iPhone XS Max Weak 5GHz WIFI Reception

Swapping it won’t help. I’m on my 3rd replacement and no difference. I advise either go back to a previous phone or hold tight until apple decides to fix this which is unknown as of now. Im back on my x for now

*** I believe it might be just be a bad batch or just one of the two companies assembling them is maybe dropping the ball somewhere (either Pegatron or FoFoxconn). On the other hand I did have issues with mine and my wife's and even issues with a replacement (LTE/Wifi was slow or non existent, maps would work half the time, dropping calls left and right) by the way, I did a clean install, swap SIM cards about 3 times, as aforementioned I replaced the phone, and installed the 12.1 beta 1 without any success. However, I see people at work experiencing no issues, whether they just got it or got them on launch day. My recommendation, either it is too unbearable and just return it like I did (kind of regret it because I do hope it gets fixed and had to pay att a $45 restocking fee) or just wait a couple of weeks and I am sure the next replacement will work as it is supposed to.

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[Edited by Host]

Your 100% right. But what you fail to realize is that every other apple I-device works way better than th XS or XS max when it comes to 5ghz networks. Sure the software update will now let me me on 5ghz while on top of the router, but my iPhone X and iPad Air 2 work fast and flawlessly in all areas of my house on 5ghz. The problem is with the new devices in most cases, not people’s networks that work flawlessly with all other devices except these 2.

Not at all. The fact that one person has a connection issue in one location over another location doesn't imply a compatibility issue with the router... That's just not entirely true. Teri2225, Check the location of the router at home where you're having the issue. Are you having issues when you're in the same room? And then the connection drops off as you move further away? In my case, My connection drops in an area that I haven't had any issues with at all on any of my other iDevices, nor on any of my friends/parents iDevices (all different models). This is definitely a signal issue on the Phone, not on the router. Also, at some point in this forum someone mentioned that you can try updating your Router's Firmware... No. Most ISP's control that setting on their end. Not user serviceable.

I got a very similar result with my iPhone 6S Plus vs the XS Max. The issue is actually much more pronounced when further away from the AP in question. I can achieve almost the same speeds close to the AP, but about 20 feet (and a wall) away, the 6S Plus still has more than 2 to 10 times the performance of the XS Max right next to it, and many more lost packets (0 vs 2-4%).

If this can help a little, my issue is mainly with Wifi, and I've found the following:

By forcing my wifi controller to switch the clients to the 5 GHz band, some performance issues have been alleviated. Originally, I had fast performance (up to my ISP's speed, 130 Mb/s) whenever I was close to the AP, but when I was a little further away, both my iPad (6th gen) and my iPhone 6S Plus had maximum speed on speedtest.net, but my iPhone XS Max was limited to about 10 Mb/s and had switched to the 2.4 GHz band. By limiting it to the 5 GHz band, the performance was back, but it had a little less reach than my older devices.

I still have some unresolved issue on the 5 GHz band though, as I sometimes get "not connected to the Internet" messages from some apps, even when near the AP. This seems to related to short losses of connections.

Hope this helps.

I'm using Apple Extreme router, wifi download is 105 Mbps. I have both the 7S and the 10S. When both phones are within 5 feet of the router, the router sees both phones (PHY Mode) as 802.11a/n/ac. Moving 12 feet away (other side of the room from the router location) the router sees the 10s as 802.11a/n but the 7S is still seen as "ac". As soon as the "ac" is dropped the wifi speed is less than 1/2. Version 12.0.1 fixed the 10S. The 10S and the 7S can now move two rooms over though a "lath and plaster" wall and french doors and still be seen as a "ac" mode from the router and maintain 100 Mbps download.

Any one else made this observation by looking at how the router sees the phone?

Using Airport Utility, click on the router and then click on the wireless client name.

Not sure if any of the below has been posted yet, but I’ve done a little digging into this....

My affected units are an Xs Max and Xs, both on Verizon. I am using an Apple AirPort Extreme, with the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands separated into separate SSID’s.

Fortunately, I have no LTE issues on either phone. And both phones are rock solid on WiFi 2.4Ghz....just the data thoughput is low due to neighboring homes’ interference. However, when using the 5GHz band, both phones will kick off WiFi and go straight to LTE if I am not close to the router. These are in locations where my previous X and 8 were just fine on 5Ghz. I noticed the new phones do not go over to the 2.4GHz SSID, but go straight to LTE. Then I realized this is because I have WiFi assist turned on. When I turned it off, they still show connected to the 5Ghz band with 2 bars of signal, but little to no data is transferred unless I am close to the router. So, then I looked at the RSSI in the AirPort app, and the phones are showing -75 to -77 power levels when they kick off 5Ghz or don’t transfer data (with WiFi assist off). Although this is a weaker signal, I was able to verify other iOS devices can transfer data just fine at these levels. So, “hopefully” this is a firmware issue that can be resolved.

Well, I got an XR today in the Toronto area from the Square One Apple Store. It came with 12.0 on it. Couldn’t even use my iPhone 7 backup to set it up because my 7 is at 12.0.1. Had to get the XR up to 12.0.1 first and then use my iPhone 7 backup to restore it from backup.

i bought and returned 3 XS and XS max’s over the last few weeks all due to poor 5K WiFi performance in weaker signal areas of my house. Got the XR to see if it is any better.

Initial 5K testing seems to show it is a bit better than XS and XS Max but still not up to the performance of my iPhone 7 in weak signal areas of the house. I really expected it to match or exceed my 7. I’ll keep it until 12.1 and re-evaluate.

No matter how many try and argue around this point, end of the day, the XS has a weaker wireless signal compared to past models simply due to the lower RF power, just look at the authorisation fillings.

Yeah I don’t want to agree, but I have to.... I’ve been battling this issue since launch. (6 replacements) and can’t honestly tell what’s going on. From what I’ve learned, bars and speed test numbers mean nothing. I can get 100 on the down with 4 bars and load nothing. On my x, I can get 10 down and blast through anything.... strange. Both the x and XS compared from 500 feet away, XS wins on speed (215) x (120). 8 (110). XS shows 1 bar of WiFi and still crushes every phone I have. Again, bars are cosmetic and mean nothing. LTE..... XS gets 80-120, loads like a snail. Every other phone gets around 15-40 and breezes through everything. And now I’m personally hearing from coworkers about iOS 12,12.0.1 and 12.1 and say their older phones are almost unusable since the update. I think it’s obviously software just affecting the XS and XS Max more. For some reason. As for personal hotspot, I connected the XS to my iPad and stuffed it in my pocket in a weak LTE area and held a STRONG connection.

Take a look at this. It isn’t the modem. It’s the antenna. https://www.wiwavelength.com/2018/09/iphone-xs-and-xs-max-mostly-fail-to.html?m= 1

Resetting network settings seemed to help with WIFI, but LTE is still bad, the question is will the wifi still perform tomorrow

I have the same thing happen to me but one thing I did was I reset the network settings . Now it not a fix it but it help me get some of my speed back. I paid to much money for this phone to do this

I have the same thing happen to me but one thing I did was I reset the network settings . Now it not a fix it but it help me get some of my speed back. I paid to much money for this phone to do this