Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 6 / 6 Plus Cellular recpetion
- Thread starter lancastor
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I don't think that anyone has done serious testing on this yet, although some of the early reviews said that they thought that voice sounded better, but the comments I read were far from scientific.
The i5 has the worst signal strength out of any mobile phone I've owned. If the i6 is similar then that's very bad news!
My test for this was the toilet cubicles at work.
Trap 1 and 3 get 1 bar(/dot) signal but barely loads anything (Data wise). Trap 2 always had 1 bar but would load better than 1 and 3.
That was on my iPhone 5S. Samsung Galaxy S4 would work in any.
iPhone 6 still had 1 bar in trap 1, but loaded more than the 5S would.
Haven't tested in trap 2 and 3 yet so can't comment there.
So far, looks to be improved ever so slightly!
Not the best test I know, but a test that was relevant to me lol
Trap 1 and 3 get 1 bar(/dot) signal but barely loads anything (Data wise). Trap 2 always had 1 bar but would load better than 1 and 3.
That was on my iPhone 5S. Samsung Galaxy S4 would work in any.
iPhone 6 still had 1 bar in trap 1, but loaded more than the 5S would.
Haven't tested in trap 2 and 3 yet so can't comment there.
So far, looks to be improved ever so slightly!
Not the best test I know, but a test that was relevant to me lol
Last edited:
So far in my house the iPhone 6 is one bar lower than the iPhone 5. Note I do. It have a case on my 6 yet. Also notice the 6 seems to fluctuate more as I move it around.
I ran the ios 8 beta on my 5, so the 6 is disappointing so far. Plan to running out around in my car today and watching the meter in there.
I ran the ios 8 beta on my 5, so the 6 is disappointing so far. Plan to running out around in my car today and watching the meter in there.
Please report back the next time you have to make a poop!
In all seriousness, I wish the review sites would actually review this aspect of the devices. They are *cell phones* after all (or cell-focused computers if you want to argue that they're much more than just phones now).
Considering that cell coverage is still spotty at times, even with the best of carriers, it's kinda important.
As for me, I'm using an iPhone 6 (wanted a 6+ but that's another story) and I haven't seen enough yet to comment on how it compares to my old iPhone 5. I will say that I was in a grocery store yesterday which was reporting about 3 bars of LTE coverage (AT&T) and it was taking *forever* to text some photos to my wife. Not sure how much of that is due to the added megapixels, though.
I recently upgraded from an iPhone 4S to a regular iPhone 6, both on AT&T. Reception at my house has always been pretty much limited to an upstairs living room, but I have been able to reliably make and receive calls from this room on the 4S.
With the iPhone 6 calls from the living room fail on most occasions, which surprised me. I have had the phone for less than a day, and this clearly is not a fair test. Hopefully, there is a system problem which will be corrected soon.
As an aside, I have a Spigen TPU case on the phone. Also, there is no Verizon reception in my house at all, so I do live in a difficult area.
With the iPhone 6 calls from the living room fail on most occasions, which surprised me. I have had the phone for less than a day, and this clearly is not a fair test. Hopefully, there is a system problem which will be corrected soon.
As an aside, I have a Spigen TPU case on the phone. Also, there is no Verizon reception in my house at all, so I do live in a difficult area.
My i5 has always had much worse cellular reception that the i4 before it, both on iOS6 and iOS7. It has got be be hardware related.
I thought I would update my earlier post.
The reception on my iPhone 6 at my house remains poor and significantly inferior to that on the 4S. With the 6 I am able to complete perhaps 1 out of 6 calls and on the 4S I complete probably 5 out of 6 calls.
I had given some consideration to a micro-cell but finally decided that I don't want to mess with more junk.
So, I'm going to return the iPhone 6 and stick with the 4S for now. I have quite good internet at my house and, hopefully, wi-fi calling will become an alternative before long.
EDIT 9.24.2014
I returned the iPhone 6 and had the 4s reactivated, and cell reception on the 4s is quite usable as before. I have IOS 8 on both phones, so that's not an issue. Other forum members are not reporting bad reception on the iPhone 6--maybe the one I had was defective.
Last edited:
Can actually check in through swarm on gprs in certain areas when 3G/4G not available unlike my previous 5s which wouldn't unless was 3G or 4G so yes I find the 6 I have now is an improvement over the 5s
Bumping this thread.
I'm hoping to get out to a grocery store today where I've had really bad coverage in the past.
I'm also experimenting with the Field Test mode, which you can find out how to switch your phone to here:
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/how-to-display-your-iphones-signal-strength-in-numbers-76257989351.html
Unfortunately, my deactivated iPhone 5 no longer shows an AT&T signal, so I can't do a side-by-side compare. I'd have to swap my SIM card between the two. I'll probably do that later today in my house, but it could be dangerous to attempt that inside the grocery store.
I'm hoping to get out to a grocery store today where I've had really bad coverage in the past.
I'm also experimenting with the Field Test mode, which you can find out how to switch your phone to here:
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/how-to-display-your-iphones-signal-strength-in-numbers-76257989351.html
Unfortunately, my deactivated iPhone 5 no longer shows an AT&T signal, so I can't do a side-by-side compare. I'd have to swap my SIM card between the two. I'll probably do that later today in my house, but it could be dangerous to attempt that inside the grocery store.