iPhone 5 WIFI ANTENNA GATE !!! Video

spanishcop

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So I've been trying to figure out my WIFI issues and I stumbled across something.... I'm on my 2nd replacement for wifi issues in which I can't get connected properly with WPA2/AES wifi connection. My first iphone5 worked flawless with 4G and LTE... but tons of problems with WIFI.... now my replacement iphone5 is suffering from 4G connections of under 1mb downloads where I had gotten upto 10 to 15mb download speeds.... On top of cellular issues I'm still experiencing WIFI problems.

While playing trouble shooting my iphone with I realized something very Odd. If I place the palm of my hands on the back of my iphone 5 the WIFI signal will completely drop. I can go from 3 bars (max) to completely gone and switching to cell service...

So I made a youtube video to show you that iPhone 5 does have WIFI Antenna Gate issues.....

iphone 5 WIFI Antenna Problem - YouTube

Here we go again.... Now they are going to tell us not to put the iPhone 5 in your palm when using WIFI.

Best Regards,
Mike E.
 

Eileen89

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While playing trouble shooting my iphone with I realized something very Odd. If I place the palm of my hands on the back of my iphone 5 the WIFI signal will completely drop. I can go from 3 bars (max) to completely gone and switching to cell service...

See, Mike, there's your problem, you were holding it wrong. Might want to put a case on it.
happy-086.gif
 

spanishcop

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LOL....... Yeah so much for giving your iPhone 5 a hug or craddling it :) And your right.... I'm sure we will hear those lines again...... Your holding it wrong..... Don't Surf the web with iphone on your palm.

This does bring up a question.............. All the people complaining about the DATA being used up so quickly..... I wonder how many times the iphone has switched to CELL from WIFI for people holding the iphone 5 wrong.... Just saying. I'm unlimited thank goodness.

MIKE
 

gixxer07600

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When you cover an antenna, it's going to lose reception. Common sense really. My galaxy s2 would do the same thing if I covered the back.
 

spanishcop

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Well then maybe the antenna needs to be behind the screen LOL.... Surely nobody would want to cover the screen while surfing or using wifi would they? Sorry just being a little sarcastic. I know what your saying... but at the same time.... After the iphone 4 antenna gate, you think they would have engineered or came up with something. Anways.. don't take me wrong..... I love Apple products and I own several ipads and an iphone 4 and 5. I just happen to run into this while trying to trouble shoot my WIFI issues... and figured I would share. I am suprised that my case actually made my WIFI drop though... So imagine some of the bigger thicker cases like Otterbox. Before a bumper solved it, now you have to use caution what case you use. Mine is all rubber on sides and edges and then clear plastic on the back "Harden silicon possibly". As much as I love Apple... I would have to say losing even 1 bar with WIFI by using a case and 2 bars if I have my hand behind it.... it's an issue. All phones have their problems right.

I'm still going to keep my iPhone 5 :)

I wonder if Apple will give me a Free Case this time :) instead of a bumper (just kidding).
 

Eileen89

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I wonder if it's your router that's the problem? I just tested this with my iPhone 5, with and without a case. In each test my WiFi signal stayed full and never lost s bar. Have you tried resetting your network settings? I know this helped me in the past when I was having issues with my old original iPad.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk
 

michikade#AC

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With case and without, holding it about 10 different ways, and my wifi still is horrible. He.

I wonder if specific models are vulnerable to this and others aren't? Like, the ones that have the CDMA radio or maybe certain drive size?


Sent from my iPad 2 using Tapatalk
 

zrxoa1

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I took my case off and sure enough, with my palm on back of phone, I lost one bar of wifi. Now I have also noticed that the LTE signal is not as strong as it was with my HTC Rezound. I regularly got 4-5 bars of LTE, but now my signal in same place will not go above two bars.

I just think maybe the radio in this/mine model is weak??
 

robertk328

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This does bring up a question.............. All the people complaining about the DATA being used up so quickly..... I wonder how many times the iphone has switched to CELL from WIFI for people holding the iphone 5 wrong.... Just saying. I'm unlimited thank goodness.
It was an issue with settings on the phone causing it to use cellular even when connected to wifi (and with the LTE speeds some of us are getting it was faster!)... VZW versions got an update, not sure if ATT versions did. iPhone 5 (Verizon): About carrier settings update 13.1

---------- Post Merged at 06:14 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:12 AM ----------

When you cover an antenna, it's going to lose reception. Common sense really. My galaxy s2 would do the same thing if I covered the back.

This. Even the antenna issue on the iPhone 4 was demonstrated on other phones. I was in an Apple store and a guy was having issues with his iPhone 5 wifi and the tech showed him where the wifi antenna was and showed the same thing as these videos. "You're holding it wrong" seems silly, but it's true. Don't block the antenna and you won't have issues. If you still have issues, take it in :)
 

michikade#AC

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Well... I finally broke down and spoke to a Genius today. We couldn't replicate the problem in store (typical) but he switched out my phone anyway.

I have slightly better connectivity via wifi with my new one at home, but still about a tenth of the speed of my computer and about a third of the speed of my iPad. I'm kind of at a loss now.

But, it appears it wasn't a hardware problem with my phone. And it isn't a hardware problem with this one either, it just doesn't want to play nice with my ISP at home.

At this point, I kind of give up. Ah well.


Sent from my iPad 2 using Tapatalk
 

GibMcFragger

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I took my case off and sure enough, with my palm on back of phone, I lost one bar of wifi. Now I have also noticed that the LTE signal is not as strong as it was with my HTC Rezound. I regularly got 4-5 bars of LTE, but now my signal in same place will not go above two bars.

I just think maybe the radio in this/mine model is weak??

You can't go by that. I have owned several Android phones and they all showed higher bars than it was actually getting. If i compared the dBm, it didn't match the bars. Providers are known to do that so you think you are getting a better signal than you actually are. Apple doesn't do that as they control their own software.
 

Guacho

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Do you hold your iphone like this regularly?? The ip4 antenna issue was more evident when holding the phone with one hand only... but if you only get this reception lost by holding it like this it's a non issue in my opinion.
 

F34R

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I was able to replicate the issue without trying hard at all. Once you start covering the top left, middle, and right, you can lose wifi connection; or at least the signal will degrade. However, I don't hold the top of the phone lol. Like it was posted above, covering an antenna, will degrade a signal it was receiving. Common sense really.
 

GPAbsinthe

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Can't replicate this with or without my case. Full bars all the time when within range. I also think it's a weird way to hold your phone altogether... My 4S did that though... Not that it was a problem, I usually don't hold my phone like that in any case, but I tried just to see if I could kill the signal, and while it didn't drop completely I could have it lose a bar or two.

I agree with the other brands boosting the signal. The guy I work with has a Samsung GSIII, and his bars are always full, it's kind of unreal given that the router at work is pretty much feeding everything in store - about ten TV's and a couple of A/V receivers and 3-4 cell phones always running on it, in addition to the SONOS stations we use for background music - and it's a simple double antennas N type. The accountant is using a GSII and her bars are always full too. My iP5 is oscillating between 2 and 3 bars about every minute or so. But we used the same app - SpeedTest - on the same host the other day to test our speeds, and I was only getting two bars, but still benchmarked the same results they were getting.

Had a problem with my cellular signal strenght in the first week or so... came close to bring it back for replacement after the third time I reset the network settings upon suddenly getting No Service. Then I just removed the SIM and put it back in. It was done properly the first time, and it laid perfectly when I pulled it out, but I had to try anyway - and it worked. Since then I did not get No Service ever again.
 

johndhynes

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You can't go by that. I have owned several Android phones and they all showed higher bars than it was actually getting. If i compared the dBm, it didn't match the bars. Providers are known to do that so you think you are getting a better signal than you actually are. Apple doesn't do that as they control their own software.

The reason iPhone does not do this is because Apple got caught doing this during antennagate two years ago, so they stopped doing it. But before then, they were doing the same thing. That was part of the problem, it would show 4 or 5 bars until the signal was almost lost, so people were saying, "I had five bars and then I touched it and it suddenly went away!" Truth was, they should have had only 1 or 2 bars to start with.

Apple - Press Info - Letter from Apple Regarding iPhone 4
AnandTech - The iPhone 4 Redux: Analyzing Apple's iOS 4.0.1 Signal Fix & Antenna Issue
 

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