Poor cell signal on new iPhone xs max

Hi Elijah,

I am terribly sorry to hear about the issues with your brand new iPhone Xs Max!

There is a few things you can try. We can take in a few factors: Has the cell service always been this spotty even with other phones? Is there any cell towers down or maintenance? and last not least, is there a case on the phone, and if there is what kind of case would it be?

If the answer to the cell service and towers is no, and there is no case try one just in case and if there isn't try removing it. If it works better without a case I would find a new case, it would be a phone issue with the case, more of a case material issue.

if none of those work try reseting the network settings.

- Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This also resets Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings, and VPN and APN settings that you've used before.

- Go to the carriers store or call them to make sure your account is active and the service speeds aren't being throttled, check that everything is okay with whatever plan you have.

Last options would be is you remove the SIM card and put it back in, put in a new one who contact the store you bought it from, and if it was from an Apple Store return and exchange it and if it wasn't bought from the store I would try backing up the iPhone and restoring it and if that did no good either, take it to your nearest Apple Store or Authorized Apple Service Provider (AASP) and they should be able to help further than what I offered!

Hope this helps anyone else. Chris.

(I forgot to mention, iOS 12.1 will be coming out soon and is planned to have a fix to a lot of issues with it. Thanks!)

Then talk to Apple support.

I have an XS Max myself and do not have the issues you describe.

Be sure to check for a carrier settings update; that has helped greatly for many.

Update your carrier settings on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

I have tried all on my iphone xs , actually second one now.... i hvave managed to make it work good on wifi... and cellular...

I did install the 12.1 beta, no help, then i did downgrade to 12.0 , restore from iphone 7 again , no help...

after i just erased the iphone , did a restore as a new iphone from itunes also , and set it up as new iphone with out restore from older back up.... then things god better a lot... really

After i made a restore from old iphone, and imideatly **** went bad with wifi.

I have done the 2 erases back again, it works fine now, i guess the restore does bad on my phone... started all over again but it works now it does work , would even outperform iphone 7 ... well its for today ... will see what will it be like tomor

I can tell you that i had this problem and returnet one phone, bought another with same isue, my wife bought one with same isue,we even had different screen color and brightness, i bave tried beta 12.1 ( no change) downgraded back, but all the isue was cased in restoring the phone from old iphone, so now i got 0 problems... but my wife wont have time to erase and download/set up all apps and all over again and she still has wifi/cellular problems... this makes me think its a software isue not hardware

Apple Support is recommending that because if that fixes the issue, it shows there is something wrong in your settings or corrupted in your backup that is causing this issue for you.

If you set the phone up as a new device and the issue continues, it's the phone or iOS.

It's a basic first step of troubleshooting further, it doesn't mean you can never customize your phone.

If resetting to factory defaults fixes the issue, the next step will be to restore things back to your phone incrementally until it breaks again, which hopefully it won't ever do.

its probably 4G causing the week signal when you go in and out of a 4G coverage area it’s constantly searching for a 4G network depending witch country your in not all states have 4G coverage I assume. Head into your settings select mobile and then select mobile data options and change it from the default which is 4G to 3G this should help 😁

yours sincerely

iPhone XS MAX user

Also in addition to razmee209 and FoxFifth, see this note

Update your carrier settings on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Make sure your carrier is up to date

As a first step, try installing the newly released iOS 12.1 and see if that helps.

Also:

Update your carrier settings on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Yep... back it up before erasing .... just in case ...

But yea, test it now on fast.com on wifi and cellular to see the speeds... and antena bars in a worst spot. Then after the erase/restore as new... and see if its different

Well i did have my post deleted... idkn why.... they had proof, i guess.

Do not restore from old iphone backup.

Just set it as new iphone.... even if you bought it ghat way.... just do itunes restore as a new iphone.

Guys from apple store wont ever tell that they have a problem with new xs phones, but they are .

In brooklyn atlantic ave appple store, half of the store was people to repair their xs... ( if you ask people) , apple workers would say we never heard of hat issue, they would show their xs, and asuming they got cellular towers in yhe building, sure , its all fine ...

You may want to return it for a replacement. The cellular service should not be significantly different than on previous models. I have the iPhone Xs and cell service is fine. If you purchased directly from Apple Store or Apple Store online, there is a 14 day return policy. If you purchased through a carrier or elsewhere, check with them. Returns & Refunds - Shopping Help - Apple

Just at Phone store. With Xs max and note9 next to each other, Xs max had half the bars on cell and WiFi. Surprised the salesman by whipping out my phone (Xs max) and got same poor result

Sadly returning phone to Apple store

This is a real problem and no solution on the hor

Chester52 wrote:

Just at Phone store. With Xs max and note9 next to each other, Xs max had half the bars on cell and WiFi.

Once again, signal bars are only indicative of signal levels for that particular device, not in general.

"3 bars" does not necessarily mean the same thing on an iPhone 8, iPad and iPhone XS.

same here bought iphone xs mas switch cell providers hardly get signal with verizon at home have no service but my husband iphone 7 plus gets service and bars took the xs max back for exchange but still have same issue n verizon has done pretty much everything to try fix it only way can make calls at home is by enabling wifi calling i think its a bug within the xs max hope they fix this cause being home no cell service ***** when i need it

Then all I can suggest is to return it if you are within your window and purchase only Samsung in the future.

I find the XS Max has much better reception in the areas I use it than the iPhone 8 Plus and X it replaced.

Recall Apple isn't here; people like myself responding to you are just fellow users and are relating our experiences.