iPhone XS Max Is the mobile reception on the xs Max even worse than iPhone X ?

[DotCom2]

Yesterday I went to 5 different locations all around town and took tests comparing the iPhone X against my new (3rd) Max.
These tests were in parking lots and not in buildings and I made sure each speed test was done from the same server.
I ran a field test before each test.
I ran two speed tests at each location.

Of the 5 field tests, the Max beat the Ten all 5 times.
Of the speed tests the Max beat the X 5 times and the X won 4.
One test was even.

I actually went to a 6th location that was known to be a very very bad reception location and the Max won the field test there as well, however the reception was so bad that neither the X or the Max could hardly get a reading but at least they were the same.

As far as I am concerned, so far this 3rd Max is a winner and a keeper for me.

One thing I did notice was from the build date chart that was posted here, both of my previous returned Maxs were build week 12 where as this new good Max was build week 10. (An older build date). DUNNO

But I do know that I finally got an acceptable Max and I'm keeping this one.

I'm using up a lot of data on my plan so I won't be doing much more testing until my trip to Disneyland next month.

 

[petesavage]

Check to see if data roaming is turned on. I discovered it was off on my Max, and when I turned it on, i got better reception. What's odd is with all my previous iPhones I made sure it was enabled, and when I set up my Max I restored from my X, yet it still turned data roaming off.

It was not turned on...on either phone. To my understanding, it shouldn’t need to be.

However, when I was previously unable to get a signal (in a place I always had before on my X), I did try turning roaming on. It didn’t help me at all.

 

[DotCom2]

Nice!

Is your old X GSM, CDMA or Sim free?

GSM

 

[Packers1958]

It was not turned on...on either phone. To my understanding, it shouldn’t need to be.

In the US, VZW says to turn it on. The carriers do have agreements with other carriers to share towers, so instead of just locking on to a weaker VZW tower, it will use a tower closer by when enabled.

 

[petesavage]

In the US, VZW says to turn it on. The carriers do have agreements with other carriers to share towers, so instead of just locking on to a weaker VZW tower, it will use a tower closer by when enabled.

Thanks - I’ll try that again, as an experiment, but I’ve never had it on before with any of my iPhones and never had this sort of issue, which does lead me to believe it’s software, hardware, or a combination of the two.

 

[PBz]

It was not turned on...on either phone. To my understanding, it shouldn’t need to be.

However, when I was previously unable to get a signal (in a place I always had before on my X), I did try turning roaming on. It didn’t help me at all.

Unless you are traveling internationally you want it on. Roaming fees are gone. Give your phone option of every tower possible.

 

[petesavage]

Unless you are traveling internationally you want it on. Roaming fees are gone. Give your phone option of every tower possible.

I do understand, and I will try it again (it didn’t help last time I tried). I just think it’s odd that I never had a problem with it off before, and my son’s phone (roaming also off), side-by-side with mine, showed 4 bars of LTE while mine showed No Service, and we’re on the same exact plan.

 

[PBz]

I do understand, and I will try it again (it didn’t help last time I tried). I just think it’s odd that I never had a problem with it off before, and my son’s phone (roaming also off), side-by-side with mine, showed 4 bars of LTE while mine showed No Service, and we’re on the same exact plan.

Your reaction is legit.

 

[mohkg]

Your reaction is legit.

Beta 4 was just released, updating rn

 

[Smoothie]

I'm using up a lot of data on my plan so I won't be doing much more testing until my trip to Disneyland next month.

I've used a lot of data too, but unfortunately I won't get a chance to test mine at Disneyland. Apple should reimburse us for field-testing these phones.

 

[elitypes]

Beta 4 was just released, updating rn

Please keep us posted on cellular/LTE performance if you were having issues beforehand. Much appreciated!!!

 

[mohkg]

Same thing as 12.0.1 smh. i tested everything and am getting the same horrible wifi perofrmace, i dont have data issues, just wifi speeds being slow

 

[bushman4]

Same thing as 12.0.1 smh. i tested everything and am getting the same horrible wifi perofrmace, i dont have data issues, just wifi speeds being slow

Call Apple tech support LET THEM KNOW
that’s the only way we get this fixed

 

[roncron]

As far as I am concerned, so far this 3rd Max is a winner and a keeper for me.

One thing I did notice was from the build date chart that was posted here, both of my previous returned Maxs were build week 12 where as this new good Max was build week 10. (An older build date). DUNNO

But I do know that I finally got an acceptable Max and I'm keeping this one.

I'm using up a lot of data on my plan so I won't be doing much more testing until my trip to Disneyland next month.

I'm really glad you finally got (what seems so far like) a good unit.

I'm on my second Max. Returned the first one about 10 days ago, bought the second one from my local Apple store two days ago. I haven't done much testing yet (I burned through a ton of data testing my first Max). But so far, connectivity (LTE and wifi) has been excellent at home and at work - both are in marginal cell coverage areas. Much better than the first Max which I returned about 10 days ago.

Also for me, the first Max was built during week 12 while the Max I got two days about was built during week 10 or 11. That might be just a coincidence.

On Friday, my monthly plan resets and I'm also going on a 1-day road trip to a neighboring state. So I'll be able to test the Max's LTE in a variety of rural and urban locations. I'll report back whether the news is good or bad.

 

[newborneyes]

I don’t know what’s going on but as I’m sitting at my desk with Phone#2 which has been performing poorly all weekend sundenly has normal LTE speeds, I went from mo more than 3mbps to 68mbps??!

 

[Packers1958]

I don’t know what’s going on but as I’m sitting at my desk with Phone#2 which has been performing poorly all weekend sundenly has normal LTE speeds, I went from mo more than 3mbps to 68mbps??!

Could be a lot of things. Wind direction could be different. Inversion vs no inversion, etc. Weather can play havoc on cell signal. Of course, your carrier could have tweaked things over the weekend.

 

[elitypes]

I'm really glad you finally got (what seems so far like) a good unit.

I'm on my second Max. Returned the first one about 10 days ago, bought the second one from my local Apple store two days ago. I haven't done much testing yet (I burned through a ton of data testing my first Max). But so far, connectivity (LTE and wifi) has been excellent at home and at work - both are in marginal cell coverage areas. Much better than the first Max which I returned about 10 days ago.

Also for me, the first Max was built during week 12 while the Max I got two days about was built during week 10 or 11. That might be just a coincidence.

On Friday, my monthly plan resets and I'm also going on a 1-day road trip to a neighboring state. So I'll be able to test the Max's LTE in a variety of rural and urban locations. I'll report back whether the news is good or bad.

I'm happy that you, DotCom, and Rolltide seem to have working replacements. The OGs of this thread as it started.

I am eager to try a replacement myself. I sent another follow up to the apple support technician this morning. I haven't heard from her in over a week... I wanted to get in touch with her to see what my options are at this point. I was told Apple would honor a replacement past the 14 day window given they have records of my genius appointment and conversations with Apple support about it. However I am curious as to how they could continue to support my case.

If I return for a replacement and have issues with that one, would they continue to honor further replacements? I really want some answers on all that before walking into an Apple store. Fingers crossed that I get lucky with a working unit...

 

[vinegarshots]

I'm happy that you, DotCom, and Rolltide seem to have working replacements. The OGs of this thread as it started.

I am eager to try a replacement myself. I sent another follow up to the apple support technician this morning. I haven't heard from her in over a week... I wanted to get in touch with her to see what my options are at this point. I was told Apple would honor a replacement past the 14 day window given they have records of my genius appointment and conversations with Apple support about it. However I am curious as to how they could continue to support my case.

If I return for a replacement and have issues with that one, would they continue to honor further replacements? I really want some answers on all that before walking into an Apple store. Fingers crossed that I get lucky with a working unit...

Apple has a 1 year warranty for manufacturing defects. The 14 day thing is only for product returns, not for merchandise that doesn’t work.
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Unless you are traveling internationally you want it on. Roaming fees are gone. Give your phone option of every tower possible.

My T-Mobile plan has a 100MB per month data roaming cap. Once you hit the cap, your data roaming is done for the rest of the month, so it’s better to keep it off until you really need it.

 

[Packers1958]

Apple has a 1 year warranty for manufacturing defects. The 14 day thing is only for product returns, not for merchandise that doesn’t work.

Exactly. So I would wait until Apple gets this all figured out. If it is a bad batch, they may be still being sold or used as replacements. In a month or 2, if it was a bad batch, they will be out of the system, and the replacement should not have the same issue.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Is Apple replacing phones that are out of the 14day exchange time frame?

Not that I am aware of.

 

[chripuck]

Got 114mbps download on LTE on my Max whereas I never really got above 60ish mbps on my 8plus. But I’ve noticed that the Max drops to 4G more often than the 8plus and can be sluggish to return to LTE.

You've got 3 bars of service. This issue is when you have 1 bar of service.

My XS is destroying my 7 when I'm in 3-4 bars of service, but it dies (think .1 mbps) when I'm in 1 bar of service whereas the 7 will poke along with 5-7 mbps.

 

[predation]

Beta 4 was just released, updating rn

i'd like to know as i'm thinking about picking up a max this week.

 

[chripuck]

I got back into the game with another XS Max yesterday after I got $500 in gift cards for some older stuff I sent to Brightstar. So far so good... rocking wifi no issues. I've made several calls and used the phone all day without a single issue. I do think Apple will make some tweaks to the LTE algorithm in terms of bands and tower switching. It may even take some tweaking of the carriers themselves. However, as it stands now I don't see myself returning this one because unlike the other one that couldn't connect or stay connected to wifi. I have no such issues. LTE field test indicates for the most part is is on par with the iPhone 8+ which I have for my work phone.

Mine looks on par with my 7 in regards to the field test numbers, but it's dramatically different in terms of performance. It appears the issue is with band 66, so I'm wondering if that's the common thread. I get almost identical performance when I'm on band 12 or when I'm close to a band 66 tower.
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anyone who tries to fix the issue by replacing their iPhone is what I'd characterize as Tin hat.
it's the exact same chips and RF profile in each device

I had mentioned when beta 3 launched that LTE issues appear to be addressed and the wifi issues are 100% addressed. the phone has zero to do with it.

Beta 3 didn't do squat for me. Still horrible performance in low signal areas, especially with band 4/66. Band 12 actually seems fine.
[doublepost=1539634514][/doublepost]Just updated to Beta 4. Office is fine in terms of signal so I'll check on my way home. I know one surefire place that it just keels over.

TMo carrier settings didn't change but modem firmware went to 1.0.29

 

[PBz]

Apple has a 1 year warranty for manufacturing defects. The 14 day thing is only for product returns, not for merchandise that doesn’t work.
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My T-Mobile plan has a 100MB per month data roaming cap. Once you hit the cap, your data roaming is done for the rest of the month, so it’s better to keep it off until you really need it.

Interesting. Per the plan I am on it says I get 200MB. I have never received the 80% used notification so I must never roam.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

If your having any reception troubles return it asap. My 4th phone is rock solid and has had no problems with dropped calls and data so far. There is no doubt a batch of bad phones that have hopefully been flushed out of the system by now . In fieldtest mode it doesn't have quite the reception that my qualcomm 7 has but it's close . Much more later

Most people would be afraid, at this point, that they would get one of your old phones as a refurbished unit when they do a swap ;-)

My iPhone XS Max is not worse than my iPhone X with QUALCOMM, but my iPhone X with QUALCOMM receiption and performance in my neighborhood has always been terrible (as was my 7+ before that, and my 6s+, etc).

In strong signal areas my Xs Max has been better. But I really was wanting mine to be better than my X everywhere I go.

I now kind of wish that I had done what you did, and keep returning new ones and getting new ones, in the hopes that I would get an Xs Max that’s better than what I’ve grown used to.

Maybe it’s not too late for some people, but others are past their return window, and now have to see a genius and be able to prove that their phone does not work in weak signal areas when they take it into the store.