iphone 12 dropping calls

We have iPhone 12 and 12 Pro Max both on AT&T and not a single dropped call yet since launch of both.

This leads me to ask those who are having dropped call issues the following questions.

1. Did you transfer the sim from your previous phone to your new phone? If you did, you should get a new sim which is provisioned for 5g
2. Go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Voice & Data - What is it checked? If you live in an area with minimal to no 5G service (5G is still rolling out across a lot of the world), and your phone is set to 5G, you'll drop calls. Change it to 5G Auto or if you don't have 5G where you live to LTE

Otherwise it seems from those posting here, the common issue is Verizon. You should be hammering Verizon on this as it's most unlikely an issue with the phone. The entity who controls calls on your phone is not Apple. It is your cellular provider.

I work for 2 C-suite executives with brand new iphone 12's who are having the same dropped call issue -- more than 10 times a day frequently. They are on Verizon but I have read articles and other postings that it is across carriers. It's totally unacceptable for Apple & the carriers to blame each other .... what's the common denominator -- APPLE iphone 12's. Any news on it being fixed with an ios update soon??

My iphone 12 Pro has dropped calls every day. Never had that with my other phones. I think it is the 5G issue and it needs to get fixed. Would have never upgraded to this phone if I knew this was an issue.

To communicate with a Wi-Fi network, a device must identify itself to the network using a unique network address called a Media Access Control (MAC) address. If the device always uses the same Wi-Fi MAC address across all networks, network operators and other network observers can more easily relate that address to the device's network activity and location over time. This allows a kind of user tracking or profiling, and it applies to all devices on all Wi-Fi networks.

To improve privacy, iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7 use a different MAC address for each Wi-Fi network. This unique, static MAC address is your device's private Wi-Fi address, used for that network only.

Use private Wi-Fi addresses in iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and watchOS 7 - Apple Support

A network should normally never make assumptions based upon a MAC address, but if one does, it can lead to issues with devices that use private addresses.

The exception is in private networks as in corporations that require registration of a MAC address before they allow access to their private network.

If shutting off private addressing "fixes" anything, it's because some portion of the network is making assumptions based upon the sending MAC address, which is something they should not be doing.

For example, say a cellular carrier knew you had an iPhone and so only accepted Wi-Fi calling packets originating from a MAC address associated with Apple devices; that would result in the behavior you see but would be the wrong thing for a carrier to do from a networking standpoint, as MAC addresses often get rewritten for all sorts of networking reasons other than just privacy.

This post mentions that once Verizon fixed their base station issue, the problem went away for that person. Not a software update for the phone, but a Verizon configuration change.

I've mentioned several times the true root cause is most likely an issue with one particular vendor's BTS gear at the cell site that Verizon has likely standardized on but AT&T likely has only deployed on a very limited basis. This would also explain why other carriers around the world have similar issues.

Regardless, this isn't Apple's problem to solve, it's ultimately the carriers' responsibility, as their software is telling the phones to use frequencies that their cell sites aren't properly configured for, causing low signal and signal drops.

Ultimately, all Apple can do is say "fix this," and carriers can say "yeah, whatever."

The fact that they ultimately fixed a site giving one user problems is a sign that at least in that case, Apple was able to get the correct person's attention.

Note also Verizon may be in the process of rolling out a fix, but since such upgrades likely require an actual site visit by an employee or employees, it will take quite a while and be quite expensive.

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

Asking Apple to fix this is problematic as, as I've mentioned before, this is largely a carrier issue.

I have a 12 Pro Max and AT&T, and I have not experienced a single dropped call since it arrived in November, and though it wasn't a lot, I used to drop calls about once a month with my 11 Pro Max.

Were it the phone itself, I would have these same issues, but I personally know of no one with AT&T that does; I knew one person with Verizon who had issues, but then Verizon updated their cell tower and without any changes on the phone the problem went away completely.

Apple is certainly aware of complaints, but if it's the carriers, they literally have no power to make them spend money.

Remember we're all just users here, so if you want to express your dissatisfaction to Apple, do so here:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

but be sure to express your dissatisfaction to your cellular carrier as well.

No one here can do anything to help you, and the people at Apple you want to reach do not read these forums.

Check out this thread on this forum, validating what I was telling you. Which is IF your cellular provider permitted access to 3G, you'd have access to 3G. It's up to the cellular provider to give that in the cellular profile, which AGAIN, Apple has nothing to do with --> https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251982529#:~:text=No%2C%20same%20SIM%2C%20same%20carrier%2C%20same%20plan.%20iPhone,carrier%20determines%20what%20you%27ll%20be%20able%20to%20do.

You can choose to be snarky and ignore the actual technical facts involved, but that won't achieve anything either.

Literally millions of people are using iPhone 12 models daily with no issues, so the question is what is different about your situation.

If you feel your phone is at fault, the best advice I can give is:

Contact - Official Apple Support

as if it is an issue with your phone, only Apple can fix it, and/or only Apple can determine if it's an issue in iOS.

I can only state that my 12 Pro Max has not dropped a single call ever since I got it in November of last year.

Brendachristiansen wrote:

I don't know where to turn actually.

especially when it doesn't happen to my husbands phone that is exactly like mine.

• You said your husband’s iPhone is not exactly like yours.
  • Yours is an iPhone 12.
  • His is an iPhone 11.
• If you read the tens of posts in this thread above yours, you should see exactly where to turn.
  • Perhaps all the folks are Verizon customers.
  • All the folks have the latest Apple iPhones.

So a clear path to solving the issue is to change cellular carrier.

Not everything is a carrier issue, but all of these issues appear to be:

• Wi-Fi Calling is a carrier service, not an Apple service.
• Issues with reception of cellular signals to/from towers is clearly a carrier issue.

You disable 5G on AT&T by doing at least one of the following:

• Choose a cellular plan from AT&T that does not support 5G
• Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Voice & Data = “LTE”

You ignore the technical analysis and want to make it "random" or coincidence.

• We know millions of iPhone 12 users worldwide have no issues.
• We know many of those having the issue have had it fixed when updates have been made to their local cell tower without any updates having been made to their phone.

You can blame Apple if you like, but they have no control over the situation.

Note some owners of newer Android phones are also reporting similar issues as well.

HAVE YOU FOUND AN ANSWER YET?

I have been working with Apple since 01/08/21 regarding this same issue, my carrier too is Verizon.

Yesterday 01/22/21 Apple agreed to switch out my phone, they advised against restoring from back up and to manually set the phone up so that’s exactly what I did. They thought that there could potentially be something wrong or corrupt with the backed up file, I asked what would it mean if my calls continued to drop and they suggested it would be a carrier issue.

I replaced my SIM card with Verizon since and still no luck. This happens everywhere at any given time.

I was on the phone with TurboTax earlier and this is how the call went.