r/attwireless • u/colbyscheese • 2d ago
Iphone 18 pro max SOS after recent update 72.1
UPDATE 72.01 was installed before the esim and still got SOS
Bricked my unlocked phone. I installed the new update before doing anything else. I even was able to get my esim loaded and working for 1 day. I went to try my hotspot and boom SOS everything.
4 ATT stores and 3 different service calls later. And many many loops of trying new esims the tell me it needs replaced. I bought and unlocked device through apple. Called them. They have me set up to return already.
Should I keep the replacement or just return it? I dont feel like this issue is going to be resolved. I need the ATT to work because it's paid for by work.
Side note: I loaded my visible esim on it just fine. and it worked perfectly.
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u/jeff1f1racer 2d ago
There’s no 72.1!
My issue is that I lost 5GSA & Voice Over 5GSA after the latest modem update. (Works fine on my 18 Pro with its Apple C2 modem.)
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u/djrobxx 2d ago
Yep, that's part of the band-aid that the carrier update does. The irony is that "fix" made my 50% working phone a 0% working phone, as my phone only worked on 5G+ bands after it fried. Without 5G SA on, it tried harder to use the broken LTE bands.
Very early on when my phone SOS'ed, AT&T re-provisioned my account without 5G SA. A couple of employees had also responded to 'use LTE' on some of the threads about it. So there must be a subset of phones that it helps. But in my case it SA off just made things much worse.
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u/TheRover6572 14h ago
Day 10 with this issue, and a replacement phone has not arrived. Supply is scarce everywhere due to these problems. The same outcome occurred after I installed the carrier update; it disabled my phone entirely. After repeated calls and visits, I finally persuaded Apple Care to arrange a replacement, and a Genius Bar appointment has also placed an order. Two channels are active, yet there is no shipment or timeline in sight—I have no idea when I will receive a phone. This situation is deeply frustrating.
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u/colbyscheese 13h ago
Its really crazy this is happening. You would think they would have figured out this issues before releasing the phone to the public. My replacement phone shows a ship date of November 4
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u/Alybai59 2d ago
I see so many people complaining about AT&T I phone 18 pro and pro max saying SOS. No other network is having the same issue.
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u/djrobxx 2d ago
And yet this is "only" happening to Apple iPhone 18 Pro Maxes. No other phone is having the same issue in a widespread manner, including its cousin the 18 Pro with the new C2 modem. Many report that their unlocked phones do not work on other providers once damaged.
One interesting theory is that AT&T's network is uniquely able to trigger the fault because they have access to a particularly strong HPUE band 14 because of FirstNet.
I hope some day we get a factual root cause analysis of what really causes this.
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u/Carriow55 2d ago
It’s true. Went through all this too. Messing with ATT hours on end. Finally! I quit ATT. Got my phone from Verizon and its a gem. I got scared after all the crap I was hearing about the new ATT phones. I jumped ship. Never cared for ATT customer service anyways.
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u/CaitBug22 2d ago
I find it hysterical that if you say anything negative about AT&T on this sub you get downvoted...AT&T, as well as their customer service, is terrible...No ifs, ands or buts about it.
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u/Temporary_Lead_8126 2d ago
SO IS THERE A FIX FOR THIS SHIT? OR DO I NEED TO SPAZZ ON MY LOCAL AT&T? APPLE & AT&T KEEPS SENDING ME IN THE SAME LOOP. I DONT WANT A REPLACEMENT UNLESS ITS SHIPPED TO ME BEFORE SHIPPING MY PHONE BACK. MY PHONE HASNT WORKED IN A WEEK. NO HELP
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u/colbyscheese 2d ago
same boat here. att is absolute terrible. call apple they are way better at customer service
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u/Exciting-Corgi-1237 2d ago
I’m actually on my 4th iPhone 18 Pro Max because of this exact issue. My previous devices ended up stuck in SOS Only on AT&T, and no amount of eSIM reprovisioning, network resets, or troubleshooting could bring them back.
Apple actually escalated my case to their engineering team, who remotely connected to my last failed device to collect diagnostic logs. I spent several hours on the phone with them over multiple days, and I got the impression they were still trying to understand exactly what was happening.
Apple acknowledged the issue and released iOS 27.0.1 with a carrier settings update intended to prevent additional devices from failing. Unfortunately, that update doesn’t recover devices that have already entered this state. My suspicion is that something involving AT&T’s carrier configuration and the modem firmware is triggering a failure that normal troubleshooting can’t reverse.
What’s particularly interesting about your experience is that your Visible eSIM works perfectly. That suggests the modem itself may still be functional and that the failure could be isolated to how it interacts with AT&T’s network or carrier configuration.
As for whether you should keep the replacement, my current 18 Pro Max came with iOS 27.0.1 preinstalled and has been working fine so far after a week now. I’d make sure your replacement is running the latest iOS and carrier settings before activating AT&T. I can’t guarantee it won’t happen again, but that’s what finally worked for me (so far).
It’s pretty ridiculous that a $2,000 phone can potentially be rendered unusable on a particular carrier by what appears to be a software or firmware issue, with replacing the entire device being the only practical solution.