topic Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength in Mobile Network discussions

iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

Baldie1977 — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 16:06:50 GMT

I purchased the iPhone 17 Pro Max on Friday. The signal has been fine but I went to work today for first time today since owning this phone and I now get barely any signal. My iPhone 14 Pro was fine in this location I had 2 bars and all apps requiring data worked. My iPhone 17 Pro Max has 1 bar and I get told I have no internet connection. Is anyone else having this issue.

I have done all the normal things deleting Nord VPN, resetting network settings etc etc. Nothing works.

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

bristolian — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 16:25:57 GMT

The on-screen bars should be treated as a basic guide and not anything more definitive.

If multiple phones in the same location have similar problems using voice or data, it points at a network issue - use "check service status" on https://ee.co.uk/help/mobile-coverage-checker in the first instance.

If another EE phone in the same location is working fine, try a 2way SIM-swap. Put the working SIM in the non-working phone - what result? Put the non-working SIM in the working phone - what result? Then you'll know where to look next.

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

Baldie1977 — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 20:37:04 GMT

Firstly I’m using an eSIM and it was my old iPhone 14pro that worked fine on Thursday I swapped to new iPhone 17 pro max on Friday and it now I’m struggling to get any reception.

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

bristolian — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 21:35:29 GMT

The lack of ability to fault-find in scenarios such as this, is a clear disadvantage of eSIM.

You're limited to checking other phones in this location.

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

Baldie1977 — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 02:31:51 GMT

Everybodies work phone at this location is on EE and is working fine.

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

bristolian — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 07:13:50 GMT

@Baldie1977 wrote:
Everybodies work phone at this location is on EE and is working fine.

Which clearly rules out a network fault.

The on-screen bars shouldn't be, of themselves, an issue - you'd need to go into the hidden engineering menu on iOS and compare the radio levels between a "working" phone and "non-working" phone to make further judgement.

The phone not working for mobile data is another issue. Does it work elsewhere?

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

ip213 — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 16:20:44 GMT

Same problem (iPhone 17 pro) little to no coverage on data compared to previous 16 pro on same network. General signal isn’t as good. Gone from 5g in my house to 4g. No issues on other phones in the house and no details of signal problems in the area.

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

bristolian — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 16:43:50 GMT

@ip213 wrote:
Same problem (iPhone 17 pro)

Same questions as above then!

What do you mean by "little to no coverage on data"? On-screen bars are a rough guide, nothing more. Voice calls & data use the exact same network signal.

Are you describing slower data speeds? Inability to use mobile data when coverage is shown? Or something else?

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

ip213 — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 17:07:33 GMT

Inability to use mobile data when coverage is shown. Just constant buffering. Never had a problem before..

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

Lesley_W — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 11:39:21 GMT

Thanks for the extra info @ip213

Does this also happen when away from home? If other phones aren't affected it could be the device itself in which case everywhere would be affected.

Lesley

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

Saral0u1s3 — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 19:58:54 GMT

Same issue iPhone 17 pro. Can’t get signal whereas my 15 pro could

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

bristolian — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 09:09:27 GMT

@Saral0u1s3 wrote:
Same issue iPhone 17 pro. Can’t get signal whereas my 15 pro could

Your issue sounds subtly different to the previous posts, but some of the same tests would apply.

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

JC206 — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 10:54:08 GMT

I’m having the same issue, was fine before swapping to eSIM iPhone 17pro

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

Christopher_G — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 12:58:14 GMT

Hi @JC206

If you're having problems with your service, please check our Network Status checker for any known works in your area.

If you would like to discuss it with someone, I recommend speaking with our technical support team, so that they can run some tests.

Chris

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

Alderslayer — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 13:39:20 GMT

Exactly the same scenario for me, went from an iPhone 14 Pro with a physical sim to an iPhone 17 Pro with an eSIM and in the same areas as before, I’m not getting low 4G signal instead of 5G and data is slow with constant buffering or straight up not working. Don’t understand, it’s very annoying

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

bristolian — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 21:56:34 GMT

@Alderslayer wrote:
I’m not getting low 4G signal instead of 5G and data is slow

What do you mean by "low 4G signal"? Are you referring to on-screen bars, or data speeds?

On-screen bars & data speeds are not directly correlated.

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

Alderslayer — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 07:52:07 GMT

I’m referring to both, on screen it’s never more than 2 bars. But in reality, it’s often acting as if I have no signal at all. I can’t load any videos on YouTube, I can’t go onto any websites.

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

bristolian — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 07:57:52 GMT

@Alderslayer wrote:
I’m referring to both, on screen it’s never more than 2 bars. But in reality, it’s often acting as if I have no signal at all. I can’t load any videos on YouTube, I can’t go onto any websites.

Perhaps I should have made my previous post clearer. Can you still make & receive voice calls, or send & receive texts, when this happens?

That will ID whether this is purely a data issue or something else. This thread is getting very muddy with multiple users (each with subtly different symptoms) all piling in with "me too"

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

Hosegood — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 21:54:07 GMT

This in inevitably a 'me too' which might frustrate some, but it is perhaps the nature of seeing if there may be a trend here rather than simply the odd isolated problem. iPhone 17 Pro with physical sim.

Context: Long time EE and Apple supporter who expects teething problems.

Problem: feels like the old days of very low data speeds and slow / failed loading youtube etc. No VPN. Other iphones (14 Pro and down) in the family all fine in same location. Bars show 1 or 2 (yes, i know this isn't scientific) and often 4G rather than 5G now.

Assuming there is no imminent confirmation of a software fix then I guess i will need to return it for now (to remain within 14 days) to buy time as I don't want to be stuck with it if there is a problem with the antenna or another hardware issue. I am old enough to remember the iPhone 4 troubles that never really got resolved for that model.

Any timely wisdom gratefully received.

Re: iPhone 17 Pro Max - Signal Strength

bristolian — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 07:46:16 GMT

@Hosegood wrote:
Problem: feels like the old days of very low data speeds and slow / failed loading youtube etc. No VPN. Other iphones (14 Pro and down) in the family all fine in same location. Bars show 1 or 2 (yes, i know this isn't scientific) and often 4G rather than 5G now.

Perfect for a 2way SIM-swap.

Put the working SIM in the non-working phone, what result?

Put the non-working SIM in the working phone, what result?

Does the issue categorically follow the phone?

If you were to access the engineering menus on the phone, what is your level of understanding? Thinking primarily of ARFCN comparisons.