iPhone7 Bluetooth issue in the car

CyberEnt wrote:

Just for further follow up I chatted (in circles as usual) for over an hour with AT&T Premier Business Support (which is where I purchased the iphone 7+ through) and I was switched around between 3 agents and these is the most important part of the chat that is was stated:

Tiffany T : Apple does the warranty for their device

Tiffany T : Please call them for a replacement 1-800-my apple

Tiffany T : Apple rules are they do the exchange that is how they have set it

Tiffany T : If I could get you a new phone I would

Tiffany T : Then you would need to talk to sales rep about what choices you have about a new device

Tiffany T : Unfortunately that is not something I can do for you I can't get you a unlocked phone

So if you are looking to get an unlocked Iphone 7+, and your with AT&T, it looks like your only recourse is with Apple since AT&T won't be held responsible although they will surely enforce the $875 and fees to break the 2 year agreement left on my contract for the new phone...

My wife uses an iPhone 7 Plus from AT&T, and while she hasn't complained about any BT issues, I just ran into some posts on AT&T's site and it makes me wonder... Why do you guys hustle your cellular service provider? They sold you the phone, sure, but they're just a re seller, 100% of responsibility is on Apple. AT&T doesn't sell unlocked iPhones, doesn't replace iPhones, and they don't manufacture iPhones. Stop wasting your and their time, they can't help you with a hardware issue, you have to keep working with Apple.

I use a Samsung phone, Galaxy S7 Edge. It's so weird how Samsung got crucified for their Note 7 fiasco, yet Apple keeps doing this with every issue their devices have, they just ignore it, and you guys keep supporting them with your money. It's not the first time with them, won't be the last. Why should they get a pass? Again

I see posts here saying "It's not our cars, it's the phone, we tried all kinds of different card and they all have the issue..." ok, so I see posts from users on different carriers, including T-Mobile, Verizon and Vogafone, so then it's not your wireless carriers either, since more than just one are affected, and other devices on those carriers don't have this issue, including other iPhone models.

Put the blame where it belongs. I realize it's frustrating because Apple is not accepting it, but it's no reason to start looking for someone else to blame. Just don't forget it the next time you reach for your wallet when another "perfect" iPhone is announced, remember what you're doing here, today.

First and foremost, an update to iOS will likely never resolve this as the Bluetooth Radio is experiencing interference from the LTE Radio, thus this is a hardware problem. The Radio developed by Intel that is used exclusively in the A1778 (iPhone 7) & A1774 (iPhone 7 plus) models is wreaking havoc on most everyone's audio connection. This makes sense to me because if you turn off the LTE Radio in the phone things work perfectly.

It looks like from many of the posts people are having success in getting Apple to issue a refund on the A1774 models and selling them a Unlocked SIM Model A1661, which uses the tried and tested QUALCOMM chip. People are also reporting that this is resolving their Bluetooth Audio skipping issues.

I have maintained in this thread that Verizon customers are experiencing a different Bluetooth Audio issue than AT&T customers. When I switched to Verizon on December 24, 2016 from AT&T my issue was resolved. Its been well over a month and I have had zero stutters. The other option for anyone who can't go to an Apple Store and resolve with AT&T is to turn of LTE permanently and wait until September for new hardware. By then you should be able to sell your iPhone for what you owe on it.

Another note I sold my iPhone 7 plus on eBay for $850.00. I requested my AppleCare Plus be refunded from Apple. Since I was on the upgrade iPhone plan I paid off the phone and went about my business. My experience with the iPhone 7 and 7 plus from Pre-Order, Pick up and Bluetooth issues has left me sour to Apple. Given my wife and daughter are also on the platform and haven't had a complaint I will be stuck with Apple, but rest assured I will never ever be an early adopter and will always wait until I can buy the exact model I want at the time of purchase.

As a Mac user I am holding on to my late 2013 MacBook Pro model for as long as I can. I own an Apple Watch and will use it until it dies. Past that I have eliminated Apple Routers, Apple TV and anything else Apple from my life. I might suggest that if you have issues with Apple that you take a hard look at alternatives, because they come with out the famed Apple Tax and often work better.

Best of luck ladies and gents.

If you are Verizon and have a A1661 I believe you issue may be different than those on AT&T with a A1774. But as I clearly have stated my issue was resolved by moving from AT&T to Verizon with the A1661 model and other who are still on AT&T with the A1661 model have no issues. One common theme in both those cases is connecting to the same BlueTooth devices with a QualComm LTE radio present in the iPhone.

Thankfully my final update: Changing from the model A1774 to the model A1660 completely solved my iPhone7 / car Bluetooth connectivity issue. I had a physical appointment at the Apple Store this weekend, they were very courteous, but would only exchange my A1778 for another A1778, because I got it from AT&T. Despite me showing significant evidence that it was a hardware issue with the A1778, and the fact that the A1660 doesn't cost any more, they still would only give me an A1778. So I went to AT&T and got a refund (I had my phone less than 30 days) and then went back to Apple and purchased an A1660, unlocked iPhone 7 (identical in all ways except for the modem). The A1660 has been working for two days including hours of calls and texts with not a single episode of the Bluetooth disconnecting. In my opinion, Ford, AT&T and Apple are all well aware of the LTE modem / Bluetooth Radio hardware compatibility issues, but only Apple can ultimately fix it.

Best of luck to all who are still working to resolve this issue.

I'm happy you solved your problem this way.

Im my case, since I bought the iPhone in the 1st day, I suppose I can't get anymore the refund. And even if I could, I knew yesterday from a sales rep on the apple store (by phone) that Apple does not sell model A1661 in Europe, they only sell A1784 (as mine).

So i feel really frustrated and feel that apple is just ignoring this problem. When I first complained, I got a replacement phone from apple, that came with the same problem, I complained again, and the answer from the support was that they are aware of this problem, and they are working on a fix, and to keep the phone updated... well I told them that I'm waiting for THAT update since the day i bought it 4 months ago...

Update for myself:

I had "connection error" when streaming to airplay device (Marantz a\v reciever) and i had issues with playing audio in my car, it played only one song and they stopped without switching to next one.

This weekend iphone got 10.2.1 update and this one seems to fix the issue with home audio, not connection errors, steaming works like a charm. Today i've tryed to remove pairing in my car and reestablish again and wow! no issues with the car, the whole road to work it was playing songs one by one, and no skipping as well. so i no longer consider my iphone a piece of ****.

PS> держитесь там, хорошего настроения! (C) Медведев

I have the same update, but still plenty of issues. Putting the device into airplane mode and re-enabling bluetooth seems to be the only solution, but even that skips a bit!

I was told by a senior tech at Apple that 10.3 should have significant improvements. Hopefully it's not lip-service.

Whatever the problem, it seems to manifest itself in many different ways.

I've pretty much given up at this point and just disable LTE. Since I'm on the iPhone upgrade program, they won't swap me out with the cdma model, so I'm stuck. I really don't want to go through the hassle of buying the working model and selling off my current one while dealing with citizens one, so I'm stuck.

Hi,

I also have a issue in my Iphone 7+ Bluetooth and the sync with my card. During a call it disconnects and after a few seconds it connects again. By disabling the LTE only it doesnt solve my problem. Did it solve yours?

I think your issue is a separate one from the one I (and many others) are having. Turning off LTE is only a fix for the regular stuttering when playing audio though Bluetooth. I never had any connection issues where Bluetooth disconnects completely, just what seems to be interference of some sort.

Well I've been on iOS 10.2.1 for several days now and the stuttering, skipping, and overall playback issues in my Grand Cherokee (2012) are as bad as ever. How on earth did Apple screw up Bluetooth so bad!??

Same problem in my Lexus GX, from day one (A1784 AT&T). Fortunately, I found this thread before I made the dealer rip the radio out of the SUV (did everything short of that to fix it except for writing new Bluetooth code myself). The fact that this still exists as a problem on a $1,000 piece of equipment when they know about the issue is just amazing to me...so terribly disappointed. Should have kept the iPhone 6+...

Lately with my AT&T model (iPhone 7+ 256) I haven't had any BT audio problems... the problems used to be so frequent that audio wasn't legible at all, lately I haven't had it do it in a long time. At least this month for sure.

I have the AT&T (Intel) iPhone 7+ and have experienced similar issues in our Mazda CX-9. It's actually worse because it will drop & reconnect and eventually it kills the bluetooth in the car completely. Only turning the car off and on can resurrect it. iPhone 6 on iOS 10, iPhone 5s, iPhone 4s and several iPads all connect the car just fine.

I'm suspicious of the "untested" Intel chipset causing the issue. In any case, it's pretty miserable and seems like an enormous failure for such a ubiquitous technology.

I noticed this issue since day one with my iPhone 7 Plus (A1784) with Intel LTE modem chip. From my experiences, I think the issue is closely related to the Intel LTE chip. In particular, if the LTE chip is on heavier duty, it affects Bluetooth performance more significantly.

Here are what I found from my experiences:

First, the issue is more prominent on the road is because that when I’m driving, the cellular station that the phone connects is constantly changing. This situation makes the LTE chip on heavy duties, and the chip will dramatically affect Bluetooth performance. I think when I’m experiencing Bluetooth sound skipping, probably my phone is changing cellular stations.

Second, the issue is also more prominent when I’m in a crowed area, or at a place where the cellular signal is weak such as a subway station. In this kind of situations, the LTE chip is also on heavy duties since the chip needs to be working hard to find better signals. As a result, the heavy-duty LTE chip affects Bluetooth performance severely.

Third, when I turned off LTE and just used 4G on AT&T. Bluetooth performs perfectly no matter the phone is connected to my car or to my wireless headphones.

From the above findings, there are no doubts that the Intel LTE chip affects iPhone 7 Bluetooth performance.