Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

hly

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2023
14
3
Anyone else having issues with connecting their iPhone 15 Pro Max to their 5Ggz wifi? I can see it but it's having trouble connecting. The rare time that it does connect, it doesn't seem to be getting any internet, then immediately loses connection.

It's not the modem/router as my other devices (including a iPhone 14 Pro) can connect to it and access the internet just fine. Just my new 15 Pro Max is having issues. I also tried restarting the phone and resetting network settings. I'm on iOS 17.0.2. I haven't tried connecting to another 5Ghz wifi yet as I may have to use my neighbor's wifi.
 

Fozzy-90

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2023
9
0
I’ve been doing some more digging and it seems to be only happening on networks pushing out 5GHz and broadcasting all 20/40/80/160hz ranges at same time

if I set it to broadcast 5GHz and 160Hz only I have no issues at all - i can come out of range of the WiFi and once back in range I have internet access

If I set 5GHz broadcast to 20/40/80hz only I get no issues at all - i can come out of range of the WiFi and once back in range I have internet access

if I set 5GHz broadcast to 20/40/80/160hz I loose internet connection on the iPhone until I disconnect from the ssid and connect again - one the ways I figured this out was leaving the house and coming back in - every time i rejoined I have no internet connection, Not until I disconnected from ssid and joined again - once I done this it was fine again until I went out of range and then came back in.

in the meantime I have setup a 2nd wifi router just to use for my iPhone so I can still have 20/40/80/160hz for the rest of my network

Just FYI, I’m using a Asus RT-AX82U router as my main router 5GHz (20/40/80/160hz)

2nd router I’m using just for the iPhone 15 pro max is an EERO 6 - using 2.4Ghz (20/40hz) & 5Ghz (20/40/80hz) since doing this device is working great on WiFi
 

bhaasie

macrumors newbie
Jun 20, 2010
28
5
So. Central PA
Discovered this morning when doing a speed test with iPhone15 Pro and Verizon CR1000 Router when I'm right next to the router I get 700+mbps. If I move 30 feet away drops to almost nothing. This is on the 5ghz Band. Channel set to auto and Width set to auto. Seems to be very distance sensitive. iPad and iPhone 15 all are OK only iPhone 15 Pro.
 

Fozzy-90

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2023
9
0
Discovered this morning when doing a speed test with iPhone15 Pro and Verizon CR1000 Router when I'm right next to the router I get 700+mbps. If I move 30 feet away drops to almost nothing. This is on the 5ghz Band. Channel set to auto and Width set to auto. Seems to be very distance sensitive. iPad and iPhone 15 all are OK only iPhone 15 Pro.
Change from auto to 20/40/80 as a test and see what you get
 

lindros2

macrumors 6502a
Mar 21, 2011
834
493
i've had issues with my Asus routers (I use a Macgyver'ed AiMesh) and often power cycling the router and using the lower bands (36/40/etc) works better than high bands.
I don't touch the AX-exclusive ones ever. They're trash and I only use WiFi 6 for backhaul.
 

lindros2

macrumors 6502a
Mar 21, 2011
834
493
Other ideas:
1. The Qualcomm X70 needs a radio firmware update (now that it's in the real world)
2. The new Thread radio is causing interference
3. Ditto for the U2 (UW2?)
4. Or even Qi2 interference?

All sincerity, it seems like whenever Apple boosts WiFi (now 6E) or cellular (now newer/better voice and 'superfast' data), they screw something else up. I've had this on every new iPhone, it seems - why I wait until December or January to buy phones.
 

Fozzy-90

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2023
9
0
Other ideas:
1. The Qualcomm X70 needs a radio firmware update (now that it's in the real world)
2. The new Thread radio is causing interference
3. Ditto for the U2 (UW2?)
4. Or even Qi2 interference?

All sincerity, it seems like whenever Apple boosts WiFi (now 6E) or cellular (now newer/better voice and 'superfast' data), they screw something else up. I've had this on every new iPhone, it seems - why I wait until December or January to buy phones.

So do Apple normally release fixes for this via iOS updates?
 

Fozzy-90

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2023
9
0
i've had issues with my Asus routers (I use a Macgyver'ed AiMesh) and often power cycling the router and using the lower bands (36/40/etc) works better than high bands.
I don't touch the AX-exclusive ones ever. They're trash and I only use WiFi 6 for backhaul.
36/40/etc are the channels Not the bandwidth

Bandwidth is normally 20/40/80/160hz
 

Fozzy-90

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2023
9
0
Modem firmware is updated over time via iOS updates.
(as are carrier settings, which is N/A for WiFi)

I’ve just done a test and turned off Smart Control and split my SSID to 2.4GHz and 5GHz

my 5GHz is running 20/40/80/160hz - and it seems to be running stable now

so there seems to be a conflict in the phones hardware on working with Smart Control SSID that also broadcast 160Hz
 

hly

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2023
14
3
My modem does not have Smart Control. Each ssid is broadcast separately. And it doesn’t have 160mhz either. Only had options for 20/40/80.
 

hly

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2023
14
3
And can you share your model and screenshot of setup?
I'm still having issues. Here's the wifi 5Ghz settings.
SCR-20230924-kk3.png
 

hly

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2023
14
3
Change your channel from auto and try channel 48

Can you also shot setting on ssid setup?
I changed it to 48 and a couple of others. None of them fixed the issue. Here's the SSID Setup under the 5GHz. They're broadcast separately and you choose at the top left which bands you want to change their settings.

SCR-20230924-kwd.png
 

lindros2

macrumors 6502a
Mar 21, 2011
834
493
I changed it to 48 and a couple of others. None of them fixed the issue. Here's the SSID Setup under the 5GHz. They're broadcast separately and you choose at the top left which bands you want to change their settings.
I’ve had major issues with “carrier-issued” gateway / routers (in case someone wants to correct me). Comcast, ATT, Optimum all suck.

This UI looks straight out of 1998, which could indicate deeper radio deficiencies or shortcuts/limitations.

If I were you I’d look to a third party wifi router - setup is easy, double-NAT isn’t an issue like it used to be.

Even keep your SSID on new one and change cable gateway to a dummy SSID.
 

hly

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2023
14
3
I’ve had major issues with “carrier-issued” gateway / routers (in case someone wants to correct me). Comcast, ATT, Optimum all suck.

This UI looks straight out of 1998, which could indicate deeper radio deficiencies or shortcuts/limitations.

If I were you I’d look to a third party wifi router - setup is easy, double-NAT isn’t an issue like it used to be.

Even keep your SSID on new one and change cable gateway to a dummy SSID.
My apartment is prewired with this modem/router so the best I can do is get another wifi router and generate a wifi network off that to use. I’m trying to avoid this route because I don’t want to sink more money on this. But regardless of UI, I think this is more of a software issue on the iphone 15 and Apple’s end. My other devices, including other Apple devices, doesn’t have any issues. The WiFi speed does suck but it works.
 

hly

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 23, 2023
14
3
Update - I've troubleshooted through some suggestions of changing the wifi channel and bandwidth and nothing really worked. As a last ditch effort, I dug out an old TP-Link RE230 wifi range extender to test it out. I set it up both as a range extender (picks up existing wifi and extends it) and access point mode (connects to existing wired network and change to wireless) and my iPhone was able to connect to the 5ghz wifi with internet on either! The speed is not the best, but good enough. I'm getting 30Mpbs down/25 up on 2.4ghz wifi. And 93down/93up on 5ghz wifi. I'm not sure if the iPhone 15 have a new wifi chip/modem that's having trouble with some manufacturer's routers. I wouldn't call this a complete success because it should just work out the box, but it's better than nothing.
 

lindros2

macrumors 6502a
Mar 21, 2011
834
493
Update - I've troubleshooted through some suggestions of changing the wifi channel and bandwidth and nothing really worked. As a last ditch effort, I dug out an old TP-Link RE230 wifi range extender to test it out. I set it up both as a range extender (picks up existing wifi and extends it) and access point mode (connects to existing wired network and change to wireless) and my iPhone was able to connect to the 5ghz wifi with internet on either! The speed is not the best, but good enough. I'm getting 30Mpbs down/25 up on 2.4ghz wifi. And 93down/93up on 5ghz wifi. I'm not sure if the iPhone 15 have a new wifi chip/modem that's having trouble with some manufacturer's routers. I wouldn't call this a complete success because it should just work out the box, but it's better than nothing.
Apple has - for years - tried to build a unified Wi-Fi + BT + cellular chip, but clearly that's behind (still) until 2025-26 (hence Qualcomm stock went up).

But since you have a 15 Pro Max, you have the "new" Wi-Fi 6E-capable chip (the regular 15 does not).

So, IMHO, it's likely a Wi-Fi 6E / Wi-Fi 6 <> Wi-Fi 5 compatibility issue (which I absolutely had on my home network last year w/ 14 Pro). And I'd hope/expect an iOS update cleans it up in the next 4-6 weeks.
 

guitarguy316

macrumors 6502
Sep 5, 2010
372
66
We are having issues with our iPhone 15 Pro WiFi connections on 5ghz as well. I’m hoping there’s some sort of software fix ASAP.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bigDeeOT
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.