iPhone 14 Pro Signal Issues

I have an iPhone 14Pro and the signal is not as good as my iPhone 12 that I use for another line. I have noticed this in several states and almost all locations. Any suggestions?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 14 Pro, iOS 16

Posted on Oct 14, 2022 9:12 AM

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Posted on Nov 1, 2022 7:32 PM

This same issue comes up every time a new iPhone is released, and it occurs for the same reason:


Cellular carriers need to properly optimize their towers and antennas for the latest cellular frequencies.


When it comes to 5G, the iPhone 12 supports the following frequency bands:


  • 5G NR (Bands n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n25, n28, n38, n40, n41, n66, n71, n77, n78, n79)
  • 5G NR mmWave (Bands n260, n261)


The iPhone 14 Pro supports the following frequency bands (differences from iPhone 12 in bold):


  • 5G NR (Bands n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n14, n20, n25, n26, n28, n29, n30, n38, n40, n41, n48, n53, n66, n70, n71, n77, n78 n79)
  • 5G NR mmWave (Bands n258, n260, n261)


When a cell phone connects to a cell tower, it tells the tower "Hi, I'm this kind of phone, and I support these frequency bands."


The tower says "Great, let's see what's least congested… OK, use frequency band (as an example) n48."


If the cellular tower isn't properly adjusted/optimized for the assigned frequency band (again as an example) n48, your iPhone 14 Pro may see little to no signal where your iPhone 12 on frequency band n28 sees full bars.


If the tower assigned your iPhone 14 Pro to use band n28 as well, everything would work as it did before, but because the newer frequencies are most likely to be less crowded, that probably won't happen.


Long story short, contact your cellular provider, only they can fix this.

122 replies

May 10, 2023 6:23 PM in response to JCZmac

@Dog cow-Mof The problem with your perspective is that a mobile artefact does not exist in an isolated bubble, rather it is part of a digital ecosystem. It’s not up to the environment to reconfigure itself to adapt, but rather, the artefact itself must be able to function in the environment with which it is deployed. Telling us to go and talk to our Telcos and asking them to reconfigure their systems so this particular handset works is not practical. Every other handset manages ok. I just got a new Samsung and it works perfectly. This would indeed seem to be an Apple problem.

May 15, 2023 9:41 AM in response to Dogcow-Moof

Like many times before, this is a device issue that will require a workaround through apple software “updates”. Those who are insisting it is a carrier tower issue only, are obfuscating the problem. I have been working the last two weeks with tmobile tech support engineers testing both the new iphone 14 and the samsung s23, with the same carrier, same tower connection and at the same residence location. The iphone 14 suffers from signal degradation far more than the samsung s23. If you reside near the edge of a coverage area, do yourself a huge favor; stay away from the newest iphones until apple finally gets around to patching their devices signal reception issues. Still can’t make a voice call without dropping a signal on my iPhone 14 while the Samsung s23 sitting next to it with the same connection has no problem.

May 15, 2023 10:25 AM in response to Capcontulsa

Did the T-Mobile tech confirm to you both phones located in the exact same physical locations are being assigned to the exact same frequency bands? Just having them connect to the same cell tower is not enough.


For example, the iPhone 14 supports the following 5G NR frequency bands:


n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n14, n20, n25, n26, n28, n29, n30, n38, n40, n41, n48, n53, n66, n70, n71, n77, n78, n79


The Galaxy S23 appears (Samsung themselves don't specify) to support:


n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n25, n28, n38, n40, n41, n66, n77, n78


So if the iPhone 14 is assigned to a frequency in bands n14, n26, n29, n30, n48, n53, n70, or n71, you may see drastically different performance characteristics simply because the S23 cannot use those frequencies.

Jul 23, 2023 11:01 PM in response to Kim_3865

Signal bars are only relative between copies of the exact same device and cannot be directly compared between different models and different generations of device.


Or, getting three bars of signal on an iPhone 13 Pro Max does not mean you will see three bars on an iPhone 14 Pro Max.


Have you contacted your cellular carrier to see if they are having issues?

iPhone 14 Pro Signal Issues

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