Can an iPhone knock my own devices off the wi-fi?

[Marthe48]

My granddaughter stayed with me. She has an iPhone. I have a laptop, an android phone and a smart tv. I've noticed this happened other times, but yesterday was really bad. I couldn't use Google. I lost the connection to my wi-fi on the laptop. I tried to access Netflix on the Smart TY and it wouldn't connect. I couldn't get my tethering to work, either! When I'm by myself, this doesn't happen. I finally asked her to turn off the wi-fi on her phone, and we had no more trouble after that.

Is it normal for an iPhone to dominate someone's wi-fi? I've had the same problem with other iPhones in my house and their house.

[krispos42]

1. I know my kid's Android phone does that

It messes up my Wi-Fi router. Only mine, though. My parent's, his friend's, his schools... No problems.

Mine? Kills the router inn less than ten seconds. Then it resets, re-connects to his phone, and dies again.

[Marthe48]

2. It is a pain

Seems like the phones need to have some manners!

[krispos42]

5. Well we just can't figure out why

It's irritating!

[Ron Obvious]

11. Is the router's firmware up to date?

That would be the first thing I'd check if it's possible to upgrade it at all, of course.

[krispos42]

12. Yeah, it is. Or at least it was in November or so when the problem first cropped up.

I did a thread about it here, actually.

[mopinko]

3. my neighbors tv was bumping me off my bluetooth.

using my phone as a bluetooth hook up, and every time my next door neighbor turned his bluetooth tv on, i got bumped off. couldnt reconnect.
got a new sim for the phone, and that fixed it.

i was hacked hard at the time, and think that was part of it.

[ramblin_dave]

4. I have an iPhone and several non-Apple devices...

but I have not seen this problem. I did find this online:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7070932]

"It actually turned out to be that iPhone was having a problem backing up to iCloud.

When I went in and manually backed up to iCloud on my device, it seemed to have fixed it."

[Marthe48]

6. I don't use iCloud or Bluetooth

Last edited Sun Jan 23, 2022, 05:37 PM - Edit history (1)

My granddaughter might use one or the other.

I kind of resign myself to staring at everyone able to use my wi-fi. Lol

[ramblin_dave]

7. I believe that iCloud is enabled by default

You can opt out of it, but most people don't. So your granddaughter probably has it enabled.

[Marthe48]

8. Thank you

I don't stay up-to-date the way I used to. I want my stuff on my device, so I avoid the cloud storage, and don't learn about it. I'm a fossil :/

I'm using an MS mail program. I was used to having everything saved on my device, and pulling up or searching for things. With the mail program, if it isn't in the in-box, or very recent, I have to ask for an online search and it might be there. Doesn't seem to keep things the way I do. On yahoo, I have mail dating back 20 years! Just like my house!

[ManiacJoe]

9. Check the number of allowed connections on the wifi router.

By default most routers are configured for 255 connections.
For security purposes you can usually lower this number.
However, if too low, new devices can fight with others already connected.

[Marthe48]

10. Thanks!

I don't think I have that many devices, even lifetime But I'll see if that is an issue. Maybe my usual 2 is okay, but 4 is too many.

[LPBBEAR]

13. Some possibles.

Rather than totally blame the Apple device you might consider some of the following...

1. Its possible your wireless firewall/router is a bit faulty. Over the years of working with computers I have seen a number of these devices. Manufacturers tend to cram a lot of heat producing electronics into tight sleek looking plastic cases with an eye toward making them attractive to consumers instead of making them durable. Over time the heat produced by the device tends to cause the electronics to start getting flakey. While it might work marginally well with one or two users its possible to see more issues as the number of users increase. Touch it. Does it seem unusually warm or even hot? If so consider replacing it.

2. Basically what all wireless firewall/routers are is small computers. Inside that plastic case is a embedded operating system usually running on some form of Linux or BSD. Most consumers who use these devices are unaware that these devices do occasionally need updates. If you know how to log into the administrative interface of your device you will find a section devoted to installing what are called firmware updates. Its possible your particular device suffers from a bug that was corrected by the manufacturer after you purchased it. This is also important to check for security purposes since some updates correct missed security issues in the device. How this is done varies from brand/model. Post your brand/model and I can point you in the right direction.

3. Its possible your granddaughters phone is downloading an excessive amount of data. Perhaps multimedia, movies, music, streaming etc. Perhaps your wireless firewall/router is an older one with slower wireless speeds.

More info would help.