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Carrier Worse Cell Service with iOS 9 PB

XTheLancerX

XTheLancerX

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 20, 2014
1,911
782
NY, USA
I have the field test mode DBM reading for cell service enabled most all of the time, and usually I get about -100 to -116 in my house (I surprisingly still get 10mbps down with LTE and no dropped calls). The service is obviously pretty bad, so I typically turn cellular data off and turn wifi on. This allows calls and SMS while iMessage and everything else is fine on WiFi. Battery is greatly helped out by doing this.

Anyway, since iOS 9, the reading at the top often drops to -120, sometimes lower, which is where things tend to get really bad. Haven't exactly tested to see if actual usage has deteriorated, but "No Cell Coverage" is now showing in the battery usage list. It was up to 10% of my battery usage earlier!! Anyone else noticing anything similar?

I really really wish I could use T-Mobile so I could turn on Airplane Mode and turn on wifi and still get all my calls/texts, but no... They only have 2G, "Partner", and shaky LTE in my area. Not an option.
 
Well I am on Verizon and it took about 10 restarts to get cellular to work for me. Not sure how to fix but keep restarting?
 
saberahul said:
Well I am on Verizon and it took about 10 restarts to get cellular to work for me. Not sure how to fix but keep restarting?
Click to expand...
I'm on Verizon too and am seeing other issues now. Today, my phone randomly lit up with "Activation Required" on the lock screen. There was no carrier name at the top left, just the DBM reading (-103 at the time) with the WiFi symbol since I was connected to WiFi. I unlocked my phone and it was asking for my iCloud password. It wasn't activation lock. Anyway, when I put in my iCloud password, it exited to the home screen much like what happens right after you finish setting up your iPhone. The Verizon carrier name returned to the top of the screen and all was well.

Lately cellular has been flaky, it loads some things and not others. For example, clash of clans and Twitter wouldnt work. They simply say that they couldn't connect to the server, speed test would just say network communication issues. However, Instagram and Safari worked perfectly fine. Restart fixes it. Really weird.
 
XTheLancerX said:
I'm on Verizon too and am seeing other issues now. Today, my phone randomly lit up with "Activation Required" on the lock screen. There was no carrier name at the top left, just the DBM reading (-103 at the time) with the WiFi symbol since I was connected to WiFi. I unlocked my phone and it was asking for my iCloud password. It wasn't activation lock. Anyway, when I put in my iCloud password, it exited to the home screen much like what happens right after you finish setting up your iPhone. The Verizon carrier name returned to the top of the screen and all was well.

Lately cellular has been flaky, it loads some things and not others. For example, clash of clans and Twitter wouldnt work. They simply say that they couldn't connect to the server, speed test would just say network communication issues. However, Instagram and Safari worked perfectly fine. Restart fixes it. Really weird.
Click to expand...
Safari worked for me but only for sites I had visited before. It was almost as if it was loading from cache. Try a brand new site. I'm sure it won't work.
 
saberahul said:
Safari worked for me but only for sites I had visited before. It was almost as if it was loading from cache. Try a brand new site. I'm sure it won't work.
Click to expand...
Hmm, interesting observation. Hadn't thought about that. I'm not having issues with cellular right now but if it starts again I will try it.
 
The last few months Verizon had been trash for me. Data speeds were slow, calls were dropping, and it was an outright mess.

Not sure what they're doing up there, but it was very disappointing. I'm talking pre 2012 AT&T and T-Mobile quality service.
 
Interesting. I'm on Verizon as well with an iPhone 5c and I haven't experienced any issues with cellular connectivity. Actually, iOS 9 has been relatively bug free for me for the most part, on iPhone and iPad.
 
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I'm having this issue but with the Wi-Fi. I'm being forced to use VZW LTE to do anything internet related, and burn through my data cap.
 
chrf097 said:
The last few months Verizon had been trash for me. Data speeds were slow, calls were dropping, and it was an outright mess.

Not sure what they're doing up there, but it was very disappointing. I'm talking pre 2012 AT&T and T-Mobile quality service.
Click to expand...
I don't know what Verizon is doing either. They aren't doing anything to compete with other carriers. Prices are astronomical, yet they have no nice features like data roll over. T-Mobile has both AT&T and Verizon beat hands down features-wise, but coverage is much more spotty. It feels like Verizon doesn't even want their customers to stay, except they are forcing them to with contracts and such.

Verizon is pretty meh around where I am. Never have seen LTE get above 20mbps, it usually is around 10-15 even with 4-5 bars. Coverage is just about everywhere, but it's still meh. -120 to -90 is what all their coverage is for me. If I see anything fall into -80 or more it is a miracle. However no other carriers are really viable options except for maybe AT&T where I live. That's what you get for being in the middle of nowhere.

Still not sure if any of this flakiness is iOS 9 related or not. We tried to get Verizon to switch our plan to the more everything plan and one of our lines was having issues, it wouldn't allow the switch. Right around then I installed iOS 9 so again, they could have screwed something up (another person on a Galaxy S4 had data completely stop working until they restarted) or iOS 9 is being wonky.
 
XTheLancerX said:
I don't know what Verizon is doing either. They aren't doing anything to compete with other carriers. Prices are astronomical, yet they have no nice features like data roll over. T-Mobile has both AT&T and Verizon beat hands down features-wise, but coverage is much more spotty. It feels like Verizon doesn't even want their customers to stay, except they are forcing them to with contracts and such.

Verizon is pretty meh around where I am. Never have seen LTE get above 20mbps, it usually is around 10-15 even with 4-5 bars. Coverage is just about everywhere, but it's still meh. -120 to -90 is what all their coverage is for me. If I see anything fall into -80 or more it is a miracle. However no other carriers are really viable options except for maybe AT&T where I live. That's what you get for being in the middle of nowhere.

Still not sure if any of this flakiness is iOS 9 related or not. We tried to get Verizon to switch our plan to the more everything plan and one of our lines was having issues, it wouldn't allow the switch. Right around then I installed iOS 9 so again, they could have screwed something up (another person on a Galaxy S4 had data completely stop working until they restarted) or iOS 9 is being wonky.
Click to expand...

To add insult to injury, they even said they'd never do anything like data rollover (Even the worst company in the world is doing it, how could they NOT).

I think it's more just Verizon becoming garbage than iOS 9, as I had issues on Verizon even with 8.4.
 
chrf097 said:
To add insult to injury, they even said they'd never do anything like data rollover (Even the worst company in the world is doing it, how could they NOT).

I think it's more just Verizon becoming garbage than iOS 9, as I had issues on Verizon even with 8.4.
Click to expand...
Yeah, can't disagree with you. Never had issues before iOS 9 but it may just be a coincidence that this started around my iOS 9 PB installation. Also have noticed the carrier version is 20.6.10 where it was 19.1 I think on 8.4.
 
I'm having an issue with Verizon LTE. My phone shows connected. When I try to go to any website at all or use any app while on cellular, my iPhone acts as if I'm not connected to a network. Wifi works fine.

Have tried restarting my phone, removing and putting the SIM back in and turning cellular off and back on. The only fix seems to be to reset network settings. This problem only started occurring this morning, 7/12.
 
Just thought of this, but have you guys having issues with networks thought about resetting the network settings? That might help.

Settings > General > Reset
 
chrf097 said:
The last few months Verizon had been trash for me. Data speeds were slow, calls were dropping, and it was an outright mess.

Not sure what they're doing up there, but it was very disappointing. I'm talking pre 2012 AT&T and T-Mobile quality service.
Click to expand...
That's true. The calls dropping has been a pain over the last few months. Seriously thinking of moving out to att as soon as my contract ends.
 
saberahul said:
That's true. The calls dropping has been a pain over the last few months. Seriously thinking of moving out to att as soon as my contract ends.
Click to expand...
I was thinking about doing the exact same thing. If Verizon didn't have so much of the spectrum, they definitely would be seeing the end pretty quick nowadays with AT&T and T-Mobile stepping it up recently.
 
I'm running the beta on a Verizon 5C and I haven't noticed slow speeds/reduced service, except for when I'm in areas known to not have good service.
 
Restoring my iPhone fixed the issue for the night but was not a permanent fix, same as resetting network settings. I found that I'm still able to make calls and my emails still download as they come in but I can't view the content of emails and can't access anything that would use data. So for now, as the data stops working I guess I need to reset network settings each time it happens until Apple does a fix.
 
service strength unchanged here with ios 9 beta 3, & thats with my carrier in the process of rolling out VoLTE & 700mhz LTE (so tower adjustments etc)..rogers in canada
 
I'm also on Verizon and I've noticed my signal strength is much weaker. I'm going to reset the network settings and hope for the best.
 
I just discovered something. Right now I'm getting the errors as if no cellular connection and can't open pages on safari. But, if I try to go to a site and get th error "Safari cannot open the page because the server could not be found" then force close safari and reopen it, the last page I tried to open works but then I have to do that to click on any other link.
To recreate:
Click on a link in email or type an address into the address bar and get above mentioned error.

Double tap home button and close Safari with URL in address bar

Reopen Safari and that page loads but have to follow last two steps to open any further pages

Resetting Network settings fixes this for a while then it starts happening again
 
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