iPhone XS Max Weak 5GHz WIFI Reception

Strangely enough...the call ended with a final reboot and airplane toggle. I just walked around my house and had a normal conversation on the phone with no interruption. Same with outside. They also had me take my SIM card out and put in my iPhone 8plus and then back in the new phone. This was for testing on the new phone and the old phone. Not sure if that helped or if it’s still bad.

In all likelihood, Apple will fix this with a software update. There's very little that can't be adjusted by software. If they simply can't (which is not a likely scenario), Apple will replace devices. There are literally millions of these in use already. Apple won't be replacing millions of phones. They'll do what they ALWAYS do, work behind the scenes on a good solution, roll it out and this thread will die down as people are out having fun with their phones.

Also, you can pretty much guarantee Apple engineers are working with the cellular providers as they also have a significant stake in the game.

At this point I’d say it’s still too early to know 100%, but the software update scenario seems more likely than replacing hardware. Although, that could be another scenario. It’s possible that something was off during production and early/initial units are seeing the problems while the newer/corrected units aren’t seeing any problems. Still, for the new phones to only be officially out in the wild for a week and there be this many people reporting that Apple’s reached out to them to help? That’s VERY optimistic. And these things have a 90 or 120 day warranty out of the box, not including you also purchased AppleCare. Going back to the iPhone 3G and all of those battery problems? Remember that? Batteries almost burning people’s legs? I think I had 4 or 6 replacements. Seriously. I remember that being so crazy because the Apple employees were literally throwing the unopened new iPhone 3G boxes to each other across the store like footballs. Comical. At that time, I had opened up a case over the phone each time, and each time I went back to the SAME Apple Store, they had no record of my cases. That was in AZ. I’m back in IL now and it’s different/better. Still just replacing a phone with a new one, seemingly without even really questing me too much, either. I’m pretty confident this issue will be resolved, too. Some how.

I would advise calling in or emailing instead of the apple chat app. I had no luck there at all. The person didn’t believe me when I said it was a known issue and said I was the first to report and suggested I go into apple. When I mentioned this discussion thread the person said that forums aren’t official apple. So yea...avoid the chat app!

Apple support reached out to me and pulled logs from my Xs. I made the personal decision to return the Xs. My X runs flawlessly so I decided to hang with it for now. The Xs was great in every other way. I am confident Apple will rectify the issues. For my part, Apple was very helpful and courteous. I was pleasantly surprised that they reached out to me. When I returned the device to the Apple store it was seamless transaction. I had both WiFi and LTE issues but they were minimal compared to some others. However I could not justify paying on a 1000.00+ phone not working to capacity when I have a current paid phone that is working as it should.

If I compare to my iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 Plus, I do have a much weaker and unreliable service with my new iPhone XS Max using LTE, I am using T-Mobile.

My carrier settings were updated 2 times last week. I have done Reset Network Settings and I have also Restored the phone with iTunes. No visible change so far.

Definitely the XS Max is underperforming compared to my iPhone 8 Plus.

I thought something was wrong with WiFi at home when I started having speed and signal strength issues. After testing back to back with my older 7+, it’s clearly this new XS Max. I’ll be reaching out to Apple Support shortly.
[Edited by Host]

rbrylawski wrote:

I'm not experiencing the issues many of you are. My LTE is fine and Wifi is great as well on my XS Max.

Just because I have posted to this thread, I received a call this afternoon from Apple to see if I was experiencing issues. This to me, is beyond amazing. I've been through multiple launches and multiple issues have surfaced with each launch. Every time. Every Single Time, Apple figures it out and rolls out an upgrade which makes threads like this a distant memory. But not once since I've owned iPhone (going back now to the 3G) has Apple called people who posted in a thread to gather data and make sure people were OK. Not once.

If that doesn't give you comfort and confidence that Apple is genuinely working on this and wants to make everyone's phone's "just work," I don't know what else you could ask for.

What you won't get and I see some people asking, is an update from Apple. They just don't do that. When they're fully comfortable they've got the right solution it will just roll out. The Apple Adviser I spoke with said this was an extremely high priority and their best engineers are working hard behind the scenes.

I recommend you give this some time and they'll come through for you.

As I responded to Chrissaid--I agree with you apple will take care of us --- and my Xs is not unusable I just have to use it more with 2.4ghz than older phones (all my phones did that Xs is just a bit worse). I am confident they will help us and I do get to use my new phone and the cameras that convinced me to use my upgrade program again ;-)

George Mcgee wrote:

I am extremely happy with the response I have received and I know Apple is putting forth some great effort here. The concern some people are having relates to the 14 day return window that will be closing soon if they purchased on launch day. If it is a hardware or software issue that would be nice to know so that those decisions whether to return can be made.

I am curious, though, how you know you are not experiencing the WiFi issues for sure? In my case I know because I can directly compare my XS to my X and previous iPhones in the house which get max throughput from my ISP and maintain their WiFi connections. I can also see on my router that my XS is almost always connected to 2.4 GHz, whereas my other devices stay connected to 5 GHz band. And as an example, even when I am connected to 5 GHz I sometimes have weird connection issues such as no throughput

Well for me my last few iPhones 6plus, 7Plus and X all had issues with staying on 5ghz, and I was constantly resetting it back. I think that the greater strength of the 2.4 band just is what all my iPhones defaulted to as I moved away from my AirPort Extreme and the 5ghz band was weak. Even my AppleTV's over time would jump to the 2.4ghz and would not stay on the 5ghz. I have a older laptop a 15 inch MacBook Pro I use for my photography work and it is as far from the router as you can get in the house and it too will go to the 2.4ghz on time. The 5 signal is just too weak. But I can put the devices back on and they stay for awhile. the Xs for sure stays less reliably and falls to the 2.4ghz more often but it still works fine for my calls with the weak LTE I have at and around home, and I can do most of what I want with the 2.4ghz when I am outside with my Xs.

Just return your iPhone to apple get a refund then buy another one. I had problems with the XS max returned it and then got an XS this one works well so far as I’ve only had it 1 day. We will see if it’s ok before the 14 days runs out.

Yeah chris. I’m doing exactly the same thing. I’m on my 3rd swap (new) and no hope. As much as I pray that there is actually a fix, there’s too much evidence that this is hardware and nothing can be done. Usually, with stuff like this it’s 50-50 chance, when the X rolled out, they were similar issues that eventually got fixed hopefully this gets pushed through. I’m keeping the most recent XS and boxing it until an update comes. I’m just not happy about reading the story of this being an antennagate and the only fix is waiting until iPhone 11.

"In a good and relatively close proximity to a 5ghz signal, the phone should do well."

Key Word here being "Should"... And it's not. using my iPhone XS Max right next to my iPhone X, and speeds are much slower, some web pages aren't loading at all..

Out of curiosity, did you get yours on Launch Day or after? Preorder? I'm still wondering if the initial preorder phones had issues in assembly or manufacturing that were worked out.. Might explain why some people are having issues and most are not. Also might explain why restores and resets don't work but some saying they've received replacements DO work..

rbrylawski wrote:

MidwayFlux wrote:

"In a good and relatively close proximity to a 5ghz signal, the phone should do well."

Key Word here being "Should"... And it's not. using my iPhone XS Max right next to my iPhone X, and speeds are much slower, some web pages aren't loading at all..

Out of curiosity, did you get yours on Launch Day or after? Preorder? I'm still wondering if the initial preorder phones had issues in assembly or manufacturing that were worked out.. Might explain why some people are having issues and most are not. Also might explain why restores and resets don't work but some saying they've received replacements DO work..

My phone is a launch day delivered phone.

FYI to add to this: My phone is also launch day Xs. I can see my 5ghz nearly 20-25 feet away inside house and not line of site (walls are not that thick FYI). it has weaked from "full bars" whatever that means in signal strength down to 2 of three fluctuating to 1 some times but mostly in house I can get same speed (max of my ISP) even when signal bars less.

That is a good idea. My XS Max was received on release day and I got a swap 2 days later. Both phones have horrible 5ghz reception unless I am right next to my router. Then it is is excellent.

In my basement my iPad Pro and XS (both IOS 12) work so completely differently. My iPad gets a strong 5ghz signal and my XS none at all (2.4ghz works but slow).

I also had my iPhone 7+ in my basement (next to my iPad Pro and XS Max) and the 7+ easily received the 5ghz signal (although the download speeds were only 75% of the iPad Pro).

If the XS equalled my 7+ 5ghz reception ability in all my home locations I would be very satisfied - it does not.