iphone 4s wifi greyed out.

APPLE ***

I am into my third replacement with iphone4s. I have wifi issues again!! Last few times I spoke with Apple about this problem I asked if they would upgrade my iPhone as this problem has no fix. HELLO THERE IS NO FIX! My phone was under original warranty when I first had this problem and I have there extended warranty that I purchased. I AM SO ANGRY! Why is this problem still here? Seriously I just want to go down to the apple store and tell them they are worthless. I have tried restoring my iPhone and reset it, but I will not play this ridiculous game of placing this iPhone in the fridge or heating it to get the wifi to turn on. In every other business they have a fair use policy where if it's broken, they will fix it. I have exhausted this avenue. And replacing these phones with the same phone is not a solution as the problem is still happening AGAIN!! You don't have a solution. I am so frustrated! Admitted it, you need to recall these faulty phones!

Does the iPad 2 suffer from this iOS 6+ WiFi issue, or is it just the 4S? I have avoided updating from iOS 5.1.1 on my 4S to avoid this W-FI problem. Now my wife wants an App on the iPad 2 ( currnetly running 5.1.1) that requires iOS 6. Can I safely upgrade the iPad?

Actually, can the iPad be upgraded to an iOS 6 version of choice, or is the only upgrade option (anytime) always just the most current iOS? From 5.1.1 would there be a prefferred (least odds of incurring the wifi issue) iOS 6 version to go to on iPad (or iPhone 4S for that matter)?

The only upgrade option for the iPad 2 is iOS 7. You do not have a choice of operating system for the upgrade.

Is it correct to assume that is also true of the iPhone 4S (that you cannot select to upgrade from 5.1.1 to a version (like 6.x)? The only option the the latest iOS, period? That is not a 'feature'. 😮(

Though it is not always the desire of some, the only upgrade path has always been, for iOS devices, the latest supported iOS version. You can look at the family of devices and see what each will support, and that is the only upgrade available...the iPad 1 will only go to iOS 5.1.1 so upgrading will go to that iOS and no later.

Understand we are fellow users and not Apple employees so we are only the messengers, that from a company standpoint it makes life easier to not support many download/upgrade options. All we can do on here is try to help with technical issues.

Given this is a 100% hardware problem, upgrading or downgrading to a different IOS would have 0% impact on resolving this problem. Key word here is HARDWARE. Reheat and re melt the solder under the wifi chip is the only permanent fix.

Ralph,

Thanks for the info. Good to know.

Zikeo,

"upgrading or downgrading to a different IOS would have 0% impact on resolving this problem."

Well yes and no. The fact that I chose not to 'upgrade' my iOS from 5.1.1 to 6.x or 7.x, has kept my 4S safe from the WiFi chip overheating (AFTER an OS 'upgrade'). It seems the WiFi chip is in too many cases, unable to handle the load (heat) of the higher OS's. Apple may not have been aware of this issue when it first started appearing, but they are **** wel aware of it now (and for a looooong time). Apple just chooses to ignore it, take the customer service hit for those affected, but not 'admit' to it for cost (recall) reasons and/or admiting to a mistake (a chink in their 'perceived' bestest smart phones ever)

You just need to decide if you want to take the risk... I suppose the reality is that we, the affected, are the minority. You may be OK after it; it's a pity Apple choose not to say the percentage affected by this issue. It's so low they don't even acknowledge it as a problem. I'm sure it will be ultra low but who knows?

My 'fixes' didnt last long and my only solution was to use the remainder to recover a smashed device. That's NOT a fix though, that's using it as spares, and that's been an expensive 4s. I'm not so keen on parting with that amount of money again. Some will say 'take out the extended warranty' but why should we? That's like saying the devices are unreliable and you'll need this cover next year; and that's not good customer service either. Warranties are one of the biggest scams out there; thats why we're pestered every time we buy anythng.

Yeh, it has not been worth my perception of risk yet. Maybe when I get closer to my contract end (March) I will get braver. If it dies, I lose the value of reselling it, but at least am not forced to pay full price for a replacement device (probably Samsung after always being an Apple/Mac guy... sad).

One reason I think my risk of being it the minority (of a bad 4S wifi), is that my 4S' battery life has always been WAY worse than my iPhone 4. Friends did not seem to have the problem and thought I was mistaken. I just got used to charging the phone during the day and at end of day. The two issues may be unrelated, but I felt like I had defective hardware, so did not want to roll the dice on losing wifi. There are a couple of Apps that require iOS 6 that I have been foregoing (like Entune on my new Prius that I would like to try out...), se le vie.

I'm through with Apple products as of today after replacing my 3rd iPhone 4S with the same WiFi issue. I've been fortunate that each has been replaced under warranty, but I can empathize with those who have had there phone's WiFi go on them outside of warranty. I'm really disappointed that Apple hasn't properly addressed this issue yet.

So your second 4S lost WiFi too. How long did it last? If less than a week, I wonder if Apple was blow drying the wifi chip on failed/turned in phones and giving them out as replacements!

Is your 3rd 4S's wifi still working? How long has it been working?

I've gone through a total of 3 iPhone 4S's thus far, all due to the WiFi failing.

The first phone never left the store. Purchased at an AT&T store, the phone had WiFi issues right out of the box. The AT&T rep tried for about 30 minutes to get it to work before going with another new 4S.

The second phone's WiFi went 10 months later.

The third phone's WiFi went 6 weeks later.

As of yesterday (12/8/2013) I'm on my fourth 4S...

Got fed up of my 4S Wi-Fi greyed out issue so decided to have a go at repairing it. took the logic board out & put it in a special reflow oven to reflow the solder on the chip. Put it all back together & now just gets red hot & wont turn on! 😟

Really glad I did that!

Wifi and Wife are similar. We take both of them for granted when they are around 🙂

On a less lighter note, the second repair on my 4S is working since the past 45 days. The first repair worked only for 30 days. Just to recall, I am in Mumbai and did the repair for $35 while the repair shop didnt charge me for the second repair.

I had two iPhone 4S with this problem,fortunately under warranty.