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iPhone 5 bad call voice quality

Got the new iPhone 5 and have bad phone call quality. The recipient of the call seems to be able to hear me ok, but their voice either isn't there or drops out or sounds grainy like when you have bad cell reception. Many times, the calls have just not connected. I know that that my cell reception and the recipients cell reception were excellent. This has occured when calling other cell phones, land lines, and toll free numbers. Anyone else having this issue? Have an appointment at Apple tomorrow morning to see what they think.

iPhone 5, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 24, 2012 4:54 PM

Reply
931 replies

Jan 28, 2013 10:46 AM in response to dysphonix

Well, just yesterday I installed iOS 6.1 beta 5 (was made available by Apple over the weekend) and the issue is gone! Thank goodness! For me the issue was choppy audio when listening to phone calls on headphones -- would get the symptoms when calling that Hertz number.


It figures Apple officially releases iOS 6.1 now that I'm having to re-download a lot of data (images, songs, etc.) due to the restore method I had to use to install the beta OS -- I just couldn't wait any longer. :-)


Anyway, I trust the issue will remain fixed once I donwload the non-beta iOS 6.1.

Jan 28, 2013 10:52 AM in response to dysphonix

I installed iOS6.1 too. I tried Hertz... Way better. I also made a couple short calls to ask the idoitic question "Can you hear me now?" So it WAS Apple's fix to be compatible with LTE. Hopefully it hit enough carriers. There were some missing on the site from reading this topic too long.


Check out www.apple.com/iPhone/LTE to see if they listened.

Jan 28, 2013 10:54 AM in response to joos8123

OK, cautiously optomistic but I think the compression (robotic) and the noise gate (cut outs) might have been resolved with this new 6.1 update.


I only tested it with two calls (including the Hertz#) and the overall impression is that the call quality is dramatically improved. No cutting out and better tonality (less midrange distortion than before, more high end (treble) and lower frequences (bass).


Wow...if this is finally fixed, all I can say is Apple, you ticked off a lot of customers unnecessary. If the fix was coming, you could've admitted to it and said be patient with us..instead you kept us in the dark and that is not good service to your customers.


Other than that, I'll continue to test it throughout the day and hope that the problems do not re-occur.

Jan 28, 2013 11:41 AM in response to thebl4ckd0g

thebl4ckd0g, nobody complained on the other end -- they could hear me fine -- so it was just the choppy audio I was hearing on my end.


Enabling hearing aid mode helped for listening without earphones, on spearker, and over bluetooth, but it did not help while listening with the earphones (and I tried several). The 6.1 upgrade seemed to solve the issue for me.

Jan 28, 2013 1:11 PM in response to joos8123

The problem I was having was poor voice quality (cutting in and out or not being able to hear at all at low volumes) on my hearing end while using the wired earpods.


I've updated to 6.1 and tested it with the Hertz 877 number and the difference is amazing. At the lowest volume I can hear the recording very well while before it was silent.


I'm on AT&T 4G where I live.

Jan 28, 2013 4:59 PM in response to joos8123

6.1 seems to have fixed my issues (intermittent garbled, robotic, occasional fade)


Verizon, iphone5


I've been following this board for 3 months... I have previously tried multiple tips & suggestions mentioned on this board to no avail... Looks like this could be the fix I've been looking for... Pity it took so long for Apple to address the obvious issue

Jan 29, 2013 7:23 AM in response to joos8123

OK, after a night of calls and the 6.1 update, I can definitetly conclude two things;


It appears the fidelity of the calls have improved (frequency response in the lows and highs). It also appears a lot of the noise cancelation (noise gate) functionality has improved as well.


However, the compression (which leads to the robotic effect) has not gone away at all. It's still there. Now the question is is it the cell provider's issue. I'm on Verizon...


With the modest improvements, it makes the iphone 5 more usable as a ummm...phone, but it is still far from a high quality call piece.

iPhone 5 bad call voice quality

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