Apple May Be Throttling Verizon iPhone 7 LTE Performance

[bighype]

Apple's dying in front of our eyes and there's nothing we can do.

While Cook, Schiller and Cue are leading Apple, Apple will be crap.

So damn sad.

 

[Alessiot]

Imagine what it would be like if they didn't ?
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[DCIFRTHS]

It would be really helpful if people posted the carrier they are referencing in their post.

"Yeah, I'm getting slow speeds." IS NOT "Yeah, I'm getting slow speeds on "Carrier A".

The post below was automatically meerged by the BB. It does help too illustrate that including as much info in a post as possible is a good thing.

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Imagine what it would be like if they didn't ?
[doublepost=1479549023][/doublepost]View attachment 673406

...and this was in what city? What model phone?
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Doing a couple of quick queries and I'm pretty sure this is a no. The numbers they show in the chart are rather odd. They seem very slow. Here is some avg. download speed data for October 1st till now using my iOS app for iPhone 7.

Verizon: 27.543538 Mbps

AT&T: 21.538130 Mbps

From the large pool of tests across the entire country, Verizon is almost 30% faster. So I would say this isn't really happening. Besides using the max theoretical speed of a LTE modem is a dumb idea because you will never even see anything close to even 50% of that.

You have an unlocked phone with an AT&T sim and a Verizon sim, or another setup?
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LTE is GSM
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where are you seeing 40-50!? I've never gotten anywhere near that on Verizon, even at 3-4am with full 5 bars most I've ever seen on LTE was about 10-12mbps. During normal operating hours for me, I get anywhere from 0.5 up to a peak of 2.0mbps. Mostly its around 1.0 mbps.

Where are you seeing m 0.5 up to a peak of 2.0mbps?

 

[newellj]

I currently own an AT&T iPhone 6s Plus and an AT&T iPhone 7 Plus. At my home I usually get two or three bars on each device. I have run more than a dozen LTE speed tests with the devices side-by-side at the same time while connected to the same server. Every single time the iPhone 6s Plus has a better ping, faster download speed, and faster upload speed. Furthermore, the iPhone 7's download is much more erratic and is always the slowest for the first few seconds (most critical time since most downloads are small). Conversely the iPhone 6s Plus always starts out at its fastest, is more consistent, and still ends up faster than the iPhone 7 once the test is done.
Unfortunately, it makes sense for Apple to deliberately slow down the Qualcomm version of the iPhone 7 so people don't get pissed off that they got a substandard device with the Intel chip. My hope is that Intel will release a better driver in upcoming updates so that it will perform at least as good as the iPhone 6. If they don't in the next month or two, I will be seeking to exchange my AT&T (Intel) version for the Qualcomm version.

I live in a relatively poor reception area. Earlier this week I had a chance to test the performance of my daughter-in-law's 6S in comparison to my 7. The 7 got a better signal as measured by the field test utility and had better upload and download speeds than the 6S on the same (VZW) network.

The 6S did connect to VZW faster than the 7, which would occasionally not connect at all, but when it connected the 7 went straight to LTE, while the 6S frequently went to 1X or 3G.

I don't think the performance of either is particularly consistent or encouraging, but I'm posting this to point out that based on my testing as I'm trying to figure out whether to keep or return my 7 there is no clear winner, but the performance balance tips toward the 7.

 

[DCIFRTHS]

[doublepost=1479509416][/doublepost]Another reason to hate AT&T. I cut them out of my life forever in 2010.... In this country, you vote with your dollars!

Do you realize that the chip inside the phone is supposedly what is causing the slower speeds on AT&T in lower signal areas? It doubt AT&T forced Apple to build the phone with the Intel modem. Unless they are getting some kind some kind of kickback....

Additionally, we don't know what bands (frequencies) were in use, how many channels were being aggregated or any other speed / signal improving technologies were in play at the time of the downloads.

It bother me tat none of these details were disclosed for their lab tests.

How did they get the data on the 100,000 phones they evaluated with respect to network connectivity? Was this a crowd sourced test? In what / how may areas of the country? Was an iOS app used? Same questions for the Samsung phone.

From the article:

This was based on data from more than 100,000 phones downloading an image in large U.S. cities.

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Care to revise your comments, now that Apple's own mouthpiece Recode has confirmed that the original report is true?

Would you please provide the link to that admission?

 

[joueboy]

Meanwhile 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999989999% of the users never experienced at least 200mbps of any carrier here in the United States. Because when they put the word theory in there we should believe it. Why can't they just change the meaning of the word so we can all agree and be happy.

 

[FelixDerKater]

Next year, they will sell us the same radio unthrottled as an upgrade. 90's Apple is back.

 

[SirRahikkala]

... and we all know what happened to the S7 lol.

Please do tell us (lol?).

 

[DCIFRTHS]

Next year, they will sell us the same radio unthrottled as an upgrade. 90's Apple is back.

That's if the Intel part supports all the features that LTE-A offers (and IF the US carriers have implemented those features too).

My guess is that the current Intel offering doesn't support all of the LTE-A features that the Qualcomm does, and that is why those features are not implemented in the Verizon / Sprint Qualcomm iPhone 7 (what the article calls "throttling"). It levels the playing field.

If Intel ups their game with a new chip - then maybe Apple will implement those features across all the iPhone "8" models.

 

[macfacts]

Do you have evidence that they don't? I seem to recall the iPhone 7 costing the same as the 6S it replaced, while having new features and double the base storage level.

Again, I am not sure how the extra competition in the cellular modem space is a bad thing.

The Verizon iPhone 7 model and at&t iPhone 7 model cost the same. No cost savings are past on to the customer.

 

[neteng101]

If Intel ups their game with a new chip - then maybe Apple will implement those features across all the iPhone "8" models.

Trying to blame this on Intel is absurd. If Intel hasn't upped their game, Apple shouldn't have used their chips - the 6S was Qualcomm only, so chip supply is not an issue either.

Cook is a supply chain guy - this reeks of pinching pennies wherever possible. Similar to the lack of Iris Pro in the new 15" MBPs. is starting down that line of cost cutting in their products. Building the ultimate best product is no longer the primary consideration.

 

[cwt2nospam]

They explain their methodology for the test. You are the one making an assertion that they are biased, the onus is on you to provide any sort of evidence that's the case. At this point it sounds like you are the purveyor of FUD here.

Have you been to their site? There is no information about where their funding comes from. True, there's no proof either way, but the onus is really on them to prove themselves.

Most damning is that any reasonable person would expect a technical company founded in 2016 to be still looking to hire engineers/software developers in November of the same year! You can't even find a careers tab on their site. That doesn't look real to me.

 

[Kaspersky]

man, apple used to be my favorite brand... now it's turning me into an anarcho-primitivist

 

[spinedoc77]

Have you ever thought about using your Wi-fi Calling??

Never had much luck with that, lots of dropped calls and poor connections.

 

[RedOrchestra]

Building the ultimate best product is no longer the primary consideration.

"Best" product within the constraints of Apple's target profit margins - it is first and foremost a tech stock play.

 

[cwt2nospam]

"Best" product is relative to other products. You may not like (assuming you believe Cellular Insights is not a shill) the way Apple is handling the differences in components, but that doesn't mean the iPhone isn't still better than its competition. I for one, wouldn't even consider using an Android phone for banking or anything else that involved sensitive information.

 

[neteng101]

"Best" product within the constraints of Apple's target profit margins - it is first and foremost a tech stock play.

Best according to Jobs would be a whole different product focused on the user experience. Companies that get too focused on profits will see their stock tank sooner or later. The Jobs is gone, and long term that means Apple's stock is going to be like other giants of past - Cisco, Microsoft, etc. No longer a darling growth tech stock for sure.

 

[Rocketman]

By restating the conclusion as valid, aren't they tacitly confirming the claim?

In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said there is no discernible difference in the wireless performance of any of the iPhone 7 models.

"Every iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus meets or exceeds all of Apple's wireless performance standards, quality metrics, and reliability testing," Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said. "In all of our rigorous lab tests based on wireless industry standards, in thousands of hours of real-world field testing, and in extensive carrier partner testing, the data shows there is no discernible difference in the wireless performance of any of the models."

 

[atlchamp]

so is apple throttling or not? somebody give me a yes or no

 

[CEmajr]

If this is true then theoretically it should also be happening to Sprint users. But then again being on Sprint is like being permanently throttled anyway.

 

[Count Blah]

I wonder if Apple is getting a kickback from AT&T to protect AT&T's reputation. Can't imagine Apple doing this unless there were some profit in it for them.

Of course Apple would do this. Once word got out that you can get 3 Times better performance with one iPhone, versus another iPhone, of the same release, then people would raise a big stink. Remember the months and moths of anguish over the two different processors in the iPhone(6s?), the two different manufacturers for the MBP retina screen, etc...

Much better for Apple to make everyone perform the same, across providers/networks, than to have 1/2 the folks feel like they got jipped on their $800+ phone.

 

[I7guy]

Of course Apple would do this. Once word got out that you can get 3 Times better performance with one iPhone, versus another iPhone, of the same release, then people would raise a big stink. Remember the months and moths of anguish over the two different processors in the iPhone(6s?), the two different manufacturers for the MBP retina screen, etc...

Much better for Apple to make everyone perform the same, across providers/networks, than to have 1/2 the folks feel like they got jipped on their $800+ phone.

I don't view it as getting "jpped" on an 800+ phone, I view it as getting "jipped" on a carrier that isn't as good.
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Best according to Jobs would be a whole different product focused on the user experience. Companies that get too focused on profits will see their stock tank sooner or later. The Jobs is gone, and long term that means Apple's stock is going to be like other giants of past - Cisco, Microsoft, etc. No longer a darling growth tech stock for sure.

Or, jobs could have blown it, given people like to believe the infallability of him, with a "that's not what SJ would have done"; he could have made any one of a number of errors in judgement.

 

[KPOM]

Dammit Apple, everyone loved it when you made one identical phone for all carriers. Android does this with many of their phones, why are you going in reverse?

"Android" doesn't make any phones. Samsung makes different models for different carriers. iPhone 7 supports more LTE bands than most Android phones.

 

[geoff5093]

"Android" doesn't make any phones. Samsung makes different models for different carriers. iPhone 7 supports more LTE bands than most Android phones.

As I said in another post, I meant many Android phones work on all domestic carriers.

 

[KPOM]

So you just defend Apple no matter what? Apple is infallible and no one could possibly have a legitimate complaint?

Because this isn't a legitimate complaint. Apple doesn't advertise that the iPhone is capable of the faster speeds. If Apple did sell different versions with drastically different speeds for the same price people would be complaining just as angrily.

The bottom line is that both modems meet Apple's advertised standards.
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As I said in another post, I meant many Android phones work on all domestic carriers.

Fair point but Apple does sell the SIM-free model that works with all carriers.