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Tmak74

macrumors newbie
Feb 21, 2011
15
10
Orange County Ca
Yeah, no problem with my max either.
I had to edit my posting in saying that it had no problem. My signal and call quality ended up being far weaker and what drove me crazy is that it was intermittent. I just returnedthe phone but being that I bought it from AT&T I got hit with a 45.00 restock fee, so lesson learned will buy from APPLE direct next time. On the other hand I went with the NOTE 9 and Ill tell you the signal quality and download speeds is a huge difference and rock solid reliability. I upgrade phones every year so if APPLE steps up and takes care of this Ill try again. I have no loyalty to either OS at this point in time both are equal in my eyes. I cant point to one or two things that one does better truly they both do what I want them to do, and the apps that I use. For me its easy I just buy the better device, and everyone in my family has iPhone so the argument that not having imessage is an issue is silly. I get all my texts and pics from everyone at all times just not through imessage. FYI I pay good money for wireless service and a thrillion dollar company should do better on connectivity. whats the point of a fast processor when I cant connect or signal sucks. Ive never heard anyone on an older iPhone or android phone within the last two years say, oh I wish my processor was faster its driving me nuts! But the same cannot be said for connectivity. Best thing to do is return the phone before your 14 days is up.
 
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Ryand123

macrumors regular
Nov 12, 2013
191
168
Well.....I found this thread because I went to a concert on Saturday night with my Max. No reception. Yes, there were 20,000+ people there, but I haven't had reception issues at games or concerts in a few years. And it wasn't even indoors--I was under a pavilion in an amphitheater. Then on the bus today.......slow as molasses.

Verizon.

If they don't have a clear answer on this problem in a few days I'm trading it and getting a Note 9 for a change. I was thinking of doing that anyway. They actually use Qalcomm processors!
 
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gadgetfreaky

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2007
1,404
532
Aside from the 5ghz wifi issue- the modem is really terrible at re-acquiring signals. you can go to airplane modem to speed this up but if you lose signal it waits a long time before re-acquring even if you just stepped out of an elevator etc.
 

seasurfer

macrumors 6502a
Dec 12, 2007
749
183
Same. No issues with reception on my Max.
For those who said you have no issues. Have you all tried out moving in and out of buildings, where signal changes is inevitable...

There is no issue if you sit still in one location after the signal is well established
 
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w_aldo

macrumors regular
Sep 18, 2018
210
206
Stockton-on-Tees, UK
I can't say I've had any issues at all. I was out all day today, in places I used to use my 6s Plus. Had 4 bars LTE inside one of my university classrooms on my XS Max, just like my old 6s Plus. Listened to SoundCloud all the way home (Minimal coverage, 1-2 bars LTE on my 6s Plus) and I experienced no drop outs at all on my new XS Max, even with the same 1-2 bars. Also tested speed and got 60+ Mbps download (typical for my carrier). Coverage at home is also 2 bars LTE on both my phones, however my XS Max is slightly faster.

5GHz WiFi coverage does seem slightly weaker though, my 6s Plus seems to hold onto it better. The speeds are also a bit slower. I move slightly closer to my router though and I get full speed with no issues.

Restored from iCloud backup. Only 300MB of data was restored. I only included app data and my Apple Watch backup. (I didn't want to pay extra for iCloud storage ;)). I always use iCloud restore as it moves much less junk to my new phones. I would set up as new every time, but I'd lose my Apple Watch backup!
 

Seth Matthews

macrumors 6502
Jun 1, 2015
481
265
The Ether
For those who said you have no issues. Have you all tried out moving in and out of buildings, where signal changes is inevitable...
I took a call in my house yesterday and walked outside to complete the call privately without issue, and then I walked out of my office building this morning on a call with my wife without issue.
 

Smoothie

macrumors 6502a
Jun 23, 2007
781
544
California
While the signal strength comparisons and anecdotal reports are interesting, They're no substitute for a controlled environment such as the detailed tests performed for submission to the FCC for approval. Among other things, those tests measure antenna gain for a given frequency, and you can compare that to other phone models.

Lots of things can affect the strength of the signal, including other nearby RF sources. Some phones may be better at rejecting interference. (Comparing two different phones side-by-side might cause interference that affects one phone more than the other.) Also, the signal strength can fluctuate just due to varying atmospheric conditions, time of day, distance to the tower, etc. If you're in a good reception area, you probably wouldn't notice any significant problem.

Since this topic seems to be getting press attention and if enough people report the issue, Apple will need to address it. If anyone knows what the issue is it would be Apple's engineers. Hopefully, they didn't know there was a problem and the phones were released anyway because form took precedence over function.
 

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Dec 15, 2010
30,987
20,169
UK
My signal only has 1 bar at home but that was no different on my x of my iPad Pro

At work I get full bars on my Xs max so don’t think I’m effected
 

seasurfer

macrumors 6502a
Dec 12, 2007
749
183
I have done that test and haven't experienced any problems that I could see on the iPhone Max.

My regular text can’t be sent to my friend who uses Android phone when I am moving around...there is always at least 2 bars of Verizon. I never had this issue before with the X.
 

archer75

macrumors 68040
Jan 26, 2005
3,116
1,747
Oregon
For those who said you have no issues. Have you all tried out moving in and out of buildings, where signal changes is inevitable...

There is no issue if you sit still in one location after the signal is well established
Yes, no issues. I restored from an icloud backup, for the record.
 

anticipate

macrumors 6502a
Dec 22, 2013
936
768
This issue at first I wanted to say "nonsense". I have seen much faster speeds than my old X in the same spots in many cases. And then other would be other times... when the reception is "huh" and I can't seem to get anything done. But this is par for the course - I had similar issues with my X. It's the cell I spend most of my time in.

I have found, generally speaking, that I get faster performance at a given spot than the X. It is on the margins.. when things are very weak, that I see better performance on my work iPhone 7 or occasionally the X. But overall.. so far it's been a faster experience on my Xs Max.
 
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uecker87

macrumors 6502
Oct 9, 2014
427
677
Madison, WI
This issue at first I wanted to say "nonsense". I have seen much faster speeds than my old X in the same spots in many cases. And then other would be other times... when the reception is "huh" and I can't seem to get anything done. But this is par for the course - I had similar issues with my X. It's the cell I spend most of my time in.

I have found, generally speaking, that I get faster performance at a given spot than the X. It is on the margins.. when things are very weak, that I see better performance on my work iPhone 7 or occasionally the X. But overall.. so far it's been a faster experience on my Xs Max.
This is what I am seeing. Overall signal levels are slightly worse (LTE band specific). However with the added LTE bands for some carriers and 4x4 MIMO on some LTE bands, overall speeds should be better when the signal is adequate.
 
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Nhwhazup

macrumors 68040
Sep 2, 2010
3,474
1,718
New Hampshire
This is what I am seeing. Overall signal levels are slightly worse (LTE band specific). However with the added LTE bands for some carriers and 4x4 MIMO on some LTE bands, overall speeds should be better when the signal is adequate.
This may be my experience as well. My house is in a rural area. At the house, I went from LTE to 3G with my new Max. However, today, when on the interstate and in the city, LTE was working just fine and as usual.
 

Hernan4651

macrumors member
Feb 25, 2018
87
62
This issue at first I wanted to say "nonsense". I have seen much faster speeds than my old X in the same spots in many cases. And then other would be other times... when the reception is "huh" and I can't seem to get anything done. But this is par for the course - I had similar issues with my X. It's the cell I spend most of my time in.

I have found, generally speaking, that I get faster performance at a given spot than the X. It is on the margins.. when things are very weak, that I see better performance on my work iPhone 7 or occasionally the X. But overall.. so far it's been a faster experience on my Xs Max.
But you are worng with that. The problem is not the speed , is a reconnecting problem. Look at the post before you, ppl try to send text and they can't
 

onepoint

macrumors 6502a
Aug 3, 2010
859
569
USA
So do a full restore then you can do a restore from backup?
No, at least this didn’t work for me. I activated a new Max on VZW and restored from an iPhone X encrypted iTunes backup. Had issues with LTE data not working. So I fully restored the phone via iTunes and again restored the backup, same issues.

I did not try restoring and setting up as new, and at this point I’m not going to bother.

Edit: not bashing btw, just had intermittent problems with the Max showing a couple of bars LTE and zero data service. Disabling LTE worked (full 3G stable service), and moving around geographically occasionally brought LTE back to life (a few miles, different towers). I’ll let this all work itself out and maybe try again later - for now I’m fine with the X
 
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gadgetfreaky

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2007
1,404
532
I'm not sure that article is being fair in saying there is no software amelioration given the primary issues appear to be 5ghz signal on wifi and recapturing signal.
that said, if this caused the first ever hardware recall of an ipjhone im pretty sure all the execs at Qualcomm would have the biggest party ever.
 
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