iPhone 17 Pro Max WiFi speeds dropped vs 16 Pro Max

[Lobwedgephil]

Tried several more times today, and I am certainly much lower. Not that it really matters, still getting over 1gig down, but the 16PM was almost 2 down. Uploads about the same, just a little lower.

 

[zonai]

What about signal reach? I’m finding the Air vastly superior to my 14PM. At the elevator lobby in our complex I’ve still got full bars of wifi on the Air whereas I was right on the edge of signal dropping off with the 14PM. I’ll have to see how the wife’s 16P compares, but signal reach is at least better compared to the chip in the 14PM.

My internet is 1gig and im getting full speed on iphone air, even on different floor to router. Using wifi 6 router. Amazing

This is meant to be an iPhone 17 Pro Max thread, we might not necessarily see the same performance from Air and Pro Max given the completely different design and antenna placement.

 

[Jackbequickly]

My 17PM get 1980 mbps on Xfinity.

 

[Jorgen E]

Maybe a dumb question - what do you need these speeds for on a phone ?

 

[JasonHB]

Also noticed the same with Ubiquiti WiFi network that speeds are noticeably lower in speed tests, also handover off between access points is really poor -- it holds the weaker AP for much longer than the 16 Pro Max did. Hopefully this can be fixed in a software update.

Just alter your RSSI levels a bit to get the AP’s to “kick” the client off and prompt it to to connect to the AP with a better signal level

 

[iPaper]

Just tested it myself on my 17 Pro Max and got around 562 mbps, while my S25 Ultra was getting around 853 mbps in the exact same spot. Regardless, I haven't had an issue with internet speeds at all. Hopefully it could get patched in the future.

 

[enricoclaudio]

Mine went up by about 23%. I have Xfinity 2Gbps download and 40Mbps download.

 

[shadedred]

Also noticed the same with Ubiquiti WiFi network that speeds are noticeably lower in speed tests, also handover off between access points is really poor -- it holds the weaker AP for much longer than the 16 Pro Max did. Hopefully this can be fixed in a software update.

On Ubiquiti as well, massive drops and some bouts of no connection while it shows full bars. I did a side by side comparison with my 16 Pro Max which pulled 1300 down while my 17 Pro Max pulled around 800. I wonder if there is some power management going on, as my few tests would often yield better results after the first or second test.

 

[DesertSilver]

For those using speedtest.net for the comparisons, are you making sure to use the exact same test server between tests? Only asking since different test servers can give very different results. I’ve seen different test servers being utilized when left on auto, even when testing back to back.

I have a particular test server I always use and my 17 Pro seems to have similar results to my previous 16 Pro.

 

[TheRdungeon]

Also noticed the same with Ubiquiti WiFi network that speeds are noticeably lower in speed tests, also handover off between access points is really poor -- it holds the weaker AP for much longer than the 16 Pro Max did. Hopefully this can be fixed in a software update.

That AP handover thing is going to be extremely annoying

 

[Radeon85]

Wi-Fi speeds on the 17 PM are the same as at the 16 PM for me. My internet speed maxes out at 1200Mbps down, 110Mbps up, and I'm definitely getting that without issues.

This was on a Netgear RS700 router on 6GHz, same speeds on 5GHz. I do find the 17 PM does a better job at maxing out my upload speeds quickly; 16 PM struggled a bit at times and usually took a little while to get there, but my 15 PM was just as quick at maxing out my upload speed as the 17 PM.

 

[zonai]

That AP handover thing is going to be extremely annoying

I have separate 2.4 and 5GHz SSIDs on my Wi-Fi 6 network. When I use the same SSID, I find most devices tend to go for the 2.4 and have abysmal speeds. Especially so for Nintendo Switch, but it's a problem with iPhone as well. I have 1 router positioned to broadcast outside in the front yard/driveway and that's the only one with shared SSID across bands.

 

[JonoNZ]

My SSID for my 2.4GHz and 5GHz are the same, and have been for years, never been a problem on other iPhones, iPads, Macs…but it definitely is with the WiFi in the 17PM. Side-by-side comparisons with 16PM, 15PM, and iPads show night and day differences. I suspect it’s affecting a lot of people but they simply don’t notice it.

 

[Radeon85]

That's a good point if the phone is preferring 2.4ghz when all the bands are combined. I personally never combine the 2.4ghz, 5ghz and 6ghz channels under oner SSID even on Wi-Fi 7 as I want to make sure with 100% certainty the devices I connect use that channel so they perform at their best and do not prefer a potentially stronger signal of 2.4ghz which would absolutely cripple that devices speed. While my iPhone does have the password for all channels, it tends to prefer 6ghz and 5ghz ones only, thankfully.