WiFi Signal indicator on iphone drops bars repeatedly

nelly001 said:

When I turn on wifi on my iphone it initally shows a full signal on the wifi indicator and then drops down one or two bars after a few seconds
Tried turning wifi on and off but exactly the same thing happens

I have two macbooks also connected that always show a full signal

Anyone else having this problem. Is it just an icon glitch or is there a problem with the wifi antenna in the phone
Your feedback is appreciated

Click to expand...

I hear ya....

I'm six inches away from the router (literally) and I have 2 bars. Then a second later I have 4 bars, then 3, then the router disappears, then it comes back...

What a joke... I thought the wifi was going to be the best part about the phone... But I can't even use it.

try reseting the network settings and then the phone. If that doesnt work try go to rhea apple store and they will test it on their router if its the same problem I'm sure they will switch it for you.

You do know its the throughput speed, not signal strength, right?

"Apple says 'we revised the Airport indicator so it better indicates the performance you should get with your current connection. In this case more bars means faster throughput.' My tests suggest the signal strength remains the same, but there's less noise."

So what this means is that there is lots of interference. Given that its a cell phone, this is probably right. The antenna are no where near the efficiency of a laptop. Then you throw in a microwave and all the cordless phones and BAM!

If you have an Apple base station. May I suggest you check you multi-cast and transmitter power settings. A tweak here and there may help. Transmitter power should be at full and muti-cast you sorta play with but start with 1 and then try 11 next and go from there. Also make sure "enable interface robustness" is checked. I also have had great luck with channel 11 - not automatic.

A laptop has the hardware and power to compensate for poor conditions, I feel the iPhone does not do the same.

I can barely use my home's WiFi also. Most times I have to physically turn the phone's wifi setting on/off, or just be on wifi a minute or 2 till it blows out again. My house isn't that big. This should work IMO. Both our phones do this but one is worse.

It would be interesting if those reporting issues with WiFi disclosed their access point/wireless router makes and models.

At home I have no issues with my Apple Airport Extreme (G). My brother has a Linksys router of some sort. Don't knwo the model number, but it was made post the Cisco purchase and is also a 802.11G standard radio. Excellent performance with both.

How far is everyone able to walk from their router for it to work? Or walls, etc? I have a new Netgear 'G'. Not sure what model right now. Computers all working fine. I can sometimes get it to work by shutting off/on the wifi on the phone. That's a real PITA though.

I just don't use wifi any more. It is more painful to hope the wifi will actually work (when I go to a new location) and I won't be more than 20 feet away from the router.

One thing that has really created a love/hate relationship with my phone...

WiFi Signal indicator - compare iphone and touch

Hello,

I got an iPod Touch about a month ago and I just bought an iPhone. I have noticed that the signal indicator on the Touch is much higher than the iPhone. In fact, when Touch gets the highest level, iPhone doesn't even find the network...
I restored the iPhone but didn't change anything...
Did anyone have the same problem? Is there a solution? or iPhone is just weaker?

Potential wi-fi signal dropping solution

I had this issue since I updated to OS 3.0, as did my wife.

After much mucking around I decided to change the wifi security on my router from WPA2Personal with AES algorithm to WPA2Personal with TKIP and AES.

This resulted in the same problem - maybe slightly worse.

I then changed the setting BACK to WPA2Personal with just AES and both of our iPhones remain connected all the time again - hooray!

So it seems that just changing the wireless to something else, then changing it back has given my router the nudge it needed to maintain the connection.

My router is a Linksys WRT54G on draft N only.

I'm about to take my iPhone into an Apple Store for a replacement.

I got a Time Capsule last week, and it replaced my trusty old Belkin router. Ever since then, my iPhone has been unable to keep a reliable connection to my network. It randomly connects or disconnects with no rhyme or reason that I can decipher.

I have tried everything, up to and including calling Apple Technical Support (BTW, I had already done everything they suggested, and I did it again while on the phone with two different technicians), and we've all given up. I had no trouble with this until I switch to the Time Capsule, with the 3G nor the 3GS, and my computers and TiVo have had no trouble connecting and staying connected. And the TiVo is notorious for having wireless connectivity issues.

I even tried chrisgannon's suggestion, as a last ditch effort. No dice.

This is really annoying, so I hope a new 3GS will take care of it.

There is a growing number of iPhone users who are having WiFi problems since 3.0. Issue range from terrible signal to WiFi that is completely dead - myself included (I can't see ANY networks).


A huge thread (760+ replies) on Apple's forums has hundreds of iPhone owners complaining about it.

It seems to be related to the 3.0 update. Those who have taken their phones to an Apple Store are given a replacement phone (if still in warranty), so it seems like a possible hardware fault, although many people think that OS 3.0 is somehow frying the WiFi chips.

We're trying to get Apple to officially respond to/acknowledge the problem.

EDIT: If you too are having WiFi problems since 3.0 PLEASE go and add your voice to the Apple thread , the more people that post their problems there the sooner Apple will hopefully respond.

Well, I don't know that my problems are connected to 3.0. I've been running it since the GM was released, and had no problems until I replaced my router.

I'm probably going to go for a replacement on Friday.