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almost unusable wifi (IPHONE 3G)

P

paskin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 29, 2012
12
0
i have recently got an iphone 3g, and the wifi signal on it is simply AWFUL.

i dont know how to post screenshots or i would show you, its like a tiny dont on the signal chart, i cant connect to hardly any websites, etc.

and to top it off, i have a blackberry 9300 in the same room which has perfect wifi connectivity, why can my blackberry get such good connection but the iphone has almost zero signal strength?

any help with this could be greatly appreciated as my blackberry is soon to be sold and ill be left with the iphone which cant connect to anything :(

thanks.

here's a picture of the wifi connection, i dont know if you can see but its like the very bottom of the signal chart

tumblr_m05nlvNPdB1qm63euo1_500.jpg
 
Last edited:
paskin said:
thanks for the advice, so theres no permanent fix that you know of?
Click to expand...

Some say the oven method can fix it (called reflowing on the internet), but I finally ruined my 3G doing that when I heated it too high, I guess. Again, it would work for a few days, and then not. I don't advise doing it.

However, it might be software related. Have you restored and setup as new?
 
-aggie- said:
Some say the oven method can fix it (called reflowing on the internet), but I finally ruined my 3G doing that when I heated it too high, I guess. Again, it would work for a few days, and then not. I don't advise doing it.

However, it might be software related. Have you restored and setup as new?
Click to expand...

sad, ill just sell it then i guess
 
Is it running iOS 5? There are known issues with the latest iOS and the 3G, 3GS.

Oh and to get a scrfeenshot press the home button and the sleep/wake button together, then it'll put a screenshot in your photo album
 
Last edited:
I had a friend who had this problem, and we cracked it open and checked all the connections and soldered what we assumed was the wifi antenna because it didn't look like a solid connection. I wish i had some pictures to show what we did because I have met another person who had the same problem. If you know how to solder or are adventurous, you might be able to find something else online about it.
 
normanbates said:
Is it running iOS 5? There are known issues with the latest iOS and the 3G, 3GS.

Oh and to get a scrfeenshot press the home button and the sleep/wake button together, then it'll put a screenshot in your photo album
Click to expand...

yeah this is another problem i have, whenever i try to upgrade the software on it, it gets stuck on a screen where theres a USB to itunes logo, im not too sharp with technology so, i have to take it to a guy who fixes it.

i wish i could upgrade it to iOS 4 atleast so i can have the facebook / twitter app haha! :D
 
paskin said:
yeah this is another problem i have, whenever i try to upgrade the software on it, it gets stuck on a screen where theres a USB to itunes logo, im not too sharp with technology so, i have to take it to a guy who fixes it.

i wish i could upgrade it to iOS 4 atleast so i can have the facebook / twitter app haha! :D
Click to expand...

I've just realised that the 3G isn't supported by iOS 5. How old is the iPhone? Have you had it since new or did you buy it second hand? I bet that if you bought it second hand the person who sold it you sold it because it got damaged somehow and the WiFi antenna got knocked and broke a connection
 
normanbates said:
I've just realised that the 3G isn't supported by iOS 5. How old is the iPhone? Have you had it since new or did you buy it second hand? I bet that if you bought it second hand the person who sold it you sold it because it got damaged somehow and the WiFi antenna got knocked and broke a connection
Click to expand...

i got it for free, my friend gave it to me because he has an iphone 4, he used to use this all the time so i assumed it was working well, and to be honest it does work well, i just wish the wifi worked better so i could browse on safari without connection dropping every 2 seconds
 
paskin said:
i got it for free, my friend gave it to me because he has an iphone 4, he used to use this all the time so i assumed it was working well, and to be honest it does work well, i just wish the wifi worked better so i could browse on safari without connection dropping every 2 seconds
Click to expand...

What country do you reside in? Apple has an Express Replacement Service for out of warranty handsets. As long as the device has failed due to manufacturer
 
normanbates said:
What country do you reside in? Apple has an Express Replacement Service for out of warranty handsets. As long as the device has failed due to manufacturer
Click to expand...

i live in the UK, also i dont have $200 :) hahaha!
 
I've been posting this all around, I'll keep short here.
Had same problem with 3G and 3Gs. Changed router, solved the problem. (It's not necessarily the router, iPhones are not famous for their awesome wi-fi antennas)

try disabling your wi-fi security for a while and see if that solves the problem, if that's the case then there is a mess-up during the encryption.

try different kinds of security (WPA and WPA2) to see if it works better

Upgrade your router to the latest firmware

Try different wireless channels (try 1, 6 and 11)
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Get a back replacement for your phone. That includes headphone jack flex cable. Normally comes with connector 6. Which I think is the wi-fi connector.

That should make it or, send to us and we will do the work for you of your in UK.
 
-aggie- said:
You failed to mention it costs $199 (in U.S.).
Click to expand...

As you obviously don't get why I didn't put a price on I'll explain it to you. The first part of my post asked what country the OP was from, did you see that little bit? Costs are different for each country. I was merely stating that Apple has an ERS program and that could be way forward to getting it swapped without having to pay full price for a new one

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paskin said:
i live in the UK, also i dont have $200 :) hahaha!
Click to expand...

It's £159.44 in the UK, plus postage fees of £7.44 if you post it to them instead of going into an Apple store
 
normanbates said:
As you obviously don't get why I didn't put a price on I'll explain it to you. The first part of my post asked what country the OP was from, did you see that little bit? Costs are different for each country. I was merely stating that Apple has an ERS program and that could be way forward to getting it swapped without having to pay full price for a new one

----------



It's £159.44 in the UK, plus postage fees of £7.44 if you post it to them instead of going into an Apple store
Click to expand...

His pic n the OP shows where he’s from. I quoted $199 for the U.S., since that’s the lowest cost. It’s $229 in other countries.
 
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