iPhone XS Max Weak 5GHz WIFI Reception

I'm pretty sure the reason more people aren't adding there names here is because they're either seeing all of the other folks reporting a Problem here, they're possibly a part of another forum on another site, or they've read this and just filed a radar with Apple. HOPEFULLY at least it's been reported at all, though.

I for one am Definitely seeing poor signal on my 5GHz band at home after the recent iOS 12.0.1 update. I was going to try restoring and setting up as new, but I'm not very optimistic. I'm about to go back to my iPhone X at this point.

And it's not just slow speeds, at least from what I'm seeing. my iPhone XS Max is almost behaving as though it's not connected to the internet at all, and THEN seems to fail over to the 2.4GHz band here instead. When I'm at work and we only have a 5GHz connection, I'm seeing it fail over to a very weak LTE connection which then fails over to a really solid 4G connection.. It's possible that people are reading these comments and saying, "Hey! That's what's happening to me! I'll just wait until an update comes out to address the issue..." Maybe.

I had my XS Max replaced last Tuesday! Network is working better but WiFi connection still disconnect randomly! I tried on different WiFi at different locations! My 6 plus performs way better without being disconnected...

So much for $1,600...Seriously they got billions of dollars and tons of workers! You would think than in a year they tested their flagship phone properly. Even more when they didn’t have to work on much things since the XS and XS Max are the exact copy of their X...

Again, ignore. I know this might not be the best solution everybody is waiting for, but I replaced the work XS (3rd work phone and 6th if counting personal phones too) and so far so good for wifi 5Ghz not getting disconnected as soon as I walk through a door but still slower than my 7 (at least now it is not taking minutes for videos or 15-20 seconds to even load this page ,if it loads at all) I tried it at the office for 2 hours and now at home for another 2-3 (did a restore not a clean install) and picked up 5GHz as soon as I got to my garage, which may be 40 ft away from where my router is located. However, I do have 12.1 beta 3 installed on the phone and did not try it with 12.0.1 to see if maybe it was the software. There is an issue for sure, and even though it is not the most appealing nor fair option, replacing them until you get a working one could be the answer (1 out of 6 chances in my case) I know some people here whom "don’t even have the issue but know the answer" hence the non coherent and useless comments could give their life saying it is not a hardware or a manufacturing issue, but how else would you explain this? Not relevant to the post, but LTE is way better on this one as well, no more “you are not connected to the internet”

That's definitely interesting.

I've sent mine back within the first 14 days because I didn't want to keep it just based on the promise that it might work okay some day. Still, you're making me reconsider. Maybe there's been a bad batch among their initial production run. Either way, if this is a general problem, then it's surprising me that this doesn't seem to be affecting more people.

I’ve had mine since the first release day. Haven’t had these issues. Although it seems that WiFi connection over a 5GHz band is not what I think it should be, it has not led to any problems. I’ve seen many times over the years this multiple swap routine, which is a major pain to try, rarely if ever be successful. If the device is non functional Apple Support can determine over the phone or in store whether there’s a hardware failure. If this is all due to hardware then a class action law suit will be filed and a massive recall will be instituted. I see no signs of that happening. I know for me the Smart HDR/HDR camera did not function. 12.0.1 fixed this.

If the phone is unuseable return it and get something that works for you. If you’re having some issues but the phone works otherwise then wait it out as we’ve done with other phones from every manufacturer. I remember the iPhone 4 antenna gate that I didn’t know anything about because, honestly, I never held the phone that way. When I read about it I checked and yes it was real. But I almost always use a case so it never became an issue for me.

Apple will figure this out and will come out with some resolution. Apparently many were already helped by 12.0.1. I personally know quite a few people who aren’t even aware of all this with their new phones. Several didn’t know anything about the HDR issue, but I’m anal enough to have found it. So this multiple return business, if you have nothing else to do in your life, go for it. Otherwise use the phone and wait for a fix to some of the issues. If it doesn’t work at all for you dump it. Life’s too short to agaonize this much over a phone.

No. If you have this problem just return the phone. Don’t wait. My modem overheated and I had to return my XS Max. Performance was miserable.

Just say you are dissatisfied with the performance. Don’t try to get a replacement or it’s just going to be a phone that was returned and ‘refurbished’

Wait a month or two then try again. A bad batch of chips will process through then likely get better.

Same problem here. I used to have an iPhone 8 Plus. It used to have all bars and it was super fast. Now I just got an iPhone XS and when I am at home and at work it only has 1 or 2 bars. It definitively drops connection. On cellular data it is super slow. I really hope Apple takes ownership on this problem and fix this soon as these cellphones are super expensive!!

Yeah, I hear that. Unfortunately it didn’t work for some. It definitely did for me, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s hit or miss I’m guessing. Some are having these issues and some aren’t. Some claim 12.0.1 fixed the WiFi and some don’t..... mine was fixed but LTE is still erratic.

I had an XS Max, upgraded from a 6s. When I upgraded to 12.0 both phones had the LTE big. Switching LTE off helped, and restricting to the 2.4GHz WiFi also helped. But the modem overheated so I returned the XS Max and went back to my 6s.

Having said that - the 12.0.1 update seems to have fixed my LTE issues (tested today), on the 6s, and I’m seriously considering getting the XS Max again now.

The wife has an XS that also had the problem. But it seems to be gone now, as well. We are both with T-mobile.

My husband and i just got new XS’s 5 days ago, and we are having the same problem. Nothing will load while on wifi, or on LTE. But yet our brand new ipads work great. I have rebooted the router, and even set up a new router. I have reset the phones and the network settings. Nothing has helped. I cant decide if we should just go exchange them, or hope the problem gets fixed.

Same with me! This is my 2nd replacement phone. First Chargegate issue, now this. Also, my front top speaker would not play music, but after a reboot top speaker would work again. About a week top speaker would reoccur again, music would stop working. I owned all iPhones and my xs max has so many issues. Lte and WiFi is not all great on this phone, but my iPhone 6s Plus and 8 plus had no issues at all. Xpensive phone over a grand with so many issues.

I returned my original phone for a replacement and it is worse than than the first phone. The patch that Apple released for 12.0 did not work on this phone. It switches between 5 G to 2.4 on WiFi and has 1 or two bars for 4G LTE. My 7P never had these issues. I was in 2 emergency situations yesterday and desperately needed service and the phone failed.

About to return my third XS iPhone. The WiFi on 5K reception problem was on all three of them. In our most used location in the house which is good for solid 5K reception and speeds of around 200 Mb/s on my last 2 MacBook Pro’s, a MacBook Air, two iPad Air‘s, an iPad Pro, four iPhone 7’s and 6’s, the new iPhone XS’s and an iPhone XS Max get less than 15 Mb/s or don’t connect at all. Pages load extremely slowly or not at all.

The same phones when moved into the room with the router are solid and very fast. But as you move away from that room the speed suddenly drops rapidly until the phone drops the signal completely. This is happens about 20 feet away. Also, if I take the phone to a spot where the drop off is starting, I find holding the phone in my hand can drop signal strength shown by one or two bars compared to just holding it with fingertips along the edges without my palm between the phone and the router.

I can only conclude this is a result of poorer antenna reception on this phone compared with the older phones. there must be something different between these production phones and the ones that Apple tested while in design stage. Certainly they couldn’t have been this way during testing and been sent to production, could they?

People who sit in a strong signal location near their router will find excellent reception and think nothing is wrong. Then, when experiencing slow or no WiFi elsewhere, think it is the hotel or airport, or restaurants WiFi fault. I’m normally an enthusiastic Apple supporter but this is certainly challenging that trust. I will keep buying and trying the XS over the coming weeks until I get an updated model that works as it should.

For those who haven’t seen the antenna testing results that Apple filed with American FCC authorities, these links are interesting:

https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/09/iphone-xs-and-xs-max-mostly-fail-to.html

https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/09/antennagate-reduxs-if-so-what-can-apple.htm l

Did you install the recent update that Apple released? It fixed my original phone but not the replacement. It kept switching from 5 to 2.4 so I disabled the auto switch to 2.4 and force it to use 5G. Works a lot better and an Apple supervisor work with me to run diagnostics to find out the 4G issue and my voice and data are 100% improved.

If you have your 2 bands, 2.4 and 5, named differently just have the phone “forget” the 2.4 network. We have all our iOS devices set this way so they will only connect to the much faster 5 band. Unfortunately some devices such as printers and TVs or other smart devices may not be able to use the 5 band so we need both bands enabled. Some routers don’t allow you to have separately named bands but if yours does that’s the simplest way.