Q: iPhone 7 gps and cell dropping

Have you tried updating to beta iOS? It ended up not being a hardware issue for me. On iOS 10.0.2 if I turned off LTE everything seemed to work fine. Obviously I wanted to use LTE and someone else commented on trying beta software. I've updated to iOS 10.1 beta 2 and everything seems to work fine now.

FYI - Waze has nothing to do with it...it just happens to be an app running while the issue happens, causing you to notice it. If you drive and keep an eye on your signal without Waze running, you'll see the same thing happen.

I can't wait for a fix, this is driving me crazy. I'm supposed to be leaving for a motorcycle trip this weekend where I'll be using the GPS on the phone to route me and if this keeps up, it will potentially ruin my trip.

Not everyone is registered to get beta updates and some of us use our phones for work via the Good For Enterprise app and using a beta OS could cause issues (we generally have to wait to update the OS even when the update goes public until it's confirmed it doesn't break the app).

Also is it even proven that the Beta fixes this?

Some have reported yes, some no so the jury is still out.

Skimming through the thread it seems as though it works for some and not for others. Some still are thinking it's a hardware issue which it might be for some. I'm guessing though that its a software issue for most people. From what I've heard in the USA it's only known to have effected Sprint and Verizon which leads me to believe it has something to do with how the iPhone 7 is communicating with the network. I'm on Sprint with a base model iPhone 7 and the only thing that worked for me was turning off LTE... I want LTE speed obviously so I tried updating to iOS 10.1 beta 2 and that worked too.

anything in beta will never be officially confirmed. Terms & conditions do not allow for discussion of beta versions.

In summary — YES  

Sorry for the newbie question. But if I move to the beta will it be like a normal update and all my apps and data will be left intact or will I have to rebuild my device every time an update hits?  Also is there an easy way to get off the beta program and back onto the normal builds once the normal builds fix this?

The one thing that worked for me was dropping LTE voice. Not LTE data only dropping LTE voice. That worked

I  have been frustrated with the LTE drop for too long now. Last night I updated to iOS 10.1 beta 3. So far I have had excellent LTE signal and no drops where I was previously getting multiple drops.

These are good news indeed. Is the overall signal stable now, and does the phone manage to return to 4G LTE if previously been connected to 3G in a areas of poor network coverage or after a phone call? That's actually my problems with my 7, once switched to 3G never goes back to 4G LTE, but older iPhones with same network sims returns shortly after call ends or once they find a good signal.

I am using an iPhone 7 and since upgrading to that phone I was getting dropped LTE signal to 3G,1x and sometimes no service frequently. So far today I have had LTE signal all day including during driving which is  what I would expect in my area. I would say at this point that the beta 3 has appeared to have fixed the issue. I will check back in a couple of days to report if the fix is still intact.

Installed IOS 10.1 Beta 3 yesterday on my iPhone 7, 128 GB and had no problem while driving around yesterday. I have the Cellular Data Options set to Enable LTE Voice and Roaming. Beta 2 only seemed to work with data only. Hopefully, Apple will release the final IOS 10.1 soon. There are a lot of users out there, specially in enterprise, that can't use the Beta because of network constraints.

I think the answer you're looking for is, "no." You can back up and restore your iPhone content wheather on the beta or public release. You can install the beta w/o affecting the data on your phone, although you'll have a lot of iCloud/Apple ID sign-ins, as I recall.

To exit the Public Beta, you dis-enroll your device at the website.

https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/

I hope that helps!

I fixed the GPS dropped coverage issue on my iPhone 7 with Verizon

I needed to just reset all settings

Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings

Be careful NOT to "Erase All Content and Settings"

The "Reset All Settings" keeps all your apps, chat history etc.  It erases all your phone settings

I drove over 200 miles over last three days without any dropped coverage.  GPS works great

I have voice & data for LTE, no problem.  iPhone 7 with Verizon with iOS 10.0.2.  Hallelujah - what a pain till now

For what it's worth, I spent bunch of time with Apple tech support earlier this week.  They said there's no GPS dropped coverage issue with the iPhone 7, but many users have dropped coverage because of legacy settings.  It's an issue for users that restore from backup when setting up new phone