Poor WiFi Range

[phillychuck]

The second issue was with the AP itself. No matter what I did it did not play well with my iPhone. Symptoms in my case included extremely poor range, the inability to actually use the AP when it did show as in range, and the failure of EDGE automatically kicking in. Switching to a different AP seemed to solve this. Once I did lose signal in my house, rather far from the AP, but I hardly noticed it the transition to EDGE was so smooth. I was reading this forum actually, and happened to notice it loading a little slower than usual (though this Website seems to do OK as far as EDGE goes). Think it would have picked up WiFi again on its own, but I forced it by going into settings. Bingo, it was back to WiFi (the other AP would error out when trying to reconnect--until I was within 15 feet of it).

That's EXACTLY my issue. I really don't use the 'net/Wifi features that much, so I'll be patient for what is sure to be a software update issue (I hope).

It's important all of us who have this issue let apple know on its iphone feedback page, though.

Here's the link:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

[Tinman]

(I posted my feedback to Apple, thanks for that link.)

Another WiFi update...

Have been doing even better since I last posted. That fact, and some of the feedback in this thread (thanks!) has led me to believe it is extremely unlikely that there is anything wrong with my iPhone's WiFi, at least hardware-wise.

For one thing, I've compared it to my two laptops again (as far as WiFi range is concerned). The newer (and much larger) laptop still gets better range. But in closer testing I found my iPhone is about on par with my older/smaller laptop. In fact I did indeed successfully connect to my neighbor's open WLAN when the older laptop could not. And it should be noted that the older laptop is an ultra portable.

I then did a little testing while I was out running some errands. In Staples it picked up a half dozen APs. Couldn't test them much as two were print servers, but I did connect to the main AP without issue.

I then tried at my local Hastings (music/video/books) and it connected fine. Surfed from out in the parking lot actually. I did run into the DNS issue though, but once I fixed that it was fine.

So the DNS issue looks like something you might need to be prepared for anywhere. I used my ISP's DNS addresses, which worked, but I'm going to grab the IPs from a few public DNS servers for the future (they are posted here somewhere).

The lack of range due to the AP compatibility issue? I'm hoping that is not very prevalent, but my limited testing out in the world is too brief to say for sure. As always, a fix from Apple would be preferred. Thankfully I didn't need to buy another WiFi router. I probably would have though if I didn't have a spare AP hanging around--I really like using my iPhone around the house with WiFi.

To summarize:

* I am certain I have no hardware issue regarding WiFi range.

* The DNS issue has to be addressed quickly. This one is gonna cascade soon if Apple doesn't do something ASAP.

* My iPhone did not like the AP I used for WiFi access at home. It connected, but range and reconnection issues made it nearly useless aside from the very room in which the AP was located. Switching to a different AP made a huge difference.

* If your iPhone's WiFi range is not quite, say, on par with a laptop you also use for WiFi--with the very same AP--then it is probably normal behavior. But if it is dramatically worse you might consider trying a different AP.


--
Mike