iPhone 12 losing service

No, investigating a problem report does not admit anything except that they hope to find clues. It certainly doesn’t mean they have admitted responsibility for the problem or that the problem is exactly as described.

It’s already been replaced. The replacement had the same issue.

It’s not device specific.

It’s not physical SIM card specific.

It’s not eSIM specific.

It’s not location or country specific.

It’s not carrier specific or person specific or weather specific.

It’s not 5G or LTE specific.

The only specifics and constants are: the brand and family of the iPhone (i.e. Apple + model of iPhone 12.

Once again I contacted Verizon and they are absolutely zero help. They stress talking to the tier 2 support, reset the phone, check the diagnostics, etc..All options we have done previously since I am on my 2nd iPhone 12 mini.

Then I phoned Apple support and the representative was very kind. She was able to escalate the issue to a senior supervisor.

What bothers me the most is that this rep was unaware of this issue. Mentioned never hearing about this but understands the frustration by me since this phone is brand new and my 2nd.

The senior supervisor got on the phone and now my case has been escalated to the Apple engineer dept and I was promised to get a call in 2 days. They even emailed me to confirm the call/appointment. So let's see if Apple is making progress on this ridiculous phone issues.

I’ve spent a few hours now with Apple support. They ran a diagnostic on my phone that showed no issues. Asked me to reset the network, turn off find my phone, uninstall and reinstall the eSim and factory reset the phone. All of these things I’d already tried anyway but I gave them another go anyway. Nothing has helped.

The last tech I communicated with suggested it was a carrier issue. I told him my family has one member with an iPhone 8 and two members with Samsung phones on the same carrier network and no one else was experiencing data dropouts. I also pointed him to this thread. His final advice was to take the iPhone back to the carrier I purchased it from.

[Edited by Moderator]

TexZero wrote:

The last tech I communicated with suggested it was a carrier issue. I told him my family has one member with an iPhone 8 and two members with Samsung phones on the same carrier network and no one else was experiencing data dropouts. I also pointed him to this thread. His final advice was to take the iPhone back to the carrier I purchased it from.

I've posted several times how it could be a carrier issue yet the iPhone 8 could work properly.

If the phone isn't working for you, the best advice is to return it as you won't be happy having these issues until Apple, your carrier or both get them worked out.

It seems likely there are several different problems which all look similar from a user’s viewpoint. It isn’t just one phone, iPhone 12 family has several very different hardware configurations.

I now accept you are never going to be happy with your iPhone 12. The best advice I can offer is to return it and buy from a different manufacturer.

No surprise there, it is not trying to use 5G.

Be aware there are many reports that (in particular) Verizon’s 5G in most areas is a lash-up of spare bandwidth on their 4G network. There is no surprise it has limited coverage and doesn’t work properly. Here is just one such report, and there are plenty more if you look around.

https://bgr.com/2020/12/23/verizon-5g-nationwide-speeds-slow-use-4g-iphone-12/

I restored it 10 times and it still doesn’t work 2 iPhone 12 later and 4 SIM cards and still doesn’t work. So I turned it off and it’s been in my drawer for 2 months. Back to using my iPhone X that had no issues. Won’t ever buy new ever again. I will wait for a year or 2

yes i replaced the first iPhone 12 and the 2nd iPhone 12 did the same thing. the problem will not change.. i wish i would have went with the iPhone 11 pro. no issues on that phone. my iPhone 12 has been shut off for 2 months now in my drawer because I cant use it

Apple just made me smile. They are reading the posts. Hallelujah!!! My post from 12/28/2020 got deleted because it was attached to someone else who got deleted. Well, at least I got an explanation and they are watching & reading on this popular thread.

So, I hope they hear us.

I have the same problem with the iPhone 12 Pro Max. When the iPhone switches between 3G and LTE, I see a 3G or LTE icon and the maximum level of communication. But cellular communication and the Internet don't work. You can only fix it to restart your iPhone or turn your flight mode on / off. It seems that the iPhone can't switch correctly between stations or cellular modes

I’ve also seen the issue switching between 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. In my case I had no connection but had full wifi signal. I switch to my 2.4GHz network and was fine. Switch back to 5GHz again and the issues was there once more. It’s very odd like there is a bug with the radios swapping or something. Makes me think this is the same for 5G to LTE switching.

I tried something just out of sheer curiosity and I'm relived yet irritated.

My Verizon device has to operate off of a signal booster in my home otherwise It would be a $1000 paperweight. After talking to Verizon Tech level 2 and inquiring about returning the device and disconnecting services, I decided to ask about having a replacement phone mailed to me as a last ditch effort. I previously made this request however as it was so close to launch day they didn't have the inventory.

Fast forward 2 days later to today I received the replacement device only to have the same issues as the 1st phone. Being that all of this was going on I decided to leave my T-Mobile phone activated and im glad that I did. I had a random thought to place the T-Mobile sim from my iPhone 11 into the Verizon 12 Pro Max and figured that the replacement device was locked to Verizon. It wasn't.... As soon as my T-Mobile sim registered in the iPhone 12 the speedtest app that was struggling to download on both Verizon 5G and LTE for 5 or so minutes finished downloading instantly on 2 bars of T-Mobile LTE.

Needless to say Verizon can have all off their stuff back. 

I pondered keeping the replacement device and just paying it off with Verizon but I much rather deal with T-Mobile If I need to resolve any matters. From the looks of it Verizon is grossly unprepared as a carrier and I believe their service on the devices should have been vetted properly before the keynote.

To the person who think that moving to T-Mobile is the answer, I have to say that my carrier is Verizon and so far it does not matter who the carrier is.

Anyway, the other day I mentioned having a scheduled call with Apple. The phone call was all about running diagnostics and sending that information to Apple. The process was fairly simple and I followed the prompts to send that info to Apple. I was told their engineers would get the info, review the info and that I would get a call again tomorrow to follow up. They also said there is a chance they will not call if the assessment is not complete. Which concerns me because I dislike when Apple promises to follow up personally, via the phone and fails to do so.

I have a feeling this diagnostic test will do nothing for the issue. I have a feeling Apple is going to direct the blame to Verizon and my carrier has already directed the blame to Apple.

Furthermore, I dislike having paid such a high dollar amount for this phone and their suggestion is to not use 5G. Well what's the point of the phone plan I have when I cannot use 5G? Do you think my carrier has offered any compensation? You better believe they have not.

I'll share again when I have more info.

My iPhone 12 Pro Max drops service and I get “IPhone is not activated, please contact carrier” anywhere from 10-30 times a day. Toggle the airplane mode and service reactivates. Apple gave me new phone, Verizon gave me new SIM, still not working. Have tried digital SIM. Happens mostly at home so not switching towers. Have spent about 12 hours over last few weeks with Apple/Verizon reps restoring, trying different settings to no avail. Sent screenshots to Apple, still no fix. Very frustrated.

****Update - switched from Verizon to Cspire. Phone had become practically unusable over last few days. It’s been over 24 hours now and same phone I was having problems with now works perfectly with new carrier.