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Why is there no mention of the iPhone 5's BT/WiFi issues?

W

WilliamG

macrumors G3
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
9,922
3,800
Seattle
Let me preface this by stating how much my wife and I love our iPhone 5s. We really, really do. When the iPhone 4 came out, the antenna issues never bothered us, and never affected us.

With the iPhone 5, though, just holding the phone absolutely normally (a regular cupping, not a I'm-trying-to-hold-it-at-a-ridiculous-angle death-grip) attenuates the WiFi and BT signal enormously. If I'm playing music over BT to my speaker dock 10 feet away, picking up my phone and holding it in my left hand while sending a text etc will usually end up in my music skipping.

Heck, even holding it will cause my wifi signal to drop noticeably. I can watch the bars drop.

This happens on both my and my wife's iPhone 5.

Maybe I missed the threads on this, but it seems like a pretty glaring issue to me. Any thoughts on this?
 
tymaster50

tymaster50

Suspended
Oct 3, 2012
2,833
58
Oregon
WilliamG said:
Let me preface this by stating how much my wife and I love our iPhone 5s. We really, really do. When the iPhone 4 came out, the antenna issues never bothered us, and never affected us.

With the iPhone 5, though, just holding the phone absolutely normally (a regular cupping, not a I'm-trying-to-hold-it-at-a-ridiculous-angle death-grip) attenuates the WiFi and BT signal enormously. If I'm playing music over BT to my speaker dock 10 feet away, picking up my phone and holding it in my left hand while sending a text etc will usually end up in my music skipping.

Heck, even holding it will cause my wifi signal to drop noticeably. I can watch the bars drop.

This happens on both my and my wife's iPhone 5.

Maybe I missed the threads on this, but it seems like a pretty glaring issue to me. Any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...
you're one of the only people with this problem.
 
jlake02

jlake02

macrumors 68020
Nov 2, 2008
2,259
1
L.A.
I've heard of WiFi issues but the new patch allegedly fixed them.

I've never heard of such Bluetooth issues, though. Maybe you got a lemon. :(
 
FSMBP

FSMBP

macrumors 68030
Jan 22, 2009
2,712
2,623
You're the minority OP. I've had mine for 3 weeks and haven't had wifi issues. I'm probably 30 ft from the router (3 walls away too) and have full signal.
 
palmerc2

palmerc2

macrumors 68000
Feb 29, 2008
1,623
683
Los Angeles
I too have wifi, Bluetooth and cellular issues. My wifi will disconnect for no reason, or my Bluetooth will disconnect (kinda bad when I'm driving and on a call and is no longer going through the car), and cellular where I'll have no data and my bars will go from 1 to 5 and then no signal. When I download the new iOS version I'll see if it alleviates the problems, if not ill exchange it.
 
erratikmind

erratikmind

macrumors 6502a
Apr 2, 2009
772
1
S.F./Las Vegas
OP, there is a thread with regard to your BT issues. Unfortunately, I am unable to track it down for you. However, you are not alone in this matter. Good luck to you in finding a speedy fix.
 
aphexacid

aphexacid

macrumors 6502a
Jul 31, 2007
936
22
Chicago
I haven't heard of folks losing signal by holding the phone, but i have seen people complain about crappy wifi.

Me for instance, i get pretty terrible wifi speed. But it shows i have "full bars". I could be standing right next to my roughter, and it will be the same speed.

6.01 may or may not fix this for me. I have read some with the same problem are still experiencing it after the update, and some say it fixed it.
 
ixodes

ixodes

macrumors 601
Jan 11, 2012
4,429
3
Pacific Coast, USA
I haven't personally experienced these, but I shelved my iPhone 5 weeks ago, returning to my much preferred 4S.

Asking around the office we have a few people with these issues, so they are indeed something that needs to be resolved.
 
J

Joesmith13245

macrumors regular
Sep 15, 2012
180
21
No wifi issues. However, since moving from the 4S to the 5 I do have static when using my plantronics BT headset. Can't say the iPhone 5/IOS6 is the cause. Have not gotten around to troubleshooting the issue yet.
 
PNutts

PNutts

macrumors 601
Jul 24, 2008
4,874
357
Pacific Northwest, US
I can't speak to BT issues because I dont use it. However, for wifi it's normal for the signal to weaken when the antennas are covered (true for any device). However, if it doesn't cause connectivity issue or noticible throughput (speed) issues then it's not an issue. You can try a speed test while uncovered and then one while covered to see if it's affecting performance. A small decrease in speed would be normal. You can also go to a different wifi AP and see if you can reproduce the behavior. Not knowning what equipment you have or what wifi band you're using the enviroment had wildly different effects on signal strength and throughput.
 
R

Radiating

macrumors 65816
Dec 29, 2011
1,018
7
WilliamG said:
Let me preface this by stating how much my wife and I love our iPhone 5s. We really, really do. When the iPhone 4 came out, the antenna issues never bothered us, and never affected us.

With the iPhone 5, though, just holding the phone absolutely normally (a regular cupping, not a I'm-trying-to-hold-it-at-a-ridiculous-angle death-grip) attenuates the WiFi and BT signal enormously. If I'm playing music over BT to my speaker dock 10 feet away, picking up my phone and holding it in my left hand while sending a text etc will usually end up in my music skipping.

Heck, even holding it will cause my wifi signal to drop noticeably. I can watch the bars drop.

This happens on both my and my wife's iPhone 5.

Maybe I missed the threads on this, but it seems like a pretty glaring issue to me. Any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

My phone has the same issues, interesting.
 
H

harcosparky

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
2,055
2
WilliamG said:
With the iPhone 5, though, just holding the phone absolutely normally (a regular cupping, not a I'm-trying-to-hold-it-at-a-ridiculous-angle death-grip) attenuates the WiFi and BT signal enormously. If I'm playing music over BT to my speaker dock 10 feet away, picking up my phone and holding it in my left hand while sending a text etc will usually end up in my music skipping.
Click to expand...


This is a fairly common characteristic with BT devices.

I have a two way radio on my motorcycle with a BT headset in my helmet.

If I stand 8-15 feet away from the motorcycle and turn so that the my helmet is between the BT headset and BT two way radio I get interruptions.

If I have the BT headset pointed at the radio and put my hand over it, I get attenuation of signal and possible a dropped connection.

I have a BT headset that I use with all of our Cell Phones and if I allow my head to get between the BT headset and the Cell Phone ( LG and Samsung ) there can be interruptions.


Again it is a common characteristic of BT devices.
 
T

tenhead

macrumors regular
Jan 2, 2008
112
3
california
Bluetooth on my iPhone 5 just kept on searching....It doesn't detect my sony ericsson stereo headphone. I don't know what to do now.
 
bmwhd

bmwhd

macrumors 6502a
May 22, 2008
776
2
I use BT extensively and have my iP5 paired to my BT headset on motorcycle helmet, my car, and my old BT stereo headphones that I've had for ages. In all thee cases reception range is superior to my iP4 and sound quality is excellent.
 
coffeemadmanUK

coffeemadmanUK

macrumors 6502a
Jan 30, 2012
575
212
United Kingdom
I read the entire thread thinking BT was British Telecommunications... makes more sense now it means Bluetooth.

I haven't had the issues you're talking of though, to add my two cents.
 
Archer1440

Archer1440

Suspended
Mar 10, 2012
730
302
USA
I find the 5 has much better BT performance than my previous 4 with my Sony BT headphones. BT is by design a low-power, line of sight system- easily blocked by obstacles, especially your body. But mine works exceptionally well. Outdoors I have had it work with my headphones up to 50 meters, with the phone in a backpack. Well beyond the specifications.

With wifi, I maintain 3 bars at 200' from my router in the house. Same as the 4 before it.
 
M

Mr.C

macrumors 603
Apr 3, 2011
5,444
1,437
London, UK.
I've not had any issues at all with Bluetooth on my iPhone 4,4S or now my iPhone 5. The same with Wi-Fi. I use a Sony Ericsson MW-600 Bluetooth headphone adapter and it works just fine.
 
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