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joxesCA Author

Level 1

93 points

iPhone 12 losing service

Received my iPhone 12 Pro on Friday. Activated it on Saturday. Sunday I drove for 10 mns and when I arrive to my destination I saw no reception bars and No Service. And in the middle of the screen in a grey box: Your iPhone is not Activated.

The only way to get the connection back was to toggle Airplane mode to ON then OFF.

The iPhone had the cellular mode to 5G Auto. I switched it to LTE to test. And it was the same.

So I resetted the network settings: same issue and I resetted the iPhone as a new iPhone and reinstalled everything from scratch (not from a saved backup): same issue.

I drove my car and found the exact location where the phone lost the network. If the phone lost the network it means I reach the end of the coverage area from a certain antenna. It looks like something happened with the phone when I reach a zone covered by a new antenna.

I called my operator and they told me that everything is good on their end and I have the right SIM card for a 5G device.

I called the Apple Tech Support and they remotely installed on my phone two profiles:

Baseband and Telephony Logging
CFNetwork Diagnostics

I was able to replicate the issue after talking to the Apple Tech and I was able to submit the report.

I pushed a little bit the research and I found on Reddit a lot of people talking about the same issue not only on Verizon (my carrier) but also on AT&T. Just use the title I typed and you will find the article.

I never had such issue with the 11pro.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Oct 28, 2020 11:31 AM

Top-ranking reply

machado22

Level 1

32 points

Posted on Feb 9, 2021 5:49 PM

I am surprised this situation has not been addressed properly by the carriers or Apple. They each seem to be ignoring and hoping the problem will go away. Which it will NOT!

Imagine paying hard earned money for a product that only works, "part-time"? Clearly that would be frustrating for all consumers. Nobody likes to waste money.

I was already given a replacement phone and SIM cards and guess what-neither of them corrected the issue. Once again today I have 1 bar, 1 bar of signal strength at home. My phone is resting on the table and only has 1 bar. No reason for that. Unacceptable. Then when I left the house for a short drive, I lost all signal strength for about 4 minutes, had to go in and out of airplane mode for the signal strength to reset. UNACCEPTABLE!

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956 replies

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,569 points

Sep 13, 2021 3:02 PM in response to nprao4

Are you sure you have 5G service from your cellular provider and it’s the faster 5G variant (either 5G+ or 5GUW?)

For example AT&T’s “5GE” service is faster than LTE but not as fast as actual 5G mm wave service is.

Sep 15, 2021 1:33 AM in response to Dogcow-Moof

I’m still puzzled on how it can be a carrier issue when it spans all the major carriers. Is there an extra “package” that is needed to make the iPhone 12’s work as good as older iPhones? You mentioned the 5G service plan but if I don’t have 5G towers is that really gonna improve my service? I just need to know what more I can specifically tell my carrier. ??? Clearly, many people have encountered this issue. Can we at least agree something is going on?

Darth151

Level 1

10 points

Oct 9, 2021 1:59 AM in response to joxesCA

Seems like it’s not sorted. Got my 12 pro max in June and have the same issues. No 5G in my area in the (UK) but both my wife and I have iPhones me the 12 pro max and she has the XR. I ran speed tests on both (same network) and the XR was getting double the speeds of the pro max and that’s only if the pro max didn’t drop the 4G connection. Only saving grace for Apple is the struggle phone stores seem to have in getting Samsung handsets.

wtfg

Level 1

4 points

Oct 10, 2021 6:31 PM in response to Dogcow-Moof

This is a good theory, but I don't agree that it is entirely on Verizon. If this is known issue with certain bands, why can't Apple push out a firmware update to disable the LTE bands that aren't configured by Verizon?

Nov 14, 2021 1:13 AM in response to joxesCA

Wow is this still not fixed? I'm in Sweden and my iPhone 12 was unusable. Almost every day at work my phone would drop cellular and could not pick it up again automatically (even though it showed it had signal). However iPhone 13 has no such issue at all. Glad I returned the 12. Obvious defect with the 12's.

Branta_uk

Level 7

32,666 points

Nov 14, 2021 11:48 AM in response to dannejanne

dannejanne wrote:

Wow is this still not fixed? I'm in Sweden and my iPhone 12 was unusable. Almost every day at work my phone would drop cellular and could not pick it up again automatically (even though it showed it had signal). However iPhone 13 has no such issue at all. Glad I returned the 12. Obvious defect with the 12's.

I have to agree with Dogcow-Moof, this is not something Apple can fix. DC-Moof gives the concept outline for the problem in an earlier post although the exact channels and bands may be slightly different in each region, and support in later models might include new bands which are now added by the network but not in older hardware.

Like Dogcow-Moof I have 'a little experience' of networking and RF engineering. Enough to have been found walking the streets near my office to troubleshoot a mysterious call drop in the days when 3G was new technology. We found it... a defective sector antenna which had been causing problems for months. That was the antenna to which users were preferentially assigned for load balancing because it always had a low utilisation (because it dropped all calls within seconds). The indications on my phone were very similar to what you describe, lost service although the signal strength indicator looks OK, and it only hits at selected locations - anywhere else is good.

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,569 points

Nov 14, 2021 7:11 PM in response to Branta_uk

Branta_uk wrote:

Enough to have been found walking the streets near my office to troubleshoot a mysterious call drop in the days when 3G was new technology. We found it... a defective sector antenna which had been causing problems for months. That was the antenna to which users were preferentially assigned for load balancing because it always had a low utilisation (because it dropped all calls within seconds). The indications on my phone were very similar to what you describe, lost service although the signal strength indicator looks OK, and it only hits at selected locations - anywhere else is good.

That's an engineer "bar story" if I've ever heard one - great job!!