I made a frustrating discovery over the weekend and wonder if, when the iPad finally launches in Canada, other Rogers Extreme Plus and Ultimate Internet customers will face the same issue I did.
When I upgraded from Extreme (10 Mbs with 95 GB data cap) to Extreme Plus (25 Mbs with 125 GB data cap) Rogers issued me a special modem for the faster service. The modem, a SMCD3GN made by SMC Networks, also serves as a wireless router, but since I already had a D-Link wireless router and only needed the SMC to act as a modem, I had Rogers disable wireless.
Last weekend, after suffering the odd loss of connectivity (and assuming it was because of some sort of a conflict between the new modem and my existing router -- i never figured it out) I removed my D-Link router and had Rogers enable wireless on the SMCD3GN.
Everything went just fine until I started using globetechnology's new iPad.
The department ordered an iPad through our Washington bureau in March, it arrived a few days after the U.S. launch and I and a few others have been using it here in the office and in our homes since then. Despite hearing about WiFi connectivity issues with the iPad, no one has had any problems with it.
At least until last weekend.
Once I'd removed my D-Link router, I had to connect all of my devices to my new network. The iPad connected just fine the first time, but would fail to reconnect whenever it woke up from sleep. I researched, discovered I was having the textbook iPad WiFi connectivity issue (some third party routers that operate on two wireless bands -- 2.4 Mhz and 5.0 Mhz) and assumed that because the SNCD3GN is a dual-band router it was the culprit. I read up on how to solve the dual-band issue and then commenced with my head-banging exercise in trying to fix the issue.
Step 1 -- Fiddle. After half a day, I discovered that by turning off WiFi on the iPad and then turning it on again a moment later, the device would automatically connect to my network. But it got to the point that basically whenever I picked it up and turned it on, I had to perform this disconnect-reconnect process. I also changed a raft of setting via the router's admin page, but nothing worked.
Step 2 -- call Rogers. Tech support said they have not received any calls about iPad connectivity issues (no huge surprise considering the number of Canadians with an iPad is still relatively small). When I asked if I could implement Apple's solution to solving the issue by renaming the separate bands, tech support seemed lost. I asked if something like this could be solved with a firmware update. The tech asked a supervisor, who replied that Rogers doesn't update the firmware on the SMC router. Which is absurd, because not only does Rogers update the firmware on the SMC router but last weekend they did just that and ended up ticking off a whole big group of people because the update has removed some admin functions. But that's another story.
Step 3 -- Fiddle some more.
Step 4 -- Call Rogers and have them disable wireless on the SMC. Once that was done I reconnect the D-Link, re-establish my old network and poof: iPad connects, re-connects and re-connects with no further issues.
I gave SMC a call, spoke with their tech support and they said they have received no calls about iPad connectivity issues and suggested I should try and solve the problem by forwarding ports. How that would work I don't know. The fact the iPad could connect just fine after restarting WiFi and only encountered connectivity issues when it woke from a sleep has me thinking port forwarding wouldn't solve it. Too late anyway. Now that everything's working fine with my D-Link router reattached, I'm not going to re-enable the SMC router again.
However, my big question is -- and I suppose any Extreme Plus/Ultimate users who've a SMCD3GN in their homes and also plan on getting an iPad -- was this a one-off or is this an endemic issue with this device?
I guess we'll find out in late May when the iPad goes on sale here.