Thank you for your post Rae Rae,
This issue has been job threatening as the disconnections occurring sound like hang-ups for those I'm calling or those calling me. I'm on my 3rd iPhone 13 Pro Max and had the Apple store test this one before giving it to me, and it failed the "RF cellular" signal strength test. There is no fix and the "genius" said he would escalate the issue. I'm finding out online that it's not just a bad batch distributed locally, but is common among many iPhone 13 owners. It appears to be a hardware issue and not limited to any particular cellular service provider. I have been using Spectrum Mobile, by the way, but have heard from others using different carriers that they suffer from the same issue.
Possible ways to work around
- I was advised by Spectrum mobile to engage "wifi calling" so that there may be fewer disconnections in buildings
- A youtube video advised resetting the signal from time to time by going into "airplane mode" closing all open tabs and then turning off airplane mode again. This seems to be a temporary fix though.
- Honestly, any resetting of the signal usually only provides a temporary fix.
- I turned off 5 G and selected 4 LTE only and noticed a big signal boost as well, so I'm thinking the 5 G automatic setting won't serve me at all and could be responsible for the signal jumping around and dropping from time to time.
- I went into low data mode in hopes to reduce cellular call disconnections as well, but not sure if it will.
- I also selected cellular data "roaming on" in hopes that helps.
All that said, there are many other suggestions from YouTubers on workarounds, but honestly, I think this issue is worth a recall since they haven't figured out how to repair the issue with a software update by now. The phone has been useless in the office I work at, with many disconnected calls and people getting really upset about it (e.g., "You hung up on me again! Why do you keep hanging up on me!).
Best of luck to those dealing with this and hope it's magically fixed soon, otherwise, I'm thinking of trading mine in for an iPhone 12 Pro Max.