back to article iPhone's Wi-Fi problems cause heated speculation

iPhone users who found their Wi-Fi failing after the last firmware upgrade are starting to identify what went wrong, while some have managed to get Apple to replace iPhones with handsets that have never seen 2.2.1. The damage caused by the upgrade is irreversible, rolling back to a previous version does not fix the problem, …

COMMENTS

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  1. Alexis Vallance

    iProd?

    Odd that there's no mention of the iPod Touch.

  2. chort
    Unhappy

    It would be a lot easier to get this fixed

    If idiots who didn't manage to configure their wireless correctly would stop posting in that discussion thread. Probably a good third or more of the posts are due to user error, and then they come back triumphantly claiming the "fix" for everyone is to "turn on WPA on your router" or something asinine like that.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Freezing your phone

    Who think "oh.. iphone wifi not working....????....I know I'll stick it in the freezer!" yo've got to wonder do these people have too much time on their hands.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @chort

    whatcha expect, after all its only the usual forumtards posting over there. it like learning to programm by reading experts exchange ;)

  5. Michael Fremlins

    Apple - it just works!

    Not.

  6. Martin Kerr
    Thumb Up

    Apple Support

    I phoned the warranty number after reading this as I have experienced this and thought it was just me. I didnt mention the story but talked them through the problem. They are sending me a new iphone.

    Thanks

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Re: Ipod

    My Ipod Touch gets a little hotter after last upgrade. But no lasting damage until now...

    Any other feedbacks about Ipod ?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A title is required?

    "Despite the problems, the utility of the iPhone means that fans will put up with an awful lot of silence from the boys in Cupertino"

    That's how I feel about Palm.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Marvell Chipset

    The original iPhone uses a Marvell chipset (as does the 3G). The iPod Touch uses a Broadcom chipset which doesn't have this problem.

    I wouldn't be surprise to see Marvel designed out of future Apple products...

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Insufficient thermal testing?

    Overheating was also a problem in the Air, IIRC. "Works on test bench" is just not sufficient testing. I'm quite surprised that Apple don't do high and low temperature testing etc which is pretty much standard practice in the electronics industry.

  11. Nordrick Framelhammer

    Jesus Phone, heal thyself!

    Gee, who would have guessed that Apple's form over function mentality would come back to bite them in the ass.

  12. Paul
    Happy

    Freezing Bits

    No its sheer desperation, and it works for some items.

    Chilling components has been around for years. Got a faulty hard drive? Its worth a try I've had luck getting a clients Accounting database off a dead drive. No they were not a client before the incident (otherwise they would have had backups). The chilling caused the drive elements to contract ( back into tolerance ranges) for ~15 min. ;-)

  13. we are all ignorant
    Heart

    @Chort

    Another obvious apple fanboi who can't bring themselves to acknowledge the shortcomings of just another tech company. congrats you c**k sucking loser. Keep trolling the apple forums feeling superior, lol.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @AC, Marvell Chipset

    It was...

    http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/04/06/apple_iphone_3_broadcom/

  15. lennie

    well this is interesting

    so my girlfriend has been complaining about her iPhone that it drops a lot of calls, that sometimes when she comes out the train she would have to wait a number of minutes for it to find signal. I suggested her phone needed the update that is available. so last night we set out to update her phone, however 3 times in a row the over 200mb download finished but was corrupted so she gave up, probably because I was pointing and laughing at her about how her iPhone and iTunes sucked (so yeah, I didn't get any last night). however, reading this now is a good thing she didn't get to install it last night.

  16. poullos
    Thumb Down

    it's a problem with ALL the routers

    chort, it's a problem with all the routers and not just the one I set up home. So far the only idiot in this topic is you commenting on something you have no clue what is all about.

    Someone must know which files are affecting this to delete/edit them. Apple doesn't care. WE have to find the answer..

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    freezing cures loads of (fujitsu) ills

    The old MPGxx series of fujitsu hard drives with the duff semiconductor ionised resin could also be brought back to life, albeit temporarily, by a good overnight freezing. Also the early security coded car radios could be done this way too...

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Heh

    It's funny. I didn't upgrade because I couldn't be bothered to jailbreak my device over again for no end user benefit.

    Now, engaging tinfoil hat mode for a moment:

    Isn't it convenient that a firmware update that breaks iPhones would come out when everyone is speculating about a new hardware revision?

  19. Peter D'Hoye

    @Nordrick Framelhammer

    shouldn't that read

    Jesus! Phone, heal thyself!

    ?

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "....which only seems to be affecting older 2G and 3G iPhones"

    So that would be all iPhones then - why not say it?

    Any idea of the actual scale of this problem? No compaints here...

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    No "poullos", it's you. Really.

    > " I have found that 169.xxx addresses connect but don't offer internet. "

    > " 169.xxx addresses work because they send less information before the connection times out "

    BWAahhahahaha you friggen' moron, you haven't done yourself any favours by coming over here to draw attention to your stupidity. How desparately stupid and insane do you have to be to claim that your iphone is actually working fine and it's just every single router in the world that suddenly simultaneously broke? Thanks for the laugh!

  22. Robert Flatters
    Flame

    Apple needs to be rattled to get something out of them

    It is the same thing again something happens to an apple product and what do apple say.....'nothing'. We buy your product apple we want to know what your doing to fix this defect. And if that Wifi chip was throttle back. What was the reason for it. Was it because it started to fail because it got hot...hhhmmm. Maybe someone at Apple have the decency to step up to the line and answer those question... if you've got the b*lls

    Kind Regards

    Mg-bob

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    @lennie

    <so last night we set out to update her phone, however 3 times in a row the over 200mb download finished but was corrupted so she gave up, probably because I was pointing and laughing at her about how her iPhone and iTunes sucked (so yeah, I didn't get any last night). however, reading this now is a good thing she didn't get to install it last night.>

    and it seems you didn't get a chance to instal it last night either :o)

  24. Stuza

    "Not fit for purpose"

    Just return it under the "Not fit for purpose" clause under Sales of Goods Act.

  25. Jamie Hylton
    Pirate

    Stick it in the freezer...???

    Isn't that what they used to say about car stereo's when you forgot the security code for it?

    I'm guessing that the person who first tried sticking their iPhone in the freezer was panicking after bricking the phone trying to install v3.0, and then trying to revert back to 2.2.1

  26. DR

    hmmm...

    "chort, it's a problem with all the routers and not just the one I set up home. So far the only idiot in this topic is you commenting on something you have no clue what is all about.

    Someone must know which files are affecting this to delete/edit them. Apple doesn't care. WE have to find the answer.."

    Iphone works with wireless router before upgrade,

    Iphone doesn't work with wireless router after upgrade, hmmm. I wonder what could have caused the problem.

    you've found that fiddling with settings and changing all kids of things helps, though at the end of the day this probably just puts you in the "it works when the battery is low" camp.

    you say that you think that apple just needs to tell you what files to delete?

    Christ, by all means you just take that massive firmware upgrade and delete a few files, change a few lines.

    in fact I dare you.

    no prizes for guessing how much that could mess up your device.

  27. Michael Brown
    Flame

    Affects a tiny minority

    Just as was the case with the much talked about 3G connection issues (which I was never affected by) this one appears to affect a tiny minority of users. So El Reg now trawls the Apple forums looking for stories based on the random speculation about the problems of a tiny handful of users as evidence that the iPhone is flawed. Definitely a new take on journalism.

    FWIW my iPhone3G with 2.2.1 installed has never had any issues with WiFi (or anything else for that matter).

  28. phill

    and i thought it was just me!

    Just had my 16gig 3g iphone replaced for same reason. first the bluetooth started acting up intermittently, not synching to the carkit its been setup for months with. Then wifi started getting worse, where first i could see all wifi networks, then just mine, then i couldnt even connect to mine, finally i couldnt see my, or any other wifi networks. Yes it was on, did all the normal troubleshooting etc. Sent it back to apple after speaking to support, back in 4 days with brand new phone. Wonder how common is this fault?

  29. gambit

    iPod

    I don't think it's jsut iphones. I have a iPod Touch and it had done the excat same thing. I know that it's heat related, because first time it happened I couldn't get any wifi signal. 2 hours later I turned it on and it worked for 10 secs. Next day I turned it on and it worked for 5 mins then dropped signal again.

    Seems like the chips are overheating. I really hope apple does something for the ones that are out of warrently...it's not our fault!

  30. Jack Sully
    Thumb Down

    Maybe a tiny minority, but definitely a real problem

    @Michael Brown -- This problem is real; I updated to iPhone 2.2.1 last week and my WiFi stopped working reliably two days ago.

    Your logic is flawed, in that you say it's a small group of people, and yours is fine. Ok, but if a group of iPhones, no matter how small the number in comparison to all iPhones sold, all ended up with fried WiFI boards after the update, how can you say it's _not_ a hardware flaw? There are a lot of variables here -- maybe the people whose iPhones still work on 2.2.1 do not use the WiFi radio as much. Maybe they all are a ticking time bomb.... or, maybe it's just a few that are defective. But they are _still_ defective. If there were reports that possibly 1% of the drivers of the car that you own were finding that the steering wheels suddenly detached while driving at speeds greater than 40mph, would you laugh and say, "well, my car is fine!" That's tempting fate........

    Regardless, I can't prove anything, but I know my iPhone "seemed" like it was getting hotter than it used to, just under the Apple logo on the back, after the update. I thought it was just because I was using it more. Then two days ago, Wifi suddenly dropped out. I've now had the exact same symptoms described -- works OK on low battery, works ok for a few minutes out of the freezer. Two different wireless networks. Restored 2.1, but the problem remains. iPhone 1st gen.

  31. poullos

    reply to Anonymous Coward

    Anonymous Coward, sorry for not having english my native language. And what I wrote there is correct. Some routers connect, perhaps because there is no full information or at least show connected. Of course the effect is the same: no internet connection.

    I have tried more than 100 different wifi spots and they all give the same error.

    What part make you laugh?

  32. poullos

    to DR

    No I don't want apple to point the files to delete lol!

    But some "dev" people who know macs well which files keep these settings. Like temp files in windows...just a guess :p

  33. James

    @poullos

    Haha. What?

  34. Mike H
    Thumb Down

    Hmmm...Heat related you say...

    I could SWEAR that my Macbook 2,1 Atheros wifi issues were heat related as well... I lose packets like mad on 10.5 if my ambient room temp is anywhere above air-conditioned 75F/24C or lower...

    WTF is with wifi and heat issues...can't anyone make a reasonable wifi chipset nowadays?

    Under Linux (any driver, madwifi or ath5k) the card just...stops... I feel that OSX10.5 constantly 'resets' the card, which is often the only way I'm able to get it working again under Linux..suspending the laptop and resuming..

    Great way to "fix" a problem chipset A****le er Apple

  35. Michael Brown

    Maybe a real problem, but insignificant in the big picture

    @Jack Sully: I don't doubt that the problem is real for those who are affected by it. However, my point is that all the evidence points to this being something affecting a tiny minority of users. If it were even moderately widespread the Apple forums (and others) would be overflowing with posts about it, and they just aren't. The El Reg story picked up on a handful of people having WiFi issues with their iPhone and reported that as "iPhone WiFi is broken", which is simply not the case. If El Reg scoured the support forums of all IT/tech companies and blew every problem thread that had more than a 100 posts into "product X is broken" there wouldn't be a single 'working' product left.

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