Iphone 4 - wifi antenna missing?

Absolutely similar situation.

iPhone 4 (warranty expired) see only one network (with the half of the signal) from the router in 4 foots and disconnects from time to time.

Opened the the case, no WiFi antenna, no screws. Also somebody in repair video mentioned, that WiFi antenna may be missed and that was funny 'till I opened my phone O_o

I'm glad I found this post..even several years after.

I recently upgraded my parents to iphone 5's. My parents did not have wifi in their home and unless visiting me, never used wifi themselves. I took their iphone 4's to pass on to my kids. The first evening I set up, I immediately noticed very weak wifi reception on my mothers old phone. While in her possession, we would have always been in the same room as my router. But away from that room, it was really dropping the connection. My fathers old iPhone 4 was fine. After much research and troubleshooting here, I thought the same as you. Nothing to lose by looking inside. Expecting to find the "loose screw" issue I had read about, I was shocked to find not only that the antenna was MISSING, but also an emI shield midway down the left side and the battery clip/shield, along with ALL mounting screws for those three items! Even though out of warranty, I was off to my local Apple Store to see what they had to say. I expected to be told that they were aware of a lapse in the manufacture process, and perhaps they would exchange. Instead I was advised that they suspected third party servicing, and they would not service the phone, whatsoever. Now, my parents are in their 60's. They would have no idea how to open up the phone themselves and would certainly not seek service without calling their technical support guy (me), first. So, without support from Apple, i decided to purchase a "for parts only" dead iPhone 4. This provided all three parts required and also the screws to install them.

After reading dozens of posts about iPhone 4's being returned because of wifi issues, I wonder how many were not because of loose antenna screws, but missing antenna's period?

pppcory wrote:

Now, my parents are in their 60's. They would have no idea how to open up the phone themselves and would certainly not seek service without calling their technical support guy (me), first.

I hope they're not reading this. A lot of us trying to help out here are in the seventy plus age range... 😎

pppcory wrote:

Now, my parents are in their 60's. They would have no idea how to open up the phone themselves and would certainly not seek service without calling their technical support guy (me), first.

Oh, dear, you have really put your foot in your mouth, metaphorically speaking! I'm in my fifties and I'd say I may be about average age for the senior members of this forum but that's because there's an 18-year old who skews the average down. Your parents may be technically uninclined but so is my 30 year old nephew. He calls me for help. Have you looked up how old Steve Jobs would be if he were still alive? 😁

One of the things we old people know how to do is read warranties. Apple considers an iPhone to have no user serviceable parts. Once you opened it up, Apple would not touch it or even offer you an out of warranty replacement. If lots of iPhone 4's had been sold without WiFi antennas it would have been news long before now. It also would be something that would show up very early on, not a year or more down the line as was generally the case.

Ha! My apologies to the technically inclined "senior members" of the forum.

The point was that this phone was not serviced by anyone prior to my discovery of the missing parts. There was no warranty and therefore I had nothing to lose by taking a look. If my parents had wifi at home, they would have discovered the range issue early on and not two years later when I took the phone. Many iPhone 4's went back to Apple for exchange because of wifi issues. That much was obvious while trying to diagnose my problem with the wifi and searching these forums. Missing antenna's? Maybe. Maybe not.

Regardless, in my case the best option was to purchase a non-operating phone for $20. I then had all three parts and the proper screws as well as a reference to make the swap. It worked and my kids are happy with their new (to them) phones.

My iPhone 4 was also delivered without its wifi-antenna!

I discovered the cause of my problems after the warranty had expired when I tried to find the cause of the weak wifi signal.

I would guess that there are hundreds of iPhones with the same problem that never will be discovered due to the customer-hostile terms of use...

And what is hostile about the terms of use? Cite a specific example, please.

hallin-m wrote:

My iPhone 4 was also delivered without its wifi-antenna!

I discovered the cause of my problems after the warranty had expired when I tried to find the cause of the weak wifi signal.

If you had no WiFi antenna, you would have no WiFi signal. If you have a weak WiFi signal, you have some other problem.

I assure you that your statement is incorrect. The reception is limited to a very short distance, but it does receive. As I stated before, I only had the phone a short time before noticing. I have other iPhones in my home so it was an easy comparison after discovering that I had no reception in my back yard when I should have. The iPhone 4 is very easy to open so, being out of warranty, I did. I then opened my fathers because I wasn't sure what I was looking for. It was certainly obvious at that point.

"Customer hostile" in this sense referes to Apples terms of warranty.
If you check your phone - your warranty is lost.
If you don´t check it you won´t know what´s wrong.

In my case Apple and my mobile service provider refused to pay me for my expenses caused by the defect product with reference to the fact that I had opened the phone.

So with hostile terms they are trying to avoid common sense of right and wrong....

Sorry - you don´t know what you are talking about. I do.

hallin-m wrote:

"Customer hostile" in this sense referes to Apples terms of warranty.
If you check your phone - your warranty is lost.
If you don´t check it you won´t know what´s wrong.

In my case Apple and my mobile service provider refused to pay me for my expenses caused by the defect product with reference to the fact that I had opened the phone.

So with hostile terms they are trying to avoid common sense of right and wrong....

Nothing remotely hostile about it, and fairly standard terms for a closed device warranty. If you suspect a hardware issue, you should take the device to Apple, who will check it out (by staff specifically trained to service the device), determine the issue and repair or replace it as needed. It is not a user serviceable device, and is sold explicitly as such.

Hmm, let's see... someone that has helped over 4000 people in the past 11 years, or someone that has helped no one, and has only ever posted in a single thread on this board... Now, who should I believe... 😁😁😁😐

Without a wi-fi antennae, you would only have a wi-fi signal if:

A) The broadcasting router was extremely strong. Like, stronger than legally allowed.

B) The iPhone is within a few centimeters of the router.

C) There is a hardware fault that is creating a 'false-positive' in the device, registering a wi-fi signal when there is not one.

hallin-m wrote:

"Customer hostile" in this sense referes to Apples terms of warranty.
If you check your phone - your warranty is lost.
If you don´t check it you won´t know what´s wrong.

In my case Apple and my mobile service provider refused to pay me for my expenses caused by the defect product with reference to the fact that I had opened the phone.

So with hostile terms they are trying to avoid common sense of right and wrong....

Common sense would be to read the terms of the warranty or to contact an authorized service provider or the manufacturer to discuss options.

Your ignorance is not Apple's fault or responsibility. Your ignorance is your own problem.

Luckily, ignorance can be solved. However, I sense you will be unwilling to correct your own defect.

But since you are a user-serviceable unit...

Feel free to go service yourself.

hallin-m wrote:

Sorry - you don´t know what you are talking about. I do.

There's no need to be too sorry that' you're wrong.