weak wifi range on Iphone 4

Yeah, exchanged mine via warranty. If you call Apple Tech Support, they go through a few things with you to try and rule out software issues. After confirming it is a hardware issue, they overnight (FedEx) a replacement kit. I say kit, b/c it doesn't come in the regular packaging. Just the phone, no accessories and no sim card. You take your activated sim card out of the old phone and put it in the new, and return the old phone in the packaging they give you. Oh yeah, they put a $700 hold on your credit card to ensure getting their phone back too. Good luck.
P.S. My new phone they sent me works great.

I'm willing to bet it's either interference or a bad phone. Either way, take it in to Apple and get it checked.

http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

As an anecdote, I took mine to my university campus today for the first time. When I was talking on it via bluetooth on my way to my car, I noticed it had WiFi reception in the parking structure! It's hard to explain but the structure was maybe 300-350' from the nearest building and I was on the first floor. Granted it was only 1 bar but I never saw that with my iPhone 3G....I'd usually have Pandora playing on headphones and it would choke when I got about 100' from the building. I opened Safari and sure enough, I had access to the campus network. 🙂

Took phone to service today. I tried to exchange it but seller (operator) refused to do that. Apple does not have own service for iPhones here in Finland.

Great. I got DOA phone last thursday. Now it will be repaired. Hopefully condition is still perfect after repair.

You also have to remember, laptop antennae is bigger (built-in,wrap around your screen)and stronger and uses MORE power than that of the iphone. I think using a laptop as a wifi meter gives you false-positive results. Think of it this way, back in the day you had rabbit ears on tv"s. The picture sometimes (most times)was bad, dad or mom told you to stand in front of the tv, grab the rabbit ears and move it around till the picture improved. When it did (you holding it)your parents made you stand there thru-out the broadcast. (you miss the show).
Some kid got smart somewhere in the world and built an antennae that goes on your roof........lol

Got my iPhone exchanged today. I took it to service on monday and I was told that queue for service was 2-3 weeks. I was also told that if I pay 20 euros (about 25 dollars) I coud get it looked quicker. I thought it about a day and decided to pay. Today I got new (refurbished) iPhone.

This one is from week 26 compared to 31 that defective was. But this one seems to be working ok. No problems with wifi, bt or gps. This also has annoying rattle from backside (camera?) and front glass seems to be brighter. Sensor above earpiece can be easily seen.

Same issue here, and im at Mexico. Few days ago, i went to my service provider which is Telcel here at Mexico, and after one week the phone started to make a buzz sound ( noise ) when i placed and answered calls, the only way was to put it into speaker or with headphones. So i went into the telcel support center and they told me it was gonna be changed, i waited like 4 days and now i got this phone, without any problem at all at first. Then i came home and tryed to find my wireless network and i was unable, so i was like whats going on. So i upgraded to 4.1 and still nothing. Then i went like 4 or 3 meters close to the AP ( which is a airport extreme dual radio ) and it picked up the wifi, but no matter what i do i only get 2 bars at max in a radio of 5 meters from AP, if i go over those 5 meters i get no signal at all. And with my 3GS i can go even out of my home around 40meters and i still pick up signal. So it must be some hardware BIG ISSUE, since first of all, this is a replaced phone it should work fine but, since now days apple quality control ***** big time. How is this possible. i mean i will need to go again to Telcel service support and get other phone, wait other 4 days. This will be a third phone i get.

I lot apple since i have 4 3gs, 2 3G iphones, plus 2 ipod classics, 1 ipod nano, 2 Macbook Pros, 3 Mac Minis, plus 3 iPads and none had problems at all. Till i get the iPhone 4 this has been the worst hardware i have buyed from any manufacturer.

Hope Apple re-check they quality control at iphones because this total is annoying plus no-functional.

And Please dont ERASE this comments APPLE.

I have a very weak wifi range (1 to 2 meter from router) on my iPhone4 SINCE upgrading to ios4.1.
The wifi range was excellent before the upgrade (i.e. with ios 4.02).
Seems the software/firmware upgrade made wifi reception bad...

S.

i just sell my 3GS n i got iphone 4 right now....
but the wifi signal so weak please fix it,,,, i very2 dissapointed,,

Yep, same problem. Both at home and at work, where my iPod touch would get great reception, the wifi radio in the iphone4 seems very underpowered. Not sure if this is hardware related, hopefully software so it can be simply addressed.

Mine works fine.
I can stand in the middle of my backyard or in the middle of the street and surf the web.

Identical problem here: 2 iPhone 4. The B version is 16Gb and very strong. The A version is 32 Gb and signal varies badly. tried many things, Speedtest shows 24Mbps on the B version and only 4 - 5 Mbps on the A (16GB) version.

Wow. Has anyone else ever attempted to call Apple Support about this issue? I am stunned by the ignorance of the woman I just spoke to...

Support: "If your phone is connecting to WIFI then it is working properly and there is nothing we can do"

Me: "Even though I have barely 2 bars on my own WIFI and my son's and wife's iPhone 4s show full bars?"

Support: "Maybe because you have too many units connected at the same time"

Me: "My unit still has weak WIFI even when the other units are switched off plus my 3Gs also shows full bars"

Me: "Are you aware that there are version numbers A and B (written in the back of the phone)"?

Support: "No idea about that"

What else can I do but say thank you for your help (NOT)...

Then phones the local Apple Store where I have an appointment tomorrow and the guy was also unaware of the A/b issue but he also said it sounds like an radio antenna issue and sure they will sort it or exchange it tomorrow.

No one seems to "know" about the possibility that there may be a revision B with better WIFI reception. Maybe it is bollocks - who knows.

But honestly - The "phone support" (not the guy at the store - he was very helpful) was just laughable. Thank goodness for the possibility of actually going to the store itself.

I'll be honest, I am kicking myself for getting the 4. I was perfectly happy with the 3Gs and avoided the 4 because of all the rumoured technical issues. Which I guessed were just scaremongering...

Hmmm...

okay, so I have 2 ipods. ones a 3rd gen then other is 4. Both had great wifi signals. the moment i upgraded my software to 4.2.1 on the 4th gen my signal became so weak that it would only work while right next to the modem. So i decided toI keep my old software (4.1) in my 3rd gen. My wifi signal works great still with it so now im stuck using my old ipod. i hope apple fixes this or ill have to find a way to downgrade my software.

Just upgraded to iPhone 4 today. Wifi reception works within 1 metre of the antenna but dies very quickly as you walk away. By the time I get downstairs absolutely no signal whatsoever. On my previous 3GS and my wife's current 3G you can not only see our network but 4 others in the street. V annoying. Mine is a 32G model A.

I will be asking them to swap to a B model.

Good luck all

The guy at Apple Store swapped mine immediately. No hassle. No disbelief or patronising comments.

Luckily I was able to demo the problem too, as they have in-store WIFI and my friend was with me with his iPhone4 16GB. Maybe that helped.

Points to note:

He had no idea about A / B or any other model numbers or hardware revisions.
The replacement I got was still a 32GB "A" model and the WIFI is fine now (so far).

Remembering that I was treated with contempt and ignorance by the woman at Apple Phone Support who told me there was "nothing wrong with my phone" apart from maybe I had too many WIFI devices in my house... ^^LOL

I followed up that call when the email follow up survey came and gave the facts.

I still think there may well be a later hardware revision but I doubt if anyone will ever truly know, including the Apple Store staff.