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You are here: Home / Not working? / iPhone 12 Pro Max cellular data slow? Fix

iPhone 12 Pro Max cellular data slow? Fix

Last Updated: July 8, 2021 by Moses Gitari

Why is my iPhone 12 Pro Max Cellular data so slow? If you ask this question often, here’s how to speed up your mobile data connection.

Wondering why your iPhone 12 Pro Max cellular data is so slow? There’s nothing more frustrating than a slow data connection on your iPhone. Whether you’re trying to watch a video or check Facebook on your iPhone, you pay for and expect a certain level of speed. When service fails to meet that level, it’s easy to get upset.

In most cases, a slow connection is just temporary, caused by location or network congestion. Other times, it can persist for hours or even days. Before you call your mobile carrier’s technical support, try these simple steps first to see if they fix your iPhone cellular data problem.

See also: iPhone 12 Pro Max slow? Here’s why and the fix!

1. Restart Your iPhone

This seems like a cliché fix, but it often works. Restarting your iPhone 12 Pro Max should fix sluggish cellular data speeds, especially if you haven’t turned it off in a while.

Restarting your phone is simple:

Press and hold the side button and either volume up or volume down until Slide to Power Off appears. Once you power off your iPhone, hold the side button again to turn it back on.

2. Change Locations

Many factors can result in slow LTE service on iPhone 12 Pro Max. These include weather, network congestion, and even solar activity. But chief among these are geography and buildings.

If you’re in a remote area, or there are a lot of natural barriers around you (such as hills, mountains, and valleys), they can affect your signal. The same goes for buildings. You could be in the middle of a heavily populated urban area with full bars, then wonder why your data is so slow when you enter certain structures.

If you’re having speed problems that might have started in a certain location, try moving somewhere else. You may need to leave the building you’re in or drive a few miles away. While this may not be convenient, it’s a good way to troubleshoot your cellular issue.

This step is likely something tech support will ask you to do anyway if you call for help.

3. Update and Disable Apps

Sometimes a troublesome app can cause issues by hogging your data connection and slowing it down. In such a case, you’ll want to do a little investigating to see what, if anything, is eating into your speed.

If it turns out there is something amiss, you can disable the app’s access to your cellular data connection or uninstall it.

When your iPhone 12 Pro Max internet is slow, you can visit Settings > Cellular and disable any app’s access to your cellular data connection.

You should also check for app updates. App developers publish updates to address bugs all the time, so it could be a simple matter of opening the App Store and downloading the fix through an update.

4. Disable Low Data Mode

iPhone 12 Pro Max contain modes designed to reduce your data usage. These are handy if you have a limited amount of data, but can also make it seem like your service connection is slow. Try disabling these modes and see if everything feels faster.

You’ll find a Low Data Mode under Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options.

If you’re worried about how much data you use, make sure you turn these back on after a bit. You should be able to tell if this setting is making your mobile data slower or not.

5. Disconnect From Your VPN

VPNs provide anonymity and privacy, but they can also slow down your speeds when using remote servers. Thus, if your iPhone 12 promax is connected to a VPN, try disconnecting and try again.

Chances are, you’ll notice an immediate improvement as soon as you disconnect. If that does fix the problem, you can improve your VPN’s speed when you reconnect to it.

6. Check for Network Outages

Though mobile carriers love to tout their reliability, outages happen all the time. These outages often account for reduced speeds or even lost connections. If you’re still experiencing slow mobile data on iPhone 12 Pro Max at this point, it’s a good idea to check for outages with your carrier before calling in.

If you can connect to Wi-Fi, it’s easy to do some investigating. Try checking a website such as Downdetector. Quite often, if your issue is widespread, other people will have already reported it.

You can also hop onto social media. Twitter is a good place to research connection issues because people will often tweet about their connection problems. If you contact your mobile carrier’s support Twitter account, you’re likely to get a response quickly.

This also lets you do something else while you wait, instead of wasting time on hold.

7. Reset Your Phone’s Network Settings

Resetting your network settings, like restarting your iPhone, often fixes a slow mobile data connection. The problem is that doing so also resets your Wi-Fi access points and Bluetooth devices. This isn’t the end of the world, but you will have to reconnect to saved Wi-Fi networks and re-pair your Bluetooth devices later.

To reset network settings on an iPhone, open Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. The phone will prompt you for your passcode if you have one, then it will restart.

8. Pull and Insert Your SIM Card Again

Finally, you can try to pull and reinsert your SIM card. This can clear up any underlying issues affecting your phone’s connection to your carrier.

On iPhones, the SIM card slot is always located on the right edge of the phone, below the side button. The SIM sits in a small tray that will pop out. You can use a small tool, usually provided in the phone box to pull the SIM tray. If you don’t have this handy, you can bend a paper clip or use the back of an earring.

When pulling your SIM card, you should ideally power the phone off first. It’s not a huge deal, but will prevent any potential damage. Also, make sure you pull your SIM while sitting at a table or flat surface, since it’s tiny and easy to lose.

If pulling the SIM card doesn’t work, you can try replacing it. This will require going into one of your carrier’s store locations, so you should call first if your issue still isn’t resolved at this point. Your carrier may send you a new SIM anyway.

When All Else Fails, Call Tech Support

Remember, you probably have a mobile data cap ranging from a few to several dozen gigabytes. If you go over that cap, your mobile carrier will usually slow your connection (in lieu of expensive overages). Even those on so-called unlimited plans may experience throttling or “deprioritization” during times of network congestion after they hit a certain limit.

Keep this in mind when you experience slow service. If you’ve used up your allotment, you may have to wait until your bill cycle resets or purchase additional high-speed data.

If none of these steps fix your slow data, then it’s time to call tech support. The technician may have you repeat some of these steps. You might be inclined to refuse because you’re already done them, but it’s the representative’s job to go through a list of troubleshooting steps to see what works and what doesn’t.

Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that. If it does, the issue could something on your provider’s end that you can’t fix.

And if you also have slow internet speeds on Wi-Fi, you should investigate your iPhone 12 Pro Max slow wi-Fi speeds further.

About Moses Gitari

Moses Gitari is the Editorial Director of iPhoneArena and has been writing about iPhones, iPads, Macs, accessories, and software for over 10 years.

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