Q: iPhone 5 wifi issues

@ruckus49: Have you tried downloading the Speed Test app and testing it? My WiFi syncing is extremely slow too, even though my speed tests are halfway decent. Could just be the nature of the beast. When I do my first sync with the replacement model, I'm definitely using a wired connection.

For the record: I had an iPhone 5 with the "Can only connect to WiFi when 3 feet or less from the router" problem, demanded a replacement from Apple and the new one works great.

Oh, and the MACs are

Working: 98:fe:94

Broken: 54:26:96

@Alma M: I would suggest calling Apple Support anyway. The only way Apple has to identify and resolve problems with the unit is by store visits and phone calls. They don't consider things written in this forum, probably because there is no formal involvement of Apple employees. Even if you don't want a replacement, that would be another problem unit for them to have record of, and hopefully give them a little more incentive to get an update out.

Just incase there are not enough reports of iPhone 5 WiFi issues..... I get a great WiFi connection when I'm within 10 feet of my Airport Extreme. If I go into another room (25 feet way) it drops in and out constatnly. No problems with iPhone 4 and 4S.

JimKimmel wrote:

 

I started noticing slow wifi on my iphone 5. When running speedtest, I saw that my upload speeds were consistently twice as fast as my download speeds! I tried turning off a number of different things (LTE, Cellular data, etc), but nothing worked. So, for kicks, I turned off bluetooth and now my downloads speeds are 4x my upload speeds!! Not sure why bluetooth would be the issue here, but it was. Now I just have to remember to turn it on when I get in my car...

Interesting! I hadn't thought of toggling bluetooth. With bluetooth off, I moved from the "no connection after 60 secs on AES" family to the "erratic speeds and constant hangs on AES" family. I think you're on to something, folks should add toggling bluetooth to their increasingly large repertoire of IP5 voodoo rituals.

This is interesting because my problem is always after I arrive home. The phone is in the car on bluetooth the whole way home. A reboot always fixes it for me, yet today I decided to do the reboot as I was leaving for home at lunch, got home, same problem, a 2nd reboot fixed it. Maybe my car's bluetooth is doing something funky to the phone (which might explain why my wife has no problems). I have bluetooth turned off now and will see when I get home this evening if I have any difference.

Aha, if this guy on iFixit is right, WiFi and Bluetooth ARE handled on the same chip:

http://meta.ifixit.com/Answers/View/3738/What+Bluetooth+chip+is+inside+the+iPhon e+5

Not surprising there are interactions.

Please let us know.  I turn off my Bluetooth and working a lot better.

And bluetooth uses 2.4ghz as well I believe. Maybe theres some leakage in one of the amps or something.

Patsywright wrote:

 

Please let us know.  I turn off my Bluetooth and working a lot better.

Interesting! Thanks for testing. I'd still consider it broken. Turning off AES, turning off Bluetooth isn't a solution. It sounds like, with these two  "fixes" we are taking processing tasks off the table for a crippled chip which can maybe handle one thing at a time, but not all 3.  Just a theory.

Shaddow wrote:

 

And bluetooth uses 2.4ghz as well I believe. Maybe theres some leakage in one of the amps or something.

Another good point, could account for some of the people who are seeing differences depending on whether they use the 5ghz vs 2.4ghz for wifi.

What's really interesting is that if I turn Bluetooth back on, I still get good WiFi. So, it may be a leakage issue of some sort that gets worse over time, though I think it's weird that disabling bluetooth resolves it (even if it's temporary) and disabling wifi doesn't...

Wow you are right ! I just turned the BT on and then turned it back off and I got 2X the maximum speed I got previously. It bumped from 500k/s to 1000k/s and now the new low is 100k/s instead of 50k/s. Will see if it lasts over time..

This could be why some people report things working when they get a replacement, and then over time it goes back to the old way. They start setting all the options back to the way they were (including bluetooth) and then the problems start reappearing.