No service after 17.6 on 15 Pro Max

[Zheez]

Anyone else had this problem? My wife's 15 Pro Max was running 17.5.1 with no problems at all and then updated to 17.6 which went fine but the phone had no service, even 10 minutes later. Tried 2 other SIM cards in it and no change at all. Tried resetting network settings and also no luck.

At that point I thought I'd hook it up to my Mac to do a full restore. No change again. Then I restored it from the 17.5.1 IPSW which was the same but by that point it was getting late so I left it. This morning it had service, but it can hardly be trusted at that point. Upgrading to 17.6 again made it lose service, but I'm sure even a reboot from 17.5.1 would've done that too.

Normally I'd have suggested just leaving it at 17.5.1 and skipping 17.6, but given that I can't find any other reports of this problem I'm not hopeful that the next update will fix it. Something is clearly very wrong with that phone.

 

[Reverend Benny]

Sounds like you have tested it all and I agree with your conclusion that there might be something wrong with your phone. But its still an odd issue/problem.

The other SIM cards you tried, were they with the same cellular provider? Check their website for issues with the update or if they have had any downtime.

 

[Zheez]

Tried 2 different SIMs from different providers, both SIMs work fine in other phones and my wife's SIM works fine in my phone.

I tried doing the *#06# code which should show the phone's IMEI but that doesn't do anything on that phone. Settings menu still lists the two IMEIs and modem firmware version though so it looks like baseband is somewhat working.

Oh well, off to the Apple Store tomorrow I guess On the plus side, her battery has 225 charge cycles on it so if Apple switch it out then she may well get a fresh battery.

 

[winxmac]

It's weird that this is happening when iOS 17 is designed with iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max in mind...

Were you able to check at the time where the iPhone had no signal that there were no network issues with the network provider?

How many minutes have passed upon seeing the iPhone had no signal before you decided to test the same SIM card in another phone and test another SIM card on the same iPhone?

You said you transferred/inserted the SIM card in another phone so you must be living in a country other than the U.S.A.

Please update us after you paid a visit to the Apple Store whether the iPhone was replaced or repaired...

 

[Zheez]

It is all very strange. I'm on the same network as my wife and my phone (also 15 Pro Max on iOS 17.6) is fine. I took my SIM out and put it in her phone and got no service, but her SIM in my phone worked fine. Swapped back and forth a few times and had no luck.

I left it for probably about 10 minutes before swapping SIM the first time since I've even had it take a couple of minutes to lock on to a network on my own phone before now. We then left it overnight and came back to it 5-6 hours or so later and it still had no service while my phone is fine.

She's having to use a spare iPhone 7 for the moment and the SIM is working fine in that. I've been playing around with her 15 Pro Max here on and off, putting my SIM in and also the SIM from my work phone but no luck whatsoever even after leaving it an hour or so.

And yes, I'm in the UK so we've still got phones with physical SIM slots. I am curious about whether or not an eSIM would work, but all of my phones are still on physical SIM and even if eSIM did work there's still got to be something wrong with the phone. I'll update with the outcome after I've been to the Apple Store, hopefully tomorrow

 

[RSmith2023]

Anyone else had this problem? My wife's 15 Pro Max was running 17.5.1 with no problems at all and then updated to 17.6 which went fine but the phone had no service, even 10 minutes later. Tried 2 other SIM cards in it and no change at all. Tried resetting network settings and also no luck.

At that point I thought I'd hook it up to my Mac to do a full restore. No change again. Then I restored it from the 17.5.1 IPSW which was the same but by that point it was getting late so I left it. This morning it had service, but it can hardly be trusted at that point. Upgrading to 17.6 again made it lose service, but I'm sure even a reboot from 17.5.1 would've done that too.

Normally I'd have suggested just leaving it at 17.5.1 and skipping 17.6, but given that I can't find any other reports of this problem I'm not hopeful that the next update will fix it. Something is clearly very wrong with that phone.

Are there versions of the 15 PM that actually have a SIM tray?

 

[Zheez]

Yep, all the iPhone 15s in Europe have SIM trays. Actually I think everywhere other than the US still gets phones with the SIM tray and for whatever reason China gets one with no eSIM support and instead two SIM trays.

 

[Zheez]

I did a support chat with Apple earlier and they did remote diagnostics after which they came back with:

"Upon checking, it looks like your iPhone has passed all the tests apart from: Presence Check for eSIM, Presence Check for Baseband & Cellular RF Front End Scan Test for Wireless."

Appointment booked for later today. Hopefully they'll just replace it. Very strange that a minor update seems to have caused that though.

 

[Reverend Benny]

I did a support chat with Apple earlier and they did remote diagnostics after which they came back with:

"Upon checking, it looks like your iPhone has passed all the tests apart from: Presence Check for eSIM, Presence Check for Baseband & Cellular RF Front End Scan Test for Wireless."

Appointment booked for later today. Hopefully they'll just replace it. Very strange that a minor update seems to have caused that though.

Great input But still as you say, very strange that an update might have caused it.

 

[Zheez]

Little surprised at the outcome of that Apple Store visit. They checked it over and confirmed it was faulty but then said it had to be sent off to be examined which will apparently take around 2 weeks. No offer of a replacement phone, just an offer of a loaner.

I'm surprised because I've had Apple replace devices for less serious issues than that in the past. Not particularly impressed with that, especially the 2 week turnaround.

 

[Populus]

Little surprised at the outcome of that Apple Store visit. They checked it over and confirmed it was faulty but then said it had to be sent off to be examined which will apparently take around 2 weeks. No offer of a replacement phone, just an offer of a loaner.

I'm surprised because I've had Apple replace devices for less serious issues than that in the past. Not particularly impressed with that, especially the 2 week turnaround.

Apple has changed a lot since the times when, upon any minimal complain on the Genius Bar, they would replace it with a refurbished one without making a big fuss of it. Nowadays there is not even a Genius Bar at the store.

I think a factor to keep in mind for this change in their customer service is that iPhones are nowadays much more expensive, even at the cost level, than those back in the day. Another factor is Tim Cook, of course.