Strange WiFi problem on iPhone 3G after 3.0 update

I too have problems with the Wifi on my 3G. Though it started before I downloaded 3.0, but it persists: It tries to look for networks, but fails to find any, let alone log on.
The shop reckons the phone has to go back for rep, but this opens a whole new can of worms: how do I copy all my contacts to an external drive or to the sim card? No-one here seems to think this possible.

What do you mean? I always have all my contacts synced by iTunes with my MacBook Address Book. I synced to Google too.

Just to urge Apple:
Same problem here:
iPhone 3G with really bad wifi range since OS 3.0
Wifi basicly works, but the range is absolutely small.

Same problem here:
Wifi range decreased significantly after 3.0 upgrade.

Hello xalkideos!
I would like to know how you downgraded your iTunes to 7.5.
I have the 7.5 installer but refuses to be installed over the newer version (8.2).
Could I use another Mac with 7.5 to restore 1.1.4?
Thanks for the great post and thanks for your help.

@PBG412867
Hi,
I use WinXP. I had to uninstall iTunes 8.2, and then delete manually the /Documents and Settings/My Music/iTunes folder because when you install iTunes 7.5 it doesn't run as a newer file (itunesLibrary.itl something called like that) is found and needs to be manually deleted.
If you google how to downgrade iTunes you will find some info about how to do it on Mac.
Then you need KiPhone to Downgrade and then Erase the baseband. Do not try to erase the Baseband if not first downgrade it. Read the README file in KiPhone.
You need windows to run KiPhone but there are other tools for erasing BaseBand in Mac.

Also have in mind that if you do not do this correctly, you may brick your iPhone. And it only works for iPhone 2G.

regards

Have you heard of.....the oven trick? LOL

My wifi is horrid as well. I used to be able to drive down the street from my house and pick up my home network. Now I can barely walk out to the driveway. Two years with this thing can not end quick enough. I've been asked to do a restore AGAIN, but that is not going to fix these problems. All of these issues are to do with the firmware, so redoing everything changes nothing.

I haven't had a single WiFi issue since going to manual channels on my AirPort Extreme... I think when it is set to Automatic, it is all over the place and with that, comes interference... Try changing to different channels on both if you have a Dual-Band base station. Worked for me. Just may work for you!

In first place, sorry by my poor english...
After to try to many restores, modems and routers and APs configurations..... One last chance.... I take a deep breath and I did the downgrade to 2.2.1 sucessfully, thanks lord... lol, but the wifi still broken, still crazy, sometimes works, sometimes not (major time)... So, the conclusion..., it's a hardware problem them?? I think the answer is... yes. The fw 3.0 is the reponsible for the wifi crash???

Well, like most people I was getting frustrated with intermittent Wi-Fi and was blaming the phone for all the problems. I tried all kinds of crazy things. I got on another wireless device and noticed that I was getting 35% signal strength. I figured my router was starting to go and decided to get a new one.

Getting a new router fixed my issue with the other wi-fi device but my iPhone was still acting intermittently.

Last night, I spent a few hours hacking some old MS Xbox Wireless game adapters so that they could use WPA security instead of WEP. I was having a heck of a time getting them to connect to my network. My network secruity was set to WPA 2 (WPA-TKIP / WPA2-AES) To get the adaptors to work I had to set the security to WPA-PSK (TKIP). Once I did that I could connect.

But as a bonus side effect, my iPhone 3G Wi-Fi started working without problems.

I suspect that the issue is with the WPA2 standard. How many people here are using WPA2?

Try switching to WPA and see if your problem goes away.

I never was on WPA2 with my AP at home. Second thing that speaks imho against that, is that all the neighbourgh wifis that I used to see were gone (and most of them have been WPA (or WEP))

This is a OS 3.0 fault for certain. My itouch (pre OS 3.0) logs on and stays logged on to my wireless network when my Iphone 3G can't even find the network and when it eventually does it stays on very briefly. Restarting the Belkin router temporarily fixes the problem. So much for Beta testing! Get it sorted out Apple or tell us how to properly revert to and earlier OS until it is sorted.

OS 3.0 is the bad guy, thats in my eyes for sure, too.
The question is, did it brake the hardware, so that 3.1 or 2.x will not fix the problem or is it "just" a software bug.

Well i've had this problem from day 1 of OS3.0.

The thing that puzzles me is why it is only affecting some phones. A colleague has almost exactly the same set up on his ( identical ) phone to me but has had none of the problems described on this topic. Why shold this be ?

I'm off to the Genius Bar ( UK ) this afternoon to try and nail this, I'll try not to be fobbed off by the "restore will solve it" mantra, interesting to see what happens.