Iphone 8 with outgoing audio problems

maestro64maestro64
Posted:
in iPhone edited October 2017
Folks, 

Like to share our experience with voice audio quality issue on the iPhone 8, the specific issue,  anyone you talk to is having problem hearing you, like static, drop outs and various other problems. The issue does not happen all the time, seem to build up to the issue, good quality at first then over time it gets worse and worse. Others are staring to report this issue. The iPhone 8 itself has no problem with hearing other end of the call audio.

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/25/iphone-8-plus-owners-static-sound-calls/amp/

https://forums.att.com/t5/Apple/Poor-call-quality-on-iphone-8/td-p/5287444

What I have been able to determine is it LTE issue, if you turn off the LTE feature on the phone and force it to 4G only the audio is fine, also making a wifi call or Facetime audio or video calles as long as it using wifi to make the Facetime call it is fine (IE turn off Cellular data). VoLTE seem to be the the issue, even turning off VoLTE and just doing LTE data does not always clear the problem. I did a bunch of testing and was able to isolate the issue. 

Spoke to Apple and they are claiming no issue, they test the phone using the onboard diagnostics and it shows no issue so they refuse to replace the phone. The Apple tech kept saying as long as the diagnostics do not show an issue there is nothing they can do. Also kept repeating that Apple and AT&T continue to work on voice quality over the network, it is something we have to live with until the network is improved. This happen no matter if the phone has full bars or 1 bar, does not matter if you call another cellphone or a land line, everyone on the receiving side hears bad audio.

We were going to demonstrate the issue to the apple tech, and they could care less they kept repeating like a broken record, if the test show everything working the phone is fine, and any audio problem with a call is most likely the network.

In our house we have an old iPhone 5, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s took the SIM card out of the 8 put into all the other phones and no audio problems what so every. Only the iPhone 8 had the issue. So that tells me the network is working fine.

We have had iPhones since the first, along with iPads and Laptops and always got Apple care even though most times we never had to use it, however, when we had any sort of issue with iPhones Apple just replaced the phone no questions asked. My son replaced his iPhone 4 times, because of display clicking, home button not working all the time, the power on and volume buttons intermitting working. This is the first time we ran into an issue with Apple absolutely refusing to replace the phone, they even refuse to just swap our SIM into another iPhone 8 to see if the problem stayed with the phone or moved with the SIM or as they claim it is a network issue which AT&T needs to address. What is interesting to note, no one on Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile is having the issue.

After talking to Apple and AT&T they seem to know about this issue but are refusing to do anything at this point, They want you to do a network reset on the phone, reload software from scratch, turn off VoLTE or LTE all together. Doing this does seem to temporarily clear up the issue, but I suspect it will come back when you do not expect it. I am thinking it has something to do with the new LTE modem in the phone, and the new EVS Audio Codec which requires updates to the LTE network which AT&T has yet to do.

http://wccftech.com/iphone-8-8-plus-and-iphone-x-supports-evs-audio-codec-for-improved-voice-quality-and-galileo-gps/

It would be interesting hear how many people are running into this issue. if so let make a big stink about it.


Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Not that i need to share this, some other facts, as we know the iPhone 8 uses a modem from Intel which is new this year, it is different enough from the version of the iPhone 7, also I believe part of the reason the issue is not showing up on on the Verizon and Sprint those phones use a modem from Qualcomm. This is point to some incompatible between AT&T network and the Intel Modem XMM 7480.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    mpotwelmpotwel Posts: 1member
    I'm having same issue. 1st iphone 8 bought at Verizon, had the crackling /popping issue. They reset the phone at the store, came home, upgraded the software, then began noticing after talking to people on the phone, they would stop hearing me (like I walked away from the phone,or was in a tin can. It typically starts after being on the phone a while with them, then resolves itself after 30 seconds or so).  Took the phone back to Verizon, and they gave me another phone. Same problem. Brought it back, they advised me to go to Apple store (since everyone else in the house with other phones on Verizon weren't experiencing the problem, it has to be hardware or software issue. They would now charge me restocking fee to switch the phone to anything other than another, bad iphone 8. Go to Apple store with my 3rd phone, they put in on some stand, test all the audio and tell me the hardware is fine. Probably a software problem. Engineers at Apple may know about it, or may not. It could be months before an udpate fixes it (if they are are aware of it). Tell me to upgrade my software again, and reset the phone to factory settings if the software update doesn't work. did that, no change. They tell me if it isn't fixed after a reset, to come back and tell them that, and they will upgrade the problem to their engineers for me at that point. So disappointed. Would love if this forum could get a bigger voice to Apple to take care of this problem.  Really annoying, and not what I would expect for a $700 phone.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    mpotwel said:
    I'm having same issue. 1st iphone 8 bought at Verizon, had the crackling /popping issue. They reset the phone at the store, came home, upgraded the software, then began noticing after talking to people on the phone, they would stop hearing me (like I walked away from the phone,or was in a tin can. It typically starts after being on the phone a while with them, then resolves itself after 30 seconds or so).  Took the phone back to Verizon, and they gave me another phone. Same problem. Brought it back, they advised me to go to Apple store (since everyone else in the house with other phones on Verizon weren't experiencing the problem, it has to be hardware or software issue. They would now charge me restocking fee to switch the phone to anything other than another, bad iphone 8. Go to Apple store with my 3rd phone, they put in on some stand, test all the audio and tell me the hardware is fine. Probably a software problem. Engineers at Apple may know about it, or may not. It could be months before an udpate fixes it (if they are are aware of it). Tell me to upgrade my software again, and reset the phone to factory settings if the software update doesn't work. did that, no change. They tell me if it isn't fixed after a reset, to come back and tell them that, and they will upgrade the problem to their engineers for me at that point. So disappointed. Would love if this forum could get a bigger voice to Apple to take care of this problem.  Really annoying, and not what I would expect for a $700 phone.
    Yes same issue at the store, I never seen Apple act this way, and I can only conclude they do know about the issue and it some sort of issue between the LTE modem on the phone and changing happen on the phone networks. They kept repeating they Apple and the network provider continue to work to improve voice quality.
    SVW
  • Reply 4 of 5
    SVWSVW Posts: 1member
    I've had the same problem with my iPhone 8plus.  I will be on a call for about 1-2 minutes and then they cannot hear me anymore.  It happens more often than not.  I brought it into Apple and they ran diagnositcs and said it was fine.  They told to change my case.  I used it without a case for 2 weeks and it still did the same thing.  I do not use LTE so that is not the issue.  It maybe an issue with AT&T and the iPhone but this never happened with my 6.  
  • Reply 5 of 5
    ddryerddryer Posts: 1member
    We are having the same problem with a phone bought Dec 2017. Three visits to the Apple store over a couple of months, and they have been very nice and, I believe, tried to be helpful.  Diagnostics, diagnostics and more diagnostics.  New SIM card.  Finally, replacement phone.  But, still having the same problem.  I just don't know where to go, just beating our heads against the wall.  I can't believe Verizon can do anything about it.  My son is trying to sort out college information and field return phone calls for job prospects and it's incredibly frustrating for him.  I'd love to hear if someone finds a solution.
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