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iPhone showing dots instead of service 'bars' Can't call out or receive calls

I tend to think it's a Spectrum issue. You say the phones are Spectrum through other carrier services, like Verizon. No one else I know is having issues like that with their iPhones. The fact it's more than one iPhone, leads me to believe it's NOT an iPhone issue. It's something else. Maybe switch to a better carrier system.
Thanks for the reply, but I did state in my issue above that my daughter and her husband have VERIZON for their service and theirs does it just as much, if not more than ours. So switching carriers doesn't do any good if we are dealing with two different carriers, but yet the same iPhone 12 series. Kind of sounds like it is the phone and not two different carriers. If it was just one, I would agree, but it is two different carriers.
Again, thanks for the reply
 
Thanks for the reply, but I did state in my issue above that my daughter and her husband have VERIZON for their service and theirs does it just as much, if not more than ours. So switching carriers doesn't do any good if we are dealing with two different carriers, but yet the same iPhone 12 series. Kind of sounds like it is the phone and not two different carriers. If it was just one, I would agree, but it is two different carriers.
Again, thanks for the reply

Take them all to Apple, and let them have a look. Just seems odd all 3 of those in your family do this, when no one else's does. There's a common denominator. But I doubt it's the iPhones.
 
Do you have wifi calling on or off? Is wifi assist on or off? I wonder if either of these is affecting your calls? Try toggling them opposite of how you have them set.

General>Cellular>Wifi calling
General>Cellular>Wifi assist (scroll all the way to the bottom to find this setting)
 
Do you have wifi calling on or off? Is wifi assist on or off? I wonder if either of these is affecting your calls? Try toggling them opposite of how you have them set.

General>Cellular>Wifi calling
General>Cellular>Wifi assist (scroll all the way to the bottom to find this setting)
Wi-Fi calling is on....because we not only don't have good cell service at our house and because why should I pay for Wi-Fi in my house and can't use it? So to switch them would mean I would have a boat anchor at home because there is no cell service. And when it does it when I have cell service that is 3 or 4 bars (no such thing as 5g in my area) and I switch wi-fi calling off (because there isn't any wi-fi where I'm at)...same thing. As far as wi-fi assist...it supposedly is "on" but in all the directions etc, I can't find it.
 
Take them all to Apple, and let them have a look. Just seems odd all 3 of those in your family do this, when no one else's does. There's a common denominator. But I doubt it's the iPhones.
And since there is no Apple store within 150 miles of me, that's a bit of a mute point. And since Apple techs say it's the carriers fault and both Verizon and Spectrum Mobile say it's the phones fault...we're stuck with crappy phones that are 50% useless. And it's actually 4 phone (my daughter's husband also) and gee...maybe we just all got crappy phones from Apple because when you live 40 miles away from each other and you both have wi-fi through different companies...yea...must be something other than the phone. Sorry...that math don't add up.
 
You need to take wifi completely out of the equation if you are trying to figure out if this is a cellular issue. Turn wifi assist off and wifi calling off. And even turn off wifi altogether on your phone. Also try this at work or a metropolitan area with good cell service. That way you rule out that wifi is affecting the issue. Again..Wifi assist is at the very very bottom of the cellular settings.
Find a person in the same room and see if they have the same issue..not someone somewhere else.
 
You need to take wifi completely out of the equation if you are trying to figure out if this is a cellular issue. Turn wifi assist off and wifi calling off. And even turn off wifi altogether on your phone. Also try this at work or a metropolitan area with good cell service. That way you rule out that wifi is affecting the issue. Again..Wifi assist is at the very very bottom of the cellular settings.
Find a person in the same room and see if they have the same issue..not someone somewhere else.
Thank you but Wi-Fi is not affecting the issue. When it does this, I can turn off Wi-Fi completely and I still have a dot, no bars.
 
xrayeyes...it is not the carrier because we are talking about two different carriers and if we are the only ones having problems with each of those carriers, I do no think it's them...that leaves one thing....the phones.
 
Hi...my wife and I have the iPhone 12 pro and our service is through Spectrum, which uses Verizon lines (we've been told that by both Verizon and Spectrum). Anyway, phones are on wi-fi calling but at times we get 4 dots instead of any 'reception/service' indicator bars at the top right of the screen...next to the wi-fi indicator. When that happens, we cannot send or receive texts or phone calls. Now we thought it was a Spectrum issue and have gone round and round with them and them doing all sorts of 'procedures' on the phones (and having to put stuff back into it each time) and it still happens. So obviously, they have no clue. BUT...our daughter and son-in-law just recently purchased iPhone 12 Max phones through VERIZON and they have the same issue. So it's not just Spectrum Mobile and it's not just Verizon ( they have gone over the same problem with Verizon tech people and still have the problem) so it has to be a problem with the iPhone 12 itself.
We've (both Verizon and Spectrum) been told to put it on airplane mode for a few moments and then switch it back so it can reconnect with the network and also told to pull out the sim car for a couple minutes and put it back in so it can reconnect...and it does work for a short time, but again, nothing works to alleviate this issue.
Does anyone else have this same issue? Can anyone provide any help or solution? It's an awful lot of money to pay for a phone when it so frequently does not work. Basically, HELP.
Thanks for listening.
Hi lewbar. Did you ever resolve this problem? I bought an iPhone 12 last October and this is happening to me.
 
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