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iPhone 7 Plus Qualcomm LTE Modem Outperforms Intel LTE Modem by Significant Margin

Data from a single source only is hardly empirical, or scientific. Also, something nobody bothered to ask but is equally relevant to performance: power consumption.
 
garya73 said:
Korea isn't a country. There are two separate countries, North Korea and South Korea. I don't think either one would want to be mis-identified as the other.
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Actually, Koreans don't distinguished between North and South in everyday life; they just refer to it as Korea
 
asleep said:
Why oh why doesn't Apple single source these key components,

Nothing ticks off a customer more than the feeling that their phone is performance-disadvantaged to other same model iPhones due to chance.
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Because for what I thought were obvious reasons, sourcing things from one supplier is a foolish thing to do, because you have little to no control over your suppliers, if one goes bust or is unable to supply you with the goods you require, you need a backup that can ramp up production or at least supply some of the supply rather than none, it makes good business sense to do it like Apple are doing it.
 
konqerror said:
INCORRECT! You are getting RSSI, the 2G/3G concept mixed up with RSRP, the LTE concept. Because LTE uses OFDMA, the phone does not demodulate the entire signal. Also, unlike 2G/3G, LTE carriers have different bandwidths, so RSSI would vary depending on the carrier.

Therefore, LTE uses a different method of measuring signal power. RSRP refers to the power of specific reference subcarriers in the signal, whereas RSSI refers to the power in the entire signal. As a result RSRP is much lower than RSSI.

In fact, -102 is a mid-level signal. It will show as full bars!

Read this: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-308-rssi-vs-rsrp-a-brief-lte-signal-strength-primer/
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THIS! All of THIS is why I read macrumors forums. My heart is swelling with pride!
 
jgelin said:
I have the intel modem (slower one), here is my speed test from this morning on the newest beta: View attachment 666857
Can’t say i am disappointed.
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Just tested mine. I'm in Boston and my iPhone 7 Plus keeps bouncing between 1 and 2 bars at work.

I didn't know anything about the modem difference when I pre ordered my Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus from AT&T

The speed test results 3.83 Mbps Down and 8.33 Mbps Up.

Surprised to see up with a faster result. Never seen that before.


I'll have to speed test when I have more bars, but I pretty sure I saw 70 Mbps or more on my iPhone 6+ when I ran speed tests. I'm hoping I can see the same on the 7 Plus.
 
maflynn said:
There's always something it seems. People want to quibble over every detail
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I'd hardly call this a 'quibble'. My LTE speeds suck on my $900 phone compared to my 6+. Totally unacceptable. My carrier and location are the same, the only thing that changed was my phone.
 
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Wasn't sold on my iPhone 7 to begin with, noticed weaker LTE and less reception bars. Now that I know I have an Intel inside this hunk of junk is going back for an SE. The last real iphone worth it's cost.

Very deceptive and crummy of Apple. They continue to go down hill fast in my book.
 
It's amazing what people get in a tizzy over. Just enjoy your phone, use it, and if you don't like it, return it. :) Simple.
 
UPDATE: Resolved! Exchanged! YAY! =^_^=

Apple is refusing to swap out my Intel A1784 7+ for a Qualcomm A1661.

My reasons for wanting the exchange are:
  1. The 7/7+ was marketed as there being an exclusively CDMA model, and an exclusively GSM model. If I had known the CDMA-only model also did GSM, I would have left the store with a CDMA unit in the first place, and wouldn't need an exchange. I absolutely would never have paid $869.00 cash for the less featured model.
  2. The model with a Qualcomm modem has faster cellular connectivity.
  3. Had this story broke within the 14 day return period, I would have returned it then. I'm essentially being punished for being a loyal customer.
Here's what happened when I tried to get an exchange:

Friday September 16th
  • Tried to buy 7+ at launch, none in stock.
Saturday September 24th
  • Waited 8 hours in line, bought ATT model. Did not know a CDMA+GSM model existed.
Wednesday October 26th
  • Asked apple store manager for exchange, he refused.
Thursday October 27th
  • Web chatted with two apple employees, spoke to a manager over the phone, they refused the exchange. The manager yelled at me the entire call and threatened to hang up several times.
  • Spoke to a second employee over the phone who offered to attempt to fix this.
Sunday October 30th - Wednesday November 3rd
  • A manager at my local apple store contacted me Sunday afternoon, they contacted me as soon as a replacement came in stock, and I was able to exchange the phone on Wednesday.
 
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supersalo said:
There's no significant difference between the two. In their "lab", the throughput difference was 20%. In the real world, it's probably closer to 5%.
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Would love to see your data supporting this assertion.
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ghostface147 said:
All AT&T phones are not true world phones. They are intel modems and don't work with Verizon or sprint. So when it's time to sell it, you won't get as much value as a Verizon iPhone 7.
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Well, I know I won't be with AT&T next time.
 
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9befc3475c3941349dce76a11b0b56bc.jpg


On AT&T LTE in Los Angeles with an JB iP7+ (Intel). Not complaining.
 
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I never got the 7 Plus for ATT. Apple screwed up my order and I cancelled.

That said, has anyone changed their opinion on the Intel modem. It' s been a couple months.

Main question is--can I buy sim free or Verizon iPhone 7 Plus at Apple Store and have them upgrade me on my ATT Next account to it from my 6s Plus? Or, must I get the ATT version to upgrade?

I am not sure I will like the 8 with a curved screen and may keep the 7 for a couple years. Plus the ATT 8 may have same Intel modem.

Thanks
 
rugmankc said:
That said, has anyone changed their opinion on the Intel modem. It' s been a couple months.
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I haven't had any issues lately with the Intel modem in my AT&T iPhone 7 Plus. I used to think my phone had a signal problem at home because it would get 2-3 bars instead of 5 like my old iPhone 6, but it turned out this was because the 7 Plus supports band 30, which doesn't penetrate buildings as well. Despite the 2-3 bars the performance is far faster than my old iPhone 6 using the same SIM card, so it became a non-issue.

I strongly suspect that since the 7 was released there have been modem firmware updates and carrier updates that have fixed the issues.
 
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