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

I assume Apple and Intel will work it out or Apple/Intel/Qualcomm will come to some kind of agreement. After the court case regarding unfair practices regarding patent payments.

 

I don't have wi-fi issues but I sometimes see only one bar for LTE while I always had good signal in the past. I'm not sure if it started happening after I updated iOS or not. My carrier is in the middle of the merge with another one though, so it may be related to that, maybe I'm connecting to a different tower now. I'll check if something changes after the next iOS update

 

I'm experiencing this also and I think its connectivity/tower issue as well. I work in a low coverage area and when I leave work I'll wait to get at least 3-4 signal bars and then try to make a call, but it will go through for about a second and it just ends. Even when the same person calls me, the call will go through for one second and it ends. I even tried remaking the call several times once to see if it would correct itself and it just ends up being a dropped call cycle. I don't get why it lets me make the call the in the first place when it just disconnects a second later??

The only way to break this cycle is to basically turn on/off airplane mode. I am currently on the new 12.1.3 beta 3, but so far I have not noticed any improvement.

Edit: Forgot to mention I have Verizon

 

This issue been resolved yet or still poor signal reception iphone XS Models?

 

My sense is that there are still a fair number of XS & Max owners struggling with issues. But others who had issues before have either exchanged their device for a new one that works better, or their issues have been improved through iOS updates.

 

In China many people say that Huawei excels and beats Apple’s iPhone with reception quality and speed while Apple beats Huawei with its IOS. Positives and negatives to each smartphone I suppose.

 

Update: yesterday I had lunch with a friend with a 6s on the same carrier, we both had 1 bar and we got the same values with speed tests. He told me he's experiencing the same problems, so it has to be our carrier.
Wi-fi is always great, so I guess I'm not affected by the problem and the only way I can get more bars and better speed is switch carrier

 

I’ve had issues with my Max since launch and Apple finally replaced it last week.

They ran some tests in store and said my phone was defective. Got a new one and have had much better LTE reception in poor areas. My phone is actually usable now!

 

Good to know Apple is addressing whatever issues still seem to be out there.

 

Agreed. Also good to know this is likely a "bad batch" of a few units that Apple, as usual, with replace if needed.

Anecdotally, I just bought an XS over the weekend and its WiFi/LTE signals are slightly better than my X.

 

I have an iPhone 8 Plus and I think it has reception issues as well. Takes a long time to upload or receive anything I noticed while in California and while traveling abroad. My friend has the new Huawei Mate 20 Pro and his pages load quicker and faster but not only do they load quickly. Where I have one bar he has full bars.
I don’t like spinning wheels and a like that takes forever to like

 

Last week I returned my Xs Max for some serious connectivity issues and I'm currently waiting for my replacement to arrive. I hope it doesn't have any of the issues I was experiencing.

 

I’m really glad to hear this.

 

I've seen improvements in signal quality on my XS after the last beta update.
Apple has been doing incremental modem firmware updates over the last several betas, but this is the first time I've seen noticeable changes.
Modem firmware 1.03.08 has been great so far.

 

The signal on my XS Max is definitely not as good as my Pixel 3 XL. I was up in the mountains a few a weeks ago and only had 3G connection on my iPhone, but my Pixel 3 XL had at least 2 bars of LTE. My friends Note 8 and HTC phones all had LTE as well. I tried to toggle the airplane mode on my iPhone but was not able to get a LTE connection ever. I also checked my new iPad Pro, which also only had a 3G connection. We are all on Verizon. Speeds were at least 20mbps on LTE.

 

Anyone know if today's new iOS update (12.1.3) helps things at all?

 

Not in my case. Waiting for the next beta for more modem updates

 

After no noticeable improvement with 12.1.3, I contacted Apple again. This time, they're sending me a replacement.

 

I think I will try again as well even though I was told after my first exchange that if it keeps happening it’s a software issue not hardware.

 

It never ceases to amaze me, how great looking this phone is.

My first Speedtest on the new device was pretty good. Hope it holds up.

 

Did they update the modem firmware in 12.1.4? Current version is 1.03.08 but I don't remember which version we had before.
This morning my iPhone feels better at office, while I usually have 1 bar now I have 2-3 bars. As I said my problem may be related to the carrier, but I'm curious to know if they made some changes in the firmware this time, or if they put a new one in the 12.2 betas

 

Modem firmware are the same in 12.1.3 and 12.1.4. However, there are new modem firmware on 12.2 betas.

Check the wiki
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-12-2-beta-2-―-bug-fixes-changes-and-improvements.2168386/

 

So either is a placebo effect or my carrier did something this week and my connection improved.

 

Signal strength can definitely change. Unfortunately for me, I’ve gone from always having four bars, never three or less, for the past two years to now having one or two bars, for the past month or so. (I have a 6S, so nothing to do with the modem.) Needless to say, I am not too happy with AT&T right now.

 

With AT&T you are supposed to have 5Ge I thought ... is that not faster and better???