Yesterday was a big day for Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad fans. The latest and greatest version of iOS 6, the operating system for late model Apple devices, was out. Millions of eager users upgraded… and then their Wi-Fi failed. What went wrong?
It was ironic. The update itself went amazingly well for many users. IOS 6 also fixed many security problems. And, most users were very happy with this update. Well, except for the ones that couldn’t connect with the Internet. They were none too happy.
Fortunately for them, Apple was able to quick fix the problem.
So what happened? A network configuration blunder? Some glitch in the code itself? Something odd in the IOS 6 default Wi-Fi setting? No, no, and no.
The problem turned out to be that when you turned your device on and you tried to connect with a Wi-Fi network, the first thing iOS 6 did was to try to connect to an Apple Web page. All that page does is return the word, “Success.” If the device couldn’t reach that page, it returned a 404 error. The Wi-Fi connection routine then presumed you must be behind a login page for a public or corporate Wi-Fi network, say your local coffee-shop or your office, and it then allowed the local login page to load.