Poor signal with iPhone 12 Pro Max

AND once again, we, as consumers, don’t care why the iPhone doesn’t work, OR whose fault it is. We only care that we paid $1200 for a phone that is unreliable and service that is unreliable and we feel ripped off! You can explain the ins and outs of why it doesn’t work and whose fault it is until you are blue in the face. We will still feel ripped off!

My internet provider is HughesNet and it’s fine.

mMy issue is the phone signal with calls, texts, and data.

all older iPhones (7plus, 8plus, and XR) work.

My 12 has call failed, dropped calls, won’t send it receive texts, and no LTE (let alone 5G live rural… not expecting 5G to work except when in areas that provide).

Verizon is our carrier.

Bought phone at Best Buy under my Verizon info.

New sim.

My response wasn't to you on the 5G. My tech told me it may be 5G and to turn it off. It was already off because of what has been tested in these forums. My Apple tech ran diagnostics on my phone and found numerous dropped calls. AHA! Apple knows there is a problem!

Second, Excuse me for using the term 'boost'. I understand completely how Wifi calling works. You can still have connectivity issues with Wifi calling depending on your Wifi set up.

Third.. I don't know if you work for or are commissioned by AT&T, but they too are having problems with their iphone 12's. As I stated in another post, you are one of the lucky ones. Perhaps it's where you live? I don't know. If you still think it's only Verizon having issues Perhaps you should check At&T's support page, you would find a lengthy forums on iphone 12's lackluster performance. Perhaps you should visit any other carrier forum and check for i-12 posts! Forbes ran an article about the thousands of users complaining of the phones performance across all carriers, or lack of performance in this case. I was an At&T subscriber for 25+ years until they let their infrastructure go in my somewhat rural area. We all have opinions. Some of us are here because we have problems with our iphone 12. We know we can't compare apples to oranges. No, you can't compare a Corvette to a Spark. Regardless of which model you purchase, you expect it to work. Changing to AT&T is not the solution! Changing to any other carrier is not the solution. Good to know you have ZERO issues on At&T. Why are you even responding if all you can say is "Change carriers" or "Sell your phone"? We have read it. It's comparable to throwing the baby out with the proverbial bathwater.

It happens to me. My 12 Max when it has one bar has a hard time initiating a call and often with horrible “call failed” piping up and drops calls way too often. This is with Wi-Fi call enabled. Never happened with my iPhone 11

Other than it is a lousy phone, it’s most important aspect, the rest is great.

They can deny it all they want but there are too many of us complaining to deny it’s real.

…and it does.

Even my 11 Pro Max dropped calls on occasion, my 12 Pro Max has not dropped even one call since I activated it three months ago.

Many have reported there is a new Verizon carrier settings update, 45.5.7, that is beginning to roll out across the network that has solved this for them.

Update your carrier settings on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Not all, just the ones causing you and others difficulty.

Millions of people around the world use their 12 Pro Maxes every day with absolutely zero issues, so obviously a majority of cell towers do not need reconfiguration.

If you feel your own phone is at fault, contact Apple Support directly:

Contact - Official Apple Support

Here's the problem:

You were on Bell, and were experiencing issues on Bell's network likely due to Bell's configuration of their towers.

You switched to Telus, who… partners with Bell and uses Bell's cellular network.

So though you switched carriers, you're still on the exact same cellular network with the exact same issues (emboldening mine):

TELUS and Bell achieve their out-of-region coverage through a reciprocal network sharing agreement referred to as multi-operator core network (MOCN). Basically, both companies share their radio access network but operate their own network cores.

More than just co-locating on the same tower or sharing backhaul facilities, network sharing gives customers of either company access to the same antennas and eNodeB base stations at each cell site in their respective networks.

The two companies share their 3G and 4G RANs in different parts of Canada. TELUS builds cell sites in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, in Windsor, Toronto and Ottawa in Ontario, and in Montréal, Québec City and the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec.

Bell builds out its network from the eastern part of Canada to the midwest except for Saskatchewan, where SaskTel owns the RAN that it shares with both companies. Bell also has some cell sites in British Columbia, mainly in Vancouver.

This way Bell customers in Vancouver use TELUS’ RAN. In major easten cities like Toronto, TELUS customers use Bell’s network.

Such an arrangement is feasible because both companies share all Canadian 3G and 4G LTE licensed frequencies except 2.3 GHz that only TELUS uses.

The companies operate independent EPC and IMS core networks that authenticate user SIM cards, track usage and billing, complete calls, deliver text messages, and connect data sessions to the Internet.

Even without a contiguous national network, MOCN allows each company to claim their 4G LTE Advanced services cover over 95 percent of Canada’s 37 million people.

TELUS and Bell are building 5G on that same footprint with Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung supplying the same equipment to both networks. 

https://insidetowers.com/cell-tower-news-wireless-network-sharing-canadian-style/

You will not receive a returned phone as a warranty replacement.

The technician was not accurate, it is not "hit and miss" with this phone, it's used with no issues by hundreds of millions of people (seriously) daily across the world.

You can't directly compare signal bars between phones because it all depends upon what frequency the cellular tower has told your phone to use, and since your iPhone 12 Pro Max can use frequencies the iPhone X cannot, it's very likely the cell tower's base station controller assigned your iPhone 12 Pro Max to one of those frequencies as they are likely to be less crowded than the frequencies common to multiple older devices.

You can "demand" a brand new phone if you like, but under the terms of the Apple warranty you will not necessarily receive one (it's also the case with all other phone vendors):

If during the Warranty Period you submit a claim to Apple or an AASP in accordance with this warranty, Apple will, at its option:

(i) repair the Apple Product using new or previously used parts that are equivalent to new in performance and reliability,

(ii) replace the Apple Product with the same model (or with your consent a product that has similar functionality) formed from new and/or previously used parts that are equivalent to new in performance and reliability,

(iii) exchange the Apple Product for a refund of your purchase price.

Legal - iOS Warranty Canada English - Apple

I didn’t say it was 5G.

You completely misunderstand Wi-Fi Calling; it is a carrier feature that allows routing of what would otherwise be cellular traffic over the Internet via your Wi-Fi connection. It doesn’t “boost” signal at all.

Make a call with Wi-Fi Calling - Apple Support

I’ve explained in full detail how two different models of phones can show different signal levels and you don’t want to hear it.

Sadly, it's pretty much up to your carrier, as I suspect it's still a matter of your local cell tower assigning your 12 Pro Max to a frequency the tower does not handle well due to configuration, local conditions or whatever. Because the 12 Pro Max can handle that channel, it's being assigned to that channel and your experience is the result.

For example here are the FDD LTE frequency bands supported by both devices:

• XS Max: FDD LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 29, 30, 32, 66, 71)
• 12 Pro Max: FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 66, 71)

If the cell tower base station controller sees the 12 Pro Max can use band 28, which will be lightly congested as not many other phones use it, but there are issues with those frequencies due to tower configuration, foliage disturbing propagation, etc., you'll see your XS Max have no issues but your 12 Pro Max will drop the signal. When it rejoins the network, the controller will again see "Oh, a device that can use Band 28" and… rinse and repeat.

It's really cellular carriers trying to wash their hands of the issue and leaving customers stranded if you will as a result.

To "fix" this your carrier would need to send a tech team to the site, run tests on that band, notice that certain bands have issues and either fix the issue at the tower if possible, or program the controller not to assign devices to that band - all of which require an expensive crew to go out to the site and spend time there. This is also why when that does happen, suddenly the phone starts working with or without a carrier settings update but without an iOS update.

I don't work for Apple, don't own stock, but I also don't have a magic wand.

Apple designed a wonderful product that works on networks that are operating properly. Again, tens of millions worldwide have no issue, as well as the majority using AT&T. It's largely (though not exclusively) Verizon customers having problems.

Apple has zero control over what Verizon decides to do.

So what solution would you suggest I advocate?

The only options are to:

• Change your cellular carrier
• Live with it
• Sell your iPhone 12 Pro Max and purchase something else.

As you mention, if it's been less than 14 days, you can return it for a refund and purchase something else.

Otherwise used 12 Pro Max phones bring a pretty decent price on eBay and other sites that could recoup you a decent proportion of what you paid.

A consumer economy means you purchase what works for you. iPhones work best for me, and I have zero complaints; they don't for you, so perhaps another solution would work better.

My only suggestion if you take the latter route is to do your research; it's trivial to find Internet posts from Samsung Galaxy S21 users complaining of the same issues with Verizon.

I have the same issue. I bought a new iPhone 12 Pro Max recently and the signal was often dropped. Sometimes, I could not get notifications when receiving messages. This iPhone 12 Pro Max could not connect to Wi-Fi sometimes. I had to restart the iPhone many times every day. I need to contact the Apple support team.

Purchased 12 Pro yesterday and tried both sprint and Tmobile sim cards with continued poor call reception and low to no signal bars and dropped calls. Has any solution been found? Wonder if I should return the phone......Thanks! I live in Naples Florida and had NO problems with sprint network and my iphone xs.

Dude I totally agree it’s like the 5G sucks I always have two bars in my own home have to always connect to WiFi and sometimes when I go out I have no signal so I can’t listen to music when I get to work only have one bar so I can’t see my messages come in till lunch I’m getting ripped off

I am so frustrated with this expensive 5G phone that consistently has poor signal and dropped calls or non receipt of text messages. If this doesn’t get addressed I will no longer buy the latest iPhone after this!

I did not have this issue with my iPhone 11 living in the same place