wifi issues with Iphone 11 Pro Max

Dear PJAckson76,

I would return to the place you got your phone first: mine was Verizon and even Apple support will tell you there are bad production lots of the iPhone 11 Pro there. If you have a good relationship with them there and can get all your data copied to a new version of the phone I would do that.

If Verizon is not the option, backup your iPhone 11 Pro with iMazing on the laptop/desktop of your choice and then go to the local Apple store. Ask them to run the typical diagnostics tests on your iPhone and then run the DFU(when running DFU, all data will be wiped, so be prepared). If they still find no problems; still ask them to replace the phone entirely with a new one. They will honor this because they know they need to do so. There are bad production lots out there.

When you get the new phone, have them run all the tests on the new phone and if it checks out ok, take it home and test it on your Wi-Fi first *** BEFORE *** restoring you data to it from iMazing. If the Speedtest results give you what you need you are all set to go ahead and restore from iMazing and test again.

If your results are still inconsistent and short of your expectations, it is time to change your router settings. Come back on this site and provide a router and model number and I will provide some tips which may help your situation.

I wish you luck with this, I know how irritating it can be.....but, the above process has solved this for me.

R-engineer

Thanks for the advice. I went into the store as you suggested but they did not give me a new phone right away. It was inconvenient but they wiped out my phone and asked me to go home and try it again. They said if the phone is still acting bad to call AppleCare and they will send me a new phone. When I tried it again it Still didn’t work right so I called AppleCare and they sent me a new phone. I just got the new phone this morning and everything is working great and it’s 100% better now.

I would suggest anybody who is having issues to certainly try the VPN but I am not using VPN on my phone. If you’re still experiencing trouble then take the phone back and ask for a new one because it does appear they have a bad batch of phones.

I am also a RF engineer and I definitely know when a communication link is not up to par.

I am not sure how they got past quality control. Someone goofed or possibly the pressure of shipping was to much.

The fix is to take it back and get a new phone.

ok gang, well I've been posting in this forum since first receiving my iPhone pro max 11 back in September. I've been working with Wi-fi engineering team in San Jose, sending diagnostics, recreating issues etc. I'm happy to report with reserved optimism, that the issue has been resolved with the release of 13.4. IOS update this past week. Where distance greatly fell on the 5ghz network it is not dropping out any longer....switching to my access point midway on other side of house, hand off is fine.

Some engineer previously posted it was an issue with the switching bands which now makes sense. My iPhone will still switch back to a 2.4 ghz band when it passes too far away from the router which is normal. But can come back to 5 and stay on consistently within the usually ranges. Good luck but try the update

My problem has now been resolved. I called Apple and they was super helpful. There was a lot of things they tried but ended up Reset all settings. Been fine since. I would highly recommend calling them. They was very interested in the problem I was having.

While I don't know if this is specific to this years models, or if it's just the environment I was in - I was experiencing similar issues with my iPhone 11 Pro. My internet kept dropping, there was low connection, and I also kept getting several "incorrect password" messages when I was 1000% certain I was entering in the correct password. There are many intricate moving parts to connecting to Wifi, and again I'm not sure if there's anything different with the internal structure of the current line of iPhones or what but I didn't have any issues before.

If you're having issues with connection and having constant WiFi dropouts in your home when your previous model of your iPhones did not, I suggest looking into adjusting this setting on your router - it's called "DTIM Interval".

On some routers, the DTIM period can be adjusted.

Devices like laptops and iPads require high communication throughput and run on big batteries so on the DTIM scale, a DTIM period of "1" would suffice.

For cell phones, they require low communication throughput and run on smaller batteries - so a higher DTIM period is needed.

I'm not sure what it is about the 11 models but every model I had prior (Xs Max, X) didn't have any problem when my router was set to a DTIM period of 1.

My router is now set to a DTIM period of 3 and my dropped connections have virtually gone away.

https://routerguide.net/dtim-interval-period-best-setting/

Check your DTIM on your router and see if this even remotely helps! (may not but worth a shot, it worked for me.)

I found the answer to the Wi-Fi problems on the iPhone 11 Pro Max running 13.3. It is a temporary fix so, be aware.

There should be a fix to this coming out in version 13.3.1 but, for the time being if you are a Pro user with the Max model you can turn off the “automatic background app updates” for the entire device and also turn off the “email threading options” for Apple’s email handler and that will return your Wi-Fi to the maximum amount and stop the intermittent switching that the device does from the “n” band to the “ac” band which is what pulls down your top Wi-Fi bandwidth rates.

I previously had an apple iPhone 8+ that was turning 480 Mb per second maximum on my own professionally managed business account(Cisco/Linksys, Spectrum). When I got the new iPhone 11 Pro Max it only turned between 30 and 60 Mb per second. I purchased this from Verizon and took it to the Apple Store when I had this problem and found at the Apple store I had the same problem so the hardware was replaced. Upon swapping devices the contents including applications in the operating system we’re exact duplicates which I accomplished myself using iMazing. For my professional needs iCloud is too slow and too incomplete to get entire mirror image of a device; therefore, I use iMazing. I did so because the Apple DFU test [which requires all data on a device to be wiped] in the store on the old, original Pro Max yielded the same problem.

Things were noted to me by both phone support from Apple and in the store; 1. These new models that came through Verizon in some cases where a bad production lot. 2. The Apple store has no way of testing point to point Wi-Fi rates to a local server in the Apple store to prove or disapprove hardware/firmware problems such as mine.

The factor of those two points is why Apple did not have a problem in swapping the phone at my request.

When I got the new phone, totally restored with past software and operating system, back to my business network; the same problem appeared but at times would go as high as 200 Mb per second. I’ve been experimenting with some different settings and turned off the background app updates and also the email threading and everything returned to the 480 Mb per second rate I’d gotten before.

This posting is to make sure everyone is aware of a temporary fix and I feel it in fact that Apple will correct this in the next 13.3.1 release.

Thank you Apple for being so cooperative and I hope this information helps others. Please respond to this with your experience and also holders of the iPhone X models please respond as well. I understand you were having some of the same problems and maybe the same change of settings will help you in the short term.

thank you so much this solved my problem on 11pro max changed my wifi 5ghz channel to non dfs one u r a champ!

I’m also having the same problem, however I found a simple method that helped me

go to settings>Mobile internet(or data) scroll down and turn off WiFi assist.

i was able to stay connected to my 5ghz WiFi router with no problems, although signal isn’t as good as my iPhone X but the speed was relatively the same so I’m happy for now:

hope this helps.

another option would be to go to privacy settings and turn off WiFi network.

good luck

iPhone Pro Max Telstra Smart Gen Modem (Australia). Wifi always worse preforming than IPhone X. Drops signal, causes router to reboot with Airplay. Just poor. Did all the usual to no avail. Finally solved ! Changed router on 5ghz from Auto to a non- DFS channel ! Hey presto the Wifi Throughput increased from 300/400Mps (IPhone X 500/600) to 550/700 (iPhone X still 500/600). Exact same behaviour with new IPad Pro. Note the channel I’m now using was more congested so I can see why the router didn’t pick it. DFS is I’ve learned a protocol that means the router has to check for conflict with naval radars. This extra steps in MS maybe conflicts with the latest US Intel modem (my X is intel modem). Hope this helps. My Pro is for the first time in a month is faster on Wifi than 4G ! Hope it helps some ....

It’s hard to tell if this forum is geographically local to me or not. I had these issues with Telstra Smart Gen modem (Australian ISP) and using a non DFS channel sorted it. While the channel (my case 149) is much more congested (router on auto chooses 52) the Pro Max reaches a higher throughout and is quicker loading webpages than the IPhone X. I’ve re-tried going back to Auto channel 3 times. Each time the least congested channel is chosen. Each time the IPhone X is faster and more stable. DFS channels have additional protocols and there remains a conflict with the IPhone 11 Pro Max. Is this an Apple issue or Telstra I don’t know. My testing proves it I feel as it’s a repeatable finding and my results are consistent on 3 seperate days.

I was having similar problems with mine and my wife’s iPhone 11 Pro Max with very weak wifi connectivity and the connection slowing to a snail’s pace periodically. After much troubleshooting I found the problem was with my Linksys Velop system, which they sell at the Apple Store. The latest firmware released Nov 21, 2019 was the problem. I went through the very manual process of downgrading my firmware to one that was released July 2019, then unchecked the “automatic firmware upgrade” box and voila problem solved! Hope this helps some of you with the same symptoms and wifi router.

Hi Allan,

I erased all content and settings and I set my phone up as a new phone and so far no issues. I hope it stays this way. Let me know if it continues to work for you. It seems like it was a software issue.

cheers Mate

Shane

i think you should try the ‘ erase all content and settings’ and set up the iphones as a new phone and don’t restore from iCloud. Back up your phone first. It’s worth a try. I did this and now my phone works like normal again. With respect to the iPhone 12 , I heard that they will be using a different brand of WiFi chip so hopefully the wireless performance will be better but you need to have a working phone until then so give the above a try. It seems like a software problem because now my WiFi never disconnects again like before. Hope this works for you. If not you will have to call Apple and ship your phone in for repair.

I had the same issue..... my problem got solved after resetting my network settings in the iPhone settings > general > reset> network reset. .... I hope this helps.....

Wow Thanks for the tip. i deleted my Nortons VPN and everything is a go.