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Carrier iPhone 6S T-mobile reception issues?

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dt808

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 3, 2013
60
11
Las Vegas, NV
I had a htc one m8 on tmobile for a year and my reception was much much better. In areas I had LTE and better call coverage on the android, I have Edge with my iphone 6s and people are constantly asking me to repeat myself. I'm happy to be back on the iphone, but if these reception issues are common.. it might not work out.

Anyone else? Think maybe its a bad phone?

Appreciate the help guys.
 
My husband has better reception on his iPhone 6s than he did on his 6 both always had LTE too. I think you need to look at your settings and see if something is off there and then call T-Mobile tech support.
 
I don't find iPhones to be all that great with reception. My partner has an HTC One M8 on the same network as me and she gets 4 bars of signal at home whilst I get two dots. She also has much faster data speeds at home.
From the i4 through to the 6S+ I haven't had the greatest signal strength. The 6+ and 6S+ are much better in that regard than previous iPhones though. My iPhone 5 switched between one dot and no signal at home...
 
The reception on my 6S is better than on the 6, no doubt about it. I also have a Sony Z3 Compact that I bought when I though tI might be interested in switching to Android. iPhone 6S reception is better. I'm in NY so it really depends on where you live.
 
My Note 4 got approximately one more bar when compared to my 6S Plus. But I haven't noticed any significant drop in performance or speed.
 
Thanks guys! I will probably give it another few days or a week and if its still messed up, I'll probably get a replacement and see how that works out. It's definitely not where I live, I get great coverage.. but the call quality sucks.

Bummer!
 
sunking101 said:
I don't find iPhones to be all that great with reception. My partner has an HTC One M8 on the same network as me and she gets 4 bars of signal at home whilst I get two dots. She also has much faster data speeds at home.
From the i4 through to the 6S+ I haven't had the greatest signal strength. The 6+ and 6S+ are much better in that regard than previous iPhones though. My iPhone 5 switched between one dot and no signal at home...
Click to expand...

My experience is similar, though in my case the other phone is my Galaxy S6 Edge+. In strong signal areas they're identical, but when signal gets iffy (e.g. at my desk at work which is up on the 17th floor), they both struggle, but the Edge+ seems to consistently eke out better speeds (about 50 to 100% better) in those conditions. But, the Edge+ is the best phone I've had in regards to reception strength. The nexus 6 I was using before was about the same or slightly worse than my 6S+
 
dugbug said:
# bars != performance. It only takes a few bars... try speedtest.net app to see what you are really getting.
Click to expand...

They're an indicator of signal strength. One dot versus 5 dots has got to be some kind of indication...
If you're seeing one or two dots then you aren't getting the best signal are you?
Like I said, my partner's M8 has much faster download speeds in our home than my 6S+ and on the same network. I have two dots and she has four bars. The data speeds kinda correspond with the speed differences we see.
 
dt808 said:
I had a htc one m8 on tmobile for a year and my reception was much much better. In areas I had LTE and better call coverage on the android, I have Edge with my iphone 6s and people are constantly asking me to repeat myself. I'm happy to be back on the iphone, but if these reception issues are common.. it might not work out.

Anyone else? Think maybe its a bad phone?

Appreciate the help guys.
Click to expand...
Do you still have M8? If not, it's possible that T-Mobile is upgrading towers in your area. Mine is and the performance has been pretty terrible. Once they upgrade is complete, which normally takes about a week, things should be a lot better.

You should call T-Mobile to confirm. If not, I would make an appointment with a Genius bar for a replacement.
 
nutmac said:
Do you still have M8? If not, it's possible that T-Mobile is upgrading towers in your area. Mine is and the performance has been pretty terrible. Once they upgrade is complete, which normally takes about a week, things should be a lot better.

You should call T-Mobile to confirm. If not, I would make an appointment with a Genius bar for a replacement.
Click to expand...

Been a while since I've been to Apple. I can still go to the apple store and get a replacement if I bought it from t-mobile? It's nice to be back boys! Just need my reception haha.
 
sunking101 said:
They're an indicator of signal strength. One dot versus 5 dots has got to be some kind of indication...
Click to expand...

It is, but it's not a very accurate one. No standard exists for what signal bars mean, and 4 bars on one brand of phone could correspond to something very different on a different phone.

The only way to know for sure would be to put the iPhone in field service mode, do the equivalent on the M8, and get the dB signal readings to compare.

Like I said, my partner's M8 has much faster download speeds in our home than my 6S+ and on the same network. I have two dots and she has four bars. The data speeds kinda correspond with the speed differences we see.
Click to expand...

Correlation isn't causation, and it's possible the M8 uses different hardware that quite simply allows for faster throughput. making it universally faster in both good and bad signal conditions. The bars, again, may not be telling the whole story. The way to know for sure is to get the numeric signal strength readings, and to camper the iPhone's data throughput in a known good area.


dt808 said:
Been a while since I've been to Apple. I can still go to the apple store and get a replacement if I bought it from t-mobile?
Click to expand...

Yes you can.
 
sunking101 said:
They're an indicator of signal strength. One dot versus 5 dots has got to be some kind of indication...
If you're seeing one or two dots then you aren't getting the best signal are you?
Like I said, my partner's M8 has much faster download speeds in our home than my 6S+ and on the same network. I have two dots and she has four bars. The data speeds kinda correspond with the speed differences we see.
Click to expand...

at some point the signal is strong enough. Shouting the bits louder won't make them faster so to speak. Try speedtest.net and report the results.
 
I actually see improved speeds and coverage on my 6S+ with Tmo. I would recommend updating your carrier settings (Google exactly how to do that) as that generally solves the E -> LTE problem.
 
Here something interesting I am getting with my new 6s plus on tmobile at my work the phone at times isn't doing to hot but my iPad Air seems to have a much better connection which has me completely confused.

They have in my area a band 12 tower which I would think would cause the 6 plus to do much better but signal goes in and out and iPad Air without band 12 stays pretty reliable. Tmobile rep told me to turn off wifi assist but he didn't seem 100 confident that was the trick being an android guy himself. I haven't noticed a difference after one day. I'm wonder if there is an issue with my phone.
 
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