iPhone XS Max Weak 5GHz WIFI Reception

I’m on the apple upgrade so I assume since I’m within 14 day I’d be able to return and then upgrade after holidays or when there’s a fix, or would I have to call Verizon too and convince them that I didn’t actually keep the upgrade. Not sure how that all works. Plus don’t want to pay activation fee again

Either way, both stores give 14 day returns. Don’t hold on to it and wait for a update fix. I remember this similar issue when the x was released and took 6 months to fix. Nothing as bad as this but enough to hate. The 8 had world wide microphone issues...fixed. The x had erratic cellular signal behavior..... fixed.... now we struggle with xs. WiFi and poor cellular service. I know it will be patched and fixed. Either hold on to it and cross your fingers, but you will be out of the 14 day policy for a BRAND NEW swap, and if you wait for a fix, 2-3 months, you will only be able to swap for a refurbished one. Wayyyyy too much experience with this. Many many times I dealt with this.

I've found that resetting network connections in the general menu helps with the download speed. Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings. I went from 7 mbps download speed to 75 mbps after resetting. My upload is still really low. Around 3 mbps. LTE is awful for me with it. It's connecting at 2 mbps at my house on LTE. I can't even stream a song in the car on iTunes without it buffering.

Same here. My phone can't even see my two 5GHz networks in the same room my 6S can connect to both with full bars. I can get it to drop from 3 to 1 bar by moving my hand higher up the phone too. Antennagate 2?

Been on the phone with Apple Support. Spoke with a Senior Advisor who stated that they haven’t had reports of these issues. I am on my second XS with an issue staying on the 5 GHz network in my house. Applied all firmware updates to my network, even tried turning on band steering to keep the iPhone XS on 5 GHz. Went so far as to pull out my older AirPort Extreme and set a 5 GHz SSID so I could force the iPhone XS to stay on 5 GHz. It is still dropping the 5 GHz connection and seems to prefer the 2.4 GHz. Throughput on the 2.4 GHz is about 50 Mbps lower than on the 5 GHz. It’s almost like the 5 GHz radio just turns itself off after a while. I still have an open case with Apple but my impression with the WiFI performance of this expensive iPhone leaves a lot to be desired. I’ve had the new iPhone every year for 10 years and this is the one I’ve had the most problems with. Hopefully they can fix via software.

Oddly the two Apple guys I spoke to were well aware of the complaints. They were reaching out to those who posted here or on Twitter. They called me after seeing my posts. As to the difference in download speeds between the 2.4 network and the 5, that’s normal. I am in the Baltimore area with a heavy concentration of 2.4 networks around me. On my 5 band my speeds are consistently 150/150 over WiFi on Fios, which is the service tier I’m subscribed to. If I intentionally connect to my 2.4 band I generally see results around 40. It’s always been that way, previously on Exfinity and now on Fios. Interference from surrounding 2.4 networks will always drop those speeds unless you live in a sparsely populated area.

For this reason we have made our ios devices forget our 2.4 band. We have pretty good coverage throughout our home on the 5. But I have noticed that my Max Phone seems to have a weaker connection compared to my iPhone 7 in one or two spots where that signal is diminished. But it doesn’t affect any function.

Adding my name to the pile...

Just got my Xs Max yesterday and have been unable to connect to 5gz WiFi since...doesn't even show up in the list. I am using my MacBook Pro right in front of me with no problem as well as the iPhone 8 Plus right next to it as well...both no problem.

I also replicated the "hand behind the phone" drop in speed problem - you can literally watch the bars disappear/appear as you take your hand on/off the back of the phone.

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[Edited by Host]

“I also replicated the "hand behind the phone" drop in speed problem - you can literally watch the bars disappear/appear as you take your hand on/off the back of the phone.“

I can verify that as well which is why I've mentioned a few times that the Max seems to have a weaker connection to WiFi than my 7. However this has not led to any inability to connect or download anything. I don’t believe this is antennagate, I just think you’re adding an additional obstacle that the weaker connection has to deal with. But time will tell.

This is also happening to me with Bell in Canada. I noticed if I turn disable LTE then my phone won't have these issues. I do have calls going straight to voicemail and dropped calls constantly. I've reached out to Apple Support multiple times and they keep blaming it on the carrier, but when I call the carrier they say its a known issue with Apple.

Not too sure about apple agreements but I’m sure they will tell you if you called them. And honestly, I wouldn’t even bother getting a replacement. I just got my 3rd and it’s no different. Terrible. No service and 9/10 dropped calls. Back to my x. Glad I ke

Coasterman25 wrote:

I am actually getting better AT&T service with my max. It’s the WiFi performance and staying on 5ghz that is beyond irritating

If this is an issue of your phone defaulting to 2.4ghz on your home router, why not simplify things by having your phone forget the 2.4ghz side altogether. I did that with my iPhone X, which too had a tendency to default to 2.4 when I only wanted to be on 5ghz. My XS Max won't connect to the 2.4 because it can't. It's been forgotten.

StevenDBS wrote:

Not for me. My ATT xsmax is far worse on both wifi and cell

That's a shame. My XS Max is far superior with cell connection than my X ever was. And I'm on AT&T. One of the best examples I can recite is with my X, on my drive home, there is a dead spot that would disconnect EVERY call I might be in when I drove through that spot. Now with XS Max, I have yet to have a call drop in the same spot.

Another example of better cellular performance is in my home. While I live in a metro location and there are cell towers all over the place, the construction of my home made reception in my home poor. I used to have a Micro-Cell, but with AT&T stopping support of them, I switched over to Wifi Calling which actually works really well. I've noticed I'm not on Wifi calling at home as often as I was with my X.

I'm still not experiencing any Wifi issues on my XS Max.

I’m not able to do that because I use the xfinity Pods as a mesh wireless network at home. You need to have the SSIDs for both the 2.4GHz & 5GHz networks as the same for the pods to work. Not having any issues with an iPhone X, an iPhone 8 Plus, & an iPhone 7 Plus, along with my iPad Pro, all right next to each other. Tested in different spots around the house, and the iPhone XS Max continually fails over from the 5GHz to the 2.4GHz. I can tell because the MAC Address for each network is different.

It even still, I’m seeing way worse LTE service as I’m out and about. Dropped calls, and some slower speeds in areas that weren’t a problem before. BUT, I have seen some really fast speeds on LTE in a few areas, too. I know this thing is capable of being sooooo much better...

My example is the same except backwards. I used to drop a call in one spot on my commute before on my x, but now there are more spots that get dropped with my xsmax. Do I have the phone forget the 2.4? How do you change that so the phone doesn't see the 2.4ghz?