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Strange, but True - the Disaapearing iPhone WIFI Issue

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Derek Wales
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Strange, but True - the Disaapearing iPhone WIFI Issue

Unread post by Derek »

I just thought I'd post this out of interest and to see if anybody else has had the issue. I'm on my second iPhone now (first a 3S and now a 4S) and had it for about 16 months (and quite happy with it), so it's out of warranty and I refuse to pay for extended warranties as they are poor value (and huge profit for retailers) given the reliability of things in general these days - stick the money you'd pay for extended warranties or support plans into a savings account as your own warranty fund :)

Anyway before Christmas the WIFI on the iPhone stopped working. It first became sporadic and then stopped altogether. The button to enable WIFI then became greyed out (and off) and could not be enabled. I tried resetting the phone, and all the "normal" things suggested by the apple communities, but to no avail.

When you look on the internet, this appears to be quite a common issue. I didn't want to buggar about with the phone before my recent Australia jaunt, as the last thing I wanted was a broken phone and the hassle of getting a new phone before then, and I had WIFI on my iPad as my main device anyway, so I felt I could live without iPhone WIFI for a while (my daughter would be mortified at the loss of iPhone WIFI! :)

Anyway now I'm back I decided to see if I could fix it as my phone contract is not up for renewal until later on in the year. Before ordering a replacement WIFI part (about £5 on ebay) I thought I'd try one of the "fixes" suggested on the internet, which, despite so many people reporting success, I was really sceptical about. See the following as an example, but there a literally hundreds (if not thousands) of blogs and YouTube videos on this "fix", with most posts reporting success.

http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/how-to/fix ... ne4s-ios7/

In summary, gently heat the phone with a hair dryer until it says it is too hot, then turn off and stick in a bag in your fridge for ten minutes. Barmy? 8O 8O 8O 8O Quite possibly! As an ex-electronics engineer I thought so!

Well I decided to give it a go as I was so intrigued about it. And with the old adage about if "it's already broke, by messing with it you are either going to fix it, make no difference or make it more broken", I decided to give it a try.

So with my wife's hair dryer (I haven't needed one since the big hair days of the 80s! :) ) I heated the phone until I got the "I'm too hot warning" which took about four minutes, turned it off and stuck it the fridge for ten minutes.

I couldn't quite believe it when I turned it back on and the WIFI was working! That was over a day ago now, and it's still working, even after an iOS update, which many people blame for the issue, but I think may be coincidental, however I do download the updates via iTunes and not over WIFI direct to the phone.

So, despite scepticism, the fix appears to have worked. How long for we'll wait and see, but I'll keep you posted here if it breaks again
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Derek Cook

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Re: Strange, but True - the Disaapearing iPhone WIFI Issue

Unread post by Saul »

Thanks for the info Derek. Sounds crazy like you said and it does make me laugh at all the high tech we have these days yet you need to resort to a hair dryer and refrigerator to fix wi-fi on your phone! I'm sure that is the sort of image Apple would really love to give about their products :) Extremely glad you got it working though. Wi-fi is almost everywhere now and being without it means using the 3G/4G network with the associated ludicrous data costs. I have a 1Gb allowance with Vodaphone on the S3 but have never used it because I am always where there is a free Wi-fi connection.

Who are you in contract with? Vodaphone allow you to upgrade 72 days before your contract ends. So, new phone for me this month! unless I wait for the Samsung Galaxy S5 but not sure it has impressed me that much.
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Re: Strange, but True - the Disaapearing iPhone WIFI Issue

Unread post by Derek »

It does sound crazy, doesn't it? Which was my first opinion when I read about it, but it certainly worked! :)

I'm with Vodafone as I get a 20% Employer discount via my company, so can upgrade around June/July time under that early deal, but I will probably wait for the release of the 6 model and treat myself in my big 5-0 year. :)
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Re: Strange, but True - the Disaapearing iPhone WIFI Issue

Unread post by Derek »

Well, two weeks on and the "repair" is still working, even after two iOS upgrades, which some people felt was the culprit - but I have things set up so that I download the updates on my computer via iTunes
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Derek Cook

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Re: Strange, but True - the Disaapearing iPhone WIFI Issue

Unread post by Saul »

The need for iTunes in order to get anything onto an Apple device is one of my all time pet hates! especially the nonsense where you can't have more than one account on the same computer. So if I plug my wife's iPad into my PC it wants to wipe the iPad and sync with my account! bloody ridiculous.

However, very happy to hear your repair is still working. I hope your experience helps others with the same issues. Roll on the big 5-0! ;)
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Re: Strange, but True - the Disaapearing iPhone WIFI Issue

Unread post by Derek »

Saul wrote:The need for iTunes in order to get anything onto an Apple device is one of my all time pet hates! especially the nonsense where you can't have more than one account on the same computer. So if I plug my wife's iPad into my PC it wants to wipe the iPad and sync with my account! bloody ridiculous.
Yes, that is one thing that I really don't like, and their approach to videos that have not come via iTunes sucks, but I have alternative software for ripping DVDs in a compatible manner. Everything else I need to transfer works quite seamlessly though iCloud, so the locked in nature is offset by the convenience of having iCloud automatically sync everything I need between Mac, iPhone and iPod.
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Re: Strange, but True - the Disaapearing iPhone WIFI Issue

Unread post by Saul »

I use VLC Media Player to transfer by wi-fi movies that are not recognized by the iPad. That works a treat. Can play .mkv files also which tend to be of much higher quality than most formats.
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Re: Strange, but True - the Disaapearing iPhone WIFI Issue

Unread post by Derek »

Just thought I'd report back on this. Nearly two months on and my iPhone WIFI is still working after this strange fix, which I was very sceptical about. :)

Saul, sorry, but I missed your post about using VLC. That's something I also use as a very flexible media player, so I can also recommend it.
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