How-To Geek

Hi everyone,
my name is Gabriele, and I have a lot of problems with my new ipad's wifi. My university tech staff is baffled, I've opened a bug report at Apple ( https://bugreport.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/RadarWeb.woa/56/wo/nGZipOd3mzbrT0Wz0U5yag/5.83.28.0.9 ) but I'll also paste here my issue hoping that someone may be able to help me.
I'm an experienced linux user, this is my first experience with apple, and so far I'm kinda disappointed.. the ipad is great, but not being able to connect to a wpa-enterprise network is a huge issue for me....

When I try to use my campus WPA-enterprise wifi network, the iPad (3rd gen., ios 5.1) connects successfully accepting a security certificate, then data is exchanged for 2 seconds (enough to load half a web page), then no more data is sent/received. Safari and other apps just time out.
It happens only on that particular network (my new iPad works perfectly on other networks - open, wep, and wpa2-personal). A different iPad (2nd gen., ios 5.1) works perfectly on that problematic wpa-enterprise network using the same username/password and the same setup.

Steps to Reproduce:
- Use a "new iPad" (3rd gen. wifi only, ios 5.1 9B176, model MC705TY, s/n DLXH6LM8DJ8T)
- Join a wifi network with the following specifications:
Network Name (SSID) ALMAWIFI
Security Type WPA-Enterprise
Data Encryption Type TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol)
Authentication Method Protected EAP (PEAP), EAP-MSCHAP v2
Server Certificate Validation required YES
Certification Authority thawte Primary Root CA http://www.unibo.it/NR/rdonlyr.....oot_CA.zip
Authentication Server almawifi.unibo.it
((see full specifications at http://www.unibo.it/NR/rdonlyr.....aliEng.pdf ))
- The iPad appears to connect correctly (ip address and DNS are correctly assigned by dhcp),
- data is exchanged with the access point for a few seconds, then stops,
- wifi is still connected but no data is exchanged.

(Username and password are correct. A different iPad 2nd gen, ios 5.1, works perfectly in the same physical place with the same username and password.)
(I have tried the solution detailed here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3385080?start=15&tstart=0 - creating a profile with the iphone configuration utility, without improving the situation)
(It is not this issue https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3384783?start=0&tstart=0 as my certificate is not signed with md5)
(I have tried to reboot the device, and to wipe all the networking configuration on the ipad)

Expected Results:
To be able to actually send/receive data on the wpa-enterprise wifi network

Actual Results:
Wifi is connected, data in exchanged for 2 seconds then it stops and never resumes

Regression:

Notes:
All the technical information on the wifi network I cannot use is here http://www.unibo.it/Portale/At.....efault.htm (also in English, on the right side)

Hi ispalten,
first of all, thanks a lot for the reply :-)

The GHZ band tip may be a good idea. I'll definitely look into that and then report.
If that's the case, is there a way to force the ipad to select a certain frequency when several are available?

I'd say that the ipad isn't broken, as it works flawlessly with every other network. That's the thing that baffles me...

G:

Dear Gabriele,

I have the same problem as you with the ALMAWIFI connection and Ipad3. Do you have any news?

Antonio