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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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Well my husband has finally been able to get good AT&T reception on his Max in certain areas of his office building that he was not able to get using his S9+ (Qualcomm) and other phones he has, including his old X.
I called my dad who said I didn’t sound particularly good on my Max until I moved from my ground floor where I have two bars of AT&T to the second floor where it goes up to 3. It’s hard to compare to my S9+ because that phone has 5 bars on its indicator. It does show the same signal drop on the ground floor as the Max. We used to get great signal strength here at my house but in the last two or three weeks we’ve had problems.
My internet, which is through Verizon Fios, has been inconsistent as well and so has my dad’s. He says his recent speed tests have been abysmal on Fios. I’ve not run any speed tests but have noticed slowdowns just trying to run iOS updates and download movies.
So something is also a bit off with the carriers and ISP’s, so I can’t fairly evaluate this phone in the manner I am used to.
I called my dad who said I didn’t sound particularly good on my Max until I moved from my ground floor where I have two bars of AT&T to the second floor where it goes up to 3. It’s hard to compare to my S9+ because that phone has 5 bars on its indicator. It does show the same signal drop on the ground floor as the Max. We used to get great signal strength here at my house but in the last two or three weeks we’ve had problems.
My internet, which is through Verizon Fios, has been inconsistent as well and so has my dad’s. He says his recent speed tests have been abysmal on Fios. I’ve not run any speed tests but have noticed slowdowns just trying to run iOS updates and download movies.
So something is also a bit off with the carriers and ISP’s, so I can’t fairly evaluate this phone in the manner I am used to.
Update everyone local Apple store today.
Replaced the phone today at my local apple store same issue this is going back tomorrow for a refund something definitely not right here the genius bar staff was shocked we reset the iphone to brand new tried my old sim card terrible speeds with only 1-2 signal bars.
Move my sim card back to my iPhone X speed back to normal and signal bars showing 4-5.
Not taking any chances with this will wait out.
Replaced the phone today at my local apple store same issue this is going back tomorrow for a refund something definitely not right here the genius bar staff was shocked we reset the iphone to brand new tried my old sim card terrible speeds with only 1-2 signal bars.
Move my sim card back to my iPhone X speed back to normal and signal bars showing 4-5.
Not taking any chances with this will wait out.
What carrier do you have?
Damn
[doublepost=1537814209][/doublepost]Still nothing on MR front page. Wonder why.
I wonder if this is a hardware or software issue. If it is software, it can be improved and worth keeping the device. If it a hardware issue, then that would be a bummer. I understand it’s a new device so it’s possible software issue so I hope everyone is reporting the issue! Hopefully a new update that will improve the modem like in iOS 11.
Returned mine today for other reasons but this seems to be a cause for concern. Before I brought it back I should have tested network speeds as just about all the time I had it I was on Wi-Fi. I planned to place another order but may reconsider until there is more clarity over the cause (hardware/software).
I have Three UK And EE both UK carriers
Test I done @ my local Apple store.
Three UK iPhone X (40Mb DL UL 10Mb)
EE iPhone X (52Mb DL UL 13Mb)
Three UK iPhone XS Max (6Mb DL UL 2Mb)
EE iPhone XS Max (8Mb DL UL 5Mb)
These test done with a genius bar staff I'm giving up going back to store full refund tomorrow already wasted whole day time on this matter.
Apples phones are getting blown up and yet this is still not on the frontpage of this site
Apple is paying them not to. In fact, this and every thread pertaining to the issue is going to disappear in 3...2...1...
LOL I'm sure it'll make the front page eventually. Only a matter of time. Anyone's guess as to why they're dragging their feet on the issue though.
Wonder where are all the YouTubers on this? Of all tests, this is the most important.
According to a few sites, this one as an example which explain what all the System Services do:
https://iphonebyte.com/location-services-iphone/
All Cell Network Search does is:
"Cell Network Search: Apple collects users’ cellular tower information to improve products, in general, using this feature. So you can turn it off if you don’t want to help Apple"
This issue is easy to fix via software. Apple just needs to adjust performance of 6S, 7, 8 and X models so that it matches XS models and Voila! Everything will be all right!
That is indeed curious...
Verge article is a start I suppose...
My max seems to be working perfectly fine. I am using the SIM that came with it, rather than plugging in my old SIM, if that makes a difference. (I once had cellular issues trying to use an old SIM on a previous (new at the time) iPhone.. the issues cleared up when I used the new SIM.)
I haven been in the office today. I have used my Max like my previous phone including conference calls. My signal is low inside the old concrete cave like on my previous phone, however call quality was good, never dropped connection and speed test on par with previous phone. It is my belief that not every phone has the reception issues which makes this even more puzzling.
I am now 120 miles from home traveling and again calls, text, emails and I have not missed a beat. I have never seen no service or been with no bars or less that 1 or 2. I did see it drop into 3G but the other phone did too. It switched back out before the other phone with 1 bar of LTE. In some areas my Max had more bars. I know bars mean little in the grand scheme of things. Nonetheless, my Max continues to perform as expected. I have not had poor call quality even with 1 bar in fringe areas. All subjective but that is my experience.
I am now 120 miles from home traveling and again calls, text, emails and I have not missed a beat. I have never seen no service or been with no bars or less that 1 or 2. I did see it drop into 3G but the other phone did too. It switched back out before the other phone with 1 bar of LTE. In some areas my Max had more bars. I know bars mean little in the grand scheme of things. Nonetheless, my Max continues to perform as expected. I have not had poor call quality even with 1 bar in fringe areas. All subjective but that is my experience.
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I've also noticed degraded cell reception on two iPhone XS Maxes.
The issue appears to be in the modem's ability to deal with edge cases, ie in areas where reception is typically stable but marginal (your 1-2) bar scenarios. I spend a lot of time in one such area and noticed that service with the Max has been switching to 3G or 1x and becoming unusable. This typically occurs once the phone goes into sleep mode with the display dark. With previous iPhones I had no issues here.
Worse, once this happens the phone is either slow to reacquire LTE or completely gives up, requiring you to take manual action like toggling airplane mode. Occasionally it is necessary to power cycle the phone to restore service since it would indicate LTE had returned but continued to have no internet access.
The same behavior can be seen when going in to an area with no service (such as a subway) then leaving. You will likely need to cycle airplane mode to reestablish service.
If you rarely encounter weak service then this won't affect you. However for those of us who frequently spend our time on the edge it's a real problem.
From what I've read all new iPhones will be using intel modems, and I can't help but wonder if that is a contributor. Intel has always lagged behind qualcomm, so it wouldn't surprise me if their latest modem was delivered rushed, bugged and underperforming.
Fingers crossed for a software fix, but I suspect this generation of iPhones will always suffer from poor connectivity.
The issue appears to be in the modem's ability to deal with edge cases, ie in areas where reception is typically stable but marginal (your 1-2) bar scenarios. I spend a lot of time in one such area and noticed that service with the Max has been switching to 3G or 1x and becoming unusable. This typically occurs once the phone goes into sleep mode with the display dark. With previous iPhones I had no issues here.
Worse, once this happens the phone is either slow to reacquire LTE or completely gives up, requiring you to take manual action like toggling airplane mode. Occasionally it is necessary to power cycle the phone to restore service since it would indicate LTE had returned but continued to have no internet access.
The same behavior can be seen when going in to an area with no service (such as a subway) then leaving. You will likely need to cycle airplane mode to reestablish service.
If you rarely encounter weak service then this won't affect you. However for those of us who frequently spend our time on the edge it's a real problem.
From what I've read all new iPhones will be using intel modems, and I can't help but wonder if that is a contributor. Intel has always lagged behind qualcomm, so it wouldn't surprise me if their latest modem was delivered rushed, bugged and underperforming.
Fingers crossed for a software fix, but I suspect this generation of iPhones will always suffer from poor connectivity.
Either Apple keep silent and issue a fix via software (if a software fix us possible). Or they make a statement that it only affects a few devices and they will push an update to fix the issue. No matter how widespread the issue is lol.
I feel like this is a software issue and Apple is usually quick with their fix so hopefully soon.
I feel like this is a software issue and Apple is usually quick with their fix so hopefully soon.
Posts like the one from OTACORB do give us some hope but clearly this is not a bad 'batch' of iphone max.
May be the cases exacerbate the problem.
Also consider the Pixel 3 coming out in two weeks.
[doublepost=1537818729][/doublepost]
Everyone must be "holding it wrong."Be quiet and we will give you a free bumper for your troubles