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

"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."

The phone is an iphone 13 pro max. It told the tower it's capabilities. The tower chose to give it no signal. Toggling wifi has 'no effect' except the phone just again told the tower the same capabilities as last time, and this time it got 5g uw. The tower had 5g uw the entire time at that location. So did the tower not understand the phone's report of it's capabilities the first time? Or did the phone fail to correctly notify the tower of it's capabilities?

First it was the carrier. Then its the tower. So carrier said its optimized. Carrier sent a tech to fix the tower. Now the tech is the failure because apparently he's not trained to specifically check for the issue. So its everyone and everything else's fault but the phone. Me sitting next to the phone with an S20 5g, and apparently the tower always got the right information of it's capabilities, but not the 13 pro max's. Makes so much sense.

*The i13 pro max basically has the same issue anywhere not at home on wifi. In our city, in the 3 adjacent cities, and in any city traveled in southern california.

Everything in the cellular network is shared among hundreds of devices.

If you get 5G UW one time and not another it could be because the UW node is at capacity, or is otherwise overloaded so you get shunted to a frequency/technology where there is an open slot.

The S20 and iPhone 13 Pro Max likely have different frequency capabilities; certainly the 12 Pro Max and 13 Pro Max do, and Samsung doesn’t list the frequencies they support.

So yes, the carrier sees the diagnostics, and everything looks great to the BSC. They send out a tech and the tech may also see the same. Unless the tech has RF gear and plots a signal map for the surrounding area they may not know about issues in the area from tree leaves in the summer (a big issue when the site was installed and configured in winter) to a new house that was built to new interference in the area, perhaps from a competitor’s new cell tower.

The tower doesn’t choose to tell your phone to use a frequency it can’t use properly, it doesn’t know. For example, if the tower had no antennas connected at all, the BSC would have no way of knowing that; as far as it was concerned as soon as phones were assigned a frequency their users didn’t do anything further with their phones.

Certainly there can be issues with the phone but it is unlikely most would have no issues were that the case.

Similarly if you do an Internet search you will find similar complaints from owners of Google and Samsung phones.

Do I wish iPhones displayed more diagnostic data about which cell frequency they are using and signal levels? Yes, I definitely do, but it turns out cell providers want that information kept away from individual users as they know most users aren’t properly trained to assess the data and don’t want calls from customers when their RSSI drops from -70 dBm to -75 dBm as they don’t understand even a change in ambient humidity can cause signal drops like that.

(As an aside, auto makers treat drivers in much the same way. Today if a vehicle has an oil pressure gauge rather than a warning light, it’s likely just programmed to show low and middle of gauge readings, as when they showed actual readings dealerships were overwhelmed by calls from owners who didn’t realize how much oil pressure normally fluctuates due to ambient temperature, oil temperature and engine RPM.)

iPhone 13 Pro is the SLOWER cellphone ever!! Highly regret purchasing it. I'm still using my 11 Pro as a second phone for my business, and the 13 PRO is absurdly slower than the 11 Pro! Not just the 5g is slower, when connected on wifi is extremely slower, ALL the apps are slower in the 13 pro, the phone is impossible to use. For the first time in 10 years as an Apple client I'm very motivated to try out a Galaxy instead.

My wife and I have the same exact cell service and the same exact data plan. I have to rely on her second generation SE for all things internet when we're out and about because my 13 Pro Max is useless when not connected to Wifi, trying to use the internet has become an absolute joke. So how is that a cell carrier issue and not a phone hardware issue? Again, her SE works great.

I believe the issue is not WiFi. When I am on 5G, my 13 Pro Max phone is decently fast for internet. At least it feels no different than when I had an Iphone 8 and was on LTE. The issue is when my phone consistently drops to LTE and I cannot even load a website. It is like I am using 1x of old. After 10 minutes of trying, I was finally able to load and run a speed test while on LTE. The download speed was 2.7 Mbps. If the 13 Pro Max was running on its own bands, because those should not be congested, then there should not be an issue with the speed of LTE. There is an issue though. Half the time, my phone is unusable.

Again, you're describing a carrier issue.

The carrier is responsible for speeds between their towers and the Internet, and congestion dictates backhaul speeds.

Especially with the focus on 5G it wouldn't surprise me if carriers are programming their switches to deprioritize LTE traffic.

It's not just a matter of cellular frequency congestion, it's also about the bandwidth of the backhaul from the tower to the Internet.

coincidently. Today I sit here in the restaurant with my own i13 pro now. There was a trade in deal it’s almost free. So I also went ahead and got a new sim for the gfs i13 pro max just in case. She has no mobile data and just had to toggle Wi-Fi off and got on 5g uw. I never lost mobile data and already on 5g uw. Now you may then say well it’s the tower not optimized so I may be on it so tower was full so she didn’t get on it. But then you’d expect it to at least be 50:50 chance I or her get on and not the other. Or if she’s really unlucky, 9:1 but it’s not. Here’s is always the one that has to toggle Wi-Fi. She has a lot on the phone so a backup and full factory reset will be the last thing to try. Again I’ve pretty much ruled out a carrier issue at this point having the same phone and having changed her sim.

It's your cellular carrier.

They quite often upgrade their towers for 5G so people will see the "5G" in the upper right hand corner of the phone but don't upgrade the data networks between the tower's base station controller and the Internet. Other times it's due to the 5G frequencies being used.

This may result in data rates being slower for 5G than LTE.

Here's a neat article from ZDNet discussing it:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-is-my-5g-so-slow-comparing-the-hype-to-the-reality/

If Every iPhone 13 pro max is having the same speed issue, regardless of carrier, then it is probably the phone that is the issue. For me it is my LTE that is slow. If I am on 5g, I have decent internet, if I am on LTE, I have no internet at all.

I am still having data issues with my iPhone 13, 12 was much faster. This 13 is like 3g at times. I think Dog-Cow is just NOT listening!!! There is no reason that there couldn't just be lower quality chips, in some - not all, of these 13's. Mine has issues no matter which band I put it on. As I have tried switching back and forth from LTE, 5G and 5G auto. It doesn't happen all the time. I would say 15-20 %. It's also not when it's just on certain towers or in certain areas. It could also be a software issue, as we know how bad Apple software has struggled the past few years. They once where elite products. Now, they are just trying not to be as bad as the competition. It's a shame, really!! I wish I had my iPhone 12 back!!!!!

It's not suspicious, I'm giving you facts.

If you want to accuse me of defending Apple, feel free, but a few seconds spent with an Internet search engine will find the same complaints from owners of other vendors' 5G phones as well.

If you believe there is an issue with your phone, take it in to be examined:

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Millions of other iPhone 11 issues have no such problems.

Then complain to them, they aren't here:

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Then all of my friends and coworkers got lucky too.

Regardless, I do recommend you have Apple examine your device just in case.

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

It all depends upon your WiFi router and environment.