Sudden Weak WiFi signal on 3Gs

Come on!!!!!! Fix my wifi and Bluetooth signal NOW apple!!!!! I bring back to best buy a couple Bluetooth and also bought the max range router from netgear I was so frustrated!!!! And now I know this is a firmware problem courtesy of apple?? Come on!!!!

I wonder how many people are suffering with this issue?

I had a 3rd party warranty on my 3GS. I returned the phone, received a refurb 3GS and restored my backup. The replacement phone now has the problerm as well. If think this pretty much cinches that this issue is software related. Too bad Apple doesn't care about the customers with 3GS phones... I guess that they wouldn't care if we all switched to competitors phones! That action would speak the loudest.

Same problem here. Was hoping update 4.3.5 would solve the problem but it didn't. Wi-fi and GPS are useless and bluetooth barely connects. I did all the restore ans reset people suggested on these boards with no luck.

We should try keeping this thread on top for visibility.

Please Apple fix our devices!

Sorry if my english is akward

Yes, it is definately firmware related, but i think that the firmware actually fries some o the hardware in the phone. There was a post some months back regarding someone rolling back their firmware to the previous version, and that did not rectify the situation.

Sadly it is becomming more and more apparent that Apple are just trying to ignore this issue seeing as it appears to only be affecting the older (3GS and 3G) models.

I have lost a lot o faith in the Apple system since this happened, and will now be very cautiously updating my firmware, till at least a couple months after it has been released, and also after checking what the firmware is being released for.

I guess that I was lucky in so much as my contract expired and i was able to upgrade to a iPhone4 with no cost to me and now have both wifi and gps back.

It is sad to see such a great product let down by the manufacturer and their "ostrich" mentality. I mean, it doesn't take much searching to find an abundance o posts o forums such as this, and for apple to admit nothing is just a slap in the face to the end users at large.

SHAME ON YOU APPLE!!!!!

I'm surprised that the moderator (Anti-Apple Fanboy police) didn't squench your message. I wonder if this one will be removed? Let's find out!

I have the very limited wi-fi connectivity issue described here, but my google maps app still shows my blue dot, so I figure GPS is working. My other problem is that bluetooth, which used to work quite well, constantly skips when I listen to my 3GS over my headphones. Perhaps now that google is going to start making their own phones, Apple will decide to offer a fix to this problem.

In the meantime, has anyone solved this issue by replacing their antenna?

I had the phone replaced (with a refurb) under a 3rd party warranty. I restored the phone (apparently that was a mistake) and the problem was "restored" to the new phone as well. I haven't tried wiping the phone, and restoring as a "new" phone. From what others here have speculated, that might not work, as they are theorizing that the components were fried during the iOS update.

I suspect that since you're using the Apple-supplied Maps program, it is using 3G triagulation to determine your location. I believe that you'll get the blue dot regardless if GPS is working.

Maybe someone else can confirm this information.

Good luck,

Rocky

Right you are! W/the GPS issue, you get the blue dot, but the uncertainty circle is huge...usually a mile or more off.

Hey guys,

the same issues for me too. I live in Greece, i have an about 2 years iphone 3GS.

Firstly i thought that it was my job's very dusty enviroment so i decided to open my iphone yesterday

to clean it with a special invertible spray duster, but nothing. And then i found your discusion.

I use my iphone for business purposes and with no GPS and WIFI is a huge loss for me.

(And of course we don't have an APPLE STORE in GREECE only authorized resellers)

P.S. my father's 3GS works perfectly but he never get updated except one or two times, i can't remember now, but i should check it.

I just developed this issue about a month or two ago with my 3GS. One day I am able to connect to my wifi anywhere in my home...now unless I am standing within 10 feet of my router, I get no signal. Even standing next to it my signal is weak. My wifes iPhone 3GS has no issues at all. The only variation is I updated to 4.3.3 and she didnt. I am updating right now to 4.3.5 to see if this fixes it. Its extremly frustrating. I know its not my home wifi, because it does this everywhere I go. I am always checking my wifes 3GS and my 3GS for wifi signals, she picks up a lot...I never pick up any anymore.

I see I am not the only person this is happening too.

EDIT: The update did nothing for my wifi. This is just really frustrating.

UPDATE

I have checked my father's 3GS version with no problems. The version is 4.0.2 (8A400)

mine's 3GS version 4.3.5

I'd tell your father not to update to the latest version! Seriously though. several people in this thread seem to think that the software update could be causing a hardware problem, since rolling back to iOS 4.1 (in my situation) had no effect. The phone was acting as if the Wi-Fi/GPS antenna went bad even after the rollback.

I swappwed out phones on a 3rd party warranty and as soon as I synced the phone, the refurb phone had the problem! I didn't get the "restore as a new phone" option when I restored.

Regards,

Rocky

Just found this, don't know if correct/useful though:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3049684

EDIT: And also this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3009471

I have exactly the same problem as most others on this thread. WiFi reception on iPhone 3GS suddenly getting much, much worse (and also, although I hadn't connected the two before reading this thread, no GPS reception when using the MotionGPS app).

Here's the scoop....

I discovered tonight that if I smack the back of the phone onto my hand, the signal comes back.

If that's not a dead cert indication of a loose connection then I don't know what is.

Dunno what I'm going to do about it, mind. Don't fancy opening my phone so I guess I will have to try the genius bar.

U.

Stopped by the Genius Bar and was recommended to restore the software. So I did setting it up as new to avoid transferring any previous issues from the original backup. Unfortunately, I have to report that the issue was not fixed, the phone is still struggling to stay connected to the wifi network if I step more than three of four ft away.

I was told at the Genius Bar that if such restoration of the software wouldn't fix the issue then it would only mean that I'm dealing with a hardware problem. However, after reading about so many cases such as mine, I'm doubting it.