Ok, then what's your theory? Clearly we're spitballing here. It ends pretty quickly once Apple comes clean and at least admits they are investigating the problem.
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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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I don't know, it doesn't affect my phone, but is clearly an issue for many. I just think there is zero chance Apple put new antennas in and decided not to test them.
Yeah, I concede your point, that’s why it’s so vexing.
[doublepost=1538887787][/doublepost]My Wi-Fi side by side 5ghz XS max and 8+ (separate SSID than 2.4) so yes, both using 5ghz
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Yeah, for FD-LTE, -80s is excellent. TD-LTE is different, -50s and -60s is great, but I've never seen that on FD-LTE.
There's another option. Call AT&T retentions, tell them about this incident, and tell that that you're leaving unless they put you on the Unlimited Plus plan and give you a $10 monthly credit. Note that I listed the Unlimited Plus plan, not the newer Unlimited Choice or Unlimited &More plans. The older plus plan costs more for one device, but additional devices are way cheaper. They still have access to the old plan and can put you on it. Retentions can do a lot that the mainline customer service people can't.
He doesn’t compare the XS/XR there though (or mention the XR at all as far as I can see): for all we know the XR could be driving the antenna with the same current as the XS to get its higher EIRP.
That I can agree with you on 100%.
Guys, speed tests are great and all but really don’t tell us much. Even if you’re doing two phones side by side, it may mean less than you think.
Why? Band acquisition. You need to be sure that not only are they in the same place for these tests, use a tripod and do several tests, but, you need to be sure they’re pinging the same serves, and the big one: the same bands.
If your phone is getting crappy speeds on say band 41, and the other one is getting good ones on band 26, you’re not comparing apples to apples. And remember, some of the older phones don’t even receive some of the bands in use now.
So make sure you use field test mode on both to verify that as you’re testing and do multiple tests to help rule out variables.
Why? Band acquisition. You need to be sure that not only are they in the same place for these tests, use a tripod and do several tests, but, you need to be sure they’re pinging the same serves, and the big one: the same bands.
If your phone is getting crappy speeds on say band 41, and the other one is getting good ones on band 26, you’re not comparing apples to apples. And remember, some of the older phones don’t even receive some of the bands in use now.
So make sure you use field test mode on both to verify that as you’re testing and do multiple tests to help rule out variables.
Yes, it tells us plenty, as in faulty, broken, dysfunctional, unusable.
You're entirely right, just flip B41 and B26.
B26 cannot be fast anywhere, ever. It's just too small of a band. B41, it can be great, or it can suck.Well, despite my better judgment, I broke down and purchased an XS Max on Friday. I'm keeping my iPhone 7 as a backup. The 14 day return window is marked with a big red X on my calendar.
Here are my non-scientific observations so far:
1. I haven't used test mode and I don't want to keep swapping the SIM, so keep this in mind. At home, my iPhone 7 has always just received one bar of signal strength, occasionally two. The XS is the same. One thing I've noticed is that the XS can be sensitive to how I hold the phone. (No Steve Jobs jokes, please.) Depending on the time of day, I can make the phone drop from two bars to one bar at will by holding the phone a certain way. I have a case on the phone made of non-conductive material. I'm old enough to have owned a Motorola flip phone with the antenna that needed to be extended during a call. Maybe Apple can reintroduce this to complement the notch and asymmetrical speaker holes.
2. At home, the XS D/L speed over LTE is absolutely atrocious even with two bars. I just tested several times and got around 1 Mb/s or less with a wildly fluctuating latency.
3. Yesterday, I drove from my home to another town on a major freeway. The phone stayed at one bar even though it should have been receiving a stronger signal on the freeway. When I reached my destination, I got a D/L speed of 2.5 Mb/s. There was a Verizon store a couple of blocks away, so I took the phone there to show them. Of course, at the store the strength was four bars and the D/L speed was 92 Mb/s. (My record on Verizon in my area is 110.) Not surprisingly, the Verizon guy said he hadn't received any complaints about cellular connectivity. I asked if there could be any setting on my Verizon account that could be causing the slow D/L speed. He said my account settings looked fine, but he gave me a new SIM card as a precaution. We also reset my network settings on the phone. He also said that he wasn't surprised about the slow D/L speed just a couple of blocks away. He said the area around the store could have spotty connectivity even if you moved just a short distance. I didn't ask, but I assume Verizon uses a signal booster at its stores.
4. On the way home, the signal strength on the freeway was 3 to 4 bars, as it should be. However, it may not have been a valid comparison since the phone was in my pants pocket the first time and was in the center console the second time. When I got home, it dropped to the usual one or two. I haven't seen 3G or "no signal" so far.
5. WiFi connectivity has been fine. My speeds are about the same as my iPhone 7. WiFi calling, which I rely on at home, has been great. The audio quality actually sounds a bit better than the 7.
I'm going to keep testing over the coming week to see if the LTE speed issue is possibly due to network congestion or something else on Verizon's end, but I can't see keeping this phone if it continues to be so deaf. It's a shame because the XS is so much better than the 7 in almost every other respect. I even have a decent display panel.
One last comment. I saw someone post about the stainless steel vs. aluminum band and whether that could be contributing to a weaker signal. I doubt it since stainless steel is actually a significantly worse conductor than aluminum, and the iPhone X had a stainless steel band and seemed to perform well.
Here are my non-scientific observations so far:
1. I haven't used test mode and I don't want to keep swapping the SIM, so keep this in mind. At home, my iPhone 7 has always just received one bar of signal strength, occasionally two. The XS is the same. One thing I've noticed is that the XS can be sensitive to how I hold the phone. (No Steve Jobs jokes, please.) Depending on the time of day, I can make the phone drop from two bars to one bar at will by holding the phone a certain way. I have a case on the phone made of non-conductive material. I'm old enough to have owned a Motorola flip phone with the antenna that needed to be extended during a call. Maybe Apple can reintroduce this to complement the notch and asymmetrical speaker holes.
2. At home, the XS D/L speed over LTE is absolutely atrocious even with two bars. I just tested several times and got around 1 Mb/s or less with a wildly fluctuating latency.
3. Yesterday, I drove from my home to another town on a major freeway. The phone stayed at one bar even though it should have been receiving a stronger signal on the freeway. When I reached my destination, I got a D/L speed of 2.5 Mb/s. There was a Verizon store a couple of blocks away, so I took the phone there to show them. Of course, at the store the strength was four bars and the D/L speed was 92 Mb/s. (My record on Verizon in my area is 110.) Not surprisingly, the Verizon guy said he hadn't received any complaints about cellular connectivity. I asked if there could be any setting on my Verizon account that could be causing the slow D/L speed. He said my account settings looked fine, but he gave me a new SIM card as a precaution. We also reset my network settings on the phone. He also said that he wasn't surprised about the slow D/L speed just a couple of blocks away. He said the area around the store could have spotty connectivity even if you moved just a short distance. I didn't ask, but I assume Verizon uses a signal booster at its stores.
4. On the way home, the signal strength on the freeway was 3 to 4 bars, as it should be. However, it may not have been a valid comparison since the phone was in my pants pocket the first time and was in the center console the second time. When I got home, it dropped to the usual one or two. I haven't seen 3G or "no signal" so far.
5. WiFi connectivity has been fine. My speeds are about the same as my iPhone 7. WiFi calling, which I rely on at home, has been great. The audio quality actually sounds a bit better than the 7.
I'm going to keep testing over the coming week to see if the LTE speed issue is possibly due to network congestion or something else on Verizon's end, but I can't see keeping this phone if it continues to be so deaf. It's a shame because the XS is so much better than the 7 in almost every other respect. I even have a decent display panel.
One last comment. I saw someone post about the stainless steel vs. aluminum band and whether that could be contributing to a weaker signal. I doubt it since stainless steel is actually a significantly worse conductor than aluminum, and the iPhone X had a stainless steel band and seemed to perform well.
I actually did that and traded the MAX for a note 9 and the battery life and connectivity is awesome on this thing, calls are crystal clear, screen superb. Its going to be hard for APPLE to lure me back if they dont get on the ball. Very happy with this device. Since the S8 android and Samsung pretty much have closed the gap on IOS and have hit equilibrium. Apple likes to rely on charging more based on the user experience well think again. For IOS lovers there is hope despite what is being said about the XR, it actually is reported it has a better antenna set up, you wont get gigabyt LTE but connectivity will be better all around so it might be the one to get!
I think the Pixel 3 when it comes out would be the best experience for iOS users looking to jump. I liked my pixel a lot and updates like iOS. I missed the iOS and iMessage/FaceTime though.
Love vanilla android but Pixel 3 is probably the ugly phone release this yr...
The Pixel 3 XL is the ugliest. The Pixel 3 regular looks like last year's Pixel 2 XL. No notch but still has front facing speakers.
I agree. The note is an awesome and pretty phone, they release it with old android and don’t update it forever. I don’t know why they do that.
Thanks for the advice! Just finished unlocking my phone so that I can have some leverage when I call them.
most of the work a modem does is cancel out interference from neighboring devices. Qualcomm modems are better at it.
The metal phone body plus the inferior modem and you get bad performance in low signal situations since you still have a lot of interference from other people with phones.
Oh well, but Apple decided that saving 0.99 cents on each phone by getting the modems from Intel is more important lol
You're correct about the iPhone X last year. It has a stainless steel frame and chassis and it has good reception ratings based on those FCC documents. To me it's starting to look like 4x4 mimo antenna is the culprit. A few software tweaks could possibly help remedy the situation. I'm sure Apple seen the documents and findings but didn't realize the "real" world impact it would have.
Apple isnt going to do anything about this issue. I'm waiting for Tim Cook to pull a Steve Jobs and tell us to move into an area with better coverage.
They keep telling me it's faulty hardware but after 4 phones all had major cellular issues . I am done beta testing for apple . I also don't believe that this is an isolated problem and that it can be fixed with a software update .
1 64 GB sim free from Apple
2 64 GB sim free From Apple
3 256 GB Verizon model from Apple
4 256 GB AT&T model from Apple