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iPhone XS and XS Max Owners Complain of Wi-Fi and LTE Connectivity Issues
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So here is my screenshots of the modem firmware and carrier firmware for iOS12.1 beta 1 and beta 2. It seems they are still tweaking things which is a good sign. The one marked up in green is beta 2 btw.
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Got my Xs yesterday. I can confirm that when there is a good coverage speed is ok, I just run Speedtest and got 189Mbps.
At home I have a measly 20Mbps line with only 1Mbps upload speed, so I can't run Speedtest and have reliable information, it always sucks even on my Mac or on the iPad. At office we have both 2.4 and 5GHz and I get about 100Mbps in upload and download so no issues here, I guess it always picks the 5GHz signal.
My understanding of the issue is that you get worse speed compared to older iPhones when you have poor coverage. I can try going on my cellar or in my garage where I usually have 1 bar and see if I can still use the network there to take a phone call or use cellular data. With my old 6s and my wife's 8 we can receive calls while we park the car in the garage even with a really bad signal, so if Xs doesn't drop the call maybe it means I don't have the problem on my iPhone.
At home I have a measly 20Mbps line with only 1Mbps upload speed, so I can't run Speedtest and have reliable information, it always sucks even on my Mac or on the iPad. At office we have both 2.4 and 5GHz and I get about 100Mbps in upload and download so no issues here, I guess it always picks the 5GHz signal.
My understanding of the issue is that you get worse speed compared to older iPhones when you have poor coverage. I can try going on my cellar or in my garage where I usually have 1 bar and see if I can still use the network there to take a phone call or use cellular data. With my old 6s and my wife's 8 we can receive calls while we park the car in the garage even with a really bad signal, so if Xs doesn't drop the call maybe it means I don't have the problem on my iPhone.
Please let us know if everything’s still going well in two days. For some of us here, things seemed great for the first couple days, then the problems emerged.
Nobody holds their phone like that plus there should be a case on that phone to prevent that issue.
This morning I was able to test the phone on my garage at the basement. The phone switched to 3G and managed to keep the connection, speed test was really slow (2.5Mbps) but worked.
I'll try with my wife's iPhone but she is on a different carrier so I can't really compare the two phones.
Now I'm at my desk, yesterday I got 189Mbps and now it is only 30Mbps, while on the Mac connected via ethernet I'm over 200Mbps.
edit: just retried the speed test and got 150Mbps, still at my desk so same network coverage. Maybe the app picked up a slow server, the test I just did pointed to a different one.
In wi-fi I only get 35Mbps, but the upload speed is 60 so I think the wi-fi is OK, maybe it is normal to have weir results from time to time.
I have a silicon cover so I can't accidentally touch any weak spot with my hand. I saw a video on youtube with a guy holding the phone in a weird way resulting in really bad network connection, but it doesn't happen to me
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I'm in a quandary here. I really like my XS, but I'm having these same issues with poor connectivity and performance. I waited for the XS to come out so I could get the 8+ with the same camera at an "old model" discount. Long story short I went home with the XS instead. In hindsight, the phone was already having issues at the store, taking excessive time to transfer data from my 6S. The salesman said this was because I had so many apps and photos but I don't have near as many as other owners I compared with. Anyway, I got home Friday and still didn't have everything downloaded, even after an hour's drive using my car's high speed wifi. I live in a rural area with lousy bandwidth, but I'm also in direct line of sight with the wifi transmitter a half mile away on top of my cousin's grain silo. My iMac, 6S and iPad3 all work fine on this. Spent the weekend fussing with the XS.
1) struggled to even find my home wifi network
2) frequently failed to connect when it did find it
3) lost connection after a short interval
4) calls going straight to voicemail w/o ringing, calls dropped or broken up
5) dismal Ookla speed tests results in side-by-side comparison with my 6S and old iPad3. Download speed drains off until "error:no internet connection".
6) volume fluctuations, sound level fade
7) apps not loading, apps no longer responding while in use
I've tried:
1) forget network: XS will then connect but soon loses connection again.
2) reset network: works for a couple minutes then loses signal again
3) toggle airplane mode: nothing
4) switch from main wifi network to guest network: good for 10-60 minutes
5) disable LTE: this worked. Bars immediately jumped from 1 to 4 and have had no dropped or missed calls since.
6) log on other locations: uneven results. Excellent performance on daughter's network (she has no trouble with exact same phone, my XS was even faster than hers). Worked fine on 2 public network, failed to connect on 2 others.
7) called Apple support that Monday. Said I could return my XS for a new one.
8) return to AT&T: they did 1 and 2 with same result, would not exchange "defective" phone, sent me to Apple Store an hour away.
9) took to "Apple store". Not Apple "Store", "Apple Servicer", wouldn't exchange phones.
So now my options seem to be keep phone and hope for software fix soon, or drive 2-5 hours to nearest "real" Apple Store in STL or Chicago to exchange phone, or do a mail exchange. I have $$$ sunk in screen protectors, safety case, wireless charging pad. I'm not even sure a different phone will work any better, my daughter's XS was slow as ditch water on my home wifi too altho it didn't seem to have the connectivity issues. I shouldn't have to fiddle and fuss with a $1600 device in order to use it.
1) struggled to even find my home wifi network
2) frequently failed to connect when it did find it
3) lost connection after a short interval
4) calls going straight to voicemail w/o ringing, calls dropped or broken up
5) dismal Ookla speed tests results in side-by-side comparison with my 6S and old iPad3. Download speed drains off until "error:no internet connection".
6) volume fluctuations, sound level fade
7) apps not loading, apps no longer responding while in use
I've tried:
1) forget network: XS will then connect but soon loses connection again.
2) reset network: works for a couple minutes then loses signal again
3) toggle airplane mode: nothing
4) switch from main wifi network to guest network: good for 10-60 minutes
5) disable LTE: this worked. Bars immediately jumped from 1 to 4 and have had no dropped or missed calls since.
6) log on other locations: uneven results. Excellent performance on daughter's network (she has no trouble with exact same phone, my XS was even faster than hers). Worked fine on 2 public network, failed to connect on 2 others.
7) called Apple support that Monday. Said I could return my XS for a new one.
8) return to AT&T: they did 1 and 2 with same result, would not exchange "defective" phone, sent me to Apple Store an hour away.
9) took to "Apple store". Not Apple "Store", "Apple Servicer", wouldn't exchange phones.
So now my options seem to be keep phone and hope for software fix soon, or drive 2-5 hours to nearest "real" Apple Store in STL or Chicago to exchange phone, or do a mail exchange. I have $$$ sunk in screen protectors, safety case, wireless charging pad. I'm not even sure a different phone will work any better, my daughter's XS was slow as ditch water on my home wifi too altho it didn't seem to have the connectivity issues. I shouldn't have to fiddle and fuss with a $1600 device in order to use it.
Suggestion: if you can get by with your 6S a bit longer, return the XS by mail (Apple pays shipping). Hang on to your cases & screen protectors. Sooner or later, Apple will come up with a fix or otherwise address these issues. When that happens, and after folks here who’ve had these issues can confirm the problems really are fixed, consider buying an XS at that time. I’m guessing we won’t have to wait more than a week or two. But who knows.
Good luck, Boss!
Good luck, Boss!
Today is the third day with my Xs.
So far Speedtest has been inconsistent. I sometime get really good speed, a few minutes later I have much worse results. Sometimes LTE is better than wi-fi at office (but I get > 200Mbps via ethernet on the Mac), other times LTE is < 30Mbps.
I never feel the network to be slow though, I'm talking browsing in Safari, watching youtube video on the app, checking email and social.
Never had a call dropped, or had bad voice quality during a call. VoIP is way better, but that's always been the case and my carrier doesn't support VoLTE and switches to 3G every time I make a call.
I'm not denying there is a problem, I don't remember Speedtest to have such high and lows in the past, all I'm saying is not really a problem to me. I can make calls, I can use the phone as usual and speed is ok. The only bug I have experienced once is the phone not charging if you connect the cable with the display off, but 90% of the time I charge via Qi so I'm not craving for a fix.
My advice is to wait a couple of weeks when Xr will be release to the public. Its antenna design is different so it may have better reception and can be a good product at a lower price point. And if you don't like Xr Apple would have found a fix by the end of the month, maybe they won't be able to completely solve the problem but I'm confident they can at least mitigate via software.
Indeed no one does hold a phone that way, does not take from the fact that something is not right though, as a test i tried it on my non iphone and it had no effect and im sure many others could try on their phones and have no effect, however obviously an issue somewhere though.
And as for the case, i agree i never go naked but not everyone does, and a case shouldnt have to make any difference to a devices performance
Nobody might hold their phone that way, but they may pick their phone up that way, especially if case-less, as the camera bump makes it easier to grab onto the top of the phone first and lift a little, while you then grab the bottom of the phone and then proceed to use it one-handed as normal.
I think that may have contributed to what was happening to me yesterday when I had my Xs case-less sitting on my desk in louderspeaker mode while I was on hold on a phone call. When I got taken out of hold to speak to a human, I then proceeded to lift up the phone as described above, and turn off speakerphone mode, when the call dropped a few seconds later.
I did have other dropped calls (always a few seconds after answering, and holding it normally) that wouldn’t have been caused by the holding top and bottom antennas at same time. After several attempts, I put the case back on the Xs and there was no more dropped calls.
I am going to return my Xs and wait for all this to get sorted out, or maybe just get the Xr.
The Xr is a great device, if quite expensive, but it is at the moment a terrible phone!
I think that may have contributed to what was happening to me yesterday when I had my Xs case-less sitting on my desk in louderspeaker mode while I was on hold on a phone call. When I got taken out of hold to speak to a human, I then proceeded to lift up the phone as described above, and turn off speakerphone mode, when the call dropped a few seconds later.
I did have other dropped calls (always a few seconds after answering, and holding it normally) that wouldn’t have been caused by the holding top and bottom antennas at same time. After several attempts, I put the case back on the Xs and there was no more dropped calls.
I am going to return my Xs and wait for all this to get sorted out, or maybe just get the Xr.
The Xr is a great device, if quite expensive, but it is at the moment a terrible phone!
Sounds like good advice (though I highly doubt I'll get that screen protector off of this phone on to another phone decently) and I expect I'll kick myself if I don't follow it. The 6S is plenty of phone for my purposes, I didn't need or even neccesarily want the new XS - it was the XS camera I was jonesing after. And now that I have the camera I don't want to give it up. Not an entirely rational position I admit, given the circumstances.
Add to the list of issues this new message received today:
*iPhone hasn't been backed up in two weeks. Backups happen when this iPhone is connected to power, locked, and on Wi-Fi.*
It has been connected to power and locked, overnight, multiple times. Poor wifi connectivity is again the likely issue. The XS drops the wifi signal and connection fails before backup is complete. I can use the phone on my home wifi if I continuously go into my settings and switch networks each time it loses service - not an option when it's locked, obviously.
Starting a manual backup now, and there's a new message: *iCloud backup could not be completed due to poor network conditions.*
The struggle is real.
Posting here since the apple forum is censoring all related posts.
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My iPhone Xs arrived as promised on launch day, 15 days ago. I couldn't be more excited to get home and start setting it up. iCloud backup had me up and running in no time. I was a very happy customer.
The first freeze up happened within the hour. I went to check my email and things locked up. I thought maybe it needed to be restarted, I did just run setup and download updates. I rebooted the phone and ran out to get something to eat. The restart seemed to work, but not for long. The next time I picked up the phone it was seriously lagging, again. That is when I noticed that it was now connected to a 4G network. Wait, what? Why am I not connected to my Wifi? Why am I not on LTE? I live in an area with full LTE signal strength all the time. Why is my new phone not connecting to Wifi or LTE? And why can't it seem to manitain a solid 4G connection either? Why can't I use my home Wifi network for more than a few minutes without the phone locking up and starting me on this loop all over again? I decided to see what I could find on the internet.
What I found is that I am not the only one experiencing connection failures and connection losses with their shiny, brand new, thousand dollar, iPhone Xs. I also read that apple is reaching out to those customers who are affected by this unofficial issue. I understand apple is offering to install some sort of network logging program on the device, to assist in diagnosing the problem.
I called my apple store and they told me to bring my phone in for a swap. That must be apple's "standard response" to this unofficial issue. I found that countless other iPhone Xs owners have already gone down that road only to find their replacement phones afflicted with the same network connection failures.
Installing a network logger on my phone is not a solution. It may help you but it does not help me, your customer. Replacing my phone with another is pointless until the issue has been identified and corrected. Why give me another one that is going to do the exact same thing?
I am such an unhappy customer right now. I purchased a premium apple product and I paid a premium apple price. I expected to receive premium apple performance. Instead I received unreliability, frustration, and disappointment, again.
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My iPhone Xs arrived as promised on launch day, 15 days ago. I couldn't be more excited to get home and start setting it up. iCloud backup had me up and running in no time. I was a very happy customer.
The first freeze up happened within the hour. I went to check my email and things locked up. I thought maybe it needed to be restarted, I did just run setup and download updates. I rebooted the phone and ran out to get something to eat. The restart seemed to work, but not for long. The next time I picked up the phone it was seriously lagging, again. That is when I noticed that it was now connected to a 4G network. Wait, what? Why am I not connected to my Wifi? Why am I not on LTE? I live in an area with full LTE signal strength all the time. Why is my new phone not connecting to Wifi or LTE? And why can't it seem to manitain a solid 4G connection either? Why can't I use my home Wifi network for more than a few minutes without the phone locking up and starting me on this loop all over again? I decided to see what I could find on the internet.
What I found is that I am not the only one experiencing connection failures and connection losses with their shiny, brand new, thousand dollar, iPhone Xs. I also read that apple is reaching out to those customers who are affected by this unofficial issue. I understand apple is offering to install some sort of network logging program on the device, to assist in diagnosing the problem.
I called my apple store and they told me to bring my phone in for a swap. That must be apple's "standard response" to this unofficial issue. I found that countless other iPhone Xs owners have already gone down that road only to find their replacement phones afflicted with the same network connection failures.
Installing a network logger on my phone is not a solution. It may help you but it does not help me, your customer. Replacing my phone with another is pointless until the issue has been identified and corrected. Why give me another one that is going to do the exact same thing?
I am such an unhappy customer right now. I purchased a premium apple product and I paid a premium apple price. I expected to receive premium apple performance. Instead I received unreliability, frustration, and disappointment, again.
Received my XS Max on Sept 27. Set it up by restoring (on iTunes/computer) from a full encrypted backup I'd just made of my iPhone X.
Within a day, started having the LTE and wifi connectivity problems that so many of you have experienced. Tried everything that all of you have suggested in the 33 pages of this long thread, and nothing worked. Even tried wiping the phone and setting it up as a new iPhone with a fresh copy of iOS 12. That didn't help. Installed 12.1 beta 2, that didn't help.
My 14-day return window closes very soon, so I decided to return the Max and wait until reports that Apple has definitively fixed the problem (either with a software patch or a program that allows owners of affected units to return their units for a replacement outside the 14-day return period).
I think it's unlikely that Apple will XS/Max owners high & dry in the event a hardware defect is to blame. And maybe it's not: maybe a software patch will fix the problems. I'm guessing that's what Apple will attempt.
But there's also a small chance I'd be stuck with a phone with slower wifi speeds than older iPhones and worse cellular connectivity. I'm too risk averse for that.
--
Incidentally, I bought the Max on the iPhone upgrade program. The program gives you 2 weeks to ship your old phone back to Apple, and after reading of the issues many XS/Max owners are having, I wisely held on to my old phone.
I also read the "terms & conditions" of the iPhone upgrade program and learned something interesting: If you upgrade on the program and return your old phone, and later decide to return the new phone (within the 14-day return period), you don't get your old phone back, but you are released from the program--the loan that financed your old phone is paid off when you return it.
This means two things:
If you're in the iPhone upgrade program and you want out, you now have two options: you can pay off the remaining payments and then the phone is yours to keep or sell; that's a good option if the resale value of your phone is greater than the sum of the remaining payments. Or you can "upgrade" to a new phone, turn in your old phone, then return your new phone.
The other thing is if you bought an XS or Max on the program and have already traded in your old phone, you are free to return the XS/Max (within the return period) and then you're released from the program. If you then want to purchase a different phone, or even a different XS or Max unit in hopes of getting a defect-free one, you can purchase it on the iPhone upgrade program as if you were a new customer doing so for the first time.
As far as I can tell, there are no costs or penalties from doing this. Other than your time & inconvenience.
Within a day, started having the LTE and wifi connectivity problems that so many of you have experienced. Tried everything that all of you have suggested in the 33 pages of this long thread, and nothing worked. Even tried wiping the phone and setting it up as a new iPhone with a fresh copy of iOS 12. That didn't help. Installed 12.1 beta 2, that didn't help.
My 14-day return window closes very soon, so I decided to return the Max and wait until reports that Apple has definitively fixed the problem (either with a software patch or a program that allows owners of affected units to return their units for a replacement outside the 14-day return period).
I think it's unlikely that Apple will XS/Max owners high & dry in the event a hardware defect is to blame. And maybe it's not: maybe a software patch will fix the problems. I'm guessing that's what Apple will attempt.
But there's also a small chance I'd be stuck with a phone with slower wifi speeds than older iPhones and worse cellular connectivity. I'm too risk averse for that.
--
Incidentally, I bought the Max on the iPhone upgrade program. The program gives you 2 weeks to ship your old phone back to Apple, and after reading of the issues many XS/Max owners are having, I wisely held on to my old phone.
I also read the "terms & conditions" of the iPhone upgrade program and learned something interesting: If you upgrade on the program and return your old phone, and later decide to return the new phone (within the 14-day return period), you don't get your old phone back, but you are released from the program--the loan that financed your old phone is paid off when you return it.
This means two things:
If you're in the iPhone upgrade program and you want out, you now have two options: you can pay off the remaining payments and then the phone is yours to keep or sell; that's a good option if the resale value of your phone is greater than the sum of the remaining payments. Or you can "upgrade" to a new phone, turn in your old phone, then return your new phone.
The other thing is if you bought an XS or Max on the program and have already traded in your old phone, you are free to return the XS/Max (within the return period) and then you're released from the program. If you then want to purchase a different phone, or even a different XS or Max unit in hopes of getting a defect-free one, you can purchase it on the iPhone upgrade program as if you were a new customer doing so for the first time.
As far as I can tell, there are no costs or penalties from doing this. Other than your time & inconvenience.
[doublepost=1539018808][/doublepost]12.0.1 released. Notes say it addresses Wifi 2.4 and 5 selection, but no mention of cell signal.
Hopefully a 12.0.2 next week addressing LTE connectivity, along with any needed carrier updates.