Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

VineRider

macrumors 65816
May 24, 2018
1,419
1,251
Put the phone in airplane mode and then use control center to just turn on wifi. Try to make a call. If it works then wifi calling is on
 

aznsniper911

macrumors newbie
Mar 15, 2012
23
0
Maybe a carrier issue?

I have an iPhone X with Qualacom, and my XS Max. XS Max is getting same signal and slightly faster speeds in SF Bay Area
 

OBirder

macrumors 6502
May 13, 2015
436
425
I had no X, but for me so far the XS Max (AT&T) seems to have some of the weakest cell phone reception of all my iPhones so far. At launch day night, had setup the phone and we went to dinner. It seemed that I was the only person in the place that couldn't load any Safari webpage (no network). I was glad that I had a case and nobody noticed that this was the state of the art shiny gold XS Max.

Did Network reset and it seems slightly better. However today in a low signal area, my wife's XS and my work 6 had mostly reception while mine was on and off. The older 6 had throughout the 2 hour hike the best reception.

With 2 or more bars, LTE is fast and WiFi at home as well.

Everything else seems great, but I wish Apple would spent some time on the basics.
 

mydogeatsbeats

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 16, 2016
145
72
I had no X, but for me so far the XS Max (AT&T) seems to have some of the weakest cell phone reception of all my iPhones so far. At launch day night, had setup the phone and we went to dinner. It seemed that I was the only person in the place that couldn't load any Safari webpage (no network). I was glad that I had a case and nobody noticed that this was the state of the art shiny gold XS Max.

Did Network reset and it seems slightly better. However today in a low signal area, my wife's XS and my work 6 had mostly reception while mine was on and off. The older 6 had throughout the 2 hour hike the best reception.

With 2 or more bars, LTE is fast and WiFi at home as well.

Everything else seems great, but I wish Apple would spent some time on the basics.

yes that is exactly my case.
 
Last edited:

OTACORB

macrumors 68000
Jun 21, 2009
1,546
1,035
Central, Louisiana
AT&T pushed out a carrier update today... it's now at 33.2. I have not noticed a decrease in reception. I traveled out of town last night to a football game and I have a company phone that is iPhone 8 Plus and the signal (yes bars) were the same on both phones each time I looked. I was curious about this so I did pay attention to it. When I got the stadium both phones had full signal and I did a speed test. The Max was substantial faster than the iPhone 8 Plus.

These driving around test though are so subjective.... I am so far happy with the reception! I have always had 3 bars of signal in my home and I still have 3 bars of signal.. again totally subjective. Wif reception full signal everywhere in my house just as it was on the previous phone and the iPhone 8 Plus, that is my story and I am sticking to it. LOL
 
  • Like
Reactions: Orangeman13

Packers1958

macrumors 68000
Apr 16, 2017
1,954
2,587
South Dakota
It appears the issue is poor antenna design based on lab testing by the FCC. Written on the 12th, before the phones went public.

"The takeaway is that iPhone EIRP in the lab has not always been so compromised as it appears to be this year. Real world RF performance comparisons when some users switch from the iPhone X and 8 generation to the iPhone XS generation, no doubt, will be interesting."

https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/09/iphone-xs-and-xs-max-mostly-fail-to.html
 

twennywonn

macrumors regular
Mar 15, 2012
245
248
Today I had no reception at all in 2 stores I don’t recall having issues with. I reset network settings and haven’t been back to see if it helped.

Verizon.
 

Packers1958

macrumors 68000
Apr 16, 2017
1,954
2,587
South Dakota
Today I had no reception at all in 2 stores I don’t recall having issues with. I reset network settings and haven’t been back to see if it helped.

Verizon.

I have a feeling we will start to hear a lot more complaints when people go back to work on Monday and lose reception where they work. This will become a MR front page story.
 

mydogeatsbeats

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 16, 2016
145
72
I have a feeling we will start to hear a lot more complaints when people go back to work on Monday and lose reception where they work. This will become a MR front page story.

yes I hope Im not the only one and Apple or T-Mobile will fix this. I had no reception during workout. my fitness studio is not in the basement! that is hardly acceptable for a phone that costs me 1130,- Euros.
[doublepost=1537692032][/doublepost]If I was a youtuber I would compare the receptions. A video that could go viral if it is right.
 

balaplus

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2017
384
277
Damn.... that nagging thought in the back of the mind....
Apple vs Qualcomm should have never gotten to the point it got to...
And now the Iphone does not have the best components it could have had...
:(
 

Truefan31

macrumors 68040
Aug 25, 2012
3,589
835
Besides a carrier update, can apple possibly enhance antenna gain with software updates?
 

Velin

macrumors 68020
Jul 23, 2008
2,118
2,183
Hearst Castle
Also predicting there’s going to be a ramp in poor reception complaints. Antenna/radio quality and reception in a cell phone is everything. Sticking with iPhone 7 and the Qualcomm radio (reception is great).
 

Deguello

macrumors 65816
Jun 29, 2008
1,398
1,265
Texas
Apparently the bars do a little animation while searching for a signal. I'd never seen anything like that around here on my phone before. I've seen it multiple times on my Max while outside, not even in a building.

Putting the phone in field test mode shows a low signal. I don't know enough about the technical aspects to know for sure, but I'm starting to be persuaded by the people who said the Intel modems were going to be less than stellar.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ROLLTIDE1

Ritte

macrumors regular
Sep 14, 2007
246
76
The XS max have much better reception than the 6s plus. My parents love in an area with really poor reception, they really need to use “call over wifi”-feature or facetime audio. With the xs max, my dad is able to make phonecalls with no problems. I can hear him clearly.
 

gelie

macrumors 6502a
Mar 7, 2010
614
214
AT&T pushed out a carrier update today... it's now at 33.2. I have not noticed a decrease in reception. I traveled out of town last night to a football game and I have a company phone that is iPhone 8 Plus and the signal (yes bars) were the same on both phones each time I looked. I was curious about this so I did pay attention to it. When I got the stadium both phones had full signal and I did a speed test. The Max was substantial faster than the iPhone 8 Plus.

These driving around test though are so subjective.... I am so far happy with the reception! I have always had 3 bars of signal in my home and I still have 3 bars of signal.. again totally subjective. Wif reception full signal everywhere in my house just as it was on the previous phone and the iPhone 8 Plus, that is my story and I am sticking to it. LOL
How do you update carrier services? How did u check what vs. you have?
 
  • Like
Reactions: decypher44

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
35,573
52,307
In a van down by the river
How do you update carrier services? How did u check what vs. you have?
The only people seeing a carrier update right after setting up the new phone first thing, are people running Developer or possibly Public beta. Stock iOS does not get the carrier update.

edited to add: The aforementioned posting is incorrect. I was wrong. No need for everyone to keep responding to it.
 
Last edited:

GarrettNolan

macrumors newbie
Jun 9, 2006
13
6
Well as someone who had an X and got an XS I feel I've made a horrible choice. Over the last two days I've had more disconnected calls and little to no 3g/LTE in places where I had no issues at all previously when I had the X. I started with a fresh install and noticed right away the LTE dropping rather suddenly after getting on network. Then the calls started to get disconnected. In the last year of owning the X I had around the same amount of dropped calls that I've had on the XS in 2 days. I reset the network early on friday so I don't think that fixes much, signal continues to search more aggressively since it can't lock it down.

I understand network conditions change constantly, but to have this noticeable dramatic of a impact to me is disconcerting. The carriers could try to adjust somethings, but I don't think this is something a carrier fix will change. This is hardware and poor placement of antenna. If they compromised signal strength/power due to the design of the dual modem/antenna design I want my X back.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Freakonomics101

Deguello

macrumors 65816
Jun 29, 2008
1,398
1,265
Texas
The only people seeing a carrier update right after getting up the new phone first thing, are people running Developer or possibly Public beta. Stock iOS does not get the carrier update.
I got one about half a hour after restoring the backup on my new Max. I'm neither an apple dev or beta tester.
 
  • Like
Reactions: decypher44

BoxerGT2.5

macrumors 68020
Jun 4, 2008
2,114
14,154
Count me in on one who’s seen horrible LTE connectivity. Horrid speeds etc. I’m on T-mobile. Debating on if I should jump in the public beta to see if anything changes.
 

kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,103
8,658
Any place but here or there....
On my 7+, I’ve noticed a decline in reception since the 6s on Verizon. Reception is extremely important to me and being that I do not have reception during a part of my commute and almost none at the morning job on a 7+, no way will I upgrade now.

I barely get a signal at the morning job. This definitely axes my desire to upgrade to any new models this year. So I will just wait until 2019 and hope Apple fixes the antenna design and modem (without spiking the prices again).

I hope everyone who has issues now with these new phones will get some kind carrier or iOS fix.
 

Glideslope

macrumors G3
Dec 7, 2007
8,319
5,782
The Adirondacks.
There may be some carrier updates coming in the next week or two. That usually happens with with every iPhone release. I got a carrier update from Verizon on my Max yesterday. My Max gets 5 bars in my house, compared to the 4 with my X. However, when I do speed tests, I see more fluctuations on the Max compared to the X. For example, I run the speedtest with wifi off and get 40 Mbps DL speed from Verizon. Run it again right afterwards and it jumps to 65 Mbps.

FYI,

I had reduced LTE reception on my 8+ after the iOS 12 upgrade (17th.) Measured from the same location I always test from. Later had a carrier update from at&t. This improved it a bit. Then the next day had another carrier update that required and off/on for the phone. I’ve never had that before. That brought reception back to pre iOS 12 levels.:apple:
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: jeremiah256

Deguello

macrumors 65816
Jun 29, 2008
1,398
1,265
Texas
Count me in on one who’s seen horrible LTE connectivity. Horrid speeds etc. I’m on T-mobile. Debating on if I should jump in the public beta to see if anything changes.
I get faster speeds on AT&T, as long as I get a signal. Getting the signal seems sketchier so far. Around here, ive never had problems acquiring a signal unless I was coming out of eetsin buildings or in an elevator or something. Now, it's happened a few times already in situations it didn't before.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.