iPhone 7 Plus Trasmit Distorted Garbled Unrecognizable

[yakpacking]

We just bought 2 new iPhone 7 Plus phones. One seems fine. The other the transmission is garbled or distorted so bad words are unintelligible at times.

Seems worse in normal (non speaker mode) At first we thought it was due to the increase in size from our old iPhone 6. Thinking your mouth is further from the microphone. We swapped phones around and made numerous calls and thought we isolated it to the one phone. Everyone complains of the speech quality when a call is made with this phone. But it is intermittent.

Getting this phone replaced has become a real hassle. We bought it through Costco. We took out Apple Care on the phone. The Costco kiosk suggested we go to Apple. (We don't want that charged against our insurance plan and use up that replacement. It is our contention this is a defective phone right out of the box. Then the Costco kiosk said they would swap it when they get a batch of new phones in. No firm date and they said it could be 30 days. We engaged Costco management, and also Verizon directly. There has been no satisfactory resolution yet. Though Verizon promised a phone would be delivered next week.

Is anyone else having this transmit problem with the iPhone 7 Plus?

 

[C DM]

We just bought 2 new iPhone 7 Plus phones. One seems fine. The other the transmission is garbled or distorted so bad words are unintelligible at time.

Seems worse in normal (non speaker mode) At first we thought it was due to the increase in size from our old iPhone 6. Thinking your mouth is further from the microphone. We swapped phones around and made numerous calls and isolated it to the one phone. Everyone complains of the speech quality when a call is made with this phone.

Getting this phone replaced has become a real hassle. We bought it through Costco. We took out Apple Care on the phone. The Costco kiosk suggested we go to Apple. (We don't want that charged against our insurance plan and use up that replacement. It is our contention this is a defective phone right out of the box. Then the Costco kiosk said they would swap it when they get a batch of new phones in. No firm date and they said it could be 30 days. We engaged Costco management, and also Verizon directly. There has been no satisfactory resolution yet. Though Verizon promised a phone would be delivered next week.

Is anyone else having this transmit problem with the iPhone 7 Plus?

If the device is defective Apple would fix or replace it under regular warranty without Apple Care basically. Costco also provides a longer exchange/return period as I recall, so you should be able to get it replaced with a brand new device (or return it and get a new one).

 

[yakpacking]

The wife did get hers replaced. I also have people complaining about mine too. Sigh!

 

[Applejuiced]

You're sure its not a carrier issue with low or bad signal?
Bring them to Apple so they can test them out.

 

[yakpacking]

You're sure its not a carrier issue with low or bad signal?
Bring them to Apple so they can test them out.

[doublepost=1481343914][/doublepost]We are not sure of anything at this point in time....neither is Verizon or Costco. Not that it isn't a carrier issue, but we have been with the same carrier prior to this with the iPhone 6. With no issues.

I find it odd it immediately started happening as soon as we switched to the iPhone 7 plus. It is intermittent so it really makes troubleshooting difficult. We both get the same complaint from people on the other end. Verizon & Costco actually heard the problem on my wife's phone and swapped it out after some lengthy re-ordering.

The trouble is, she is getting complaints with the second iPhone 7 plus (the replacement phone) on occasion. She has now removed it from her "Defender" series Otter box to try that. But that was an added expense to purchase a second case. The second case is also an Otter case, but the thin plain clear case with the stick on screen protective sheet. I don't have that luxury (removing the protective "Defender" case) unless I want to risk damaging the phone while working. She has a major concern over the lesser protective case too.

All of that with the wife's phone took several trips and many hours of time....and has not resolved the issue. I just haven't taken the time to go through all of that. I thought mine was OK at first. But I don't talk on the phone to the extent my wife does. I am getting too many complaints now. If I could go back to my old phone I would. We are hoping the "Defender" series Otter case is the culprit. After some extended use of my wife's phone without it (should that seem to resolve the issue), I may have to try that. But the protection the other style offers is not adequate for me. So if that ends up being the culprit I have another problem to resolve. The jury is still out in all of this.

The positive in all of this is the iPhone 7 plus camera quality. It is awesome. Also the added memory. I had maxed out my iPhone6 so went to the iPhone 7 plus with the most memory.

But my primary need is the phone so that overshadows anything else.

So far neither of us are the least bit satisfied.

 

[aliensporebomb]

Bring it to Apple. Bringing it to Costco or Verizon is just wasting time. If your phone has a problem and Applecare is used to replace the phone, that Applecare is still active - it doesn't "use it up" as you state.

I had an iPhone5 that had 3 different camera related problems and the phone was replaced every time because there was no way to repair it from their viewpoint.

 

[Applejuiced]

It could be the case.
Either way Apple should be able to do a better job troubleshooting their device than Costco.

 

[Thor_1]

It could be the case, I had a lifeproof case that caused an echo when I made calls. It was on my end. I was able to return the case.

Maybe try the calls on wifi only. That may rule out the carrier if it continues. To have 3 bad phones, when I don't know of any other people experiencing this seems odd.

 

[yakpacking]

Update 1/2/17 Changing the case did not solve the problem. I believe there is something different or wrong with these iPhone 7 Plus phones. Maybe time will tell after more people switch over and start using them. I am now leaning toward some type of noise suppression/cancelling change Apple may have changed in these phones?

Per above suggestion we already have tried them on both Cell and Wifi. It seems to be affected on both.

 

[Applejuiced]

Update 1/2/17 Changing the case did not solve the problem. I believe there is something different or wrong with these iPhone 7 Plus phones. Maybe time will tell after more people switch over and start using them. I am now leaning toward some type of noise suppression/cancelling change Apple may have changed in these phones?

Its not something effecting every iPhone 7 plus so I'd bring it to Apple and have the device replaced.

 

[yakpacking]

Its not something effecting every iPhone 7 plus so I'd bring it to Apple and have the device replaced.

We will try.....but between two of us that will make the 4th phone (unless it solves it the next go around). So wishing we could get our 6's back at this point. Except for that camera upgrade. The camera is a great upgrade.

 

[Applejuiced]

We will try.....but between two of us that will make the 4th phone (unless it solves it the next go around). So wishing we could get our 6's back at this point. Except for that camera upgrade. The camera is a great upgrade.

You can always sell it and get something that you like better.
Like I said above your case is isolated and doesn't effect the millions of other iPhone 7 Plus devices out there.

 

[yakpacking]

You can always sell it and get something that you like better.
Like I said above your case is isolated and doesn't effect the millions of other iPhone 7 Plus devices out there.

That doesn't seem like an acceptable solution to me unless Apple is going to completely refund what I paid for the phone. Then give me the same incentive deal originally given when I swapped to buy another. But that isn't the point anyway.

I and the wife have owned a long string of iPhones. Its not like we are new to them. I just find it odd it immediately started with the phone change. With both of us. We have the same carrier we have always used, two different telephone numbers, has occurred on 3 iPhone 7 Plus phones now, others have heard it including Verizon and confirmed it is happening. Only customers know how much time this costs every time an attempt is made to have someone look into the problem.

Verizon uses the same mentality for troubleshooting and attempting to make the customer go away or accept the unacceptable....."No one else is complaining about it to Verizon". "It must be the phone".

We will both be going to an Apple Store after the Christmas rush dies down.

 

[Applejuiced]

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
You have a full year warranty from Apple. That means they can either repair or replace your device for 365 days since the date of purchase.
You have 14 days to return your device from date of purchase for a full refund.
Your time and effort going to Apple to have it checked out is on you and not something they will cover or refund you what you paid for the 7 plus and whatever deal you had before doesn't apply and is not an option.
I dont know why you would even think they will reimburse your "costs" of every time an attempt is made to have someone look into your problem or give you a full refund passed the return period. What you're asking for is unreasonable.

 

[yakpacking]

Applejuiced Thanks for your input and I am sure well meaning help... but to some of it all I can say is Huh? I never said anything about being reimbursed for costs for looking at the problem. That is only a statement, that the average person doesn't have the convenience of time to run out multiple times attempting to solve the issue.

Further I was responding to your reply once you entered info beyond the topic of discussion. My intentions so far, and the wife's, is to have the problem corrected. We have never approached this from the angle of going back to something else or being reimbursed for differences. Sure it would be nice to have our returned iPhone 6's returned to us and the slate wiped clean. That would be a pipe dream. We know that is never going to happen.

My posting was simply trying to get feedback from other users if they were experiencing the same issue. I would hope the thread could remain on that subject and not be taken off track.

I could write a whole dissertation on what has happened. We did start with Apple and was basically told to go back to Costco in the first week of purchase. That was after a discussion on the Apple Care and whether they might determine we somehow caused damage to create this problem. These phones only had a couple days of service on them. That got into a whole thing about amount of replacements under Apple Care, etc. Perhaps we were misinformed by the person we spoke with or misunderstood some of that? I assume you are with Apple the way you respond? Perhaps not. Either way, apparently where we are at, things vary in how problems are handled? We started out following what we were told to do. But that process and those facts are subjects for another thread topic to keep this thread from going off track.

Costco did replace one of the phones with a new one (not refurbed). Have to love Costco's no questions asked return policy. But it did require a manager involvement to make it happen with a phone....somewhat of a hassle. We realize they are not equipped to test and evaluate technical issues. We went to Verizon to insure it wasn't a carrier issue...per other suggestive comments. Verizon duplicated and heard the problem. They said it was not their problem (This was both their call in tech support, as well as an in-store visit).

We even changed Otter Box cases. The style of the case. (At our expense and never asked to be reimbursed). That was our own personal choice not believing 3 iPhone 7 Plus could have the same problem. Just customer observations and statements of displeasure. The case change did not help either. In this chain (that is not over) we are now going back to square one with Apple....but haven't made it there yet. That will be an in store face to face visit.