iPhone 3GS silent switch issue

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I have a refurbished iPhone 3GS that I got in 2010 when I switched to AT&T (blah!) I'm having an issue with my silent switch, which I just discovered today.

When I put the switch down to go in silent mode, it will vibrate and the bell icon does not have a line through it showing that it is in silent mode. I had a couple of people call me to test it out and the phone rings normal as if it were not in silent mode. I also discovered that it you fiddle with the switch while it is down it will vibrate. What I mean by that is when I sometimes touch the switch in the down position, the phone will indicate that it is in silent mode by vibrating and flashing the silent bell on the screen. I think the switch is sensitive and my be loose from putting it up and down so much to go from silent to ring.

Has anyone else had/have/or seen this problem on this phone? I am just curious as to what the solution was and what was done to fix the problem. Unfortunately I did not get the extended warranty on the phone so bringing it in to Apple or AT&T will not be an option for me. if it's an easy fix, I will attempt to repair it myself. I'm just trying to hold out for the iPhone 5. Thanks!
 

Raz0rEdge

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The silent switch in the iPhone 3G/3GS is very prone to becoming loose and breaking. The switch on my old 3G got to a point where if I had the phone out of vibrate and in my pocket, as I was walking it would randomly vibrate since it was going in and out of silent mode. I tended to keep the phone on vibrate all the time to avoid that annoyance..

The iPhone 4 and 4S have a completely redesigned silent switch that is more metal than the plastic switch used on the 3G/3GS and is a lot more resilient..

There is no real solution per say short of replacing the physical switch..
 
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Thanks for your quick response. I was not aware of this issue that the 3G/GS had with the silent switch. It seems like your switch problem was opposite of mine. When my switch is in normal mode, it does not randomly vibrate, only in vibrate mode and if you touch the switch. At least it hasn't started randomly vibrating in normal mode, yet...

It seems like it would be a pain to go through the trouble and replace the switch. I guess I can live with it for now. If it gets too bad I may have to bite the bullet and get the 4S. I guess in the meantime if I really have to silent the phone, it will have to be powered off. Thanks again for the response.
 

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