Chosen Solution
My daughter has an iPhone 6S she shut the phone in a car door which bent the rear case but did not crack the front screen. So I replaced the rear case and installed a new battery that I got here on I fixit. After reinstalling all the parts and powering up the phone things seemed to be working as normal, but she soon began to have cell signal only issues, the WIFI has always worked as it should. After doing some searching for answers I tried several things. Replaced the SIM card, reset the network settings, did the work around of Airplane mode on and off again, checked for software updates from the network and checked her IOS which is 13.3 and no network carrier updates. Turning Airplane mode on and off seems to help the most at this point but the problem still comes back. On 6/16/20 I took her phone apart again to make sure I routed the antennas into the correct mounting brackets and that the antennas were secured properly to the logic board, I also did a light cleaning with some contact cleaner on the antennas and where they mount to the logic board. I am confident that all the antenna connections are made correctly and that they are routed into the correct mounting brackets on the phone case. I feel all other aspects of all the repairs went well, but she is still having some cell signal issues in places where reception is not an issue. I am wondering if the logic board was also damaged in the original car door incident or some damage has occurred to the lower cell antenna in one of the many drops the phone has suffered. I would appreciate any help as to what my next steps should be to resolve this issue as well as the parts I may need. Thanks
I don’t think parts will fix this problem. If the phone got slammed in the door it would have flexed the board causing solder balls under IC’s to crack or the traces that come from these chips to break or partially break. The cell service is coming and going probably due to temperature variation on the logic board as the board gets hotter or colder it could completely severe the already broken connection. I would not spend much more time or money on this phone.
You have put a new backhousing ( replacement case) on your phone, was this case a afthermarket housing or a original housing from Apple? I have this isue a cople of years back also and it was because i used a copie housing and it was a grounding problem why my cell signal was weak.
I bought the case here from I fix it, I believe it was an original Apple case just with some blemishes. I bought a used OEM rear case C stock for $9.99.
