Iphone X weak signals

I’m on my second iPhone X. First had a defective modem and caused a complete drop of cellular service when on LTE. Second phone seems to handle LTE properly but the signal strength is atrocious. Most of the time I am stuck on 3G and when I do get LTE, I usually have no more than 2 bars, max 3. I experience LTE dropouts that do no fail over gracefully and missed VoLTE calls. Nothing except locking the phone to 3G service only fixes the problems. Extremely disappointed in this and nearing the end of my patience. I’ve spent a week troubleshooting this phone. I expect better, much better for $1,500. My wife has no problems with her iPhone 8 Plus, and I also have no issues with my old iPhone 6s Plus. Same goes for my Galaxy S8+ and BlackBery KeyOne Black Edition. Everything but the iPhone X works flawlessly in fact.

Same problem. Poor signal during phone calls since upgrading from the 7plus to the iPhone X

Sick of people not hearing me (never had that before upgrading )

I’ve been with Apple 8 years and it looks like I will be returning the iPhone X for a refund.

Think there is some problems with this “new” phone. It’s got some problems. Think it has been rushed threw. And Apple will keep it quiet. But I’m going to video me taking the phone back to the Apple store

I’m returning mine within 14 days unfortunately and going back to the 7 Plus. Gutted and relived

Had the iPhone X for a few days, noticed a problem yesterday.

My wife and I were sitting across from each other in a coffee shop. On her iPhone 6 she had three bars of cell signal, on my iPhone X I had one bar. Over about twenty minutes I tried numerous times to connect to different web sites, phone indicated that it could not connect. During that time I shut down and restarted the X, no change. Meanwhile my wife was happily surfing the whole time. An hour later at our home location we both had three-bar signals.

My previous phone was an iPhone 6s Plus and on the small handful of occasions that we compared signals they were the same.

I've just read disconcerting information about Apple using different cellular modems in different models of the iPhone X. Model A1865 contains a Qualcomm modem which online commentators seem to agree is a superior modem both in performance and in its global adaptability to all types of systems. My Canadian model A1901 phone contains the Intel modem which commentators say is a weaker performer and which will not work on some cell systems (CDMA types) in other parts of the world.

To determine the model of a phone, tap Settings / About and tap the Model number; it will briefly reveal A1865 or A1901 (or A1902 for Japanese phones).

I’m thinking of making the switch to the A1865 model sold through the Apple USA store instead of my A1901 device. Too many connectivity issues with the A1901. The Intel modem is very poor compared to all of my other devices that all use Qualcomm, including previous and current iPhones (6s Plus, 7 Plus, and even 8 Plus). Challenge is how to get my hands on one, being in Canada. Apple USA won’t ship cross border and all models available here are A1901. The comment made by one of the posters above how he was sitting in a cafe unable to connect to anything is precisely the kind of ridiculous behaviour that I’m seeing. Devices were already swapped to no specific effect.

I have also provided Apple with a slate of logs from my device that they started to analyze but I am pretty tired of being their unpaid beta tester of a $1,500+ CAD device.

Heres my iphone x houston, Tx and my iphone 7 doesnt have these issues at all. Iphone x signal constantly goes up and down pathetic for the amount of money i’ve spent! Makes me want to return the phone! Im on att prepaid for about 4 years maybe more never had issues with my iphone 4, 5s, 6, 7, 8plus.

You have probably already tested this, but if not:

1. Test to disable WiFi assistant

2. Disable data under cellular

Is it the same?

I also recommend that if you have like > 2 years old SIM card, ask your carrier to give you a new one. Some technicians have told me that older SIM cards are not the same as the new ones.

Saw this just now: Update your carrier settings on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Hi guys!

I got a response in Feedback assistant from Apple:

Hi Tomasz,

We require additional files related to your feedback. Please provide logs of the issue happening, using the steps below.
Thanks!
1. Install the Call Logging profile (https://appleseed.apple.com/sp/download/1008212)
2. Choose device (it will ask if it is for iPhone or Apple Watch), select Install, and enter your passcode if applicable
3. Once the profile is installed on the device, it will appear in Settings under General -> Profiles & Device Management - once you have checked that it is there, restart the device
4. Now, reproduce the issue, and please be sure to note the date and time that it occurred (and add that to your reply in Feedback Assistant at the end)
5. Once the issue has occurred, wait for one minute and then trigger a sysdiagnose (hold Volume Up + Volume Down + Sleep/wake buttons together simultaneously - on the iPhone you will feel a brief vibration once initiated)
6. Please wait roughly 10 minutes for diagnostic gathering to conclude
7. Connect to your Mac, and Sync with iTunes
8. Retrieve the logs: On your Mac, navigate to the Finder Menu Bar and click Go, then hold the Option key. Select the Library option that appears, then you will find the current logs in the folder located in Logs>CrashReporter>MobileDevice>[your device name]. Please send the whole folder as a .zip if you can
9. Remove the profile from your phone under Settings -> General -> Profiles & Device Management
10. Add the file to your reply in Feedback Assistant on the Mac. You can find Feedback Assistant with a Spotlight search (cmd+space)
If you need help gathering these files, please see the Seed Portal Help Page: https://appleseed.apple.com/sp/help/feedback

Feedback ID 3926032, Cellular service disappearing

Maybe we all should do that and they will see that there is a problem :)

I just got my iPhone X yesterday and have the same issue with very weak signal, I am very disappointed for 1300$ phone with very weak signal, will return it tomorrow. I just want to let people aware of the weak signal with iPhone X.

I am having the same problem with poor reception with my iPhone X. My 6 and 8 worked much better and did not drop calls in places I am now losing reception. My wife is having the same problem on her iPhone X as well. We have reset our phones and the network settings but nothing has worked.

Has any one found a fix to this issue?

Thank you.

Please let us know if you figure out a way for Canadians to purchase the A1865 version of the iPhone X.

I had my iPhone X replaced today, in a Canadian Apple store so I got another A1901 model. Just got it set up moments ago - will report here if the problems persist - but thought I'd report a couple of things Apple staff told me.

1. Apple has a "threshold" of 20% on dropped calls. If the iPhone is dropping less than 20% of your calls it's considered within tolerance!! Their analysis showed that my phone had dropped four of thirty calls so it was not considered actionable. Their analysis did not show that the phone had failed at least ten times to MAKE calls in areas where my iPhone 6s Plus worked for nearly two years.

2. Apple proposed that I set the device to use 3G instead of LTE protocols. I declined, believing that after paying $2K for the latest iPhone I should not have to roll back to older and slower cell protocols to use it.

After discussion they did propose replacing the phone, which has just been done. Fingers crossed.

That is quite a threshold. As for the network connection, I cannot believe that they would even suggest that you should switch to 3G instead of LTE. (Obviously, I believe it, but as you, I would never accept it.) Let us know how the new phone performs. I will let you know if I am able to get my hands on the A1865. By the way, do you use a grandfathered data plan or do you have one of the new share plans?

Re: performance of the newly-replaced iPhone X, I made a call from south Barrie (a busy city in Ontario that is likely thoroughly-covered with cell service). For the first minute the person I called was having trouble understanding me and he was breaking up until I moved about 800 meters west.

Doesn't look good, but I haven't yet tried calling from areas that I know were always reliable with the iPhone 6s Plus, areas where the X was regularly failing earlier this week.

Re: data plan, not sure what info you're looking for. We're with Rogers and have had the same plan for ages, two phones sharing 4Gb of data.

If it's a software change, let's hope they change it back! I'm on my second iPhone X and after one day it too seems to be a weak performer as a cell phone.

Living in southern Ontario, for YEARS I've had only very rare trouble making reliable cell calls. I'd guess that I've had as much trouble with the iPhone X in less than two weeks as I've had with all other phones in years, including an iPhone 4, a 6, and a 6s Plus.

Something is wrong with the X, and if a software tweak can fix it let's hope Apple is seeing these complaints.

I have the same issue - my iPhone 6 and SE were always 3 to 4 bars. My X starts at 4 bars and drops by 1 bar every 5 seconds till it hits 1 bar. This is consistent behavior all the time every day across my 25 mile commute, at home and at office. But no issues with the older phones.

Same here. Had an iPhone 6+ and never had the issues with cellular connectivity that I am now. Bought the phone not under contract and got the Qualcomm modem according to my model. Doesn’t matter, it constantly drops calls or cuts out. Text messaging sometimes is not even worth messing with because they won’t send or take forever to be delivered. I paid way too much money for the latest and greatest iPhone that doesn’t even perform as well as older versions when it comes to cellular connectivity. Very frustrating and Apple needs to address this. I mean I am downtown in a major city and I have 1 bar and snail pace speeds on the internet or apps. Never had this problem before in the same location.