Sometimes iPhone won't hook up to wi-fi

I have had a couple of times recently when my iPhone (5s running
8.1.3would not hook up with open wifi networks. I could see the network,
click on it, but then I just get the indicator that it was trying to
connect but nothing. One time I let it go a full 10 minutes before it
timed out. I would try again a little later and same thing happen. Any
suggestions as to why and whether I can do anything about it?
There were people around me (including some with iPhones) that
were connecting okay.

 

Kurt Ullman wrote, on Tue, 10 Mar 2015 11:37:17 -0400:

In my experience, the antenna and gain and sensitivity of the iEquipment
sucks, as compared to Android.

On Android, you can run inSSIDer which will tell you exactly how many
decibels each wifi access point is being received at.

On iOS, they don't allow that software. You can try "Net Analyzer" and
"Fing" freeware on iOS, which will only give you minimal information.

Another thing you can do is shut off and restart the WiFi. That works
often when iOS can't switch between two SSIDs of the exact same name
(which is common in WiFi extender situations).

Good luck.
You might do better at misc.phone.mobile.iphone

 

Thanks for the advice, but since the WiFi's in question are at public
places, I doubt that is an option.

 

He meant on the iPhone. You can turn wifi off for a few seconds in
settings or just put the phone into airplane mode for a few seconds
(which also restarts your cellular connection).

 

Kurt Ullman wrote, on Wed, 11 Mar 2015 01:21:21 -0400:

I wasn't precise in my suggestion. I meant to switch off the WiFi on
the iEquipment, and then turn it back on.

I have a variety of iEquipment and Android equipment, and I have my
spare router set up as a WiFi extender with the same SSID as the
primary home broadband router.

The home broadband router has two channels (2.5Ghz and 5Ghz) and I
find that the iEquipment gets confused about once every few weeks
where this on/off trick works.

I held the iDevice in my hand along with an Android tablet running
inSSIDer and I could easily see the switchover on the Android side
but the iDevice just held on like a spider hanging onto a thread
until I switched it off.

It was clear as day that the iDevice was being stupid when it came
to switching from the far away SSID to the closer SSID as I walked
back and forth around the house.

 

Pat wrote, on Wed, 11 Mar 2015 07:26:55 -0400:

Thanks for clarifying, as you are correct.

There's also an iPad ng, comp.mobile.ipad and comp.mobile.android
for the rest of us.

 

Oops. I tried that. Then I powered down the entire iPhone and tried it
again. No luck. FWIW, the signal indicator showed strong signal.