Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Did 3.1.2 Fix Iphone's Weak WiFi?

R

Resist

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 15, 2008
3,003
93
Did the latest update fix the weak WiFi from the 3.0 update? I used be able to see my neighbor's WiFi signals prior to 3.0. But since the 3.0 update I barely see my own.
 
No I never used my password protected neighbors WiFi.

But I used to be able to see lots of WiFi signals prior to 3.0. I could even get on my home WiFi sitting in my car in the driveway, now I can't. I'm barely out the door of my house and my iPhone loses the signal.

Well I just installed the 3.1.2 update and nothing was done to fix the WiFi reduced sensitivity issue. Why Apple isn't fixing this is beyond me.
 
Please Reset All Settings then get back to this thread with your results.

I had this problem since 3.0beta1 and felt it had improved by 3.1beta3.
 
Still the same weak WiFi reception on my iPhone. Interestingly my old 1st Gen PSP detects my neighbors WiFi just fine.

Why is this issue important some may ask. It is possible I may not be able to detect free WiFi at a business that is intended for customers. Apple needs to address this issue!

ntrigue said:
Please Reset All Settings then get back to this thread with your results.
Click to expand...
I tried this with no improvement. How did you preform the reset?
 
Resist said:
Well I just installed the 3.1.2 update and nothing was done to fix the WiFi reduced sensitivity issue. Why Apple isn't fixing this is beyond me.
Click to expand...
I suspect this is to preserve the battery life of the iPhone. It sucks though, I can't use my own WiFi at home, signal is low and speed is super slow.

It behaves like the Windows Mobile "energy saving" mode, too bad there is no way to boost the power on the iPhone...
 
Okay....well when is Apple going to address this issue? I want my strong WiFi reception back!
 
webvan said:
I suspect this is to preserve the battery life of the iPhone. It sucks though, I can't use my own WiFi at home, signal is low and speed is super slow.

It behaves like the Windows Mobile "energy saving" mode, too bad there is no way to boost the power on the iPhone...
Click to expand...

My speed is unaffected, I get 9700 Kbs on a 10,000 Kbs plan but reception range is nowhere near my Missus's Palm, She can 'see' far more hotspots than my 3GS
 
I usually only get around 5 to 6 meg downloads on my 10 meg plan. I am hearing though that this might be a limitation with the iPhone 3G's processor. Pretty sad considering all the computers in my home get the full 10 megs.

It's the poor Wifi signal reception that really bothers me.
 
Well considering I had great Wifi reception prior to upgrading to 3.0, I would say yes, it is a software related issue.
 
Could it be one of the other transmitters (Bluetooth, 3G) simultaneously being on that could be interfering with the wifi?

I mentioned earlier that my Missu's Palm had much better wifi than my 3gs, but I noticed when she turns her wifi on, her phone is turned off, and vice versa.
 
I'm having the same problem since updating to 3.0. I used to have no problem getting on the T-Mobile hotspot at work (airport), but now my phone can't even detect it, but my iPod Touch (still on 2.2.1) picks it up with no problems.
 
Iphone 3G really deaf to WIFI

I own an Iphone 3G with the 3.1.2 OS since a week only. That Iphone shows really bad performances with respect to WIFI.
As mentioned elsewhere in this thread the WIFI connection is really slow. (about 5 minutes to discover my own high power (150mW) router)
I've made a comparison with an outstanding PDA Ipaq.
I have to say that this PDA has an exceptional sensitivity in WIFI.

Here are the WifiFoFum results, Wifofum running on both the Iphone and the IpaQ . I have swapped the Iphone with the Pda so that the measurement was made exactely at the same place:
IPhone : RSSI : -72dB (Iphone in Airplane Mode - Wifi ON - BlueTooth OFF in order to avoid any perturbation from the GSM or BlueTooth.
IpaQ : RSSI : -42dB
Nothing to add, IpaQ is definitely the winner !
WifiFofum was showing also that the Iphone Wifi RX was unstable (-85dB to -66db)

I would say that, as the Iphone is really a very well designed and clever "Money Pump", the Wifi section is purposely deprecated to the profit of a 3G connection for the service providers.

I would be curious to examine the WiFi driver in order to see how the WiFi RX Input attenuator is controlled.:confused:
 
Badfoot said:
Could it be one of the other transmitters (Bluetooth, 3G) simultaneously being on that could be interfering with the wifi?
Click to expand...
Funny how prior to 3.0 I had Bluetooth and WiFi on together and it didn't reduce my WiFi reception one bit. But even with Bluetooth off my WiFi reception is still very weak compared to how it used to be prior to 3.0.
 
WiFi

Reading this thread prompted me to check my speeds. Here they are (both devices tested from the same spot in the house [approx. 30 feet from AirPort Extreme Dual-Band Base Station], tested consecutively, using the same server):

iPhone 3GS on Wifi:
ping - 312 ms
download - 0.97 Mb/s
upload - 0.39 Mb/s

uMB 5,1 (2.4GHz, 4GB) on Wifi:
ping - 25 ms
download - 9.54 Mb/s
upload - 0.46 Mb/s

Then I tested the iPhone again:
ping - 84 ms
download - 3.42 Mb/s
upload - 0.42 Mb/s

Then I tested the uMB again:
ping - 23 ms
download - 12.33 Mb/s
upload - 0.44 Mb/s

(These were all done within a span of 3 minutes.)

Here's my question: what speeds are the iPhone 3GS capable of on WiFi? If my MB is getting 12.33 should the iPhone be capable of such speeds?

Thanks,
m&c
 
Wifi router settings for the iPhone at home

WiFi connection after auto-lock.
I've changed my WiFi router settings (LinkSys WRT54G with DD-WRT) from Auto Mode (802.11g & 802.11b) to 802.11b mode only.
The Iphone 3G reconnects faster to the Wifi router. (max. 5 seconds)
WiFi-Fofum shows a better signal stability (only 1dB or 2dB shift) compared to what was mentioned in my previous post.(from -66dB to -85dB).
 
YLG80 said:
I've changed my WiFi router settings (LinkSys WRT54G with DD-WRT) from Auto Mode (802.11g & 802.11b) to 802.11b mode only.
The Iphone 3G reconnects faster to the Wifi router. (max. 5 seconds)
WiFi-Fofum shows a better signal stability (only 1dB or 2dB shift) compared to what was mentioned in my previous post.(from -66dB to -85dB).
Click to expand...
The 3.1.2 upgrade was supposed to fix the mixed mode WiFi slow down.
 
Loss of Wi-FI after 3.1(.2) is a significant issue

Hello,

This seems to be a very under-reported issue. There is a significant number of iPhone users who have lost Wi-Fi after 3.0 / 3.1 / 3.1.2 upgrades. I'm calling it Wi-Fi-Fry because of the symptoms and guesses as to what is going on. It also seems like it may be related to a specific batch of iPhones produced a year ago. But who knows for sure?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2158541
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2123068
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2044754
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2204441
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2214691
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2151145
...and probably many more (lots of small posts).

And then there's all the Web chatter. A small example: http://is.gd/4OUtj

It would be great if this were discussed as much as the more subjective "my battery doesn't last as long" issue.
 
bad idea reading this thread in the middle of the 3.1.2 update

oh darn, here i sit, reading this thead while waiting for the 3.1.2 update to finish. I only did the update cause iTunes kept reminding me and after the iTune 9 upgrade, i figure it was the right thing to do.

i hope i can report differently when i get my iPhone back from the update process.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back