iPhone 5 bad call voice quality

I have just recieved my Iphone5 32g yesterday and I just noticed that the voice quality during a call is poor (sounds like I'm talking to a "can" walkie-talkie, sounds like I'm talking to someone from afar). However, the quality is great if I use the headset that came with it. It's impossible to be using a headset all the time when calling...

Hmmm, should I have it replaced already?

ok, so I just removed the plastic film that was placed on the phone when it came (I intentionally left it there since I still have not bought a protective film) and it sounds good now. So mine may just be the screen cover... I wonder if it will sound weird again once I get a screen cover?

The screen protector for iPhone 5 suppose to have a slot that fits around the speaker for hearing. I never saw it yet, but I thinking my previous touch screen smartphones had screen protectors made for them, with the cutout for hearing speakers.

I was surprised my new iPhone 5 yields audio which is muffled, robotic, and/or choppy (cuts in and out)...almost entirely on the incoming (to the phone) audio, and much less often on the outgoing audio. With Verizon's help, I've come to believe my problem might only be when I'm at home (which is I where I've lately been using my new iPhone 5 most often); *some* others in this thread have said the same.

I find it a peculiar coincidence the problem is "worst" when I'm at home. How many others have this coincidence as well? Maybe if we put our heads together we can help, Apple, the carriers, and ourselves figure out why so many of us are having these wickedly annoying challenges.

i agree with FREQMAN

Let's try to find out what this problem is.

I heard about some guys in the Netherlands that they have problems with KPN and if they switch sim card to a sim from another provider the problem is solved. (some guys did tests with 5 and more iphone5 phones with different sim cards and always KPN had the problems and other not)

SO

Can everyone post his Country and which operator he is using, that way we can have a clearly view if this is provider related or iphone 5 related.

i think it is not a hardware problem but or a software problem or a sim/provider problem and it has something to do with the HD voice.

I have the robotic problem only at home and for the moment not at other places, I call between 1 and 2 hours a dy and if I come home I have 50% off my calls that sound robotic, at other places I have never problems.

So I'm convinced that it has something to do with the provider.

I live in Belgium and am using BASE

So let start with a list

Country Provider

Belgium BASE

I hope everybody is prepared to fill this in and we get a better view on this...

THX to all for helping.

There have been enough postings that describe problems that make it all but certain that there is a problem with the iPhone itself. In addition, I work in Silicon Valley and have spoken with knowledgable insiders within two major Bluetooth companies that are iPhone 5 issues and that Apple is working on fixes to their phones that involve the echo cancellation chip and the Bluetooth software. I recently had my iPhone 5 replaced and there was some improvement, but not entirely.

Good idea! But I can't believe it is provider related. Otherwise we would hear much more about this.

The most problems occured when I was at work.

Country Provider

Belgium BASE

Belgium Telenet

Maybe we should extend the list, any ideas are welcome

Country Provider Places Tried solutions

Belgium BASE Only at home on/off button + HOME for 5sec

Belgium Telenet Work

@ Phil Baker2 : I 'm only trying to get a better view on this problem. I think you are more talking about the bad voice when connecting to bluetooth or am I wrong?

The problem that I have (and many users on this forum) is with calls that the person who is calling you can hear you clearly but that you cannot understand him (dropped calls, robotic voices, disconnected sessions).

When I'm calling in my car with bleutooth = No problem at all

I'm afraid it's not the provider. My brothers have the same provider (Proximus, Belgium) and no problem while calling with iPhone. It could be something with the (new) SIM cards.. Or the SIM reader in the phone.

It's an annoying problem as you can't test it because it only happens 1 out of 4.

I have a Mobile Vikings sim (BASE network) and experienced the problems off bad voice quality, I've tried everything, even bought another sim from another operator (Mobistar), the problem was still there.

Now the iPhone is send to Apple and hopefully the problem wil be fixed, it will take 10 days before I have it back.

From having a brand new expensive iPhone 5 I now have noPhone.

Not happy with the customer service!

Here are my experiences:

Country Provider Places Tried solutions

Belgium Mobile Vikings At home & At work on/off button + HOME for 5sec

reset/delete iphone (true settings)

Belgium Mobistar At home & At work on/off button + HOME for 5sec

reset/delete iphone (true settings)

I went from T-mobile/android to Verizon just to have iphone 5 and it was my first iphone. Loved the IOS and phone but call quality was HORRIBLE. I could not understand the other person on far end and they could hear me fine. Robotic voice/static/digitized compression sounds and what seemed like signalling distorsion. I was shocked at voice quality of iphone 5 as I have used iphone 4 on T-mobile/GSM network and it was super voice quality as if your remember NOKIA used to be back in the day. I have used cellphones since the AMPS days and this iphone 5 sounded worst then those days. Totally disappointed and amazed how Apple can release a product without extensive testing and real-world use. So much for Apples's secrecy and churning out iphones without due testing as other do with their handsets. Just because Apple is so secretive and no one should know what is up their sleeves. I went to Droid RAZR M and voice quality is suberb and you can use data and voice simultaneoulsly unlike iphone. I hope Apple is reading these forums and fix their phones before they release any more of these. Totally not happy with their quality and no wonder the stock took a big loss yesterday, I guess those traders got iphone 5 too 🙂

I also have this problem.
The video I show compares the iPhone 5 with the iPhone 4. Only the iPhone 5 has this problem, just like stated here before: incoming voice drops in and out. The iPhone 4 does not have this problem, in call quality it beats the iPhone 5 hands down.

The 'robotic sounding voices' effect is a different problem. I also had that on my first iPhone 5 but the other 3 iPhone 5's I tested did not had this problem.

My problem, 'incoming voice drops in and out'is -always- there, on all four iPhone 5's I tested, and it is not a SIM card problem, I also tested with other SIm cards. I also did four complete resets on four different iPhone 5's but that didn't help at all.

I hope Apple can solve it with an iOS update. Fingers crossed.

@ddw123456 from Zweden:
Glad to hear that I am not the only one and you (and many others) have exactly the same problem; incoming voice drops in and out. Thank you for pointing to my website.

@Bart83:
Yes, I tested this on 4 iPhones 5's and on 2 networks (T-mobile and Telfort/KPN in Amsterdam, The Netherlands). All four iPhones I tested have the same problem: incoming voice drops in and out. I don't think it is not just bad luck, I think all iPhone 5's to have this problem. At least in Europe but i think it is a world wide issue because the problem is alto present if calling with Face Time over WiFi. The problem is not provider related.

I think the real problem is caused by the iPhone 5 noise reduction system that cuts off low volume audio signals. This system should cut off background noise and leave only the spoken words. Instead, it also cuts off softer spoken words which makes a normal converstion practically impossible on a lot of calls. The image in this post shows the problem, lower volume sounds are muted on the iPhone 5.

@Nicolasbck:
You say you called Apple and could barely understand them because of 'that dropping in and out thing'. You are right, the problem is clearly there, but most people must think that it is just the bad connection of the provider/network. However, that is not the case. If you compare iPhone 5 with iPhone 4 on the same network with the same SIM card, the call quality on the iPhone 4 is great, 10 out of 10 calls, and the call quality on iPhone 5 is bad, also 10 out of 10 calls. The softer the other person speaks (or not straight into the mic), the worse the problem gets.

@Phil Baker2:
I agree with your opinion that there is a problem with the iPhone 5 itself. However, the Bluetooth problem you describe is another problem than our 'incoming voice drops in and out' problem.

@Mari_H:
The problem is always present, whether you are on regular speaker, on hands free or on headset (Apple EarPods). Also, if you lower the volume on the iPhone, the 'dropping in and out' effect becomes even stronger. This forces you to listen at the highest volume level, which can be very uncomfortable. Again, the iPhone 4 does not have this problem at all.

@jugnobajwa and @Freqman:
I agree with you. Not being able to make normal conversations is unacceptable. I also hope Apple is reading these forums and will fix this iPhone 5 problem.

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My iPhone 4 was fine for voice quality. I never had any issues. I can understand others on the line with the iPhone 5, but it seems as though no one can totally hear me on landlines and other cell phones. I think I'm going back to Droid if they don't fix this in the next few months... It'll be just an expensive iPod at this point unless they fix the voice. Good to hear that it's just not my phone... although this is horrible for those of us that upgraded and for Apple.

Yesterday i got finnaly my iphone 5 from apple sore in amsterdam, and directly i noticed the poor call quality, i use a quality network (KPN the only network in Holland with HD voice.)

The most worse call quality exist when you make cell to cell calls. Because every cell to cell call was poor in quality in a differend way,(landlines have better call quality), i search in google and found that many iphone 5 users have this problem, not only in Holland but all over the world as far i can see.

I found out that when i switched off 3G ( not mobile data) the call quality was suddenly much much better ! I informed apple Amsterdam and my cell network providerin Holland and i hope they can and will fix the problem. Otherwise i return my iphone 5 soon.