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LTE/5G very slow afte upgradint to iphone 13 pro max

I was getting double (or more) the speeds on the same network (Rogers Canada) on my iphone 12 pro max. Since i upgraded to 13 pro max everything is much slower. I reset my network settings and restarted the phone multiple times with no luck!

Anyone else experiencing a similar issue?

Thanks

iPhone 13 Pro Max

Posted on Oct 4, 2021 12:00 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 7, 2021 1:08 PM

Same issue here. 5G speeds are hardly hitting 20 when they used to get over 100. On uploads it’s even worse, I’m hardly getting 1 when ion my 12 Pro Max it was in the 30’s. Both also seem erratic and not steady. Lots of fluctuations. I’m on ATT with strong 5G signal. I turned 5G off and LTE was about the same on download but faster on uploads. Maybe a carrier update is needed for these new phones?

160 replies

Dec 19, 2021 4:52 PM in response to Seabqss

The title of this thread begins "LTE/5G very slow."


The article explains why 5G is slow.


If the tower needs an infrastructure upgrade (its backhaul is congested) and/or if there are frequency issues, LTE will be slow.


It's important to note when these issues are cleared up, it's because of a change the carrier made at a tower, not due to an iOS upgrade; one day things just "work better."


That's a carrier issue.


Regardless, if you find another device works better for you, sell your iPhone and buy that instead; iPhone 13 Pro Maxs sell for good prices online.

Dec 30, 2021 6:06 AM in response to Ashton_z

Did you activate the phone with a new SIM or did you take the SIM out of your old phone.


with AT&T in the US, the new phones ship with new SIMs that identify and connect to a different sub-network (I don’t know all the tech terms). We see it with our company as I look after the phones. People who got new phones but swapped the SIMs don’t get the same speeds as those who activated new because their SIM has a different network profile.

Jan 13, 2022 3:30 PM in response to Blaird17

Multiple carriers have had the same issues as the underlying technology is the same.


It's not the phone as when the issue is resolved for people experiencing it, it happens without an iOS update, one day things just work and the fact that the vast majority do not experience these issues at all.


Do a little Internet research and you will find the same complaints about 5G speeds across multiple carriers and multiple devices.


Especially for 5G the issue is one of backend bandwidth being less important to carriers than being able to light your phone's "5G" annunciator.



Jan 25, 2022 1:20 PM in response to Vodanh83

Blame the iPhone if you like, but if you do an Internet search you will find similar complaints about Google and Samsung phones, including a lengthy one about the S20 in particular.


Toggling Wi-Fi on and off shouldn't cause any side effects with cellular, but toggling Airplane mode on and off will cause the phone to renegotiate with cellular towers it finds in the area.

Jan 25, 2022 2:28 PM in response to Dogcow-Moof

We literally stopped at the red light had no signal, and toggled it, which means we weren't moving , and it acquired the 5g band, which means it should have auto detected it to begin with over the band that had no signal. Our phones do this automatically, and picks up the better signal. That's how they work. They are on 3g, they see 4g they switch , they see 5g they switch. This went from no connection to 5g UW. I'm next to it with an s20 already on 5g. After the i13 gets on 5guw it's speed test is double mine at 100mbps. That's not a carrier issue. In fact I've already talked to Verizon and they already serviced the local tower and confirmed it's all optimized for the phone. Stop defending trash.

Jan 25, 2022 9:07 PM in response to Vodanh83

That's actually almost the literal definition of a carrier issue:


1) Phone is directed by the BSC to use a frequency that isn't properly configured, so it shows "No Signal."

2) When the Phone renegotiates with the tower BSC it is told to use 5G UW.


Verizon always claims the issue is Apple's… and then most often it magically starts working with no iOS changes from Apple.


Jan 27, 2022 7:03 PM in response to Dogcow-Moof

Incorrect. From a user standpoint, the tower is there, and has the band and working. For the use to have to toggle the wifi for the phone to connect, means the phone is to dumb to know when to switch, and is a phone issue. The tower is not the only one that dictates the band to connect to, the phone can negotiate and chose the better signal, as it normally does when it goes from 3g, to 4g, to 5g, without user intervention. In fact, the phone should be smart enough to renegotiate itself without the need for me to toggle it, especially when it was on a band or connection that has NO signal to begin with.

Jan 27, 2022 7:09 PM in response to k_p95

The new sim was supplied with the iphone 13. The sim can not connect to 5g or show 5g or 5g uw if it is not a 5g capable SIM, which it currently does sometimes, or when wifi is toggled as described. There have been many troubleshooting efforts, including reseting network settings, new sim, new phone, technician sent out to the tower, verizon confirmation tower is optimized for the 5g and 5g uw and the iphone 13. 5G phones still show 4g, LTE option, as often one of the first things they tell you to try is to diable 5g auto, and default back to 4g. There are no 5g only phones currently.


Just because you haven't experienced it on AT&T doesn't mean no one is, in fact the other person dogcow-moo here is claiming its carrier issues and all carriers are having issues depending on their tower/band optimizations (which again Verizon already confirmed tower is already optimized for 5g and for iphone 13 in this area, and already sent a tech out for wind damage and repair, and no change ). The fact that not all users are experiencing this in the area, also suggests its the phone and not the carrier.

Jan 27, 2022 10:55 PM in response to Vodanh83

That isn’t accurate.


When the phone connects with the BSC it tells the tower of its capabilities and the tower assigns it a frequency/technology and the phone must honor that.


Turning WiFi off or on has no effect, but if you drop in and out of airplane mode, you in effect renegotiate with the tower as if you were a new device and it’s kind of a “hack” that allows you to be assigned a frequency/technology again as if you left the area and returned.


Were phones to renegotiate like you suggest automatically, they would create so much traffic that they would be kicked off the carrier’s network.


Finally, the techs at the tower have to know what they are looking for; if a frequency or a few are not properly peaked due to the antenna or for environmental reasons (tree leaves are a big one in the Spring) the tech will need to check that in particular.


If they just check the BSC self-tests it will report everything is OK because the connection works, it’s just for some reason an awful lot of phones seem to be dropping off that frequency and the BSC takes that as the phones driving away or being shut off, not as an antenna/tower issue.


The techs need to know what to look at, as all the diagnostics will come back “Yep, 5G UW, 5G and LTE are all enabled and operational and the tower reports full functionality.”


The techs have to know to specifically check the noise/error rate for devices connecting on the 3.5 GHz band, for example, and they will only see that by checking the logs which few do as they don’t get paid to dig through a 10 Mb log file for 15 minutes looking for issues the diagnostics don’t report.

Feb 4, 2022 8:22 PM in response to Ashton_z

I'll try this again without any "offensive" stuff;

Reset network settings, replaced sim card, tried data roaming on and off, tried just

using LTE, WIFI on and off, tried remote diagnostic with Apple, had diagnostic at

the Apple store, restored my phone to factory settings without any of my data

or apps to make sure something wasn't interfering, switched carriers, had the

phone replaced with a new one and went through everything again, and no luck.

The iPhone 13 pro Max does not work and I don't know how to point things out,

but Apple won't let me downgrade to another model or take mine back because I spent over the time limit trying to

get it to work. Their only suggestion was to try and sell it on my own and buy

something else.

Feb 4, 2022 10:53 PM in response to Dissapointed3

You say everything but what your specific issue is. Clearly “does not work” is not the case for most of us, but what does it mean for you?


Is it speed? That’s an issue for all carriers right now, who wanted the “5G” to light up on your phone before they had the infrastructure in place to support it.


Is it signal level? If so, which carriers did you try? Note that quite often smaller carriers will share signal towers, so for example in the US, Straight Talk and Cricket both use AT&T’s network.

Feb 4, 2022 11:09 PM in response to Dissapointed3

Ashton,

This is basically my experience and you did a great job listing yet again all the things they tell you to try. They also sent me a replacement 13 pro max, no change. At this point we're also wishing we had our old 11 pro max back that had zero issues. The 13 still has issues to this day, after carrier confirmed their tower is optimized, that they sent a tech out to the tower, yada yada yada. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise and she won't ask for the latest iphone model next time, or at least after she gets one that works first.

LTE/5G very slow afte upgradint to iphone 13 pro max

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