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iPhone XS Max Is the mobile reception on the xs Max even worse than iPhone X ?
- Thread starter mydogeatsbeats
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Have just installed - will give it a spin!
Edit: So far I already see an improvement at Christopher St. — from no bars to four!
...heading uptown...at certain stations, the LTE seems to be restored faster and at a stronger signal than before.
...also found LTE back on the street in about twenty seconds as opposed to one minute.
...the verdict on my first commute running latest 12.1.1 beta: Not a “come to Jesus” miracle improvement, but still a significant one, the first improvement I’ve seen yet.
So maybe, just maybe, it really *is* the software, and all the pooh-poohing about antenna design is a giant crock. More testing required.
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Sad to report both my new XS and my original XS Max are behaving the same still. Just ventured around the town and never left an area of high coverage and when I got to my destination there was full bars and it said LTE but I have no data or phone calling capability.
Previous page u said u were 12.1.1beta 2. So both phones on that displaying the same problems? You also mentioned it seemed better. Did it get worse?
My Xs was replaced about a month ago for poor reception and also a camera that would not focus. I cannot say the reception was much better with the replaced phone (it might have been marginally better), although I would not say it was worse. I also cannot say that 12.1 made the phone much different. The reality is that the phone was usable.
I went on a business trip to Boston this week and I have to say I was surprised how much better the phone seemed to work there as opposed to the SF Bay Area where I live. Putting that aside, I flew home last night, and when we landed, I turned off airplane mode. The phone indicated that it was getting two or so bars of LTE. But I was getting zero data service. We taxi'ed for a bit so I had time to try anything to try and get service. I rebooted the phone. Once again, it indicated that I was getting around two bars of LTE, but again no data. I tried toggling in and out of airplane mode, and again, the phone would indicate that I was getting two bars of LTE, but there was no data. Needless to say I was disgruntled (and I was worried I would not be able to get a Lyft or Uber since I could get no data service).
So this went on until we got to the gate. I should note that everyone around me was happily tapping away on their phones, so everyone else seemed to have no problem getting data service while we taxied to the gate.
To make a long story monotonous, literally the second I stepped off the plane and into the terminal, data service started working. I have no idea why, and the phone has been working as it had been before my trip ever since.
Perhaps this story will help us figure out what is going on.
The airport was SFO and I'm on Verizon.
Yes I am on 12.1.1 beta 2petesavage said:
Correct I am on 12.1.1 beta 2. It's not that it got worse it's just it hasn't seemed to address the main issue I have been having where if I'm driving from a well covered area, through, and to areas that are well saturated with signal, it's basically like the phone is putting itself into DND Driving Mode but that's not actually what the phone is set to at all. It provides a solid connection once I'm in a different area, but there's just nothing happening with it, it just stalls on any task. I can't make any phone calls, receive or send messages (SMS and iMessage) or use anything data related for about 10 minutes until it settles down and figures out how to distribute everything to the new tower/area. I didn't notice it right away on the new beta until tonight after getting to my destination and I went to make a call and it just said "dialing" for almost a full minute. Just as before (it's becoming routine at this point) I connected to my WiFi hotspot off my other phone (on the same network) and got spammed by an abundance of messages, emails, and some other alerts that I had missed the last 25 minutes but was able to do everything I needed to do and by the time I was done sorting through that mess I could turn off WiFi and resume using normal data. Again like I said in my other post the first and only time I have ever seen the phones report to me 4G was earlier today going in and out of some very well built buildings. Seems like losing and then establishing a connection is much better, however having a great connection and going through good areas seems to really be a deficit for me and I don't know if it's entirely on Apple's end but it's now consistent between 3 devices and numerous carrier and software updates so it can't just be T-Mobile especially when I have at the very least 2 other devices with me concurrently that are simply not experiencing this.smoking monkey said:
lex22 said:
This sounds similar to what's going on with mine so now I'm convinced it's not too reliant on my carrier or area (I've experienced these issues in Sunnyvale a couple weeks ago as well)
I don’t think this update from PC Magazine has been posted here yet. Needless to say, it does not seem consistent with what we here have been experiencing.
https://www.pcmag.com/article/364768/exclusive-iphone-xs-crushes-xr-in-cellular-signal-test-resu
https://www.pcmag.com/article/364768/exclusive-iphone-xs-crushes-xr-in-cellular-signal-test-resu
Took the plunge and picked up a XS. Didn’t sell my iPhone X just in case I have issues with the XS. My X picks up a consistent 1 bar signal unless it’s in my pocket or whatever. At that point, sometimes it’ll drop down to no service.
With the XS, a lot of struggling keeping a signal. I have to go outside to grab a connection. This thing is going back and I am keeping my X. Too bad because the phone itself is awesome. The camera upgrade is nice but there’s no point of having a phone that can’t be used for what it is made to do.
With the XS, a lot of struggling keeping a signal. I have to go outside to grab a connection. This thing is going back and I am keeping my X. Too bad because the phone itself is awesome. The camera upgrade is nice but there’s no point of having a phone that can’t be used for what it is made to do.
That's too bad. I'm waiting for the 12.1.1 public release and will then get a Max. IF it's still got the yips, I'll return it and get an XR and be done with it.
I have had this issue with every iPhone I have ever had. Typically they do not get good reception on the runway, even with bars showing. IMHO it’s the network not the phone (I am on AT&T). I am on an IPhone X now and still have this issue.
Are you sure others had actual reception and weren’t playing games or something else? I have always thought it was normal / limited cell tower coverage when you are on the runway.
As one of the comments in the linked article points out, the testing is flawed as it is based on a single mid band frequency (band 4). One would typically be at low band (e.g. band 13 for 700) inside buildings, further away from the tower, etc and this is what should have been tested. This is where nearly 150+ pages of comments are talking about. Those that are saying their speeds have gone up to the upgrade of Xs, you can see why at better signal strength based on that article.
When you really need to make a phone call (think 911), and you have no signal on a $1000 phone can't make the call but a 8 year old $100 phone can - that doesn't make any sense.
Makes no sense and is just wrong.
A Pixel 3 or a Galaxy 9 will get enough signal to make an emergency call after a regular iPhone X loses signal, too (based on antenna numbers). So why don’t you have one of those?
It appears you are sacrificing a few dB of performance because you prefer an iPhone. I suppose it’s not much different from other people being ok with potentially sacrificing another dB to go with the XS series because they offer better speeds in normal signal areas, etc.
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Here is the thing that is really scary for my wife and me. Assume I am getting good coverage in my area in the suburbs of Philly. We fly to California or drive anywhere there are LTE issues with XS, XS Max, we will be out of luck as the people who live in those areas. I hope Apple is able to fix this problem for the people that have these phones, and us that are waiting to hear something about a fix for this problem.
Is it frustrating to anyone else that MR, The Verge, etc aren’t following up with Apple on this? It’s like they just want to cover their eyes and ears and pretend it’s not happening.
I think for 3 reasons -
1. Because their phone was a perfect review model so they didn’t experience this therefore they conveniently won’t comment even though them doing so would help tremendously.
2. They won’t get a review modelnext time!
3. Maybe they think it really is just a very small amount of people??? it is happening all over the world though, so...
It’s odd. People jump on Apple for the most trivial things sometimes, yet when the phone doesn’t work for its core function... nuttin’!
Those arguments don’t really make sense though, do they? Because:
1. If this is an antenna design flaw a perfect review model couldn’t exist, could it?
2. You really think that people like MKBHD couldn’t buy their own phone to review?
3. It must be a small number of people, because (a) it’s the same people who keep posting in this thread (and a lot of them don’t even have a XS), not hundreds of different people and (b) if it was really widespread then people would be returning their phones in droves and it definitely would have hit the mainstream media, just like the iPhone 4 antenna issues did.
Not true It’s on reddit and other places on the web. Apple tech support acknowledges the issue. Question is when is the fix coming
So far improvement has been negligible
I’m hopeful 12.1.1 will help
I don’t think your last reason holds water personally. I’m inclined to believe it’s a lot of people affected rather then just a few. It’s just that most of them are not likely to post here.
Also I think the majority of people out there are not like those who post here and probably aren’t inclined to return their phones as long as they get some level of functionality out of it.
Make perfect sense.
1. It’s possibly an antenna problem in low signal areas. In strong signal areas its a beast. Im hoping its software.
2. Haha. Naive! They get them from Apple to early review.
3. Who knows. That’s the problem. People are getting 4 bad ones in a row. That shouldn’t happen. Across the globe as well. Something is up. Whether its hardware, software or a combo nobody knows. Maybe apple dont even know...
So... the replacement iPhone Max signal that I have received. I have had only 1 dropout. And I don’t think it was my phone but my friends iPhone max, considering I’m at home and haven’t had any issues on this iPhone or the previous iPhone after the update.
The difference I have seen is my LTE speeds are better! I reached 100 down and previously the highest I’ve ever gotten was 45 down.. and I did Speedtest on my old phone in Memphis, Tulsa ok, Wichita, Orlando, New Jersey.. so... just to get 100 down.. I know I’m not in the same place as the others.. but I still feel that’s a huge improvement.
The difference I have seen is my LTE speeds are better! I reached 100 down and previously the highest I’ve ever gotten was 45 down.. and I did Speedtest on my old phone in Memphis, Tulsa ok, Wichita, Orlando, New Jersey.. so... just to get 100 down.. I know I’m not in the same place as the others.. but I still feel that’s a huge improvement.
Also, let’s not forget that Apple has been deleting these comments on their support page and that has been pointed out here multiple times.
