How To: Fix iPad loosing wireless network
One of the issues being reported with the Apple iPad is that it looses it’s wireless network connection and then has a very hard time reconnecting.
I ran across this bug in the field where I had 6 iPads scattered around a football field, and two (or more) Apple Airport Extremes connected in WDS mode. The issue seems to popup usually when there are either a large number of people in between the Airport Base Station and the iPad, OR when the iPad was too far from one or the other Airports. Weirdly, the Wireless Connection icon in the upper left hand of the screen would have full bars, but still couldn’t get to any network devices or to the Internet.
From the iPad’s main screen, choose “Settings” then tap “Wi-Fi” locations. Choose the default Wireless Network, then tap the right arrow. Scroll down to “HTTP Proxy” and then tap on “Manual.” Back out of these screens and test the wireless out. If it still fails, go back and choose “Auto” instead of “Manual.” Note that there is no need to enter any information in the “Server,” “Port,” or “Authentication” fields. Unless your specific wireless network needs those.
This is reported to also work with iPods and possibly iPhones so the problem seems to be in IOS itself, and not with the hardware. Hopefully a future update will fix this issue.
Other Suggestions:
-Update Firmware on Wireless Access Point
-Turn off the 802.11n mode
-Temporarily disable security measures. If this seems to solve, set router to WPA2
-Disable 40mhz or 20mhz under 802.11n settings – especially in crowded wireless environments
-Set the iPad to get a static IP (only reported to work in one case, so very low on the list)
-Apple’s KB has a few other suggestions: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1398