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Intel antenna vs Qualcomm antenna on AT&T
- Thread starter demodave
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You're overthinking it way too much.
Enjoy your phone, if the network connection sucks try changing carriers.
Enjoy your phone, if the network connection sucks try changing carriers.
I got the Best Buy att 1661, so after it's paid can I have it unlocked and would be the same as the sim free?
I noticed at least for me if I turned off LTE and fell back on hspa+ I got two additional bars of service. This was at my house.
I agree with AT&T coverage sucking in New England--we've been in Vermont and New Hampshire, and, as you say, especially in rural areas, it's almost non-existent. Even in Colorado, it sucks in large areas of the state.
I think that there have been some lab tests that definitely prove that the Intel modem is not as fast as the Qualcomm modem. Is it at all possible to get an iPhone 7 Plus for AT&T's network, that has the Qualdcomm modem in it? Or, do you have no choice but the Intel modem?
Thanks.
I think that there have been some lab tests that definitely prove that the Intel modem is not as fast as the Qualcomm modem. Is it at all possible to get an iPhone 7 Plus for AT&T's network, that has the Qualdcomm modem in it? Or, do you have no choice but the Intel modem?
Thanks.
For whatever it is worth, my observation is that my AT&T 7 Plus is not as good as my AT&T 6S Plus when it comes to cellular reception.
There are places on my travels the 6S Plus would hold a solid HD Voice call, and the 7 Plus is warbling or static.
There are places on my travels the 6S Plus would hold a solid HD Voice call, and the 7 Plus is warbling or static.
This whole thing w/Intel and Qualcomm is way overblown.
Yes, the latter gives a 25-30% added performance under some conditions, but other factors play a role to determine what your actual speed will be.
If you are totally obsessive about it, get the Qualcomm. But the Intel radios are fine.
Could Apple have used the Qualcomm for the 7/+ across all the carrier models? Yes... but they didn't.
And I say this coming as a Verizon user with no horse in this race.
Yes, the latter gives a 25-30% added performance under some conditions, but other factors play a role to determine what your actual speed will be.
If you are totally obsessive about it, get the Qualcomm. But the Intel radios are fine.
Could Apple have used the Qualcomm for the 7/+ across all the carrier models? Yes... but they didn't.
And I say this coming as a Verizon user with no horse in this race.
Yes. The 6s that my wife now has performs better than my 7 on AT&T using the speed test app ( 6.5 Mbps vs 5 Mbps roughly).
I'm not much worried about the data speed because that's plenty quick...tested today at 71.5 Mbps in Manassas VA, and the signal wasn't even that strong.
What *does* worry me is that it's easy to tell that the 7 Plus (AT&T) doesn't have cellular reception for phone calls as good as the 6S Plus (AT&T).
Just finished installing 10.1 so we'll see if perhaps they didn't find a way to work some magic.
What *does* worry me is that it's easy to tell that the 7 Plus (AT&T) doesn't have cellular reception for phone calls as good as the 6S Plus (AT&T).
Just finished installing 10.1 so we'll see if perhaps they didn't find a way to work some magic.
I'm not much worried about the data speed because that's plenty quick...tested today at 71.5 Mbps in Manassas VA, and the signal wasn't even that strong.
What *does* worry me is that it's easy to tell that the 7 Plus (AT&T) doesn't have cellular reception for phone calls as good as the 6S Plus (AT&T).
Just finished installing 10.1 so we'll see if perhaps they didn't find a way to work some magic.
Keep us posted. Very curious.
wow lots to digest here- i had to pay full price so I got the unlocked phone rather than the ATT version- my ATT sim worked fine and so far my new 7+ is about the same as my 6s - i guess most of this is splitting hairs - if you have to pay full price and are not getting any carrier subsidy then play it safe and get the unlocked sim free version- don't loose sleep over this.
I completely disagree, I just went through switching to ATT and back to VZ due to horribly slow speeds like 0.5-5 down on ATT vs 3-30 down on VZ in most places
In NYC, have a work ATT and home VZ iPhone 6S ... never noticed a speed difference with either throughout the city ... in a normal day, I'll be in 10 different areas
Brought my VZ line over to ATT and had 2 ATT 7 plus ... speeds totally sucked, in most places, I would get around 0.5-1 down lucky to see 3-5 down
Rebooted, restored from iTunes ... nope, both phones still super slow
Pop my SIM into my coworkers VZ 7 plus and started running tests through the city
After probably 40 tests in different locations, ATT rarely beat VZ, close enough maybe 5 times but the rest was handily in favor of VZ meaning ATT still lucky to get low single digits while VZ comfortably pulling 5-10 down
Given all the buildings and obstalces in NYC, the Qualcomm vs Intel antenna mattered
Remember, there wasn't an ATT vs VZ issue on the 6S where it was all the same antenna
I skipped the iPhone 7 and will hold on to my iPhone 6 for now, in hopes that maybe the 10th anniversary one is a more major redesign. Plus I can save some cash in the meantime. But I really hope they get this straightened out before the iPhone 8 or 7s or whatever hits. If you're going to source two different companies for modems, then make them have the same capabilities. One of the great things about the last models was that any of them worked on any network. That gives consumers a lot more power to move freely among the different carriers for the best plans.
I'm extremely happy the Best Buy AT&T model is the A1661 variant and not the Intel modem. I guess one good thing came out of me buying my iPhone 7 Plus at Best Buy!
The 6S Plus definitely makes better phone calls than the 7 Plus in areas of signal challenge.
:-(
Not sure how much trouble I will go through to get a Qualcomm modem.
The fact is that we make fewer phone calls now, and the 7 Plus is such a powerful device when doing everything else.
I might just decide to live with it.
There are too many factors to draw any conclusion besides AT&T sucks compared to Verizon in your location.
I'm not saying this to make myself feel better about going with the Intel modem based iPhone. I'm actually in the process of switching from AT&T to Verizon here because Verizon has better service where I live too. My iPhone 7+ just hasn't arrived.
A few more anecdotes. I work extensively in the rural areas of NE/mid-atlantic. For 10 years I've been hearing how much better Verizon service is than my AT&T service, yet over and over again I'm in locations where my phone has better service than the Verizon phones on site. I can't think of a single location, in over 10 years, hundreds of job sites, where Verizon has been considerably better than AT&T. Believe me, if it were as big a deal as Verizon's advertising would have you believe, I'd have switched by now.
Two, I'm currently working on the side of a mountain up a long hollow in rural PA. My iPhone 7 with Intel modem is being pushed side by side with my co-worker's 6s+, both on AT&T, as we are tethering for job data, streaming video during down time. We barely have 1 bar of LTE. My phone is consistently performing better than his (I'm streaming the World Series, he can't get his Penguins game reliably, etc.)
Two, I'm currently working on the side of a mountain up a long hollow in rural PA. My iPhone 7 with Intel modem is being pushed side by side with my co-worker's 6s+, both on AT&T, as we are tethering for job data, streaming video during down time. We barely have 1 bar of LTE. My phone is consistently performing better than his (I'm streaming the World Series, he can't get his Penguins game reliably, etc.)
To be sure that I am not crazy, I took the time to make two voice calls from two different locations on my commute where I perceived that the iPhone 7 Plus (Intel) was not making very good calls.
I am absolutely correct about this.
In both cases the 6S Plus made crystal clear very high quality HD Voice calls that sounded like what an iPhone voice call is supposed to sound like.
In both cases the 7 Plus (AT&T Intel) connected, but the calls were clearly not HD Voice, and there was static and warbling.
This was without using Bluetooth. Just the two iPhones.
This is a very disappointing thing to me, and if I ever have the time to get another version of this iPhone, I am going to do it even at the risk of spending close to a thousand dollars on a new outright purchase.
It's going to take Apple a little while to get back onto the high seat I'd preserved for them all these years.
Very disappointing and entirely unsatisfactory.
The only thing I can think is that when they were testing this in the field, they were always in areas of better than -100 db signal. In my part of the world, that is an entirely optimistic expectation, and -115 to -120 is very common.
I am absolutely correct about this.
In both cases the 6S Plus made crystal clear very high quality HD Voice calls that sounded like what an iPhone voice call is supposed to sound like.
In both cases the 7 Plus (AT&T Intel) connected, but the calls were clearly not HD Voice, and there was static and warbling.
This was without using Bluetooth. Just the two iPhones.
This is a very disappointing thing to me, and if I ever have the time to get another version of this iPhone, I am going to do it even at the risk of spending close to a thousand dollars on a new outright purchase.
It's going to take Apple a little while to get back onto the high seat I'd preserved for them all these years.
Very disappointing and entirely unsatisfactory.
The only thing I can think is that when they were testing this in the field, they were always in areas of better than -100 db signal. In my part of the world, that is an entirely optimistic expectation, and -115 to -120 is very common.
That doesn't make any sense.
So you're claiming that the Intel based iPhone 7's do not make HD VOLTE phone calls?
I do not see from what I have typed that you could draw that conclusion.
I'm going to repeat myself just this one time, and only once:
In the exact same place that the iPhone 6S Plus (AT&T Qualcomm) makes crystal clear HD Voice calls, the iPhone 7 Plus (AT&T Intel) makes a much lower quality voice call that is clearly not HD Voice, warbles and static.
If you have a question about what I did, I'd be happy to answer those questions, but I do not think that you should presume to pretend that I said something that I did not say.
And, no, it does not make sense to me.
Perhaps we are approaching a time that we do not use our iPhones for voice calls very much, but we are not there, yet.
I drive at least two hours/day and need to make voice calls. When on Bluetooth, I obviously do not expect to get an HD Voice call; however, the iPhone 7 Plus calls are still warbling and with obvious static in places where the 6S Plus made perfectly clear voice calls, even on Bluetooth.
It's just...entirely unsatisfactory and not worthy of Apple.
I'm not going to fight about this, but this is clearly a big issue to me, so you should reply thoughtfully.
I'm going to repeat myself just this one time, and only once:
In the exact same place that the iPhone 6S Plus (AT&T Qualcomm) makes crystal clear HD Voice calls, the iPhone 7 Plus (AT&T Intel) makes a much lower quality voice call that is clearly not HD Voice, warbles and static.
If you have a question about what I did, I'd be happy to answer those questions, but I do not think that you should presume to pretend that I said something that I did not say.
And, no, it does not make sense to me.
Perhaps we are approaching a time that we do not use our iPhones for voice calls very much, but we are not there, yet.
I drive at least two hours/day and need to make voice calls. When on Bluetooth, I obviously do not expect to get an HD Voice call; however, the iPhone 7 Plus calls are still warbling and with obvious static in places where the 6S Plus made perfectly clear voice calls, even on Bluetooth.
It's just...entirely unsatisfactory and not worthy of Apple.
I'm not going to fight about this, but this is clearly a big issue to me, so you should reply thoughtfully.
Weird, all my calls sound clear and HD.
Again if they do not it would not be something hardware related to only Intel baseband chip iphones.
Since those chips also do VOLTE HD calls for everyone on every network.
Qualcomm does not do anything different or better that the Intel chips cannot do besides CDMA access.
Its something related to your carrier, particular cell tower or a carrier update might be needed.
Its not a hardware issue.
You must not have heard. The Intel iPhone 7 barely works and all problems experienced by Intel iPhone 7 users can be attributed to the Intel modem. If you're having a problem on the Qualcomm model, it must be something else causing the problem because the Qualcomm modem is amazing!!