Is the wifi on my iPhone 6 broken?

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Lizard1977

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#192011 24-Feb-2016 09:04

I suspect that the wifi on my iPhone 6 is malfunctioning, but I'm not sure.

I've been struggling to get decent wifi signal on my iPhone in parts of my house, to the extent that I added a second wifi AP to try and eliminate some deadspots. For the most part, it has worked. However, I'm now wondering whether it was just my iPhone rather than the router. I have a number of reasons:

1. The Chromecast (v1) I use in the kitchen (where I have previously had deadspots for wifi on my iPhone) has no problem connecting to first router (at the other end of the house).

2. My wife's iPhone 6 (exact same model) has no problem connecting to wifi in the same locations where I can't sustain a good wifi signal.

3. Yesterday, I ran a SpeedTest on my iPhone after Spark upgrade our UFB connection from 30mbps to 100mbps, because I was curious to see what speeds I would be getting over wifi on my phone. My PC on a wired connection got 104mbps down/18mbps up (as expected). My iPhone, over wifi of course, got on average about 5mbps down/9mbps up. I ran the test several times, and each time it was connecting to the same server (in Wellington), and was getting good ping times of about 6ms. Once or twice the speed spiked around 30mbps, but curiously I noticed that the throughput would start high (near 30mbps) and then drop steadily through the course of the test (sometimes as low as 0mbps) before rising slightly to give a final result usually below 10mbps. At one point, I lost wifi signal altogether. I ran the same tests on my wife's iPhone (same model), in the same location, immediately after. Not only did her phone not have low speeds (average 30-40mbps download), the throughput was consistent during the test, and didn't drop off like mine did. It also maintained a strong wifi signal throughout.

4. It may not be related, but I have a persistent problem with bluetooth connections on my iPhone. When I connect to my headphones, the signal stutters and breaks off if either my headphones or my phone moves around. I bought a small bluetooth portable speaker, and it often drops a connection from my iPhone. I also had problems with a Garmin VivoSmart last year where the bluetooth connection would drop and reconnect every 10 seconds or so.

To me, this suggests that my iPhone is faulty. Wifi connections (and bluetooth connections) are not stable and reliable, though in each case they can connect. Would you agree that there is a fault with the phone? Or is there some other likely explanation I haven't considered?

tdgeek

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#1498304 24-Feb-2016 09:08

Case? If you use a case, remove it and re test

Lizard1977

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#1498311 24-Feb-2016 09:15

Sorry, forgot to mention that. Both my phone and my wife's phone were tested without their cases on.

Elpie

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#1498313 24-Feb-2016 09:21

This sounds very similar to a problem I had with my iPad Air. Talk to Apple. I was out of warranty but the wifi was proven faulty and, for the iPad Air at least, it was a known problem. Apple replaced my iPad at no cost to me. You may or may not have faulty wifi but it doesn't hurt to ask Apple if there's a known issue.

Lizard1977

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#1498593 24-Feb-2016 15:25

I tried to access Apple support last year in relation to the bluetooth issue, but they want to charge for me to ring them up, and their chat option was a dead-end - I was "next in line, 2 mins ETA", but it stayed that way for over an hour.

I bought the phone from Spark, so that's presumably where I would take it back if I was going to do that. But the likely outcome is that they will have to send it away for testing, which will leave me without a phone for a wee while. And I guess if they can't identify a fault they'll probably ping me for an inspection. So I wanted to be pretty sure that there was a fault and that I hadn't missed something. It's a hard one to prove/demonstrate, because it will connect to a strong wifi signal, and the fact of it dropping off when other phones would stay connected is hard to show outside of the home environment. Taking it to Spark is probably the next step, but it pains me to have to go through the hassle for possibly no benefit or an actual cost.

richms

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#1498610 24-Feb-2016 15:53

I have had to call apple a few times about friends products that were giving them issues, and not once was there any mention of a charge, I just called their 00800 number and eventually talked to a quite helpful person.

Richard rich.ms

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#1498665 24-Feb-2016 17:04

Happened to me with an iPhone 4.

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Athlonite

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#1498670 24-Feb-2016 17:12

Yeah it's pot luck with iPhone/pads as to whether you'll get decent WiFi or not my sons iPhone 4s gets it fine in his room yet his mate who owns an 5s keeps getting disconnected in the room

Lizard1977

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#1498802 24-Feb-2016 21:14

So I managed to get hold of Apple Support. Turns out if the website says your support has "expired" you can just click on "request an exception" and it lets you right through. Possibly a result of the CGA? Anyway, I spoke with two very helpful people and they acknowledged that I had already ticked every box on the troubleshooting sheet, so they went straight to the servicing options. The express service seemed the best bet (they prefer not to send service requests through the phone carrier), whereby they send out a replacement phone, and I send my one back, but the potential service charges were a little murky. I mentioned CGA (phone is just over a year old), and I got passed onto a supervisor who very nicely offered to waive the usual service charge. So, it seems like they will just be replacing my phone whatever the finding of the assessment.

Fingers crossed the replacement fares better with wifi and bluetooth!

dickytim

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#1498928 25-Feb-2016 07:26

Lizard1977:

I tried to access Apple support last year in relation to the bluetooth issue, but they want to charge for me to ring them up, and their chat option was a dead-end - I was "next in line, 2 mins ETA", but it stayed that way for over an hour.

I bought the phone from Spark, so that's presumably where I would take it back if I was going to do that. But the likely outcome is that they will have to send it away for testing, which will leave me without a phone for a wee while. And I guess if they can't identify a fault they'll probably ping me for an inspection. So I wanted to be pretty sure that there was a fault and that I hadn't missed something. It's a hard one to prove/demonstrate, because it will connect to a strong wifi signal, and the fact of it dropping off when other phones would stay connected is hard to show outside of the home environment. Taking it to Spark is probably the next step, but it pains me to have to go through the hassle for possibly no benefit or an actual cost.

I did have this exact issue with a work Iphone4.

I sent it to our Digital Mobile rep who sent it away, the repairer tested this but was right next to the access point and sent the phone back with no fault detected, I sent a letter back explaining that their testing method was flawed and that as I had stated in my original letter regarding the fault it was a range issue where next to the AP was fine but a short distance from the AP there was no coverage, I sent the phone back again with the second letter and received a replacement.

The fact of the matter is that the phone will have to be returned at some point to be assessed.

As far as charging to ring them there is a 0800 number for hardware faults, I think the other phone support is for trouble shooting.

Lizard1977

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#1502226 1-Mar-2016 16:10

Final update: replacement iPhone arrived on Monday morning, and last night I set it up as a new iPhone and tested the bluetooth connectivity with my BT headphones. Everything worked as it should, so very happy on that front. Did some wifi speedtests, again using my wife's identical iPhone for comparison. While strangely my wife's iPhone got better speeds (averaging around 30-40mbps), my new phone was a lot more consistent, getting speeds averaging around 20mbps, and without the dramatic drops in speed. I haven't had a chance to do real world tests of the wifi connectivity, but it's looking promising so far.

tdgeek

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#1502241 1-Mar-2016 16:28

Im surprised they vary much at all, identical devices. Unless wifi collision etc can differ that much even if they are tested close together, say 300mm apart? Ive noticed my past iPhone and iPads varied

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scuwp

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#1502348 1-Mar-2016 18:52

I may have missed it, but are you sure you are both connected to the same WiFi SSID? Do you have 2.4 and 5 Ghz available on your network? This may account for speed vs consistency variability in WiFi performance if you are not connected using the same protocols.

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