3G Ringer issues

[DeannaB]

I am having problems with the ringer/external speaker and I hope someone can help. About 5 weeks ago I noticed that I wasn't getting any type of sound from my phone. No ring, text/email alert, keyboard clicks ect. If I tried using "speaker" during a call I couldn't hear them but they could still hear me. If I held the phone during the call or used the earphones the sound was fine. After playing with the phone a little I found that if I pushed down on the phone just to the left of the home button the external speaker would work. This trick works until the phone is disturbed and then you have to push down again. Obnoxious but it works. I planed to only use this until iPhone 5 was released and I could upgrade which isn't happening. I'm not sure I want the 4s but can't continue with my phone not ringing. Is this something that I can order a part for and have an engineer friend fix? Or should I just upgrade even though I would prefer to wait for a redesign? Thank you for suggestions and help.