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Carrier iPhone 7+ slow (AT&T) LTE data speeds (in NYC), post YOUR speeds!

Sowelu

Sowelu

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 15, 2008
849
1,084
New York City
Anyone else experiencing very slow LTE data speeds on their AT&T iPhone 7s? I am in the New York City area and have tested my speeds while in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and part of New Jersey and they all pretty much suck.

I first noticed that something was off while I was commuting into work (via New Jersey on a bus) and noticed that my iPhone was having a hard time resolving web pages in Safari. It was intermittent and spotty, but noticeable as my iPhone 6+ almost never had this problem.

So, I downloaded the SpeedTest app and sure enough, my LTE download and upload speeds are consistently horrible, even very late at night/early in the morning (the fastest I got was about 12 Mbps, not pictured here):

iP7LTE.png


As you can see, Wi-Fi is very fast (98 Mbps at home, about 42 Mbps at work), but once I am out and about and LTE kicks in, it’s slow and/or spotty in terms of connectivity. This is both inside and outdoors. The status 'dots' go from 1 to 4, but the data speed never really improves.

My question is, why?! Is it AT&T? Is it the new modem made by Intel? I would think that LTE speeds would only get faster, not slower. My iPhone 6+ used to have much better LTE speeds, but I didn't check them before swapping phones, so I am not sure if AT&T's network started sucking before I upgraded to the iPhone 7 Plus.

If you’re in the New York City area and have AT&T on your iPhone 7, please... post your LTE speeds here!
 
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Having the same issue in North NJ. Verizon opened up a trouble ticket and I have them my work address where I'm seeing LTE speeds of 3-5 Mbps sometimes whereas at home 40 miles away I get 50 Mbps. There's something entirely wrong with the metro areas network on all carriers I think. And it's only affecting the iPhone 7. My 6 didn't have this issue a week ago.
 
IMG_4605.PNG

All Midtown indoors across two locations. AT&T using Verizon iPhone 7 Plus for the Qualcomm modem.
 
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Those are pretty decent speeds - thanks for posting them! I was able to get 22 Mbps this morning, which was shocking and the fastest data speed yet.

I don't run tests all day, but noticed that I had no connectivity when I was loading a video while commuting (dispite the phone showing 3 dots and LTE). So when I toggled airplane mode, I ran the SpeedTest app to see if the connection was better, and it was.

Unfortunately, it's very spotty, and I shouldn't have to toggle airplane mode to force the phone to connect to a different/better tower. I really hope Apple/AT&T address this.

Bad carrier service is one thing, but it's crucial that the phone displays the correct connectivity status. iOS has never been very good at that.
 
I don't seem to have any problems like that. Right now I have one dot of AT&T LTE using my Verizon (Qualcomm) iPhone 7 Plus and getting about 10mbps down and up.

Possible it's an Intel v. Qualcomm thing?
 
I heard the Verizon people are having similar issues in the same area

Probably some third party towers that serve all carriers that need to be upgraded or whatever
 
The AT&T NYC speed issues are nothing new. I switched to Verizon I April because I was so fed up with not being able to use my phone in the city. My friend's AT&T phone still suffers just as badly, even with an iPhone 6s. It's 2011 all over again with them.

It's not your iPhone 7, from my experience. It's the network, and you are probably just noticing it now.
 
Mr. Zarniwoop said:
I don't seem to have any problems like that. Right now I have one dot of AT&T LTE using my Verizon (Qualcomm) iPhone 7 Plus and getting about 10mbps down and up.

Possible it's an Intel v. Qualcomm thing?
Click to expand...
Hmmm, I was unaware of the modem differences in the iPhone 7. I assumed they were using the all in one modems like they used in previous iPhones. If Qualcomm makes the better modem, why would Apple go with an Intel modem for the AT&T iPhones? Wouldn't the additional SKUs and product packaging and differentiating offset whatever savings that would come from using two suppliers? Seems like unnecessary penny pinching, especially if performance is affected.
 
Have you seen the speed reports

ATT used to be 1 or 2 in most markets now it's #3. pretty terrible in SF bay area.
 
Sowelu said:
If Qualcomm makes the better modem, why would Apple go with an Intel modem for the AT&T iPhones?
Click to expand...
Supplier diversity.

This way they hedge their risk of sole-sourcing problems (Qualcomm problems would otherwise become Apple problems) and help leverage (to negotiate costs or other concessions).
 
Wow OP, I never thought to toggle airplane mode on and off. In my midtown office I usually get like 2-3 down, 10 up. I turned airplane mode on and off and now its 20 down, 15 up. That's crazy
 
Toggling Airplane mode probably had your phone grab a different LTE band, and that one was less congested... Too bad it's not changing faster!
I haven't seen any issues on my 7+ since I received it (a week ago now). Still nice and fast.
 
Sowelu said:
Hmmm, I was unaware of the modem differences in the iPhone 7. I assumed they were using the all in one modems like they used in previous iPhones. If Qualcomm makes the better modem, why would Apple go with an Intel modem for the AT&T iPhones? Wouldn't the additional SKUs and product packaging and differentiating offset whatever savings that would come from using two suppliers? Seems like unnecessary penny pinching, especially if performance is affected.
Click to expand...
It's more like, not building the support for CDMA to all iPhones when the overwhelming majority shipped world wide have no use for it. Eventually CDMA will be phased out and Apple moving to an Intel chip without it is more "new" than a legacy Qualcomm chip that still supports it.
 
Here is mine in the Detroit area on Verizon. Although I have seen lately my phone will switch to 3G for seemingly no reason.
9a7cec187fa8510b6305b70495d4db96.png
 
Thanks for posting that. My speeds are all over the place. I don't mind a slower speed, but when web pages stop resolving (with LTE shown and 3 dots), I want to throw my phone. I am hoping that a driver update is included in 10.1 (if drivers are updated in iOS releases).
 
I had posted this in another thread, but OP, I totally get your issue, as I noticed the same thing and went back to VZ

I just went through switching to ATT and back to VZ due to horribly slow speeds like 0.5-5 down on ATT vs 3-30 down on VZ in most places

In NYC, have a work ATT and home VZ iPhone 6S ... never noticed a speed difference with either throughout the city ... in a normal day, I'll be in 10 different areas

Brought my VZ line over to ATT and had 2 ATT 7 plus ... speeds totally sucked, in most places, I would get around 0.5-1 down lucky to see 3-5 down

Rebooted, restored from iTunes ... nope, both phones still super slow

Pop my SIM into my coworkers VZ 7 plus and started running tests through the city

After probably 40 tests in different locations, ATT rarely beat VZ, close enough maybe 5 times but the rest was handily in favor of VZ meaning ATT still lucky to get low single digits while VZ comfortably pulling 5-10 down

Given all the buildings and obstalces in NYC, the Qualcomm vs Intel antenna mattered

Remember, there wasn't an ATT vs VZ issue on the 6S where it was all the same antenna
 
jenzjen said:
Remember, there wasn't an ATT vs VZ issue on the 6S where it was all the same antenna
Click to expand...

You absolutely sure about that?

My job involves traveling from customer to customer around NYC. I had AT&T for a few years. I last used them on the 6S and I ported over to verizon because of the slowness and lack of service issues that I was having. Before I ported to verizon in April, I swapped my phone and changed the sim to prove that it was not a phone issue.

My ipad air 2 is still with AT&T and I am about to dump it because it works so bad in NYC

I doubt that a Qualcomm modem is going to help you out in this case.
 
I guess it's the perfect storm for disaster in terms of connectivity/data speeds. The (alleged) inferior Intel modem, congested location and an outdated and overcrowded network. Notice how AT&T isn't boasting about being the fastest data provider anymore? Because they're not - it's time for them to upgrade again.

I think I am going to call AT&T and tell them that I am only going to pay part of my bill, since my service only works part of the time. Sounds fair, right?
 
Sowelu said:
I guess it's the perfect storm for disaster in terms of connectivity/data speeds. The (alleged) inferior Intel modem, congested location and an outdated and overcrowded network. Notice how AT&T isn't boasting about being the fastest data provider anymore? Because they're not - it's time for them to upgrade again.

I think I am going to call AT&T and tell them that I am only going to pay part of my bill, since my service only works part of the time. Sounds fair, right?
Click to expand...

My parents just moved about 15 miles east away from Atlanta into an area that's not quite as suburban but hardly rural. They have Uverse before. Thanks to AT&T being AT&T and totally messing up the move, nobody bothered to mention that Uverse wasn't out there. So they end up with plain DSL. The speed? About 1.5Mbps. I was over there earlier this week and it's so bad that nothing on it works, not even loading a damn website on an iPad. So I'm going to get them a cable modem pronto.

Wireless is sorta similar around this area. It's a lot of hit and miss. I only stick with them on AT&T because lumping three people together on shared data is hella cheaper than splitting apart. I only got the new 7 Plus on AT&T because my 6 had a battery that stunk and AT&T gave me $650 credit over two years for it. I was tired of charging my phone twice a day. But that doesn't mean it's ridiculous when I see my phone switch to 4G, which I know is marketing covering for actually being 2G because IT SURE DOES GET SLOW WHEN IT SAYS 4G.

This company wants to buy Time Warner. Hell, AT&T wouldn't be allowed to handle sharp objects if it were a person.
 
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