Bad reception

[royks]

Hi

Just got an iphone x. Great in many ways, signal strength not. My old android got good reception in places where I can't even get on internet now.

Taking off my Apple silicon case hasn't helped.

Any tips or suggestions? Is this something that could be improved with update? What can I hope for?

Thanks.

royks

 

[armtek]

I have the iPhone X 256GB with AT&T that replaced an iPhone 7 Plus 256GB, also on AT&T, so the only variables are the phone and the iOS version. I am very happy with the X for various reasons (once the new gestures become ingrained in my muscle memory) but I too noticed a signal strength drop. Compared to my 7 Plus running iOS 10, the X running iOS 11.1 is a bar less in strength in the identical conditions. I've tried it with and without the case (in case the vendor put in a bit too much carbon to get the black color), but in each case its just slightly less. This has caused dropped calls in a few more locations than the 7 Plus did, and given the fact it was only a couple of days I don't think the towers have been reconfigured over the weekend. It's not earth shattering but it is consistent.

I read that the AT&T phones would be using the Intel chips instead of the QualComm so maybe that's it and there is no fix. I will say that the VOICE quality is far superior, even to the point that the noise cancellation on the X appears to be turned up a notch, but it doesn't help when the phone drops a call due to SIGNAL. Apple Support apparently hasn't heard about this issue (that's OK, I like beta testing) but they recommended that I try and reset the network, and possibly update to 11.1.1 or 11.2 when it comes out, but I don't think that either of those updates address the signal strength.

Any thoughts out there?

 

[royks]

Thanks for the reply!

Found the solution.

It may only be for me and my situation but it works.

My problem reception was at work in Midtown NYC. Reading a bunch of articles, thinking it thru, I did the opposite of what someone somewhere else suggested to somebody—which was checking to make sure their LTE was on. That made me think about was it possible the LTE network I was on was actually overloaded in Midtown Manhattan? I'm on MetroPCS, not one of the big boys, and maybe they have limitations—aren't they on T-Mobile's system and towers?—so, wondering about that and what it could mean for me, I turned off LTE and voila—great reception almost instantaneously. And it wasn't 3G, it was 4G.

Problem solved. Hopefully this will help someone.

 

[digital808]

I have the iPhone X 256GB with AT&T that replaced an iPhone 7 Plus 256GB, also on AT&T, so the only variables are the phone and the iOS version. I am very happy with the X for various reasons (once the new gestures become ingrained in my muscle memory) but I too noticed a signal strength drop. Compared to my 7 Plus running iOS 10, the X running iOS 11.1 is a bar less in strength in the identical conditions. I've tried it with and without the case (in case the vendor put in a bit too much carbon to get the black color), but in each case its just slightly less. This has caused dropped calls in a few more locations than the 7 Plus did, and given the fact it was only a couple of days I don't think the towers have been reconfigured over the weekend. It's not earth shattering but it is consistent.

I read that the AT&T phones would be using the Intel chips instead of the QualComm so maybe that's it and there is no fix. I will say that the VOICE quality is far superior, even to the point that the noise cancellation on the X appears to be turned up a notch, but it doesn't help when the phone drops a call due to SIGNAL. Apple Support apparently hasn't heard about this issue (that's OK, I like beta testing) but they recommended that I try and reset the network, and possibly update to 11.1.1 or 11.2 when it comes out, but I don't think that either of those updates address the signal strength.

Any thoughts out there?

i too noticed that signal strength was weak (AT&T) from day one compared to my 7+. Kinda troublesome if you ask me.

 

[royks]

@armtek, digital808 — When you say your signal strength is diminished, do you mean everywhere or specific locations?

My problem was a specific area (work) where I couldn't get reception and if your problem is everywhere I doubt my solution will help, but to check off your having done everything you might just try what I did: turning off LTE. What I got was 4G and almost instantaneous reception. And 4G is no slouch.

You might even let me know how that went. Probably useless, but who would've thot it could work until it was tried.

 

[digital808]

@armtek, digital808 — When you say your signal strength is diminished, do you mean everywhere or specific locations?

My problem was a specific area (work) where I couldn't get reception and if your problem is everywhere I doubt my solution will help, but to check off your having done everything you might just try what I did: turning off LTE. What I got was 4G and almost instantaneous reception. And 4G is no slouch.

You might even let me know how that went. Probably useless, but who would've thot it could work until it was tried.

Everywhere. Minus 1-2 bars versus what my 7+ would grab as far as signal strength goes.