Strange issue of iPads not connecting to internet at random

[Jehanzeb]

Good evening all,

 

Hope you're well.

 

We're having a strange problem at School but only with Year 6 iPad Mini (which they take home and bring it to school everyday), some (at random) iPads would refuse to resolve to Internet however resetting the network settings under Settings option would bring back the ability to connect to Internet.

 

The affected iPad would show wireless connection fine, is connected to our Access point fine and I can see it from our portal however no activity shown on our Smoothwall as if it is switched off. Restarting the iPad doesn't work,clearing cache wouldn't work either. I have set the lease time to 600mins but that didn't make any difference. The issue is, 60+ iPads would be working fine and then all of a sudden 3-4 iPad mini would refuse to resolve unless I reset the network settings and bring back the activity.

 

My query is, what else can I do to narrow down the issue please? or even better, resolve it once and for all.

 

Your kind input would be highly appreciated.

 

Kindest regards

 

J.

[Jehanzeb]

Good evening all,

 

Hope you're well.

 

We're having a strange problem at School but only with Year 6 iPad Mini (which they take home and bring it to school everyday), some (at random) iPads would refuse to resolve to Internet however resetting the network settings under Settings option would bring back the ability to connect to Internet.

 

The affected iPad would show wireless connection fine, is connected to our Access point fine and I can see it from our portal however no activity shown on our Smoothwall as if it is switched off. Restarting the iPad doesn't work,clearing cache wouldn't work either. I have set the lease time to 600mins but that didn't make any difference. The issue is, 60+ iPads would be working fine and then all of a sudden 3-4 iPad mini would refuse to resolve unless I reset the network settings and bring back the activity.

 

My query is, what else can I do to narrow down the issue please? or even better, resolve it once and for all.

 

Your kind input would be highly appreciated.

 

Kindest regards

 

J.

[SpaceInvader83]

Hi,

 

Are you using a Meru wireless system?

 

Simon

[psydii]

Not just a Meru thing, pretty much all the vendors have had firmware that doesn't play reliably with some devices at some time over the last seven years.

 

If it is random devices, it is likely to be a fixable problem usually through a firmware update.

[truebluesteve]

When you say you reset the network settings - is this on the iPads?

 

Does the Smoothwall issue IP addresses to the iPads and are you using any form of authentication to connect to the wireless network?

[Jehanzeb]

When you say you reset the network settings - is this on the iPads?

 

Yes. On iPad under Settings --> General --> Reset --> Network reset

 

Does the Smoothwall issue IP addresses to the iPads and are you using any form of authentication to connect to the wireless network?

 

We have Synology with DHCP that assign ip to iPads and Smoothwall does not use any authentication (unauthenticated IP) as every device gets filtered.

 

Kindest regards

 

J.