iPhone 5 wifi issues

ssiao wrote:

My gut felling is that Apple is not happy with the billions they make, they want to make tens of billions by forcing customers to pay $200+ more on extended warranties for their unreliable products.

AppleCare costs $69 for two years of coverage. And it also covers two years of technical phone support.

AppleCare Plus is $99, and includes damage replacement for up to two incidents.

The deductible for damage replacement under AppleCare Plus is $79.

Say you have an iPhone 5S 64GB. Retail price: $849. You purchase AppleCare Plus.

During the two year period, you end up needing to replace your iPhone 5S twice. You spend $158 in deductibles.

You've now spent $257 on the AppleCare Plus and the two deductibles. And you've received $1698 in replacement products. So far, you're up $1441. Minus the original $849, that's still up $592.

Now, add in the two years of over-the-phone troubleshooting assistance. While you get 90 days of free assistance with the purchase of a new iPhone, after that, it costs $19 per call/issue for non-hardware related issues that are successfully resolved. That can add up quickly. Plus, Apple has to pay the Apple Support Advisors. You could call in every month, get free assistance, and that would normally cost $399 for 21 out-of-pocket support sessions.

So, how exactly is Apple making you spend $200+ on an extended warranty? And how exactly is this warranty making them so much money, when you can end up getting $1698 worth of replacement products for $257?

My apologies for getting the extended warranty cost wrong. I assumed it would be around the figure which I was asked to replace the phone. I should have checked. Personally, I nevery buy extended warranty on electronics, especially for a phone that we tend to replace every two years with the wireless contract. I also agree with the manager of the Apple store that it's unfair to folks who buy the extended warrantly, but my disagreement here is that this is not an isolated problem with the phone. If it had some unique problem, I would not have asked to replace for free to begin with.

ssiao wrote:

My apologies for getting the extended warranty cost wrong. I assumed it would be around the figure which I was asked to replace the phone. I should have checked. Personally, I nevery buy extended warranty on electronics, especially for a phone that we tend to replace every two years with the wireless contract. I also agree with the manager of the Apple store that it's unfair to folks who buy the extended warrantly, but my disagreement here is that this is not an isolated problem with the phone. If it had some unique problem, I would not have asked to replace for free to begin with.

The vast majority of iPhones do not have this issue. While it's a known issue, it's not prevelant enough to warrant a broad stroke of changing the warranty policies.

In this case, the Apple Care Protection Plan is not simply an 'extended warranty'. It provides eight times as much technical support by phone as the standard coverage (24 months instead of 3 months), and the plus version has damage protection. While most 'extended warranties' aren't a good value, in my opinion, the AppleCare is a wise investment. It works out to 95 cents per week, or 13.5 cents per day. To me, for a device I rely upon so much, that's fair.

Your mileage may vary.

I had experience the some WiFi connection problems.

First, my iphone 5 cannot found any WiFi spots especially Unifi ( house, hostel, restaurant/cafe, university, neighnour, friends' house). Thus i cannot check the WiFi details as it is not even shown at the first place.

Second, in extrembly lucky situation, it FINALLY able to connect to WiFi but will disconnected after 10 seconds.

Any suggestions on solving this issue? >.<

As other devices ( iphone 4s, iphone 5, blackberry phone, iPad, Samsung, Macbook, even my own normal laptop) are working fine under the same WiFi spots, I strongly suspect that it is my iphone 5 problem.

But, the weird part is it can be connected to the WiFi at the Machines Repairing Center.

I had contracted my WiFi network contractor & follow their instructions in fixing the networks. However, the results remain unchanged. My iphone 5 is the only device which cannot connect WiFi.

I had also tried hard reset, reset network setting, on & off devices but the problem still unsolved after consulting my friend whp used to work at Machines.

The problem happened after i update my phone to iOS 7.

Is it related ? But why my mum's iphone 5 still working fine after the software update?

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Information:

Location: Malaysia

Phone Model: iPhone 5 (64 GB)

Software: iOS 7.0.4

I have this issue too picks up wi fi signals but will not join networks. Tried all the stuff mentioned still not working.

What I did try was holding phone next to wifi router and bingo it connected great then I went to sit down no wifi connection. Any solutions it is driving me mad. Iphone 5

Dear redboxerkerry,

The only solution I can think of is to try an apple Airport router at the apple store and see if it makes any difference; you may ask to speak to the Genius manager to explain your case, and get ready to answer the question, How come the malfunction appeared over a year after you bought the iphone 5?

Best regards,

intuitionist

Honestly why has it been so stupid with iPhones , never should be that hard, I got mine thinking it be easy. But after talking to apple a few times and them not even knowing why I just gave up. Wen my contract is up bye bye apple

I have been following this discussion in the last 3-4 months, since I have been experiencing wifi malfunctioning with my iPhone 5 (bought in NY in January 2013) after updating to iOs 7.

After trying all the possibile fixes of tricks I went to an Apple Store here in Italy where I live and after some hardware tests they said wifi seemed to be working fine, whereas the battery needed to be replaced (which tehy did). I insisted and explained the wifi behaviour and they said to go home and restore the phone, set up as new device, and eventually come back to the store in case it didn't help. In fact they were in denial of the problem.

I went back home and restored, the isuee was persisting. After consultations with Apple support, I came back to the store and asked for replacement of the phone. I made it very clear that I wasn't to buy their story that everything was ok with the phone and it was my wifi network's fault (it was not, no matter what the hardware tests say, since at home I have other 3 iphones, one iPad, two macs and other stuff normally connecting; plus no other wifi network was working fine with the broken iPhone 5) and failing replacement I was to send them a formal notice to fulfill the warrantly (I am a lawyer and don't need to pay anybody to do that for me) and to inform of their unlawful behaviour the consumers' associations (Apple did have some troubles with the italian antitrust agency for AppleCare and other issues). The Genius came back after a few minutes (I think he did consult with someone else) and said they did not recognize the problem, but the were to replace the phone anyway as an exception. 🙂

Now I find it pretty funny: we don't aknowledge the phone has either software/hardware issues (which surely is the case), but as a matter of generosity we replace it... 🙂

One last thing: since my iPhone was the american model and I was looking for replacement in Italy, I had to wait a couple of days for an american phone to arrive. Therefore it is definitely not true that they do not repair/replace different models in other parts of the world, as I have always thought and been told.

In the end, if you are within the warrantly limits, ask for replacements after having tried to restore and set up as new device. And lastly, don't be that afraid to buy the phone abroad, since at least in the first year of limited warrantly they do not deny repair or replacement, unless they are trying to fool you...

Dear lucaros,

I thank you deeply for your insightful input. Allow me to add your comments to the file I have created by the name of wifi problems, how to fix them, in order to give hope to some disgruntled iphone 5 users.

Thanks again,

Enjoy Italy and its sumptuous cuisine and wine,

intuitionist

I have another potential solution. It seems to be working for my iphone 5 for now. It involves fixing the symptom, not a cure though, but a much cheaper option than paying > $200 to replace the phone.

I got a wifi range extender from amazon for 30 bucks and have hooked it up in the area where we commonly use the phone. Though my older vesions of iphones and ipads work fine without the wifi range extender, iphone 5 cannot catch wifi signals without a local boost from the range extender.

My potential solution is this: I'm done. Finished. Will take it to the Apple store (still within warranty). I want a new phone, and I don't want to hear a lot of BS about router settings, etc. I'm typing this on an iPad mini that gets 30 down and 5 up, while my phone gets 2 up and 1 down, if it connects at all. And if I don't get a new phone, or the new one has the same problem, then I'm done with Apple. Right now Apple is obviously more than fine - but if they continue to fall down in this and other areas, someone will come along and unseat them. Look at what corporate bloat and arrogance did to Sony. Exiting the ecosystem will be painful, but it can be done.

Dear mmp1964a,

I applaud your conviction and decision. You are 110% correct in your demand of a properly functioning new product, by law you are protected against any company which is pushing half baked or defective products from factory (in China.)

Make sure you act within your warranty period!

Yours truly,

intuitionist

Thanks very much for your information.

I own an iPhone 5 and I have WIFI problems and misfunctions.

As I own also an iPad 2, an iMac 27 and a Macbook air, all connecting perfectly to wifi, I will ask to have a new iPhone 5 replacing my one, hoping first of all in th replacement and secondarily that the new one will work better.

I'll let you know.

Yours

Robertofromts

My Wife also has an iPhone 5. I can put mine and hers side-by-side, run SpeedTest and get 30 down and 5 up on hers, then get maybe 1 down and .5 up on mine. Same results with my Son's iPhone 4s, my iPad mini, etc. etc. There is a hardware defect of some of these units - end of story.

I will not get another apple product now, after months of iPhone 5 issues and them never to understand there product ***** now. Why does my old apple 3GS seem to like being stronger and even faster than iPhone 5 ? The wifi strength and connection is crap on the iPhone 5 and it's cost me more data now. If it does connect u have to be fast cause after 10 mins it will stop connecting. It's a joke and lost all my faith in this junk. There are better products now than apple the end