5G running slow on the iPhone 13 Max Hardware, ATT

I am having the same issues with my iPhone 13 Pro Max. It’s much slower (iPhone 13 Pro Max on 5G) than my iPhone 8 plus on 4G. Same carrier. Also my employer gave me an iPhone 11 on the same network as my 13 pro Max and the 11 is much faster.

I only have 5Ge, but:

It's all very dependent upon the load at your cellular tower and how much data you've used in your plan and whether it's enough to cause possible throttling in case of network congestion to kick in.

Is it true 5G or 5Ge? AT&T’s network, like everyone’s, is a mis-mash these days. Some areas are true 5G, some are 5Ge (which is just LTE with a few of the backward compatible 5G enhancements enabled) and some areas are still just 4G LTE.

In my home I get 5Ge so my data speeds (5-6Mbps down, 2-2.5Mbps up) are less than my internet service. Less than a half-mile down the road I get true 5G and there download speeds are into the several 100s of Mbps. The cellular symbol says 5G in both places though, but 5Ge is not 5G.

It's an issue with many networks because cellular carriers have been in such a hurry to turn on 5G that devices connect to 5G on the tower before the infrastructure to the tower can be upgraded.

There have been numerous articles in telephony trade magazines discussing how this often makes 5G slower than LTE on those towers because the 5G side of the tower is more heavily loaded and is competing for the same bandwidth as the LTE connections.

In a very real way, it's like announcing the speed limit on a stretch of highway that's always backed up bumper-to-bumper will now be 100 MPH; that would be awesome if people weren't stuck going 5 MPH due to congestion.

For example, this article from December 2020 is about Verizon, but the same issues apply to AT&T:

The Verge: Verizon’s nationwide 5G can be slower than its LTE network, tests show

It's an AT&T issue.

The iPhone 11 is using different cellular bands than the iPhone 13 can.

Since fewer phones can use the bands the iPhone 13 can, they will always appear to be less congested.

Unfortunately, the cell towers are not always properly optimized for the new frequency bands.

Further, 5G itself is slower than LTE in many areas.

A nice explanation from Reuters:

https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-5G/jnpweyldnpw/

Same issue here! I was using LTE before and it never slow down or loaded. After I upgrade to iPhone 13 pro the 5G was slow sometimes.

If you were using LTE before and 5G is slow, that's clearly a cellular carrier issue.

I am definitely having the same issues 🤦🏽‍♂️ It may be a carrier issue because I’m with AT&T

When I upgraded my iPhone from XR to 13 pro max it has been running slow. My provider is t-mobile.

4g is faster than 5g is there anyway I can change the 4g on my 13 pro max?