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

H

hardwax

macrumors newbie
Oct 4, 2018
20
19
in my case this seems to be a software issue (iphone xs max 256gb)
I get a pretty good reception at open places (usually connected to band 7) but a poor reception inside buildings
early this morning in the office I've noticed poor reception and the phone was connected to band 7, I've restarted the phone and instantly got significant better reception ... but connected to band 3 now. After a minute phone switched back to band 7 and poor reception was back. it seems the phone doesn't lock on the best antenna/band possible.

speed tests:
band 7 prior to restart - terrible
band 3 after restart - perfect
band 7 a minute after restart - terrible
 
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I

imtoomuch

macrumors member
Sep 25, 2018
81
93
hardwax said:
in my case this seems to be a software issue (iphone xs max 256gb)
I get a pretty good reception at open places (usually connected to band 7) but a poor reception inside buildings
early this morning in the office I've noticed poor reception and the phone was connected to band 7, I've restarted the phone and instantly got significant better reception ... but connected to band 3 now. After a minute phone switched back to band 7 and poor reception was back. it seems the phone doesn't lock on the best antenna/band possible.

speed tests:
band 7 prior to restart - terrible
band 3 after restart - perfect
band 7 a minute after restart - terrible
Click to expand...

I don't think that's software. I think that's the phone giving a false reading until the phone "catches up" to the actual reception level. That's what it seems like happens on my phone anyway.
 
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indychris

indychris

macrumors 6502a
Apr 19, 2010
704
1,527
Fort Wayne, IN
gigapocket1 said:
Hmmmm. I wish their was a poll on this forum. I wonder if it’s isolated to mostly AT&T users.
Click to expand...

I tried to ascertain that a week or two ago. There seems to be at least a couple of issues that 1) I’m not sure are related, and 2) may or may not be carrier related.

The first is a significantly weaker reach when it comes to receiving cellular service with the S/Max when compared to Qualcomm iPhones of previous generations. I did encounter this problem when I received my first 8+ last year which was an Intel AT&T model. The reception was much worse than my 7. I returned it and purchased a sim-free 8+ with a Qualcomm antenna and never had any other reception problems in my normal travel corridors.

But there also seems to be an issue with the new phones’ ability to switch between LTE and 4G/3G signals where switching back and forth is creating havoc with reception.

The latter may well be fixable with software/firmware/carrier updates, but at this point I’m fairly convinced that the former problem revolves around design issues between the antenna and Intel modem, simply because it seems so similar (yet worse) to the issues I had with the Intel 8+.

I am definitely NO cellular expert and am basing this solely on my experience, so I’d love to be proven wrong and be given a reason to pick up another Max later on that works. I love the phone and would definitely be carrying one if it worked well for me.
 
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J

jkozlow3

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2008
973
659
hardwax said:
in my case this seems to be a software issue (iphone xs max 256gb)
I get a pretty good reception at open places (usually connected to band 7) but a poor reception inside buildings
early this morning in the office I've noticed poor reception and the phone was connected to band 7, I've restarted the phone and instantly got significant better reception ... but connected to band 3 now. After a minute phone switched back to band 7 and poor reception was back. it seems the phone doesn't lock on the best antenna/band possible.

speed tests:
band 7 prior to restart - terrible
band 3 after restart - perfect
band 7 a minute after restart - terrible
Click to expand...

I've said the same thing many times. I'm on Verizon. After a restart, the phone always locks onto Band 13 (this has been the case forever with all iPhones). After a minute it drops down to band 4 (again, this has always been the case with iPhones). However, there does seem to be a software issue in that it NEVER switches back to band 13 even when the signal degrades enough to the point where the performance on band 4 is unacceptable. This might result in dropped calls, lost voice packets (5+ seconds of silence on a call), poor data performance, etc.

Not to say that there can't be some hardware issues/design flaws in the XS, but this issue could be fixed by software should Apple choose to do so. In the same way that WiFi should switch from 5GHz to 2.4GHz when the signal gets bad enough, the phone should switch bands once the signal degrades enough on the preferred band.
 
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I

imtoomuch

macrumors member
Sep 25, 2018
81
93
hardwax said:
in my case this seems to be a software issue (iphone xs max 256gb)
I get a pretty good reception at open places (usually connected to band 7) but a poor reception inside buildings
early this morning in the office I've noticed poor reception and the phone was connected to band 7, I've restarted the phone and instantly got significant better reception ... but connected to band 3 now. After a minute phone switched back to band 7 and poor reception was back. it seems the phone doesn't lock on the best antenna/band possible.

speed tests:
band 7 prior to restart - terrible
band 3 after restart - perfect
band 7 a minute after restart - terrible
Click to expand...

jkozlow3 said:
I've said the same thing many times. I'm on Verizon. After a restart, the phone always locks onto Band 13 (this has been the case forever with all iPhones). After a minute it drops down to band 4 (again, this has always been the case with iPhones). However, there does seem to be a software issue in that it NEVER switches back to band 13 even when the signal degrades enough to the point where the performance on band 4 is unacceptable. This might result in dropped calls, lost voice packets (5+ seconds of silence on a call), poor data performance, etc.

Not to say that there can't be some hardware issues/design flaws in the XS, but this issue could be fixed by software should Apple choose to do so. In the same way that WiFi should switch from 5GHz to 2.4GHz when the signal gets bad enough, the phone should switch bands once the signal degrades enough on the preferred band.
Click to expand...

How are you two performing these tests? I'd like to try myself and I'll report back.
 
kneezmo

kneezmo

macrumors regular
Dec 31, 2017
235
141
jkozlow3 said:
I've said the same thing many times. I'm on Verizon. After a restart, the phone always locks onto Band 13 (this has been the case forever with all iPhones). After a minute it drops down to band 4 (again, this has always been the case with iPhones). However, there does seem to be a software issue in that it NEVER switches back to band 13 even when the signal degrades enough to the point where the performance on band 4 is unacceptable. This might result in dropped calls, lost voice packets (5+ seconds of silence on a call), poor data performance, etc.

Not to say that there can't be some hardware issues/design flaws in the XS, but this issue could be fixed by software should Apple choose to do so. In the same way that WiFi should switch from 5GHz to 2.4GHz when the signal gets bad enough, the phone should switch bands once the signal degrades enough on the preferred band.
Click to expand...

could be possible, but at the moment, apple seems focussed with this : https://www.cnet.com/g00/news/apple...Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmVzLw==&i10c.ua=1&i10c.dv=14

12.1 is near.. and doesnt seems that this lte issues will be fixed... lets wait a bit more.
 
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decypher44

decypher44

macrumors 68000
Feb 24, 2007
1,814
2,991
Orange County, CA
kneezmo said:
could be possible, but at the moment, apple seems focussed with this : https://www.cnet.com/g00/news/apple-to-fix-iphone-xs-selfie-smoothing-with-ios-12-1-beauty-gate/?i10c.encReferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmVzLw==&i10c.ua=1&i10c.dv=14

12.1 is near.. and doesnt seems that this lte issues will be fixed... lets wait a bit more.
Click to expand...
That is so infuriating!! Why not focus on what makes this thing an actual phone?? People are more worried about freaking selfies. Smh.
 
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A

alFR

macrumors 68030
Aug 10, 2006
2,834
1,070
kneezmo said:
could be possible, but at the moment, apple seems focussed with this : https://www.cnet.com/g00/news/apple-to-fix-iphone-xs-selfie-smoothing-with-ios-12-1-beauty-gate/?i10c.encReferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmVzLw==&i10c.ua=1&i10c.dv=14

12.1 is near.. and doesnt seems that this lte issues will be fixed... lets wait a bit more.
Click to expand...

decypher44 said:
That is so infuriating!! Why not focus on what makes this thing an actual phone?? People are more worried about freaking selfies. Smh.
Click to expand...
Yes, it's definitely a reasonable and logical assumption that there is only one guy assigned to iPhone software / firmware engineering and so the whole company can only work on one thing at once. That would be why they have such a small HQ building, there are only a couple of guys working there. Oh, wait...
 
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decypher44

decypher44

macrumors 68000
Feb 24, 2007
1,814
2,991
Orange County, CA
alFR said:
Yes, it's definitely a reasonable and logical assumption that there is only one guy assigned to iPhone software / firmware engineering and so the whole company can only work on one thing at once. That would be why they have such a small HQ building, there are only a couple of guys working there. Oh, wait...
Click to expand...
Oh, so they’ve announced they are working on the connection issue, and they identify the iOS version the “fix” will be implemented? That’s huge news, man! Thank you!!!

Have a link?

Yeah.....
 
newborneyes

newborneyes

macrumors newbie
Oct 8, 2018
14
23
Seattle
So I fired up my old 8+ and it’s getting the same poor LTE performance as the Max, so maybe it really is 100% software? But that does not really explain other phones I’ve seen performing as designed.
 
kneezmo

kneezmo

macrumors regular
Dec 31, 2017
235
141
newborneyes said:
So I fired up my old 8+ and it’s getting the same poor LTE performance as the Max, so maybe it really is 100% software? But that does not really explain other phones I’ve seen performing as designed.
Click to expand...

still the same man :D never knows what is the problem, or from where comes.. and this doubt makes the costumers return their buy, before pass 14 days return window, and discover that is hardware or design or aliens xD
 
VineRider

VineRider

macrumors 65816
May 24, 2018
1,427
1,256
I wonder how many people are being throttled on their data plans due to running so many speed tests and going over the limit where the carrier throttles when "the network is congested". Each speed test can use over 200mb. May not be a factor but I do wonder
 
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elitypes

macrumors regular
Oct 5, 2007
114
201
VineRider said:
I wonder how many people are being throttled on their data plans due to running so many speed tests and going over the limit where the carrier throttles when "the network is congested". Each speed test can use over 200mb. May not be a factor but I do wonder
Click to expand...
Pretty sure it's a non factor.

Last week before getting a replacement unit (which is no better btw), I was on the phone with an Apple senior adviser who conferenced in someone from AT&T support. They confirmed that I had no locks or flags on my account. Confirmed there were no data caps on my account. Also confirmed that a new billing cycle had just started and I was fresh on my data for that month. I have an unlimited plan, and they confirmed there was no throttling as I hadn't used much data and the cycle just reset.
 
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indychris

indychris

macrumors 6502a
Apr 19, 2010
704
1,527
Fort Wayne, IN
VineRider said:
I wonder how many people are being throttled on their data plans due to running so many speed tests and going over the limit where the carrier throttles when "the network is congested". Each speed test can use over 200mb. May not be a factor but I do wonder
Click to expand...

So if I run 5 speed tests I’m using over a GB of data? Where’d you get those figures?

Do you mean MB or Mb?
 
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