IPhone 5 has major issues making calls, sending texts and browsing 3G

[soulman]

I have an IPhone 5 that is fully updated with 6.1.4.  It works great in Phillly where I can pick up 4G LTE and great on wifi but is terrible on 3G.  I great 1 or 2 bars inside my home which is made of brick.  I have had the phone replaced by Best Buy already. we have done the network updates ##873283# and called in to customer service to refresh on their end.  I have reset the network settings and also done a factory reset on the phone.  I have cleared the browser history.  I can only do a network update if I am connected to wifi.  Customer care says there are some network vision upgrades going on in the area.  I noticed my friend's Android works much better than my Iphone 5. I have considered going back to Android if I cannot get this corrected.  Most of my text messages fail even if I have 4 or 5 bars which is not often.  Does anyone have any insight on my phone/network issues please?  My phone is still under the limited warranty. I have had it for about 9 months. They say there is no tickets open right now but they did report my home location and work location to their networking team. 

[moosemanmoo]

You're in Philly? Go to the Apple store, see if they'll replace your phone. If they can reproduce your issue, they most likely will. Turn LTE off in the settings before you go, since 3G/1X is where your problem is happening. 

 

If the Apple store gives you a new iPhone and you're still having problems, it's a network issue. Call 611 and Sprint will take it from there.

[koiulpoi]

It could simply be that whatever site(s) you connect to are having issues. If one of your main sites is blocking at a high percentage, you'll get the issues you describe. If they've already reported your location as a problem area, there's not a lot more you can do, honestly...

[JustinRP37]

I would try to do a speed test and see what that is saying. There is a tower in Hartsdale, NY now that is having NV work done, the phone says 1xRTT but there is really nothing there at all except there are five bars. The data is too slow for the speed test, texts won't go through, and calls typically fail there too.

 

Also, one thing to look out for is iMessage. If you do not have a good connection, iMessage will not work well, but if you hold down on a message you will be given the option to send as a text message. This typically works well even on 1xRTT. You can also just turn off iMessage and send text messages. Of course if you are texting a non-Apple device this already occurs.

[Keitarou]

I am thinking iPhone isn't the best phone to use on a CDMA network now. Having used it on both Verizon and Sprint, I get more 3G issues on it compared to android phones. GSM networks seem to have better connections. When in a place with LTE, iphones are fine, but when it goes to 3G, i get a lot of "o" and moving back and forth. First i thought it was network issues and do ##update# and so on but that doesn't help. When on LTE, it doesn't cycle as much as when on the 3G network. This is really disappointing.

[dcmike]

 When in a place with LTE, iphones are fine, but when it goes to 3G, i get a lot of "o" and moving back and forth. 

When you see that, your phone is scanning for an LTE signal. If you're not in an LTE area and this bothers you, you can turn off LTE in settings and that will go away.

[BlueAngel]

I get great signal and service on my 5, except for today where my data will work here and there but it's a network issue not the phone.

[lvanders]

I'm in Utah and I've been having a lot of issues on my iPhone 5 as well.  For the last 3-4 days while at my house I have mainly been roaming so it says "extended" where it should say sprint.  I occasionally will pick up sprint in my house but it will only be 1 bar.  Since it is constantly switching back and forth from sprint to roaming my battery drains extremely fast!   I haven't been able to make calls from inside my house recently either.  When I go outside I still get pretty poor service and I cut in and out.  I was thinking it was a NV thing as to where they were upgrading towers around me but i've driven past some of the sites and there is no work going on.  I will be driving somewhere to call into customer care ( I don't have a landline).  You are not alone in struggling with the iphone 5 issue on sprint.  I wonder if it might be a PRL issue?