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Manazir's avatar
Manazir
Guide
May 09, 2020

iPhone 11 pro max drops wifi while locked/in sleep mode

Hi,

I have started using Netgear Nighthawk AX8 router a week ago. Since then, I have noticed that my iPhone 11 Pro Max drops WiFi when it is locked or in sleep mode. Until I unlock the phone and do some activity, the WiFi does not reconnect. It show connected to WiFi from the Router setup page but, message from WhatsApp, Messenger etc goes through. Also no other device connected to the Netgear Nighthawk AX8 was experiencing this issue.

Now, at first I thought it was a problem with the iPhone, so I tried reseting the phone & its wifi. I tweaked some setting of the phone too. But it did not work. Then I checked by connecting another router from different brand and found no such issue. Wifi was always connected, no drop when locked and all notifications came through. Did not get any issue while connected to those routers. I used "N" & "AC" router and found ok for both cases.

So, I thought may be problem lies with the Netgear Nighthawk AX8 router. I tried many ways to troubleshoot the issue but failed. Below are the methods I tried:

  • Factory reset the router
  • Updated Firmware to the latest version
  • Turned off smart connect, AX feature, MU-MIMO, WMM. I tured them off individually and checked if it worked.
  • Enabled IPv6 (even though my ISP does not support IPv6)
  • Assigned static IP to the iPhone
  • Changed WiFi channels.
  • Removed Wifi from phone and reconnected.

Still no luck. The issue still persists. Can anyone please help me?

6 Replies

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  • Manazir's avatar
    Manazir
    Guide
    May 09, 2020

    Also, My PC is connected to the router via ethernet cable. Whenever I turn on the PC, It takes a minute or two recognizew the ethernet port and connect to internet. 

    Manazir wrote:

    Hi,

    I have started using Netgear Nighthawk AX8 router a week ago. Since then, I have noticed that my iPhone 11 Pro Max drops WiFi when it is locked or in sleep mode. Until I unlock the phone and do some activity, the WiFi does not reconnect. It show connected to WiFi from the Router setup page but, message from WhatsApp, Messenger etc goes through. Also no other device connected to the Netgear Nighthawk AX8 was experiencing this issue.

    Now, at first I thought it was a problem with the iPhone, so I tried reseting the phone & its wifi. I tweaked some setting of the phone too. But it did not work. Then I checked by connecting another router from different brand and found no such issue. Wifi was always connected, no drop when locked and all notifications came through. Did not get any issue while connected to those routers. I used "N" & "AC" router and found ok for both cases.

    So, I thought may be problem lies with the Netgear Nighthawk AX8 router. I tried many ways to troubleshoot the issue but failed. Below are the methods I tried:

    • Factory reset the router
    • Updated Firmware to the latest version
    • Turned off smart connect, AX feature, MU-MIMO, WMM. I tured them off individually and checked if it worked.
    • Enabled IPv6 (even though my ISP does not support IPv6)
    • Assigned static IP to the iPhone
    • Changed WiFi channels.
    • Removed Wifi from phone and reconnected.

    Still no luck. The issue still persists. Can anyone please help me?

     

    • Christian_R's avatar
      Christian_R
      NETGEAR Employee Retired
      May 12, 2020

      Hi Manazir, 

       

      Our engineering is aware and currently investigating similar reports. We do not have any further details or an ETA on a fix. 

       

      Thank you for understanding,

      Christian 

      • Manazir's avatar
        Manazir
        Guide
        May 13, 2020

        Thanks for the reply.

         

        Is there any solution/workaround currently? I am facing problem staying connected with my iPhone.

  • Vertical_mk's avatar
    Vertical_mk
    Aspirant
    Sep 15, 2020

    I've had my RAX120 since February and am having the same issues.  My wired Windows 10 PC usually takes a minute or so to connect the first time i use it each day (or after it's been sitting for several hours).  My iPad and iPhone 11 have the same issue--it takes a minute to connect the first time i use them each day.  I've mostly kept up on firmware, now running V1.0.1.122 (and now see that V1.0.1.128 is available).  I've not been able to find much information out there on this problem.

     

    Before i got the RAX120, I tried the Netgear R8000P AC4000 Wi-Fi router.  I didn't use it long enough to notice the delayed connection on the wireless network but my wired PC had the same symptom.  I never had these issues with my previous wireless routers: Apple AirPort Time Capsule (802.11ac) and Linksys E4200V (N900).

     

    Thanks to Manazir  for posting on this problem.  He did a lot more troubleshooting than i have.