The so-called Scratchgate fiasco may have attracted a lot of attention since Apple released its latest iPhone, but I struggle with another issue.
Over the past few weeks, my iPhone Air has struggled to make and receive calls. There was also a period of time when I lost service completely after I turned off my phone.
After digging online, others seem to be experiencing similar issues. The phone arena pointed to a Reddit thread where iPhone owners cite Cell Signal issues, whether they have services on Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile. I transferred the Verizon service from my iPhone 16 Pro Max to my iPhone Air, but then I started to experience problems.
See this: iPhone Air Review: The joy of keeping it at cost
When I was resigning and trying to put my services back on my old iPhone, Apple is deploying an iOS 26.0.1 update designed to fix the issue. According to the release notes, Apple says the update will fix the fact that “small iPhone users may not be able to connect to the cellular network after updating to iOS 26.”
iOS 26.0.1 needs to fix cellular network issues, even among Bluetooth and Wi-Fi issues.
The halts I experienced were sporadic. One day, last week, my friend texted her about to call me, but she hadn’t experienced it. I had to reprint a few times before I could reach her. The same thing happened with some other phone calls I tried to place. Over the weekend, my mother tried to contact me all day long, but sometimes directed me directly to voicemail, like some other calls. Someone later let me know about them, so I began to notice these failed call attempts. There is no way to know exactly how many rings actually missed.
The most frustrating example was when I was shopping with a friend and lost service for a few hours. My phone remained in SOS mode even after restarting SOS mode. I was looking for Wi-Fi in the store to text her exactly where so she could find me. (We both have Verizon and her iPhone 16 Pro Max is still running iOS 18, but it had no issues.)
I asked my CNET colleague if I was facing similar issues, but my experience with the iPhone Air appears to be an outlier. My iPhone 17 had no issues, and I didn’t have a Patrick Holland iPhone 17 Pro Max or Jeff Carlson iPhone 17 Pro.
I immediately updated my phone when I saw iOS 26.0.1 being available. So I hope my mother doesn’t think I’m ignoring her phone anymore.
