Apple iPad Woes

 

     My wife recently purchased an older Apple iPad (a 2018 model) from the Apple store. It wasn't in stock and had to be ordered and it arrived 5 days later. We picked it up at the store two days ago. 

     When we got it home it would not connect to our Wi-Fi and we kept getting a "weak security" message. It was telling us that the Wi-Fi network we’re using wasn't secure and that our connection is not as robust as the latest up to date standard. It has something to do with enhanced security on Apple devices. 

     Youtube offered a couple of fixes that didn't work so the next morning I called our ISP (the phone company) and the service rep told me our router was fine and it did not need to be updated or, as some of the fixes suggested, reconfigured (which is not for the faint of heart). 

     The next call was to Apple to talk to a service tech who walked me through a gamut of tests, but nothing worked. He suggested the problem was with the iPad and take it back to the store. 

     At the store the tech tested it and it immediately found the store's Wi-Fi, so obviously there was nothing wrong with the iPad. He suggested downloading iTunes on my laptop and doing an update from version 14.4 to 14.6 through the laptop since the iPad would not connect to the Wi-Fi. He added that the update might help. If that failed then he suggested resetting the router, not by shutting it off and turning it back on, but by poking a paperclip in the little hole on the back. He advised that would mean our phones, wireless printers and laptops would be disconnected. 

     After arrival back home, not being real tech savvy and not wanting to go through all that rigmarole, I called the phone company again and asked a tech rep about the possibility of replacing the router with a newer model. 

     The difference this time is that I got a tech rep who immediately understood the problem and the lady knew exactly what she was doing! It took about 10-15 minutes for her to set me up with second wireless network connection to which I could connect the iPad and the problem was solved. 

     Plaudits to one very sharp service technician working at CenturyLink, the third largest landline telephone company in the United States, who had this very simple (and painless) solution!