOS you are targeting. You can NOT submit an app with future SDK revisions for a future iOS until Apple asks for those submissions. It also states that you don't have to target older iOS versions when you develop your application.

Morally. This is where the consumer gets considered. Apple does its very best to make the next version of iOS work with older applications. But it does and has failed. Simply put, there are apps that will not run under iOS 6 that are currently on the app market. Fact of life. It is the developers responsibility to recompile the application under the current SDK.

Ethically. This is where Apple's partner get considered. Developers are one of those partners. Apple provides these developer several facilities for dealing with upgrading their app(s) to the current version of iOS. These tools are provided for free. But it is the responsibility of the developer to utilize those tools. If they choose not to, the application will eventually fail and stop producing income. Which is why you see apps upgrade so quickly after a new iOS is released.



Lets also, since I have the time, look at the Android platform.

Google provides the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) code base to the world for free. At this point the code base can be compiled for a generic device and it will function as is. The phone manufactures then have the ability to make changes and additions to that code base for their specific device.

Google DOES NOT guarantee backwards compatibility for any application on the market place. In fact they CAN NOT ever guarantee it because the phone manufacture has the ability to change the code base post final release. BTW if you really want to have fun check out how many versions of SQLite have been released that aren't compatible with each other and the firestorms it has created in the developer community.

So the point was brought up that Oracle does everything possible to guarantee backwards compatibility. I have really bad news. Android doesn't use Oracle Java. Oracle has sued Google over that fact and has lost every single case in court. I hate to repeat myself but I think this particular point really needs it.

Android DOES NOT use industry standard (Oracle) Java for its applications or SDK.

That is a really profound statement when you look at the big picture. Because Android Java is about to eclipse, if it hasn't already, the number of in use lines of code over Oracles version of Java. And now you know why Oracle sued. Because Google is now in the position to dictate the future of Java and its development as a language.

 

[Skull One]

Thanks Skull, I was stumped on the Java thing. My wife who works for an inventory software development company said it wasn't used on phones but quite honestly I wouldn't take her word for it because what she does uses Oracle and she really isn't into what makes her phone work.

I also highlighted the part about the responsibility of the developer that you mentioned. I think it's what I said all along, you make the app for the OS, not the other way around. So the OP's argument about having to comply with Java standards simply does not apply in the smart phone world.

Apple and Google want the onus to be on the developer. I can see two reasons for it.

1) They both get a slice of the sales and every time they have to deal with something it eats into their profit.

2) It keeps developers in the loop. Apple and Google want active developers because without them they don't have a platform to sell.

 

[chewbacaface]

"Legally. Apple's SDK states that a compiled app is only valid for the version(s) of iOS you are targeting. You can NOT submit an app with future SDK revisions for a future iOS until Apple asks for those submissions. It also states that you don't have to target older iOS versions when you develop your application.

Morally. This is where the consumer gets considered. Apple does its very best to make the next version of iOS work with older applications. But it does and has failed. Simply put, there are apps that will not run under iOS 6 that are currently on the app market. Fact of life. It is the developers responsibility to recompile the application under the current SDK.

Ethically. This is where Apple's partner get considered. Developers are one of those partners. Apple provides these developer several facilities for dealing with upgrading their app(s) to the current version of iOS. These tools are provided for free. But it is the responsibility of the developer to utilize those tools. If they choose not to, the application will eventually fail and stop producing income. Which is why you see apps upgrade so quickly after a new iOS is released."


Thanks, Skull. This is exactly what I was trying to explain with the Java/Windows/OSX example, which was not really sinking in I guess. There is nothing "legal" about what I was saying. It is simply how all operating systems are made. My post was not trying to say that Java was used on any mobile platform. Java was just the most basic example of how a programing language interacts with the operating system (not iOS). Again, you have an operating system, say iOS for example, iOS supports development of applications in Cocoa. Now, Apple has no legal obligation to support backwards compatibility between it's versions of iOS but that would be silly of them not to do. It would be silly of Apple or any developer of an OS to not make every effort for it to support backwards compatibility of applications because it supports the language the app was written in and not the app itself. iOS supports Cocoa... apps are written in Cocoa, therefore just because the OS gets upgraded shouldn't mean every app needs to be rewritten/recompiled. It's just not practical and it's the reason we use standards in programing and manufacturing. Sure, they cover their "legal" bases by putting in language to say they are not required to do this, but if they didn't, nobody would every want to write apps for their device. In this regard, they have failed on a few instances in their last couple iOS releases. This is all I was saying. There have been more crashes in iOS 6.0 and 6.0.1 because they were somewhat careless in their OS changes and compatibility tests. Imagine what a crazy and frustrating device this would be if every app needed to be modified for every OS version. The app store would be a mess.

 

[chewbacaface]

Oh, and in the dev shop world we would call this quality control. It's the difference between good an bad development. We develope things trying to use the most common calls and functions so that the applications can be version independing from our side as well. We know that by using the most time tested methods, it is less likely that an OS upgrade will break something in the application.

 

[Skull One]

Thanks, Skull. This is exactly what I was trying to explain with the Java/Windows/OSX example, which was not really sinking in I guess. There is nothing "legal" about what I was saying. It is simply how all operating systems are made. My post was not trying to say that Java was used on any mobile platform. Java was just the most basic example of how a programing language interacts with the operating system (not iOS). Again, you have an operating system, say iOS for example, iOS supports development of applications in Cocoa. Now, Apple has no legal obligation to support backwards compatibility between it's versions of iOS but that would be silly of them not to do. It would be silly of Apple or any developer of an OS to not make every effort for it to support backwards compatibility of applications because it supports the language the app was written in and not the app itself. iOS supports Cocoa... apps are written in Cocoa, therefore just because the OS gets upgraded shouldn't mean every app needs to be rewritten/recompiled. It's just not practical and it's the reason we use standards in programing and manufacturing. Sure, they cover their "legal" bases by putting in language to say they are not required to do this, but if they didn't, nobody would every want to write apps for their device. In this regard, they have failed on a few instances in their last couple iOS releases. This is all I was saying. There have been more crashes in iOS 6.0 and 6.0.1 because they were somewhat careless in their OS changes and compatibility tests. Imagine what a crazy and frustrating device this would be if every app needed to be modified for every OS version. The app store would be a mess.

You haven't been around iOS long enough then if you think that iOS 6 is bad about backwards compatibility. iOS 5 was FAR FAR worse. In fact iOS 5 makes iOS 6 look like the poster child for how to do it right. Seriously going from iOS 4 to 5 was a nightmare for a lot of apps. It took developers MONTHS just to figure out why their apps were crashing because the changes were so radical. With iOS 6 it has been mostly just a recompile and/or take into account the new resolution if they even needed to.

I have 197 apps installed under iOS 6. None of them failed when iOS 6 final was released. During the beta tests of iOS 6 only 1 of them failed.

Now if memory serves I had over 200+ apps under iOS 4. During the iOS 5 betas easily 30+ failed to even launch. At iOS 5 final release those same 30+ failed to work until they were update by the developer.

But an even better example would be Com2Us. It took them 6 weeks and 5 updates before they finally got Tower Defense - Lost Earth fixed 100% to run under iOS 5. And they are a huge developer house. In fact they released their first iOS 5 update of the game, with permission from Apple since they were a major partner, a day early so that it would be ready when iOS 5 went live. The reason I remember this so clearly? I had waited 4 months to be able to finally play it again because I had been testing the iOS 5 betas. Was really disappointed when iOS 5 final was out, I got the update and the game still crashed.

 

[Skull One]

Oh, and in the dev shop world we would call this quality control. It's the difference between good an bad development. We develope things trying to use the most common calls and functions so that the applications can be version independing from our side as well. We know that by using the most time tested methods, it is less likely that an OS upgrade will break something in the application.

28 years as a software developer. The last 20 of those years has been as the lead developer, project manager and system analyst for a project that has made well over $80 million US since it went live. So I have a really good idea what it takes to get a project spun up, deployed and maintained.

The key to quality code is being able to test that code on the broadest array of configurations as well as looking around corners before they happen. It has nothing to do with what API calls you use. You can't even cite the usage of 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation development tools as being an asset in making code that will survive the future.

Quality control happens when you have properly trained staff that knows the history of CPUs, OSes and the languages being used to compile your final app. Once you have that in place then you can concentrate on future proofing your code. And any shop that tries to predict the future beyond 5 years for their software is doomed to failure. You have to reevaluate every year, sometimes every six months. Because the hardware alone could cause your app to fail in ways you never predicted even though the OS and your app hasn't changed one byte.

BTW, I know you haven't been a software developer for very long. The give away? Only the newbies misspell words that they will be using every day for the rest of their career.

 

[chewbacaface]

LOL! In all honestly, I haven't been around actual programming from a programmers perspective for a long long while. Most of what I did was for the web and mostly script language, action scripting, databasing stuff (DHTML, javascript, actionscript(flash), php, psql, sql+, etc...), and when I was younger and had more patience. I'm not debating my background in development or code writing. You most certainly own that arena. I won't and wouldn't want to have a career in development. I'm past that window already. I'd be like a monkey with a keyboard these days. That said, I have a history working for software companies, project management, quality control, etc... blah blah blah. I get to hear about the problems and then coordinate the resolutions. I know the basics of how these things are put together still and I can't imagine it has strayed so far as to not use basic foundations and frameworks for development. Obviously everyone wants to stay on the bleeding edge, but there are still basics that apply to everything that should not be broken simply by an OS upgrade, especially an minor version upgrade. I have never built anything for iOS. So, if it is a headache, I can only imagine. Still, I would point that finger back at Apple. I love them, but they certainly make mistake and assumptions it would seem.

No need to throw out numbers at me... I've worked for companies that did anywhere from 10million to 500million annually. It's not a competition and revenue has never equated to well made products.

 

[chewbacaface]

Oh, and what did I misspell? That would be awesome since I typed most of that on my phone and emailed it to myself since I didn't have time to finish before I got home. It was done using the incredibly frustrating spellcheck/autocorrect of iOS!

 

[Skull One]

Oh, and what did I misspell? That would be awesome since I typed most of that on my phone and emailed it to myself since I didn't have time to finish before I got home. It was done using the incredibly frustrating spellcheck/autocorrect of iOS!

independing and develope. The first could have been caused by a train of thought change but the second one is the biggest mistake I see from new programmers.

 

[chewbacaface]

independing and develope. The first could have been caused by a train of thought change but the second one is the biggest mistake I see from new programmers.

Yeah, I'm definitely not representing myself as a programmer. I was an Oracle DBA and a consultant for a while and that was the height of my foray into that world. I think our (my company's) perspective on quality control is probably different than most as we write primarily financial and capitulation software and need it to be extremely stable and secure. We are anything but bleeding edge development. I wish we had more mobile developers in house though. We could certainly use them.

Oh, and it was a simple mistake. I crtainly know how to spell develop.