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MichaelMidnight

macrumors 6502
Feb 20, 2008
400
115
Los Angeles
I returned two XS Max’s due to poor cellular connectivity. I now have a XS (decided XS Max was two big). I live in a good signal area and the XS has been perfect though I had concerns as to whether I would have good reception outside my area. Well, yesterday we went to the country for Thanksgiving. On my previous 8+ I had no service unless connected to Wi-Fi. My XS showed 0-1 bars and I could text and use data though speed was a little slower. I’m very satisfied with this phone now. I’m on Verizon and iOS 12.1.

Do you know what the Apple store considers as bad cell connectivity? I at best get 2-3 bars and I want to go in to just swap and/or put my sim in a different phone to see if it gets a better connection
 

jim29411

macrumors member
Nov 14, 2016
82
56
Do you know what the Apple store considers as bad cell connectivity? I at best get 2-3 bars and I want to go in to just swap and/or put my sim in a different phone to see if it gets a better connection
The norm for Verizon is two to three bars. Even with two bars you can get excellent speeds. Don’t worry about the number of bars. Instead run a Speedtest and judge the performance.
 

Guda.FL

macrumors 6502
Sep 23, 2015
375
470
First post in this thread, our entire family is complaining of slow cellular and wifi connection compared to the 7/8s we traded to Xs.

Its piss poor. Att here. We tried 7 and xs same spot swapped sims...atleast 25mbs difference. Im also experiencing far better call quality on my works 7 than on my XS at my desk...never had someone told me “you’re breaking up” since getting the Xs.

Wife that never complains says faceid is very slow, which it is with 12.1...she ends up using the password pad more than anything. This round of new gen purchases has been sub par. Along with ios 12 bugs that ive experienced with random blank screens or dead phones untill i plugged them into iTunes with force restarts.

This is the first round of iphones we regret purchasing.
 
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nia820

macrumors 68020
Jun 27, 2011
2,131
1,980
I haven't noticed any difference and I talk on th phone a lot.

Places where I get poor reception on my max are the same places where I got piss poor reception on my X.
 

AustinIllini

macrumors G5
Oct 20, 2011
12,699
10,566
Austin, TX
First post in this thread, our entire family is complaining of slow cellular and wifi connection compared to the 7/8s we traded to Xs.

Its piss poor. Att here. We tried 7 and xs same spot swapped sims...atleast 25mbs difference. Im also experiencing far better call quality on my works 7 than on my XS at my desk...never had someone told me “you’re breaking up” since getting the Xs.

Wife that never complains says faceid is very slow, which it is with 12.1...she ends up using the password pad more than anything. This round of new gen purchases has been sub par. Along with ios 12 bugs that ive experienced with random blank screens or dead phones untill i plugged them into iTunes with force restarts.

This is the first round of iphones we regret purchasing.
Yup, me too. I'm very very disappointed. My wife has the XR and I have the XS Max. I did a speed test side by side. She got 70 mb/s down. I got .7. It's worse than Edge.

I'm trying to install 12.1.1 to see if that addresses the issue but I doubt it will have the effect I want.

I've talked to Apple support twice. No dice. The "fix" (workaround) is to disable and enable cellular and it comes back for a while.
 

wineandcarbs

macrumors 6502a
May 2, 2008
904
137
The other possibility is that the 4x4 mimo functionality is a more complex system on the software/firmware/carrier side, and there are a bunch of carrier/location variables that haven’t been accounted for since this is Apples first time with a 4x4 setup. Mix that with a potentially slightly above average defect rate, and you could end up with the weirdness we are seeing here. But who knows

If you have time would you mind giving me a very brief layman's explanation for how 4x4 MIMO could be impacting this (I don't mean because I don't think that's the case; I mean because I don't have a good understanding of 4x4 MIMO)? And if it is that, would it mean that carriers need to make changes, or could it still be addressed on Apple's end via software updates?


The issue is a weird one in that while many are having reception issues there are obviously those who do not, and some users report improvement with software updates while others on the same carrier don't experience the same improvement. This one is harder to pinpoint the cause of than other issues, like the iPhone 4 (IIRC) antenna-issue.
 

gigapocket1

macrumors 68020
Mar 15, 2009
2,408
1,911
I don’t know if it’s the replacement iPhone Xs.. but I haven’t experienced any issues with this phone. I’m on 12.1.. just drove from Memphis to saint louis and back today.. so about 8 1/2 hour round trip not including time spent in STL. No drop calls, streamed Beats 1 there and back. Only experienced 1 cut out and that was like 5 secs for Beats 1. Also haven’t been having any problems where I couldn’t hear someone etc..
phone has been great.
 

jtrue28

macrumors 65816
Apr 10, 2015
1,031
711
Lexington, KY
Went to a football game last night. I hadn’t been experiencing the no data with 4 bars until then. Had to toggle airplane mode every single time I tried to use it. Very frustrating.

Once we left the game and were driving home, no problems at all.

:confused:
 

decypher44

macrumors 68000
Feb 24, 2007
1,812
2,987
Orange County, CA
First post in this thread, our entire family is complaining of slow cellular and wifi connection compared to the 7/8s we traded to Xs.

Its piss poor. Att here. We tried 7 and xs same spot swapped sims...atleast 25mbs difference. Im also experiencing far better call quality on my works 7 than on my XS at my desk...never had someone told me “you’re breaking up” since getting the Xs.

Wife that never complains says faceid is very slow, which it is with 12.1...she ends up using the password pad more than anything. This round of new gen purchases has been sub par. Along with ios 12 bugs that ive experienced with random blank screens or dead phones untill i plugged them into iTunes with force restarts.

This is the first round of iphones we regret purchasing.

Please tell me you contacted Apple about your issues.
 

vinegarshots

macrumors 6502a
Sep 24, 2018
968
1,332
Went to a football game last night. I hadn’t been experiencing the no data with 4 bars until then. Had to toggle airplane mode every single time I tried to use it. Very frustrating.

Once we left the game and were driving home, no problems at all.

:confused:

If many people are in all one area (like football game or concert), the cell tower can easily get congested. This is not uncommon.
 
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vinegarshots

macrumors 6502a
Sep 24, 2018
968
1,332
Here is good comparison between a LG with a qualcomm modem and an Xs with an intel modem. Pretty obvious there is a huge difference on the same network. Start at 10:27.


Unfortunately this doesn't really prove/disprove anything. My Qualcomm 7+ and XS Max had almost identical numbers in field test mode. :S
 

Packers1958

macrumors 68000
Apr 16, 2017
1,954
2,587
South Dakota
Unfortunately this doesn't really prove/disprove anything. My Qualcomm 7+ and XS Max had almost identical numbers in field test mode. :S
If it's not the modems, and the LG has better signal, then the LG must have a better antenna design. So we are back to page 1. The issue is a poor antenna design, compared to the LG and likely other phones.
 
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vinegarshots

macrumors 6502a
Sep 24, 2018
968
1,332
If it's not the modems, and the LG has better signal, then the LG must have a better antenna design. So we are back to page 1. The issue is a poor antenna design, compared to the LG and likely other phones.

But if the 7+ has a better antenna design (which it should, if the XS is poor), then it should not perform the same as my Max. You can form absolutely no meaningful conclusions without a much larger sample to analyze.

You don't even know what band either phone was connecting to. You're not taking potential software issues into account. There are a lot of variables outside the single conclusion you're making.
 
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jona2125

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2010
780
651
But if the 7+ has a better antenna design (which it should, if the XS is poor), then it should not perform the same as my Max. You can form absolutely no meaningful conclusions without a much larger sample to analyze.

You don't even know what band either phone was connecting to. You're not taking potential software issues into account. There are a lot of variables outside the single conclusion you're making.

It's been tested before though https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...se-than-iphone-x.2140854/page-4#post-26549987
 

wineandcarbs

macrumors 6502a
May 2, 2008
904
137
If many people are in all one area (like football game or concert), the cell tower can easily get congested. This is not uncommon.

I frequently attend events (mostly games, but sometimes concerts) at stadiums in my city. At both I've been able to use my 7+ and 8+ for calls, texts, iMessage, and apps requiring data without issue. It'll be interesting to see whether those around me with Xs/Xs Maxes have more issues with reception than those with other generation iPhones/different phones the next time I'm at one of these events. (Not disputing what you are saying about cell towers getting congested. More curious whether those with Xs/Xs Maxes have greater reception issues than those without, at least at the venues in my city.)
 

dooku77

macrumors regular
Nov 24, 2014
128
104
You know, I really thought this crap was resolved. It’s been happening all the time now, even on full LTE.
6d31a925535f71ff2117ef868ae86d05.jpg
 

lex22

macrumors member
Sep 14, 2015
64
64
Today on my commute, I had several minutes where my Xs said there was no service at all. I suppose its possible there was a Verizon outage but when service came back, it was 3-4 bars immediately. I never had a problem in this area before.
 
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wineandcarbs

macrumors 6502a
May 2, 2008
904
137
You know, I really thought this crap was resolved. It’s been happening all the time now, even on full LTE.
6d31a925535f71ff2117ef868ae86d05.jpg

The thing that would drive me absolutely crazy about this is thinking I have LTE and just have not been sent any texts/emails, when in reality I have but have not received them due to not actually having a connection when I think I do.
 
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dooku77

macrumors regular
Nov 24, 2014
128
104
The thing that would drive me absolutely crazy about this is thinking I have LTE and just have not been sent any texts/emails, when in reality I have but have not received them due to not actually having a connection when I think I do.

It is super frustrating. I depend on my phone all day since I’m on the road for work and I have to either toggle airplane mode or soft reset. Over the weekend I couldn’t even get my phone to work on the T-Mobile network in a high service area. I switched to my Note 9 and full LTE+ in same area. Paid a lot of money for the Max to not even do what it’s suppose to do well.
 

Packers1958

macrumors 68000
Apr 16, 2017
1,954
2,587
South Dakota
This issue is the one reason why I also kept my X. If i know I am going to travel, I leave my Max at home and use the X instead. In the city I live, the Max works fine, but elsewhere in areas with weak signals, the Max is a fail, while the X with the qualcomm modem remains locked on. Just have to accept the fact that the Max is a really good camera with a POS antenna.
 
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