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iPhone 7 Plus significantly slower 4G speed than iPhone 6 Plus

Stwerty
4: Newbie

Hi,

 

Basically as the title says, since upgrading to an iPhone 7 Plus my 4G speed has been atrocious. For easily 90% of the time the speed is anything from a 10th to a 5th of the speed I get when using my iPhone 6 Plus.

 

I'm not sure why this should be, I'm in the same location, same everything other than the phone and the iPhone 7 series has a supposedly faster LTE chipset than that of the iPhone 6. So why has my network performance degraded so much?

 

This isn't exactly a new thing with Vodafone, it's happened before in my area on more than one occasion. I'm really looking forward to the end of my contract at this point so I can finally switch back to O2 I never had these problems with them, it won't come soon enough.

 

Any opinions or suggestions (real ones, not telling me where to stick it ;D) welcomed.

 

Cheers.

9 REPLIES 9

BandOfBrothers
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

 Hi,

 

I've seen a YouTube video saying there's a difference between write speeds depending on capacity chosen on the iPhone 7 but the data speeds shouldn't be affected. 

 

If you have an Apple Store local they could run a diagnostic. 

 

Have you run speed tests via perhaps Ookla SpeedTest.net taking into account speeds will fluctuate depending on different factors. Just to add running speed tests do use around approx 40mb'ish of data allowance. 

Current Phone  >

Samsung Galaxy s²³ Ultra 512gb Phantom Black.

 

 


@BandOfBrothers wrote:

I've seen a YouTube video saying there's a difference between write speeds depending on capacity chosen on the iPhone 7 but the data speeds shouldn't be affected.


The iPhone 7 uses either a modem manufactured by Intel or Qualcomm. This, like other components, is to ensure supply during ramp up and production.

 

The Intel modem is the slower of the two, and typically locked iPhone 7 devices (those not sold sim-free) are the model using the slower Intel variant.

 

Not only is it a spec sheet difference between the two devices, in real world usage the difference can be as large as 30%. The slower Intel modem also has less support for GSM networks than the Qualcomm alternative.

 

The Qualcomm modem supports both CDMA and GSM networks, so for instance Verizon handsets in the US will use the faster Qualcomm modem.

 

In the UK I expect that all of the network tied/sold devices are using the Intel modem and unlocked devices such as those from Apple and Carphone Warehouse (initially unlocked before locking to first SIM card) will be using the Qualcomm variant.

 

Lastly, you can identify which modem your iPhone 7 has by looking at the model number 'AXXXX' and comparing it to Apple's list of supported networks for that model.

BandOfBrothers
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

Thank you for your info. 

 

Have you viewed the YouTube video. 

 

It specifically talks about the difference being in the on board gb capacity to how fast it writes. 

Current Phone  >

Samsung Galaxy s²³ Ultra 512gb Phantom Black.

 

 

That's completely seperate, the write and read speeds between capacities, specifically the lower write speeds of the 32GB model would still not be saturated by the the 4G speed if downloading data.

Stwerty
4: Newbie
Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I am aware of the different modems being used in the iPhone 7 and the performance gap between them.
I'm hoping it's something Apple addresses in an update.

My iPhone 7 Plus was bought from the Apple Store so it's an unlocked sim-free variant. It however appears to have the Intel modem. So I don't believe it's only network locked devices getting the Intel modem.

That's interesting; perhaps all UK stock is using the Intel variant due to no need for CDMA? 

Stwerty
4: Newbie
It's certainly a possibility, at this early stage it's difficult to pin down their exact method, they can't make them quick enough. Particularly the black and jet black (which is what my 7+ is.) I dare say as the market settles we'll get a better idea.

I still think software could play a part in it. Wouldn't be the first time Apple have improved performance with an update. Just look at the 4G issues people were having, especially on the 3 network. That's just been resolved via an update.

I should also say that I'm a software developer for iOS, so I am running beta software, there could well be bugs within that. I've reported the issue to Apple of course, so we'll see how it pans out.

Of course the other thing is the network. As I mentioned I've had issues here before with Vodafone. The signal is normally great, but a few times over the past couple of years the performance of it has dropped dramatically for no apparent reason. On some occasions I've even been unable to get 4G. Very odd because this area is surrounded by Vodafone masts.

Stwerty
4: Newbie
You know what else is weird about it, the modem should be capable of a better download speed than I'm getting, because the upload speed is three times faster than the download speed. What the hell???

Sounds like a mast issue, if Vodafone are anything like 3 they can run a live diagnostic over the phone, this is vodafone though....

 

Does anything improve when you connect to a new mast?