How does my wife's ATT 6+ perform better than my 7 plus on T-Mo?

[maverick22]

We are both on T-mobile. My wife's is an unlocked AT&T 6+, and I have a new (well, month-old) 7+ from T-mobile. I don't make a ton of calls, but I have been talking a lot the past couple of days. People often tell me I keep cutting in and out. Thinking back, it did this even on the day I got the phone. I thought the 7+ was supposed to have band 12 which made the reception better on T-Mobile.

We live about 15 miles south of Dallas. My bars inside the home (where most of the time people have said I cut in and out) are about 1-3 most of the time.

I called T-mobile tech support today, and they claim that the tower closest to us is "being modernized," and that is most likely the reason. He said the work should be completed in a few days, so in a week, reset my network connections on the phone. Does this seem right? I wondered if it's my Otterbox Defender case, but the tech support rep said he doesn't believe it's the case from the way I was sounding. My wife has a very similar-looking case from Tech 21.

Still doesn't make sense to me that my wife's older, AT&T unlocked is getting better reception. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[EDH667]

It may be that your iPhone 7+ is hitting the Extended Range LTE band that T-Mobile may be working on during their modernization project on your local tower. Since the AT&T 6+ doesn't have that band, it would be using a different LTE band.

 

[Applejuiced]

Do you have wifi calling enabled? That would help with indoors home calling.
Do you have voice over LTE enabled?
Turn that on and test. If it's on turn it off and test it. If they're updating your tower the voice over LTE might be effected.

 

[Septembersrain]

They said the tower near me was being modernized too. I'm with T-Mobile in San Antonio.

I turned off voice over LTE. That was the only way that people stopped complaining that they couldn't hear me or that I was cutting in and out.

It's not the case as I've had the issue with no case on mine at all. This is just a signal/tower issue.

Hopefully they'll be done soon. Mine they've been working on for over two weeks. They said it's taking a while because they are working on more than one tower. We shall see right?

 

[maverick22]

I have tried wifi calling as well. It did break up a couple of times even with that enabled. I would hate to keep turning cellular off and on when leaving the house.

People on howardforums have stated the 7s use a weaker modem chip (intel) vs. the older Qualcom (spelling?) chip. The Intel seem to perform worse.

Wish I had known this ahead of time. Would have just kept my old AT&T unlocked 6.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

T Mobile always says the nearby tower is being modernized, they just have poor coverage penetrating indoors.

 

[Applejuiced]

I have tried wifi calling as well. It did break up a couple of times even with that enabled. I would hate to keep turning cellular off and on when leaving the house.

People on howardforums have stated the 7s use a weaker modem chip (intel) vs. the older Qualcom (spelling?) chip. The Intel seem to perform worse.

Wish I had known this ahead of time. Would have just kept my old AT&T unlocked 6.

I never had any issues with wifi calling.
Assuming you have a fast connection at home and you're not very far away your router.
And its not turning off cellular data when leaving the house.
You just turn off LTE for calls.
Settings/cellular/cellular options/enable LTE for Data only.

 

[maverick22]

I never had any issues with wifi calling.
Assuming you have a fast connection at home and you're not very far away your router.
And its not turning off cellular data when leaving the house.
You just turn off LTE for calls.
Settings/cellular/cellular options/enable LTE for Data only.

With that method you would have to remember to turn on LTE every time you stepped in the car. Otherwise you couldn't make/receive calls in the car if LTE was turned off for voice.

 

[Jetro]

With that method you would have to remember to turn on LTE every time you stepped in the car. Otherwise you couldn't make/receive calls in the car if LTE was turned off for voice.

You should have unlimited voice calling. If all you have is data calling then you may need a new plan from T-Mobile.

 

[maverick22]

You should have unlimited voice calling. If all you have is data calling then you may need a new plan from T-Mobile.

Sorry, I guess I am confused. I have one of the new unlimited plans, 2 lines for $100.

I was thinking if I turn on LTE for "data only," (thus using wifi calling at home) then I wouldn't be able to make calls in the car if LTE was off.

Also, is it better to enable wifi calling, or can you still make wifi calls with that off?

Just trying to figure out how to get the best reception for calls at home. Thanks!

 

[Applejuiced]

With that method you would have to remember to turn on LTE every time you stepped in the car. Otherwise you couldn't make/receive calls in the car if LTE was turned off for voice.

What?
You're just turning off LTE for voice calls.
The calls will still work the normal non VOLTE IP way.
That's to troubleshoot and to isolate the issue that's causing the calls to cut in and out.
But what do I know and why am I trying to help?
Do whatever you want. Get another AT&T iPhone 6 instead since that works better.
[doublepost=1491100768][/doublepost]

Sorry, I guess I am confused. I have one of the new unlimited plans, 2 lines for $100.

I was thinking if I turn on LTE for "data only," (thus using wifi calling at home) then I wouldn't be able to make calls in the car if LTE was off.

Also, is it better to enable wifi calling, or can you still make wifi calls with that off?

Just trying to figure out how to get the best reception for calls at home. Thanks!

No, you thought wrong.
You can make regular voice calls fine without voice over LTE.
I would suggest enabling wifi calling on and no you cannot make wifi calls with that setting off.
But you said wifi calls were breaking before too for you.

 

[Jetro]

Sorry, I guess I am confused. I have one of the new unlimited plans, 2 lines for $100.

I was thinking if I turn on LTE for "data only," (thus using wifi calling at home) then I wouldn't be able to make calls in the car if LTE was off.

Also, is it better to enable wifi calling, or can you still make wifi calls with that off?

Just trying to figure out how to get the best reception for calls at home. Thanks!

Unless you have really bad reception that voice calls don't work I wouldn't rely on wifi calling either. You should be able to use wifi calling with lte

Sorry, I guess I am confused. I have one of the new unlimited plans, 2 lines for $100.

I was thinking if I turn on LTE for "data only," (thus using wifi calling at home) then I wouldn't be able to make calls in the car if LTE was off.

Also, is it better to enable wifi calling, or can you still make wifi calls with that off?

Just trying to figure out how to get the best reception for calls at home. Thanks!

I'd disable wifi calling because it can bog down your home internet unless you have a super fast plan for that. Use standard voice calling. Wifi calling is seperate from voice over lte

 

[maverick22]

What?
You're just turning off LTE for voice calls.
The calls will still work the normal non VOLTE IP way.
That's to troubleshoot and to isolate the issue that's causing the calls to cut in and out.
But what do I know and why am I trying to help?
Do whatever you want. Get another AT&T iPhone 6 instead since that works better.
[doublepost=1491100768][/doublepost]

No, you thought wrong.
You can make regular voice calls fine without voice over LTE.
I would suggest enabling wifi calling on and no you cannot make wifi calls with that setting off.
But you said wifi calls were breaking before too for you.

I appreciate the advice, applejuiced! I will give this a shot & see if things improve.

 

[Applejuiced]

Unless you have really bad reception that voice calls don't work I wouldn't rely on wifi calling either. You should be able to use wifi calling with lte

I'd disable wifi calling because it can bog down your home internet unless you have a super fast plan for that. Use standard voice calling. Wifi calling is seperate from voice over lte

Wifi calling will bog down your home internet?
What? Unless you have a super fast plan?
Where do people come up with these false assumptions? Do you have any idea how much data a wifi voice call uses? How much data a wifi calling device uses when it's not performing a wifi voice call? And what kind of wifi "super fast plan" you need for wifi calling?

 

[maverick22]

My home wifi would be sufficient (45mbps). I don't know why it wasn't working well the other day. I have at&t uverse, so maybe even though the speed is fast, maybe the wifi/router isn't too strong if talking far from the router.

 

[Thor_1]

My home wifi would be sufficient (45mbps). I don't know why it wasn't working well the other day. I have at&t uverse, so maybe even though the speed is fast, maybe the wifi/router isn't too strong if talking far from the router.

Maybe try resetting your network settings.