iPhone 5 bad call voice quality

To enter "Hearing Aid Mode" you have to turn on Bluetooth, so this is really not a good "fix".

I have tested the telephone with 3G turned off, for the last many days, and that really have made a difference.

The phone no longer drop calls, and the sound quality is much better, – like it is in my wife´s 4s.

I am waiting for a software update from Apple – unless they want to lose a lot of loyal customers, they will for sure fix this.

In the news today, I heard news of Apple´s plans to introduce several new iPhones this year. So, Cupertino, if you read this...... if you address the iPhone 5 issues, I will look forward to doing business with you, also in the future. On the other hand – if you think I´m going to purchase another half baked "masterpiece"..... think again.

MB

Terrible call quality for me also.

Brand new iPhone 5 fully updated iOS 6.0.2, from O2 network in UK.

I can hear people in calls pretty well, but the biggest problem is that in nearly every single call the person cannot hear me properly. Usually they say my volume is WAAAYY down and is generally a "bad line".

I have phoned a combination of landlines, cell/mobile phones, organisations and private homes -- the majority (say 97%) of the recipients of my calls complain about my phone's call quality.

In all calls I've made, WIFI, Cellular Data, Bluetooth, earphones and 3G have been not used by me, and battery has been at last 60% each time.

Are Apple going to address this major issue?

Info: You can turn BT off after you have turned on the hearing aid. And btw.: Stop thinking that Apple will say anything about the issue (in this board).

Of course Apple won't say anything on this board but you can bet your bottom dollar they're reading it.

Will try the Hearing Aid tip, thanks.

They do....... I am sure, because they have removed several postings

😁

I posted a week or two ago regarding choppy and lost audio, especially using earpods. Went to Apple Store and they immediately replaced my 5 week old phone no questions asked. Did not have time to test in store but was told that would resolve the issue. New phone does exact same thing. Spent over an hour online with Apple Support and after numerous checks, changes, etc...they insist it is cell network even though issue is happening on facetime over wi-fi also. Went to Verizon and they say it is not a network/tower issue and we make sample calls using other phones (android) to verify. They have an internal forum with this documented and apple has not confirmed or supplied solution to them. Activated my old Palm Pre2 and used it at my desk where I normally use my iphone5 and had no issues with choppy or lost audio. So where is the issue Apple? Even though nothing has been acknowledged maybe they will sneak a tweak or fix in next IOS release.

If not then out with Apple and in with Android!

With consideration on how long it's taking to develop a software update, it's starting to look like this could be a hardware issue which would be a massive problem for Apple that would be more easily swept under the rug by quickly releasing 'replacement' iPhone 5S's or iPhone 6's...

For them to blame the carriers is completely unacceptable. As gfake mentioned, it happens whether its on a cell call or wifi or face time...

I never thought I would say that my first iPhone would be my last...with how little Apple is doing to resolve all of our issues, I will most likely go back to Android soon....

Anybody tried the ios 6.1 beta to see if this would solve the problem?

Nothing new to report, but I am reminded of this problem every time I have to join a GlobalCrossing conference call from home. I have to use speakerphone mode (hearing aid enabled) instead of my preferred wired headset.

I still suspect it's some interaction between voice channel compression and/or noise cancellation (but maybe compression most of all) with some but not all cell tower firmware/software.On iOS side could be firmware, hardware, software or all three.

I wonder if this hard problem is part of what is delaying 6.1.

I'm AT&T only.

Sure is painful.

When using the speakerphone mode, is the phone face up or face down? Since the other mic is on the back of the iPhone, it may work better if it is "up", that is, the phone lying face down.

Is the iPhone in a case? A case may interfere with the microphone reception.

My iPhone 5 works fine so testing it may not be of any help. Strange problem.

When in speakerphone mode, the iPhone 5 will assume you put the phone face up, and therefore will turn off the microphone in the back side. It will then use the microphones in the ear piece and at the bottom for noise cancelling purpose. (I'm not so sure about this because what if the person is driving and using the iPhone 5 in speaker phone mode?)

However, the software does not process this condition right and the person at the other end will suffer while hearing all kinds of noises and clunking sounds. The person that calling from iPhone 5 may never notice anything wrong.

The same problem exists if you use the ear phone plug-in.

It seems not every iPhone 5 has the same problem but that's because if you use the iPhone close to your ear and mouth, it works just fine. When there is a problem with a bad voice call, many people just blame it on the connection or just put up with it because they love the rest of the iPhone 5 so much :-)

Just wanted to add my 2 cents here (again). I reported that I too have this issue a while back. I've been following the thread and was hoping for a software fix but finally decided to give a replacement a try. As others have stated, I went into the Apple Store, simply said I was having call quality issues and the Genius said, "OK, want to try a new one?" Well, it's been about a week on the new phone with little to no improvement. My biggest issue is choppiness, and my other issue is using my bluetooth headset (Plantronics Voyager Pro) which works perfectly with other phones, but crackles badly with the iPhone 5. Even without the headset there are many times where the voice is clipped. Both phones exhibited the exact same problems. No help from me, but wanted to stay engaged as yet another owner with issues. I love the iPhone for everything else it does, but as I begin to travel more for my job and rely more heavily on my iPhone it may become very difficult to deal with.

Me again ......

I'm curious to know if anyone out there knows of an iPhone5 that works as it should??? I mean are we in the minority? I know not good but be god to know if some actually work!!

I've wondered that myself, Nicebernards. Do some iPhone 5's work, are we a minority?

I've tested it with two people (one a Genius, one an ordinary consumer) who are happy with their iPhone 5 and said they don't have any problems with call quality. I ran my test procedure on both of their phones, and their handsets both failed. Those phones exhibit the exact same drop-out for low volume signals as every other iPhone 5 I've tested. I've tested it on three U.S. carriers, and at least six different handsets. All have exactly the same behavior on my test suite - 100% reproducable solid drop-outs of recorded speech that is clear and intelligible on iPhone 4 and other phones.

My conclusion is that the "problem" is present in 100% of iPhone 5's, but the vast majority of people simply don't notice it or aren't bothered by it. If you set the volume high enough, and talk to people who speak loudly, there's not much of a problem with drop-outs. Those of us who make lots of conference calls or talk to people on speakerphones may have a different, less satisfying, experience.

For me, the iPhone 5 was unusable as a business phone, and I returned it. I'm using my iPhone 4 happily, and waiting with anticipation for a fix so I can try again.

Yes. I have had two and they both work fine. Voice quality is better than my old 4. Signal strength is the same as the 4. No one I have talked to using the 5 has had any problems.

I travel every week and connect to different AT&T sites all over the U.S. and they all sound fine.

With 50 million iPhone 5s sold, I'd expect millions of complaints if they were all bad. That hasn't happened so the vast majority of the phones must be working fine.

I work in television and I know good audio.

It will be interesting to see what the problems actually are. From people leaving the shipping plastic on the phone to perhaps problems in software, hardware or carrier incompatibilities.