Mobile internet connection FUBAR'd by IOS 14

[Speed 3]

Hope someone can help as this is driving me nuts.

My wife operates a Pre-School in a church hall which has no landline and therefore no wired broadband connection. As she has to operate an IT application to manage the setting, we have successfully used a TP-Link wifi dongle to operate 5 ipads for the staff through Three data sims. Since everything updated to IOS 14 yesterday, we can no longer get internet access through the dongle. Each comes up with an error "WPA/WPA2 (TKIP) is not considered secure". It recommends switching to WPA2 (AES) or WPA3 but neither of these is an option in the dongle configurator. There also don't appear to be any firmware updates to bring that in.

As annoying as Apple's move is, if it is a security risk that means the dongle needs replacing then so be it. However, here's the rub, I can't find any currently available dongle that operates to the security level IOS14 insists on (although ironically I'm typing this on a 2020 MacBook Air which is quite happy with the dongle). Only seems to be Huawei and TP Link making these things plus some very expensive Netgear models but none seem to be WPA3 or equivalent.

Any suggestions as it has ground the IT to a halt at the setting, our applications are SAS requiring internet connection ? We can't hotspot to iphones as that data is chargeable and they get through many GB per month.

[Smiljan]

There's another update 14.0.1 - have you tried it with that. One of the bug fixed is for wifi issues

[Smiljan]

This update includes bug fixes for your ‌iPhone‌.
- Fixes an issue that could cause default browser and mail settings to reset after restarting your ‌iPhone‌
- Addresses an issue that could prevent camera previews from displaying on ‌iPhone‌ 7 and ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus
- Fixes an issue that could prevent your ‌iPhone‌ from connecting to Wi-Fi networks
- Resolves an issue that could prevent sending email with some mail providers
- Addresses an issue that could prevent images from appearing in the News widget
- For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222

[Speed 3]

We went straight to 14.0.1

[Mr E]

I have iOS 14 connection to wpa2 tkip with no issues. It spits the warning but gets on with it.

[megaphone]

Try forgetting the network in settings, then re-apply.

Apple have introduced a new security feature in iOS14, when connected to a WiFi network a random MAC address is generated, not the actual MAC of the iPhone, this may confuse some WiFi networks that have already issued an IP to your MAC. You can disable this in the settings.

[Dibble]

I’ve got two WiFi networks at home, wired broadband and 4G. The wired broadband is pretty awful and I get better stability on the 4G, however, I’ve also got the issue with my iPad and iPhone not connecting to the 4G WiFi any more.

I’ve updated to 14.0.1, I’ve switched the iPad and iPhone off and on again, I’ve switched the 4G router of and on, I’ve forgotten the 4G network and reentered the password, I’ve reset all the network settings, I’ve toggled airplane mode off and on and it’s still not working. Any suggestions?

[Dibble]

I’ve also tried switching off the random address generator for the WiFi as well, still no dice.

[Speed 3]

megaphone said:

Try forgetting the network in settings, then re-apply.

Apple have introduced a new security feature in iOS14, when connected to a WiFi network a random MAC address is generated, not the actual MAC of the iPhone, this may confuse some WiFi networks that have already issued an IP to your MAC. You can disable this in the settings.

Forgetting network didn't work. Tried various combinations of Manual IP, DNS and turning off Private Address. Best I could get to was internet connection to websites but still can't connect to the proprietary application we subscribe to. Raised a ticket with them and as expected they said if its working on home wifi then it's a connection problem with the mifi security / IOS not an App bug.

I cannot find a single SIM enabled WPA3 router on sale so I'm chancing it with a new D-Link home router with a SIM slot to see if that works on selectable WPA2.

[Ham_and_Jam]

Ive got a TP Link 4g router on the 3 network at work, and on iOS14.

I’m popping in tomorrow (Sunday) so will try it and see if it’s working. Not used it for a few weeks so will be interesting for both of us.

Will report back

[megaphone]

Have you tried setting up a 4G phone as a hotspot, then see if other iPhones can connect?


Just to add I've had no issues connecting to a few different WiFi networks since iOS14 update, none where 4G however.

Edited by megaphone on Saturday 26th September 15:17

[Speed 3]

megaphone said:

Have you tried setting up a 4G phone as a hotspot, then see if other iPhones can connect?


Just to add I've had no issues connecting to a few different WiFi networks since iOS14 update, none where 4G however.

Yes they work that way (presuming as it's Apple to Apple) but as I said at the outset we can't use that as a long term solution as the tethering costs a fortune.

[Mattt]

Stick the TP Link’s SIM in a spare phone?

[Speed 3]

Mattt said:

Stick the TP Link’s SIM in a spare phone?

Wouldn't be able to connect 5 devices simultaneously to one phone, nor get the range we need.

[Mattt]

Buy a Three 4G broadband service and just bring the router with you when you come or go?

[Speed 3]

Well the new SIM router has cured the problem. Configured it to WPA2-AES and we're all in. Given the security for the activity we need I'm not fussed about having to spend another £100 but would have been nice to have a warning that this would happen but hey-ho. Still surprised all the mifi's currently available don't meet current standards.