iPhone wifi not working

I have had the same type of problem with my iPhone since some of the last operating system updates. The phone barely sees my router until I am right on top of it. My iPhone has the same problem at my office and other locations where I know the wifi signal is strong, open and usable. I also see in Google responses to iPohne wifi problems searches that this is a widespread problem. It seems that resets of network setting, rebooting and even resetting iPhone to original factory configurations have all been recommended as a cure. It seems that many indicate that these solutions do not really work. I believe the OS updates have changed something in the WIFI system for the worse. APPLE needs to fix this because I and many others depend on wifi access because AT&T is seldom reliable and has very little 3G in Georgia.

I also am having trouble since yesterday with WiFi and my iPhone 3Gs. I bought a different WiFi Access Point put the same WPA settings in and everything seemed ok, I could connect with my Macbook, other phone and iPhone.
Then since yesterday my iPhone has trouble, it says the password is incorrect (worked fine before and works fine on my other WiFi equipment).

Turning the iPhone off and then on again solved the issue until I went to work and came back. Turning it off and on again got my connection back again, but it's a hassle and there definitely is something wrong, it worked fine before.

WiFi with the same phone at work still works (WPA2-enterprise).

It could be the combination with my new router, but then the iPhone for some reason has a lot more trouble with it, than for example my Macbook. Just for the record, it's a LaFonera 2.0n. The old AP was a Linksys. My Macbook Pro and a friends Sony phone connect without problems with either, it's just the iPhone that is giving trouble.

It can also be related to the password entry system, in my other post I have reported problems with that, maybe something Unicode related? I there reported that entering a password didn't work, but putting it in Notes and then copy-pasting it into the password field did work. The same trick made no difference for my WiFi problem, but they could still be related.

having the ame issue. tried resetting the phone, reseting network settings, turning off 3g - no use. still no wifi. bluetooth doesn't work either

ok, hard for me to believe, but I too just put it in the freezer for about 6 minutes and now it is picking up my wifi in my house...I hope it continues to work...

ok, not it stopped working again, lasted less than 10 minutes, must have warmed up too much...crazy...

I note over 66,000 people have viewed this discussion! Dear Mr Jobs.....there could be a problem!

Having spent a lot of time and money trying to rectify the no WiFi problem here is my conclusion;

It is a hardware fault plain and simple, nothing works as I have tried everything...even the freezer. I am now on my 3rd replacement WiFi chip, this one lasted less than 12 hours the other 2 lasted around 3-4 weeks. I am now going to court to try and get a new phone as the supplier will not replace my 3 month old iPhone! but wants to keep repairing it, obviously this is not working and something else is the causing the problem, my only theory is the heat that the iPhone generates while using WiFi.
So people you can reset network settings, reload firmware, turn flight mode on and off or even shove it in the freezer but none of it will fix the problem! Looks like Apple need to replace all the faulty units like they did with the iMac screens.

This year I have tried to come away from Microsoft because of the obvious things but I am now missing my HTC Touch pro.....it never failed me...unlike the iPhone 3G.

Totally agree with you; had same problem, on my third "service" phone. There must be a way they can test integrity of wifi. Where did they get the components? As soon as my contract is up am hopping over to Android platform; will return to apple for phone once they get to the 4G or beyond.

Think the WiFi components are made in the UK....which just about sums it up! (I am from the uk by the way). I think we can only hope that Apple will soon admit that there are many faulty units out there and have the decency to replace them instead of waiting for a class action to resolve the issue.......but I wont be holding my breath!

Same issue here, sometimes finds networks and then will fail to connect. I have 3 other iPhones working on this house wifi! I had a friend that had the same issue and he took it to the genius bar and they told him water damage...he swears it never got wet and the tech said humidity could do it. Anyone have a pink color at the bottom of their headphone jack (use a flashlight to look).

I thought I'd note my experiences. Partly because it infuriates me to hear/see so many people resorting to just binning and replacing Apple hardware because of issues that Apple should take responsibility for. I have no legal experience, but I read enough of Martin Lewis's moneysavingexpert.com to have a reasonable grasp on my consumer rights. Unfortunately this probably doesn't help anyone outside the UK.

Jul '08 iPhone 3G original replaced due to cosmetic issues in Dec '08.

After updating to f/w 3.1.2 (Oct '09) I noticed the phone dropping off my home wifi onto 3G ([un]fortunately it's only about 20% slower than my broadband!). At times it would prompt to reconnect to various SIDs (sometimes listing mine). At times it would prompt for the passkey for my SID and a few minutes later (after not providing the passkey) I would find it connected back to my SID.

The same would happen at work (a little more complicated as work WiFi is not passkey based).

I booked in for a 'Genius' appointment at Apple Store Regent St. in Nov '09

Whilst waiting, it dropped off the Apple Store wifi(!)

Upon explaining the issue the 'Genius' first asked if I'd done a restore- yes I had. He then decided it must be hardware and checked the warranty on the phone and advised as it was expired they would not be able to help. I explained that under the UK's Sale of Goods Act 1979, goods can be expected to last a reasonable length of time. Given that this particular handset was less than 12 months old, it would be reasonable for this handset to still be operational.

The 'Genius' advised that he couldn't really comment on legal points, but if it went down that avenue I would probably have to prove in court that it was a network (i.e. WiFi) issue. 😉 I explained that given the iPhone was a consumer product with a closed operating system this would be very difficult to do and that with 20 years of Unix support I would only be able to diagnose the issue with the phone JailBroken. This situation would be likely to come under the UK's Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.

A little bit of empathy for him, I said that I appreciated that he was following Apple's processes and procedures but that as the phone was sold in the UK, then those processes must follow UK law and it should not be a matter of course for a consumer to take a matter to court just to have UK law upheld.

Again he couldn't really comment on legal points, offered a Manager who tried to have me repeat the whole conversation again (something that I consider a pet-peeve when being passed between staff in customer service situations). He said that the length of time the product can be expect to last is something that would have to be decided by a Court of Law, however they were prepared to offer a replacement as a gesture of goodwill, but on the condition that the replacement would only carry a 90-day warranty. Clearly they weren't agreeing or listening to my complete lack of interest in their 'warranties'.

I really don't believe this is/was a hardware issue, but since the 'Genius' couldn't/wouldn't blame the firmware then what choice did I have;-)

The replacement phone behaved in the same way, so last week, well within the 90-day warranty I took it to another Apple Store where I was told it was more likely to be a WiFi issue than a faulty phone. I suggested that I would politely disagree with him.

#1 with 50 million units produced if there was a fault on one unit, it's reasonable to expect it could be a manufacturing or component issue that would affect other units, working for a computer company this is the sort of this that we see regularly, there are few 'random' faults.

#2 he continued to blame the WiFi when I mentioned home, work and AppleStore networks all behaved the same, so we have a closed operating system on the phone, and 3 different wireless networks, one of which is provided by the OS vendor, and we're trying to blame the WiFi?

He checked for water damage (no joy).

I also had a issue with the iPhone power button which had become lopsided, given how critical the two buttons are to using the phone I really didn't want to wait for this to develop further after the 90-day toy-town warranty had expired!

So I have another replacement iPhone, we'll see if they update 3.1.2 again in the next 90 days...at this rate I'll be getting another replacement handset in time for selling on ebay just before the next handset arrives...

My wife and I are in Tunis, Tunisia with two 3GS iPhones. Neither can connect to the wifi in our hotel, Hotel du Parc, although both our PCs are able to connect without problem. The iPhones connect to other wifi's around Tunisia and Morocco without a problem. It is only this one hotel wifi that we've had a problem.

Could there be something in common with this hotel wifi and the problems everyone else is seeing?

-mike

I can't understand it. I have been unable to connect to WIFIs all week long (5-10 ones I have had access to and been on before)...now last night, I connected for 15 minutes and tonight I have been connected for 2 hours so far.

Odd...

I too are having problems keeping the Wifi connection, as reported on another thread.

Well. It looks like my Iphone 3G 8GB (3.0)problem isn't an exception. At least as the song singing "You are not alone".
My Iphone's WiFi doesn't see any WiFi networks. Also the phone is a gift from my US friend and of course the phone itself is out of warranty. In my country Apple has not even start selling Iphones legally. Though on the web page of their local service center says they are repairing Iphones.
My question to your world community "Should I try to fix it in service center?" They probably will charge me a lot for fixing such stuff.
Is this WIFI problem not avoidable for all Iphones sooner or later?

I have been following this thread, being inerested in the various solutions, but more interested to see if Apple came in with a statement on the situation.

WiFi was driving me mad, but fortunately I do not need it as much as some of you by all accounts. Then by accident I found that the unlocking service of BlackRa1n seems to have solved it!

I say by accident, my original reason for using BlackRa1n is to overcome my need to have the choice to use a different SIM card at weekends, so I had to unlock my O2 3GS. It is running 3.1.2 and ever since I installed BlackRa1n, my WiFi has been stable (I will probably lose it tonight!).

Co-incidence or what?!