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Wyvern

91 posts

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#133390 20-Oct-2013 22:09
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My wife's iphone 4 doesn't see any Wifi networks when more than 4 or so metres away from my Time Capsule, and as such will not connect to my home network. It would normally see 2 networks, my neighbours and mine and always connected reliably and with strong signal.

Within that 4 metre range it intermittently picks up the name of my wifi network and will connect, but this is hit and miss. As a result she is chewing through the 3G data and this has to stop. If I hold the phone right next to the time capsule it will see the network right away and join it, but walking away from the time capsule sees the signal strength drop to the lowest bar after only 3 or 4 metres and then it drops and cant see it anymore.

This has recently occurred and although I cant be sure, it could related to either of these factors as they all happened about the same time
a) the screen and home button were replaced by a technician (local guys we found on Trademe) the other day.
b) the phone was dropped one days after we got the phone back form being repaired and now has another broken screen (don't get get me started on this! haha)
c) or perhaps it was due to the ios 7.02 update (I think my wife upgraded to that version only just recently)

I have other apple and non apple devices (phones and laptops) in the house and they are all working fine with wifi. I have tried these things so far but none have fixed the problem.
a) Reset network settings
b) Hard reset iphone
b) backup and restored the iphone

Anyone got any ideas on other software related fixes I could try? Is it possible the technician fella might have broken something related to the wifi antenna (is there such a thing?) when he was fixing the phone?

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clicknz
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  #918909 21-Oct-2013 08:01
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Hi - sorry to hear about the 'issues' (ouch) - having had a similar experience with an iPhone 4 I would say that the wifi issues could certainly be due to either the repair work or the drop. There is a black thin metal 'shield' at the top of the phone just under the screen that acts as the wifi aerial. This has a wee folded clip that needs to make contact with the frame of the phone to complete the aerial circuit and can be knocked. There is also a fairly long grounding screw that holds this plate in place which can be under or over tightened and effect the wifi reception.
If you were planning on getting the screen replaced again I would mention to the repairer that you had wifi problems after the last repair and they could check the aerial contacts. The screen is easy to unscrew (if you have the right screwdriver) and with careful lifting up you could check the seating of the aerial (see ifixit.com) or even replace the screen yourself with a new one from ebay or trademe. I guess if the wifi is beyond repair then that's a different story. Good luck.




Cheers,
Mike

Photographer/Videographer clickmedia.nz




Batman
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  #918918 21-Oct-2013 08:06
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My wife's 4 had similar issue. Never been owned or 'fixed'. The wifi range suddenly dropped. Won't pick any wifi dither than 3m from the router. Under 3m distance is weak but usable. Beyond that won't see anything

nitrotech
1285 posts

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  #918938 21-Oct-2013 09:11
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Highly likely your repairer has lost a small part from the wifi shield when they replaced the screen, we see this all the time on home jobs.

Are they a DIY working from home crowd or a reputable repair shop?

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