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iPhone XS and XS Max Owners Complain of Wi-Fi and LTE Connectivity Issues

Nhwhazup said:
At least for my experience and testing, I think the problem is combination of the hardware in the new phones and something in iOS 12. While my Max is having the cellular connectivity problems, so is my husband’s 8. His went from LTE to 3G at our house after the update. But that being said, my old 6S Plus has no issues and still connects with LTE every time. So who knows. I do have an appointment this afternoon at Apple and am bringing in all my testing results and all the devices. They are going to laugh when they see me coming with a bag of phones and iPads.
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HA ha! YOU GO GIRL!
 
BootsWalking said:
Would be helpful to see some video of side-by-side LTE and WiFi tests between an XS/XS-Max and a previous gen phone.
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I literally just did a comparison between 7 and an Xs Max on 5ghz WiFi in the same spot in my house. 7 was consistently faster, as much as 50%. I’ll do a video of both on WiFi and LTE later.

Anecdotally, I have noticed awful LTE and signal strength across the board. Inside house, outside house, everywhere. Just connectivity issues galore with the Xs. Thought it was Bc I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile, but it could be this. If anyone is curious, I live in downtown Boston.
 
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roncron said:
In the following, I absolutely don't mean to diminish the very real frustration and very justifiable anger those of you experiencing these issues must be feeling. But I'm going to suggest that, based on what we know so far, this appears to be a minor glitch in the scheme of things affecting a very small % of units and that Apple will resolve it very soon.

And therefore, those of us who are thinking about buying an XS or Max, or (like me) have ordered one and are waiting for it to be delivered, should not get too stressed. (Yet.)

The source of this stress is reports like the following that suggest these issues are due to hardware and cannot be fixed with a software patch, e.g.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/iphone-xs-antenna-problems,news-28160.html

which is based on

https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/0...453.28932202.1537964837-1389112693.1510663760

a blog post written by someone named Andrew Shepard.

(FYI, Shepard posted an update yesterday to clarify his earlier post:
https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/09/antennagate-2018-youre-getting-my.html )

Andrew Shepard seems like a really smart guy who knows what he's talking about. But we really don't know much about him. The Tom's Guide article calls him a "radio expert" but based on what? Shepard's blog and twitter feed do not have an "about me" section that lists his credentials. On his Google+ page (people are still using Google+??), he describes himself as an "armchair engineer & communications policy wonk" who attended the University of Kansas. (Does he have a B.S.? Masters? He doesn't say.)

Because we don't know more about his credentials, and because (as far as I know) his findings have not been replicated or corroborated by other, independent, credible sources, we should take his analysis with some healthy skepticism.

It's certainly possible that Apple screwed up by using a crappy antenna design or that Apple chose poorly performing antennas on the XS/Max models, in which case Apple will have to recall or replace millions of $1000+ phones.

But until Mr Shepard's analysis is confirmed by other objective independent and reputable sources, I think it's far more likely that the issues many of you are experiencing are a horribly frustrating but ultimately fixable new product rollout glitch, and that Apple's engineers are busting their asses to get a fix ready to push out.

We don't know how many XS and Max models are having these problems, but it's very likely a tiny %. If Apple has sold 1 million units since launch and 10,000 unfortunate people are having problems, that's 1%. Apple's probably sold much more than 1 million, though I don't think we can know how many people have units with these issues. But if the number is around 10,000 (justifiably angry) people, that would account for the volume of activity on forums discussing these problems. But again, if it's only 1% or so, then those of us who've already ordered or are thinking of buying an XS or Max are very likely to get one that's not experiencing these problems.

Also: some of you have reported similar issues on older devices since updating to iOS 12. Again suggesting that the problem is due at least in part to something other than XS/Max units having defective or poorly performing hardware.

Lastly, if Apple had indeed screwed up and put bad hardware in its XS & Max models, it's overwhelmingly likely that Apple's stock would have taken a hit. Big institutional investors like insurance companies and pension funds hold huge amounts of Apple stock and have armies of experts that analyze every scrap of information to determine whether to buy, sell, or hold. If there were an unfixable problem with the XS & Max iPhones, I'm pretty sure they'd be all over it as they have far more to lose than any one of us.

For all these reasons, and until other sources besides Mr Shepard come out with corroborating information, I'm inclined to not worry too much that the super expensive iPhone Max I ordered has hardware defects that would lead to the kinds of problems many of you are experiencing. I am guessing that Apple will resolve this issue in the near future.

Of course, we should all be extremely prudent and (a) report any issues to Apple so they get a sense of how widespread these problems are, which should give them a greater sense of urgency to fix them and (b) return our phones to Apple if the issue isn't resolved within the 14-day return window.
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Mr. Shepard may not have a degree and be completely wrong and it would still be possible that Xs design is flawed. The amount of complaints from users on this forum is very alarming.
 
Berzerker7 said:
It doesn't, your "more samples and diverse experiments" happen best when it's wide-released to the public. People may not like it, but early adopters in this day and age *are* beta testers.

Also, there's a huge difference between "testing is useless because we're not going to find all the bugs" and "well, we think we've found all the bugs we can find, no point in agonizing over the fringe cases since we can roll out fixes after release, if there even are any." My point is the situation is the latter in most cases.
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That’s totally against the logistics & associated risks of a global premium brand roll-out.
Which requires a comprehensive field-testing strategy with thousands diverse situations with multiple carriers and telecomms standards.
And domestically, with hundreds of different Wifi modems, -set-ups, and -combinations.
In the professional world, customers aren’t sheep or testing herds (unless they opt-in for a test program)
And if you really think so, you don’t have a clue how to establish a global roll-out, in a premium B-to-C perspective (which clearly isn’t yours, and I would advise you to stay away from it)
 
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FWIW, I was getting 4 Mbps on cellular a couple of days ago on speedtest and fast.com.

Yesterday speedtest showed 128 Mbps (!!!) and fast.com still showed 4. I tested a different service and got about 70 Mbps. So who knows what’a right...
 
kcslc said:
FWIW, I was getting 4 Mbps on cellular a couple of days ago on speedtest and fast.com.

Yesterday speedtest showed 128 Mbps (!!!) and fast.com still showed 4. I tested a different service and got about 70 Mbps. So who knows what’a right...
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Fast shows your video is being throttled are you with Verizon ?
 
How many people here have tried restoring their XS/XS Max from iTunes as new without restoring your data from iCloud? That simply makes zero sense, I will not sacrifice my iMessages, Photos, Contacts and such to try and resolve this issue.

Feedback?
 
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TL24 said:
How many people here have tried restoring their XS/XS Max from iTunes as new without restoring your data from iCloud? That simply makes zero sense, I will not sacrifice my iMessages, Photos, Contacts and such to try and resolve this issue.

Feedback?
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Been there, done that. (Twice as directed by Apple Support) My issues reappeared immediately after the reset on the very first test call.
 
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Bacillus said:
That’s totally against the logistics & associated risks of a global premium brand roll-out.
Which requires a comprehensive field-testing strategy with thousands diverse situations with multiple carriers and telecomms standards.
And domestically, with hundreds of different Wifi modems, -set-ups, and -combinations.
In the professional world, customers aren’t sheep or testing herds (unless they opt-in for a test program)
And if you really think so, you don’t have a clue how to establish a global roll-out, in a premium B-to-C perspective (which clearly isn’t yours, and I would advise you to stay away from it)
Click to expand...

I didn't want to resort to ad hominem but your last statement is pretty rich when it's clear you really don't understand how product rollouts work, logistically. And if you really are involved in that world then you must do a whole lot of a money-wasting job.

The proper logistics is to test as much as you can given the resources you're allotted. It's foolish to think you're going to find everything, which is why companies dedicate teams to post-launch fixes. It's prepared for and *expected* that you're not going to find everything in testing and you're going to need to rollout fixes, be it money or time-constraints, or just straight up not finding something due to testing methods. If you're not doing it this way, you're wasting time and money. And if you really think early adopters aren't beta testers in this day and age, then I feel very bad for you.

With regard to your WiFi modem theory, contrary to your belief, most routers on the market use very similar, or even the same, (most likely) Broadcom WiFi chipsets in their hardware. Software is where you get tricky.

Obviously if this were such a product-breaking bug or issue they would have found it in testing. But, they didn't. What does that mean? Obviously that this issue is overblown and the "issues" that people are "experiencing" are placebo or isolated issues that can actually be addressed via software.
 
TL24 said:
How many people here have tried restoring their XS/XS Max from iTunes as new without restoring your data from iCloud? That simply makes zero sense, I will not sacrifice my iMessages, Photos, Contacts and such to try and resolve this issue.

Feedback?
Click to expand...

Rep tried to get me to do this after attempting various other things. I said “no thanks”, made sure he logged everything and hung up. I’m not going to lose everything, especially if there may be a software fix coming. Plus, that hardly ever works no matter the product.
 
TL24 said:
How many people here have tried restoring their XS/XS Max from iTunes as new without restoring your data from iCloud? That simply makes zero sense, I will not sacrifice my iMessages, Photos, Contacts and such to try and resolve this issue.

Feedback?
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Done. No help. My iMessages & photos are both saved in iCloud (thus not part of iCloud backup); contacts are synced via Google account. When I did DFU restore and set up as a new phone, there was no data loss except my memoji and any data saved locally within apps (which I had none of).

EDIT: It did take awhile to redownload & log in to all my apps, tweak settings, etc.
 
osxguy87 said:
Been there, done that. (Twice as directed by Apple Support) My issues reappeared immediately after the reset on the very first test call.
Click to expand...

decypher44 said:
Rep tried to get me to do this after attempting various other things. I said “no thanks”, made sure he logged everything and hung up. I’m not going to lose everything, especially if there may be a software fix coming. Plus, that hardly ever works no matter the product.
Click to expand...

JustMe2018 said:
Done. No help. My iMessages & photos are both saved in iCloud (thus not part of iCloud backup); contacts are synced via Google account. When I did DFU restore and set up as a new phone, there was no data loss except my memoji and any data saved locally within apps (which I had none of).

EDIT: It did take awhile to redownload & log in to all my apps, tweak settings, etc.
Click to expand...

Excellent, thanks for the feedback everyone. I was this close on trying out this "fix" myself and as usual it's a placebo effect and the issue comes right back.
 
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Berzerker7 said:
I didn't want to resort to ad hominem but your last statement is pretty rich when it's clear you really don't understand how product rollouts work, logistically. And if you really are involved in that world then you must do a whole lot of a money-wasting job.
The proper logistics is to test as much as you can given the resources you're allotted. It's foolish to think you're going to find everything, which is why companies dedicate teams to post-launch fixes. It's prepared for and *expected* that you're not going to find everything in testing and you're going to need to rollout fixes, be it money or time-constraints, or just straight up not finding something due to testing methods. If you're not doing it this way, you're wasting time and money. And if you really think early adopters aren't beta testers in this day and age, then I feel very bad for you.
With regard to your WiFi modem theory, contrary to your belief, most routers on the market use very similar, or even the same, (most likely) Broadcom WiFi chipsets in their hardware. Software is where you get tricky.
Obviously if this were such a product-breaking bug or issue they would have found it in testing. But, they didn't. What does that mean? Obviously that this issue is overblown and the "issues" that people are "experiencing" are placebo or isolated issues that can actually be addressed via software.
Click to expand...
Having been in this industry for 20+ years overseeing many roll-outs of larger complexity (but smaller scale) I can tell you that the resources and time alotted are never enough. So the practical compromise to be found is a difficult one and your initial statement in itself a guarantee for a flawed compromise.
If it was made by one of my employees, it would have been his last in the company.
Another flawed assumption: it's not Apple's testing that defines the norm - it's the experience of end-users in the field.
Qualifying those as "placebo, overblown" just illustrates your own attitude of derailed self-fulfillment
Coincidentally, I was not referring to Wifi hw per se, but to domestic appliances where modems, magnetrons, DECT phones, cleaners, walls, materials etc. collide and the combination effects define real-life situations. Here, your comprehension of the modem market hardly matters.
My initial assessment (reading customer reports) in this case is that testing has not been thorough enough.
That can't be seen apart from the strict confidentiality regime at Apple, complicating larger scale field tests, and liberal/loose definitions of beta testing & "software only"-issues such as yours and maybe others.
Hence my advise to you to stay out of matter like this - as your attitude is where quality degradation starts in the industry, indeed, even at Apple.
It is intolerable.
 
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I'm definitely seeing issues with 4G on my XS just like I used to on my 6 (but not my 8+), but in actuality when I do a speed test, despite the low signal on 4G it is testing nearly as fast as my home broadband. Home fibre is around 70Mbit, 4G is testing at anywhere up to 65Mbit but obviously it varies.

So honestly, I don't know what to make of all this. I'm in the UK on Vodafone.

I'm more concerned that my Hue lights have started randomly coming back on after I've switched them off. I didn't have that all the time I had my 8+. So long it took me by surprise when it happened because I'd forgotten all about it. Could be factors other than the wifi there though.
 
So sad - the new Max is no more.

I went in to the Apple store regarding the connectivity issues on cellular and met with a Genius. He did the whole restore as new but that didn’t help. Additional options would be to wait for a software update or get another phone. If I waited for an update and the phone is still a problem after the replacement could be a remanufactured phone. So I ended up doing a return. I’ll try again in a few weeks or month after the dust has settled and they’ve figured out the connectivity issues.

Please keep updating this thread especially when you get this connectivity issue solved on your phone.
 
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I just got my new iPhone XS Max 64gb today and it for sure does not have as good wifi reception as my iPhone 6S+. With the 6S+ I could walk downstairs to the refrigerator or outside to the deck and have no problems. The XS Max will loose signal walking down the stairs and have nothing outside on the deck.
 
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ianneub said:
I just got my new iPhone XS Max 64gb today and it for sure does not have as good wifi reception as my iPhone 6S+. With the 6S+ I could walk downstairs to the refrigerator or outside to the deck and have no problems. The XS Max will loose signal walking down the stairs and have nothing outside on the deck.
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You can thank intel for that. Crappy modems.
 
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So like someone else that mentioned it earlier, I just got a call from someone at Apple because I commented on their support boards. I asked how they got my number, and that’s what he told me. I told him people think it’s a scam, but he assured me it wasn’t. I didn’t have time to talk when he called, so he sent me an email. Was from legit Apple email. Kind of creepy, actually.
 
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Had a chat session with Apple Support via app. Quickly got to the “I’ll have a Senior Advisor call you” stage. Callback scheduled for tomorrow morning. Speeds were as low as 0.5Mbps on Speedtest tonight.
 
JustMe2018 said:
Had a chat session with Apple Support via app. Quickly got to the “I’ll have a Senior Advisor call you” stage. Callback scheduled for tomorrow morning. Speeds were as low as 0.5Mbps on Speedtest tonight.
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They wanted me to talk to someone who works with their Time Capsules. They weren't available (lol) and will call me back. Just jumping thru the hoops to reach the inevitable conclusion that something is wrong and they can't fix it (yet?).
 
Did a 5GHz test yesterday sitting next to the router, got 240 MBit download, and 312 MBit upload on Xs Max (got a 500/500 line). So that part seems ok for me. However the signal strength for the phone is bad. I often get Edge connectivity, havent seen that for years. Always on the same provider. I am not technical enough to tell if the phone and wifi goes via the same antenna, but it seems that i have worse reception at work etc. than during the last years.

Its killing me its switching to Edge, its friggin 2G network.
 
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