Apple Looking Into LTE Connectivity Issues Affecting Some iPhone XS and XS Max Owners

[CalBoy]

LoL, technically yea higher..

So just walked down the same portion of street today, varied between -73 to -85, so pretty strong, which is typical for this area generally. I don't mean to knock the XS unfairly; in some ways LTE is improved over my SE, but it also has sporadic problems. It's almost schizophrenic with its connectivity.

 

[tigres]

I'd return but that's me.

Took your advice.

Retured then both, but had 1 replaced/ shipped- they wanted me to test another unit. Did not have stock in any t mobile stores in the area- kind of surprised.

If this one has same issues, its going back and will just stick with the 7 this year.

 

[ROLLTIDE1]

Sometimes I feel like Apple should pay me for being a beta tester Heard back yesterday and the 2nd device that they did a device capture on and they are telling me it had faulty hardware just like the first phone.

 

[roncron]

Heard back yesterday and the 2nd device that they did a device capture on and they are telling me it had faulty hardware just like the first phone.

If Apple concedes that some of the XS units have faulty hardware, then they must be planning to allow owners of affected units to get a free replacement, even after the 14-day return window closes.

Unless they can come up with a simple hardware fix that could be performed in store while the customer waits. That doesn't seem likely.

 

[Sci_Tech]

Did they do that with the iPhone 4? Or was the death grip something else entirely? I didn't jump into the iPhone pool till the 5 so I don't really remember what happened with that whole deal.

I think that was with the iPhone 4 if I’m not mistaken. I didn’t get an iPhone until the 4s so I don’t recall that much. Don’t know if that bumper BS would fly nowadays though. Many people tend to use a case on their phone now and wouldn’t that essentially be the same as using a bumper?

 

[rebretz000]

I think that was with the iPhone 4 if I’m not mistaken. I didn’t get an iPhone until the 4s so I don’t recall that much. Don’t know if that bumper BS would fly nowadays though. Many people tend to use a case on their phone now and wouldn’t that essentially be the same as using a bumper?

It was the iPhone 4 but even so the bumper case was an easy fix option. Would that fly today, not sure but the fact that adding a case eliminated the issue made that easier to deal with. Adding a case does nothing for the latest antenna gate.

 

[Synthetic]

It was the iPhone 4 but even so the bumper case was an easy fix option. Would that fly today, not sure but the fact that adding a case eliminated the issue made that easier to deal with. Adding a case does nothing for the latest antenna gate.

Oh man I'm starting to remember all that now. Crazy all it took to fix was a bumper case, I mean I'm sure the science was there but still crazy.

 

[Sci_Tech]

It was the iPhone 4 but even so the bumper case was an easy fix option. Would that fly today, not sure but the fact that adding a case eliminated the issue made that easier to deal with. Adding a case does nothing for the latest antenna gate.

Exactly! I’m using a case myself and can confirm it does nothing, so a bumper fix would not do much either.

 

[recoil80]

Took your advice.

Retured then both, but had 1 replaced/ shipped- they wanted me to test another unit. Did not have stock in any t mobile stores in the area- kind of surprised.

If this one has same issues, its going back and will just stick with the 7 this year.

Or you may consider the Xr. The antenna design is different so it won't have the same problems the Xs has (maybe it will have different issues...)

 

[bad03xtreme]

Now that I have been watching I get very bad wi-fi connectivity with my Xs. If I go outside my house at all the signal drops and my wife's 8 can get full strength all over the yard. Even in the house I have trouble getting a full strength signal on my 5G network.

 

[ph001bi]

I realize that there is an issue with WiFi and slower speeds are not ideal, but what exactly can you NOT do on your phone with 30-50 Mbps? Sounds more than fast enough to stream even 4k video to me.

The WiFi issues will be fixed soon. This has already been verified in the latest iOS 12.1 beta 2 version.

The lower speed also had a slower ping, you could feel it when using the phone. Pages not loading as quick, or having to wait a bit longer before a video starts. I knew this would be fixed quickly but it was just annoying having updated from an X to see the phone feeling like a downgrade.
I also had the bluetooth bug. I haven't tested whether my car will now connect properly or not.

 

[jkozlow3]

The lower speed also had a slower ping, you could feel it when using the phone. Pages not loading as quick, or having to wait a bit longer before a video starts. I knew this would be fixed quickly but it was just annoying having updated from an X to see the phone feeling like a downgrade.
I also had the bluetooth bug. I haven't tested whether my car will now connect properly or not.

Gotcha. 12.0.1 was just realized and supposedly fixes the WiFi issues.

 

[meateater69]

After update iphone xs connected to 2.4 ghz not 5 ghz. After forcing xs to 5 ghz I don't notice any improvements in wifi speeds. As distance from router increases speeds go down just as fast as before. Wifi reception and speed has not improved in my case. I did not have the charging issue on 12.0.

 

[elitypes]

Sometimes I feel like Apple should pay me for being a beta tester Heard back yesterday and the 2nd device that they did a device capture on and they are telling me it had faulty hardware just like the first phone.

Did they offer any more information? What did they ultimately conclude? Given the hardware was faulty, did they advise or offer a replacement unit?

 

[bad03xtreme]

I installed 12.0.1 and it didn't help at all. Sigh...
[doublepost=1539032928][/doublepost]

Sometimes I feel like Apple should pay me for being a beta tester Heard back yesterday and the 2nd device that they did a device capture on and they are telling me it had faulty hardware just like the first phone.

What is your serial number? trying to see if mine is close

 

[rjjacobson]

After update iphone xs connected to 2.4 ghz not 5 ghz. After forcing xs to 5 ghz I don't notice any improvements in wifi speeds. As distance from router increases speeds go down just as fast as before. Wifi reception and speed has not improved in my case. I did not have the charging issue on 12.0.

Well I always had this issue with Xs, 7 and 6 plus the 2.4 is simply stronger and it always grabs the stronger 2.4 signal eventually when I get too far from it or come back home. What changed for me though was I could not use my 5ghz at all out side with my Xs and 12.0 iOS. Unlike older phones and iOS's which I could use outside. I can now stay connected and use 5ghz outside unlike before with the update so for me I it improves my only issue. And I have told phone to forget the 2.4 band so that it will always grab only the 5.0 ghz when it detects it at all and it seems to work and hold. Once in awhile it drops to my LTE when too far and week but as soon as nearer jumps back on and I am back to normal use as far as my experience with older phones was.

 

[srahman321]

Anyone have any updates on their LTE Service reception issues for ATT? Or any feedback from Apple when you ran their diagnostics?

 

[cmaier]

I installed 12.0.1 and it didn't help at all. Sigh...
[doublepost=1539032928][/doublepost]
What is your serial number? trying to see if mine is close

Also, what is your social security number and mother’s maiden name?

 

[elitypes]

Anyone have any updates on their LTE Service reception issues for ATT? Or any feedback from Apple when you ran their diagnostics?

Nope. Nothing. Apple support reached out to me last night to follow up, but only to ask if I tried updating to 12.0.1 and if that resolved my wifi issues. I asked about the status of the LTE analysis and was given a "the engineers have the logs, I don't have any update".

Edit* for clarification I am on AT&T in NYC and am experiencing awful LTE/reception on the XS Max

 

[hardwax]

Apple reached me today and asked to do a content and setting reset on the phone, it didn't work. I might try the iTunes restore at home.
This is very annoying.

 

[srahman321]

Nope. Nothing. Apple support reached out to me last night to follow up, but only to ask if I tried updating to 12.0.1 and if that resolved my wifi issues. I asked about the status of the LTE analysis and was given a "the engineers have the logs, I don't have any update".

Edit* for clarification I am on AT&T in NYC and am experiencing awful LTE/reception on the XS Max

Yes I'm on the AT&T in Boston and its been terrible on the Iphone XS. Really need them to resolve this ASAP

 

[rebretz000]

I created a thread for people to post their phone information. Indicate if it works fine or not. stuff like that.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-xs-and-iphone-xs-max-antenna-issues-build-date.2146749/

 

[hardwax]

hi guys, so after some testing I've found the following:
- inside places: LTE/4G gets very weak, 1 bar, and field test shows rsrp0 at -115 to -125 dBm, which I think is pretty bad, speed is not good
- outside places: I get a big speed improvement, full bars, and rsrp0 below -90dBm
- wi-fi is working fine

important disclaimer: i'm using the american model in a latin america country which doesn't work on the 28 band, where local carriers have been boosting the 4G signal stronger, so it's only using 3 and 7 bands.

what do you guys think? i'm inclined to think my iphone Xs doesn't have a modem issue like most people and the bad reception inside places is due to the lack of the 28 band but i'm not sure.

 

[The Oak]

Well, I remember when I was on T-Mobile, I switched to Verizon because T-Mobile always ran on such high frequencies and hence their building penetration was poor. With Verizon on 700 Mhz, they did well indoors. If Verizon is running their MIMU stuff on higher bands 1700-2K versus 700Mhz, it would make sense indoors would be weak(er).

It seems to be similar to the WiFi issue then. The phone needs extra logic to figure out what band it needs to hang on to. It is all a balance. Hang on to the stronger signal potentially sacrificing throughput, or the high throughput frequency, sacrificing range.

 

[ROLLTIDE1]

Did they offer any more information? What did they ultimately conclude? Given the hardware was faulty, did they advise or offer a replacement unit?

The keep wanting to do captures on my devices and to send me a new device. 3 have all had major issues and I will have another phone later today to test with . You would think being on first net with AT&T I wouldn't have any problems but then again often times I have dropped calls and no data flowing. I am heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem so I wish that they would get this fix or at least tell me that it's not going to get better to next year.