iPhone 18 Pro Max losing cellular service/SOS on AT&T — known reprovisioning issue?

I’m in Iowa and have Verizon and just got a new iPhone 18 promax along with my son last Saturday 9/18/26 and I have dropped more calls and 9/10 times I call my sons phone and it won’t go through and or don’t ring or call goes straight to voicemail and won’t ring. Texts are slower even on 5g

wry frustrating as my son is sick and I can’t even call the drs office as it fails and says user busy every time!!!

Apple has a storied history of not discussing what they're working on, so it wouldn't be unusual for Apple to not publicly discuss this issue. But in reality, this is an AT&T issue and perhaps Apple is working on this WITH AT&T, but it's up to AT&T to resolve this and push out a carrier update to fix the connectivity issue on AT&T's network.

For all following this, I went through AT&T for over 5 hours with tier 2 support, corporate and Apple. Also went to a corp AT&T store and the Apple Store locally. AT&T tried repositioning, 3 new eSIM, completely resetting my activation, and nothing… still same issue. The next day I received a call saying wait 4-7 days for an update from Apple or a carrier update on the phone. My diagnostic exam at the Apple Store showed all green and the phone is fine. They asked me if I wanted to wait for the update or have a new phone sent. I figured if the new phone came in 4-7 days, and the update was suggested to come in that same time, I’d roll the dice that a new phone wouldn’t have the issue. If it does, the update should come almost at the same time. So now I’m waiting. Like all of you, it started with a few dropped calls, then sos all day, now it’ll barely connect to anything ever if not on wifi. I’m hoping this gets enough attention that some form of compensation is handed out. To spend this much on an iPhone 18 pro max and to not have cell service since launch day is pretty ridiculous to expect loyal customers to just simply deal with and wait. They should be reaching out and communicating with us rather than everyone on blogs and Google begging for answers.

manowar wrote:

It’s only ATT and it’s only the 18 pro max!

13 days and crickets from ATT or Apple and I don’t care if it’s 20 phones or 20 thousand. People are being screwed big time on this and I can’t wait to see how either company does nothing to compensate customers. They’ll just blame eachother!

Or, move your cellular service to a carrier which isn't having any issue, like Verizon or T-Mobile.

StoneInSilver wrote:

Not just the Max. I have the Max and my wife has the smaller Pro. Both of us are having cell issues.

I never said it was just the Max. It's not the size of the phone. It's the fact that AT&T has messed up the eSim system for either size for some people.

Same issue, 18pro max on AT&T.

i spent half day with apple and AT&T tech support. They installed new sim but it didn’t work. AT&T told me it’s hardware issue and to ask apple for a new phone.

apply told me it’s carrier issue and to go back to at&t.

I set up a Genius Bar appointment so we will see where that goes.

Both of my 18s I ordered had SOS issues. I called every day and went to att stores and no one helped. After two weeks, their tier two told me they had no idea when a fix would occur and I should return my phone. Since I ordered my phones, they were going from the order date and not the shipping date and I could not return the phones because the system would not allow it. It stated my 14 day period of return was over. Their website site clearly states that if you ordered the phones, the time starts with the shipping date. It has been a never ending battle.

Today, I did speak to an agent who happened to have one of the phones stuck in SOS (for 3 days) but that agent sent me labels and I returned them today without going through the system. Hopefully they are accepted when they arrive. My experience with ATT and has not been pleasant throughout this ordeal.

There is another thread on here that has many more responses but unfortunately, no solutions or word of when it may get fixed. We’re now at the end of day 7 and still nothing. I have switched back to my 17 Pro Max and will give it until middle of next week and if nothing is solved I will just return the phone and either skip the 18 altogether or try again. I like the Cosmic Orange enough to keep it and wait for iPhone XX. Here’s a link to the other discussion:

iPhone 18 pro max cellular issues - Apple Community

Same exact thing happening to me now. I have the iPhone 18pro max going into SOS and can’t call. AT&T tried a new eSIM but that didn’t help. Going to the Apple Store today to see if they can help. Their next appointment is not for 3 days in my area so hope they take walk ins.

It’s only ATT and it’s only the 18 pro max!

13 days and crickets from ATT or Apple and I don’t care if it’s 20 phones or 20 thousand. People are being screwed big time on this and I can’t wait to see how either company does nothing to compensate customers. They’ll just blame eachother!

I have had continuous issues since upgrade on 9/22 to the 18 pro max on AT&T. This week has gotten significantly worse where I can not use voice calls at all. Data works but lags. I have spent hours on the phone with technical support. AT&T blames Apple. Apple blames AT&T. On Tuesday, I requested a case ticket number with the fourth person I spoke to but was told I didn’t need it because he reprovisioned my number and it was fixed. Wednesday morning I woke up to my house on fire. Finally got through to 911 but the call was spotty. After the call failed, I tried to call my kids to wake them up - call failed - on WiFi! Today I went to the AT&T store and was told I needed a ticket number then it would be 48 hours for a response on how they will handle my case. Again they blamed Apple. I’ve been an AT&T customer for 20 years and they have 48 hours to make this right.

bamtampa2 wrote:

Same issue. ATT. Iphone 18 Pro Max.

The same answer. You'll have to wait till AT&T fixes their issue.

Not just the Max. I have the Max and my wife has the smaller Pro. Both of us are having cell issues.

I’m having same problem, I am told that Apple is working on the issue but I haven’t seen evidence or no info has came from Apple ref this problem

Perhaps it’s time to return these AT&T phones and switch to Verizon.