iPhone 5 bad call voice quality

New SIM card for me.

Hi all,

I have the same problem. especially when i facetime with ears. Im getting sick o this

As I am sure you all know, the SIM card has nothing to do with call quality:

"The SIM card is provided with your iPhone (or 3G iPad) by your carrier and it is used to store data about your account. It holds information such as your phone number, security data, billing information and things which help the carrier to know who is the user of the phone.

The main benefit of a SIM is that you can easily swap phones on your own. If you buy a new phone you can simply insert your existing SIM and keep on using your existing service (carrier restrictions may or may not apply, but the technologyworks that way.) "

My two 5s are working fine. Much better call quality that my old 4.

I hope your problems get solved soon.

Now that I took my case (Puro Plasma Cover) off, I haven't had the robotic call issue anymore, but a call drops surprisingly easily if I'm e.g. in a moving commuter train (i.e. the ones that don't go that fast). So I'm still wondering if there's something a little off with my hardware.

I have had (3) new iPhone 5s for a week in the Boston area on Verizon (mine, wifes and son's). I had many poor quality calls and lots of dropped calls "call failed" on my phone. Far worse call quality than my AT&T iPhone 4 was. Apple store genius did tell me that my phone had a bad sim card - that those ending in 57 were causing problems. Verizon store swapped it out today no problem - will see if my calls improve. My wife has also had more dropped calls than she had on her iPhone 4, but they didn't think her sim was bad and asked for at least 2 weeks of data before we go back to troubleshoot hers. I will try to remember to post how it goes. Wish I didn't have to hop between the stores to get it done!

I have had my iPhone 5 (Verizon) for more than a week now - Framingham, MA area. I'm experiencing dropped calls, faded calls, bad voice reception , intermittent reception , voice loss consistently in few areas around Framingham. I am also experiencing Tinnitus(buzz in the ear) when I talk for more than 2-3 minutes, this did not happen with my iPhone 4(att). I'm not able understand if this because of the bad HW I recieved or bad signal from VZW. I have a genius bar appointment tomorrow will see how it goes, if this doesnt get resolved will return the phone and will start using iPhone4 :-|

I had the choppy, auto-tune sound on both reception and transmission for the Verizon iPhone 5. Verizon tech support said to exchange the phone, the independent Verizon retailer said to go to an Apple Store, the Genius Bar there *restored* the phone, and said that the phone sounded fine to all members at the Genius Bar, and that was the best I could expect. They did not offer to exchange the iPhone 5, and I did not insist. On the last day of the 14-day return policy, I returned the iphone 5 and went back to AT&T service on my old iPhone 3GS. Without prompting, one of my clients said my voice sounded much better, and asked if I got my iPhone 5 fixed. The client sounded much better too, just like I remember the voice quality to be before switching to the Verizon iPhone 5. I have ordered an iPhone 5 on the AT&T network, and will post the voice quality here when it arrives.

My husband and I switched to Verizon from ATT when we got our iphone 5's on 9/21. We both noticed problems progressing, but didn't start comparing notes until last night. We both realized that while overall call quality is consistantly bad, there's a really bizarre occurance when we call service numbers (1-800's), where we can barely hear the person on the other end of the phone, even with the volume turned all the way up, but they can hear us just fine. Has anyone else experienced this on top of bad call quality?

We went to verizon, and they sent us to apple, claiming a hardware problem. Apple told us they could replace our iphone 5 with a "like new" iphone, which seemed ridiculous considering these phones are only 17 days old. We called Verizon customer service and they said the same thing, they could only replace with a "like new" phone.

We are at a loss for what to do next, since no one seems to have any idea what's causing the problem, and we are unwilling to trade in our new phones from something that is only like new.

That's exactly the problem I had. 800 numbers are generally VoIP which are compressed. It seems that double compression exacerbated the problem.

Get the new phone - it resolved the issue for me.

My new iPhone (VZ) now sounds much better than my iPhone 4 (AT&T).

Anyone who thinks this is a network problem is sadly mistaken. The problems are the result of defective hardware. Apple's manufacturing suppliers have had terrible quality control with the release of the iPhone 5. My coworker also purchased an iPhone 5 and after the second day of use his iPhone registered missing SIM card. He removed and reinserted and the phone started working again. Unfortunately the hardware defects are not isolated to just bad SIM cards. If Apple doesn't improve its quality control this could really hurt the brand. Apple's reputation for the highest quality premium products is starting to come into question.

http://m.cnet.com/news/foxconn-workers-reportedly-strike-over-iphone-quality-dem ands/57527043

I have had two iPhone 5s on AT&T and they are superior to my iPhone 4. Much better call quality.

The workers at Foxconn were complaining about higher quality control standards on the "fit and finish" on the phone. Less scratches and the like. Nothing to do with "defective hardware". There are no reports of "terrible quality control" aside from aesthetic flaws.

"In a written statement issued Saturday, the Taiwan-based electronic manufacturer Foxconn said production at the Zhengzhou plant continued without interruption. It denied any strike or work stoppage.

Foxconn said there were two isolated, small-scale disputes between production line workers and quality assurance personnel on Monday and Tuesday, but it added that they were quickly addressed. It did not specify what issues had caused the disputes but said immediate measures were taken to resolve the problems, including adding production line workers.

Xinhua said some workers were unhappy when Apple strengthened quality inspections of the iPhone 5 following consumer complaints regarding aesthetic flaws in the phone. In the Xinhua report, the spokesman — who was not named — characterized the incident as a worker-management dispute instead of a strike and was unable to provide a specific number of workers involved.

According to China Labor Watch, Apple and Foxconn had imposed stricter quality standards regarding indentations and scratches on the frames and back covers of the iPhones..."

A;so, some workers were mad they had to work over a holiday.

Sounds like you work for Apple!

I'm glad you were fortunate to get equipment that is functioning properly, however the fact is there have many several complaints and concerns regarding quality control and production of the iPhone 5 from several independent sources (google it!). Not to mention the 9 pages of complaints on this message board and several others around the globe.

Hope your iPhone 5's continue to function properly--Thanks for the feedback!

Apple fans tend to be more protective of Apple than the employees are ;)

Although I'm not happy that I have 2 defective iPhones - out of the box - even the few dozen of us on this thread (assume there are 10x the number who are reading and not posting) we just don't represent meaningful number of failures. A few hundred out of 5 million is a pretty good error rate.

That said, my issue was fixed with a hardware replacemt, which only took 2 days in transit, and cost me nothing. From a customer service standpoint, I'm pleased.

I did Google it and only found the story sent out by China Labor Watch, a New York-based advocacy group. All the other reports I saw were taken from that one story, which Foxconn denies. I didn't find anything about poor electronic quality control. Of course no consumer product is perfect there will be errors. Interesting that most of the reports I have seen deal with Verzion reception and not AT&T.

Reuters says, "Foxconn Technology Group, which has its headquarters in Taiwan, denied the report and said the plant suffered only two brief and small disputes several days earlier.

Any reports that there has been an employee strike are inaccurate," the company said in an emailed statement, adding that "there has been no workplace stoppage in that facility or any other Foxconn facility and production has continued on schedule".

No, I never have worked for Apple but have made quite a lot of money with Apple stock.

If your phone is not working to your satification, I'm sure you can return it and get a full refund.

I agree BGist. There is always some margin of error in manufacturing. Where is Six Sigma when you need it?

Perhaps it is unfairly getting more attention because it's Apple--but the issue defiantly exist though. (I'm sure you can relate from your own experience).

It's funny because I consider myself to be a fan of Apple products, but I'd like to belive I'm unbias unlike the "Apple fan boys & girls" you mentioned. I personally own a MacBook Pro retina, IPad retina , IPhone 4S and two iPods, but I still realize Apple is far from perfect.

My personal thoughts are that Apple could not meet the original demand for the Iphone 5 and may have rushed some of their suppliers/manufactures. They continue to scramble to meet demand/orders. In my opinion, this is a recipe for more manufacturing defects.