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ROLLTIDE1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 12, 2012
1,901
596
I am having reception issues on my Iphone 15 pro. In areas right next to my 12 pro with the same provider it has generally a bar less of signal and it will go back to LTE much more often than the 12pro. Did I get a bad apple or is this normal ? The same thing happens with both AT&T and Verizon so it's the phone .
 

tharitm

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2009
637
620
I’m seeing about a 3dbm difference in the signal. 13pm is a little better on band 66. I think it just needs a software update since it’s a new device and doesn’t have the fine tuning older devices have had
kind of strange to be honest since Apple should have field tested these phones already and not to need updates to match performance of their old devices.
 

MarkNewton2023

macrumors 6502a
Sep 17, 2023
604
600
I am having reception issues on my Iphone 15 pro. In areas right next to my 12 pro with the same provider it has generally a bar less of signal and it will go back to LTE much more often than the 12pro. Did I get a bad apple or is this normal ? The same thing happens with both AT&T and Verizon so it's the phone .
I do not have any reception issues. You may want to contact Apple and your provider.
 
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Wired Tripwire

macrumors newbie
Oct 25, 2020
20
12
Gettysburg PA
kind of strange to be honest since Apple should have field tested these phones already and not to need updates to match performance of their old devices.
I mean even if they seen that the new pro series wasn’t getting the same level reception as older models I don’t see them delaying launch to switch things up such as sticking with stainless steel for the frame vs titanium for a few dbms of gain, most people don’t care as long as they can do what they did with their old device.
 
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ROLLTIDE1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 12, 2012
1,901
596
I do not have any reception issues. You may want to contact Apple and your provider.
Have contacted both AT&T and Verizon and the problem is not on there end . Guess I will wait for a carrier update before I return it but it's strange that this problem isn't happening to everybody .
 
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rjjacobson

macrumors demi-god
Sep 12, 2014
8,232
25,553
My iPhone 15 pro max. Has significantly better reception and data throughput than my old 12 pro max. T-mobile
I am seeing the same with my 15 PM as well my 5G is better and in my neighborhood both Verizon and AT&T (the one I have ) only see 1-2 bars it is staying more on 2 (outside house inside my siding and such block it to 1-2).

Only difference I note is in WiFi I am in a house where my AirPort Extreme (yeah still using mine and have a backup one as well LOL) is in my back office and when in kitchen with laundry/furnace room between me and my AirPort Extreme my 5Ghz signal is cut significantly. I am on ipad now and it shows one to two bans of Wifi on this 5 GHz band. Occasional times it is too weak and I have to go to the 2.4 GHz band that is stronger. Had to do same with iPhones through the 14 PM but with my 15 PM the 5Ghz is too weak most of time for things like mail to check and such and I have to put the phone on 2.4 GHz for it to work in kitchen when I am in line of site down hall sitting in living room I get full strength — my furnace metal is blocking and probably water heater also.

So it seems there is difference in sensitivity for 2.4 vs 5 GHz on my 15 PM when the 5 is weak that I did not have as much issues with in previous phone. I am probably only one most of you probably have access to good fiber and such (we have only Comcast here which I am not happy about). You probably have better WiFi routers I have debated getting a mesh system that could allow a couple amplifiers near me in kitchen and such. But do not know what ones are good (not too expensive also) and work well with setup and apple products. I probably need to explore that again
 

Velin

macrumors 68000
Jul 23, 2008
1,988
1,863
Hearst Castle
Only difference I note is in WiFi I am in a house where my AirPort Extreme (yeah still using mine and have a backup one as well LOL) is in my back office and when in kitchen with laundry/furnace room between me and my AirPort Extreme my 5Ghz signal is cut significantly. I am on ipad now and it shows one to two bans of Wifi on this 5 GHz band. Occasional times it is too weak and I have to go to the 2.4 GHz band that is stronger. Had to do same with iPhones through the 14 PM but with my 15 PM the 5Ghz is too weak most of time for things like mail to check and such and I have to put the phone on 2.4 GHz for it to work in kitchen when I am in line of site down hall sitting in living room I get full strength — my furnace metal is blocking and probably water heater also.

This can be fixed, for not a lot of money -- with greatly improved reception. First, you need a new router. The AirPort Extreme is so badly outdated at this point, you lack the radios and bands necessary for good wifi. You literally cannot take advantage of the new radios/modems in your iPhone and other equipment (which you paid for).

Upgrade it with a TP-Link router, the AXE5400 is a good 6E router. Or you could go absolute full beast mode with the AXE16000, but probably massive overkill. With this upgrade alone, you're going to see much better performance.

Now, after that upgrade, if you still see issues in, say, a back office, use Ethernet over Powerline adapters. They are amazing if you have reasonably modern copper wiring in your home. We use an ethernet plug-in version for Apple TV 4K streaming, and a wifi version on a third floor (the TP-Link router is on the bottom floor). We use a prior model of these Gigabit Adapters. The benefit of using the Powerline adapters is, if you are far away from the router, you can simply go into your wifi connections and specifically connect to the adapter. We find this much better than the mesh systems, which can bounce you to remote nodes you don't want.

And the ethernet / plug-in Powerline Adapters are killer -- superfast speeds, very low latency. If you can run ethernet to your device they blow any wifi out of the water. Truly gamechanging for streaming and desktops located remotely away from ethernet ports.
 

ROLLTIDE1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 12, 2012
1,901
596
Is field test mode gone now in IOS17 ? I wanted to get a better idea of my signal issues.
 

Wired Tripwire

macrumors newbie
Oct 25, 2020
20
12
Gettysburg PA
It’s still there. Dial *3001#12345#* then call. look under serving cell info for band and pci. Take note of that, pci is a sector identification on the tower. If you have 2 devices you want to make sure the band a pci is the same when comparing. Next go under rsrprsrqsinr menu and look for the rsrp number. That is the signal strength, the closer the number to 0 the stronger the signal. Example -100dbm is stronger then -102dbm.
 

ROLLTIDE1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 12, 2012
1,901
596
update on the problem

  • Just got in touch with apple and they ran test on my phone and confirmed cellular connectivity issues and are express replacing me a new phone but they were not sure on how long that process will take .


 

ROLLTIDE1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 12, 2012
1,901
596
Just had them run the same test on mine. Came back as a pass, still weaker service. What failed in your test?
The rep said I failed the connectivity part lots of fluctuation In the signal. He said that he has seen this reported before with the 15pros. This cellular chip performs worse with low connection.
 
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Wired Tripwire

macrumors newbie
Oct 25, 2020
20
12
Gettysburg PA
So I dug deeper into multiple bands last night with the 13pm and 15pm. So it seems on mid and high band such as 1700 and up the 15pm was weaker by 1 to 2 dbm. But on low band on Verizon band 5 and 13 the 15pm was up to 7dbm stronger.
 

maverick22

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2012
685
107
So I dug deeper into multiple bands last night with the 13pm and 15pm. So it seems on mid and high band such as 1700 and up the 15pm was weaker by 1 to 2 dbm. But on low band on Verizon band 5 and 13 the 15pm was up to 7dbm stronger.
I don’t understand all the band and technical side of connectivity.

Would this be a similar issue for someone on T-Mobile? Thanks
 
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maverick22

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2012
685
107
I would think so. They share both band 2 and 66
First morning commute with the 15 PM. I definitely got more bars in the rural area I travel through (2-3 as opposed to 1 bar with the 12 Pm).

At work though, my service is about the same (2 bars). It’s in a smaller town.
 
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