How to fix Xfinity Wi-Fi issues with iPhone 16 Pro Max?

https://forums.xfinity.com/conversations/your-home-network/wifi6e/65da06f8afe75b042e47c552

Gen2 pods are Wifi5. XB8 is Wifi6E.

I really feel like the issue with the newer iPhones is that it can't properly transition between the two protocols unless there is a setting I am missing somewhere.

All my Apple devices connect seamlessly to all my xfi pods including my 16pro max. But as soon as I got the xb8 modem the 16 pro max started to have issues. Once it try to go from the modem to the pod it disconnects completely. Resulting in disconnected FaceTimes slow internet etc… only way to reconnect is to completely remove the network and re add password. All other devices Apple and android work fine. Seamlessly connect as we move thru the house or the yard.

the issue definitely has to be connected to XB8-XFI pod-16pro/ pro max combo.

I’ve been dealing with this for months since I got the xb8 modem

please help!!!

II have the same issue as everyone else. iPhone 16 Pro won’t connect to XFi pods since I got the new XB8 modem. Only when I forget the network and reconnect, it will connect to the closest pod. But as soon as I get near the gateway, it connects to the gateway and never goes back to the pod. I’ve already switched to WPA 3 Personal Transition, and that still made no difference. I’ve been dealing with this for over a year, searching forums. This is extremely disappointing and has made me hate my phone and service, giving me the worst possible experience when I’m at home. 

I'm absolutely having the same problem. Just got the Xfinity XB8. Same problem.

As soon as I got the gateway home and hooked up I, of course, start playing with settings. Just on the mobile app at first. I see the option to split bands or "Let Xfinity's super duper gateway decide for you how to connect to your devices" yeah. . . PASS! so I turn it off, and notice that the 2.4G and 5G security settings are the same but the 6G isn't. Furthermore the 6G cannot be changed. While at the same time only my M2 MacBook could even see the 6G network. I do my due diligence.

🧐 "Does my iphone 14 pro max have a WiFi 6 antenna?" ✅ Sure does!

As a test, I turned all of the security setting s for the three networks to WPA3- Personal to be the same as the 6G. Still nothing form the 6G to my phone

VPN is definitely not the problem either, wife and I have the exact same phone, hers has never had a VPN, mine does. Still nothing.

Also, changed security settings in the phone manually setting up the connection to include IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, adding DNS information. Nope.

Going into the router and manually adding my phones MAC address to try and initiate a connection from the router side. Absolutely nothing works.

The only thing I can see, that I am unable to change but may (*just may) have something to do with it is that when you get to the Edit screen in the router for the settings of each individual network it has a locked "Channel" each one (2.4, 5, 6) being different.

If you go into Gateway > Connection > Xfinity Network and scroll down the only bonded channel is 44, which I think must be the channel for when you let them bridge all the networks together and decide for you what you can use.

If the default Channels could be changed in that page and the channels in each network bonded to match, it would possibly be smooth.

IDK, I'm trying to figure it out too.

Also, I have no wifi pods, just the gateway and client devices.

I solved it for our house. It's that dastardly 'E'

some model iPhone 15s have WiFI 6, some have 6E

some model iPhone 16s have WiFi 6 some have 7

my phone has a WiFi 6 antenna which can't connect to Xfinitys 6E home network, though both 6 and 6E are 802.11 ax (I think this leads to a lot of confusion, it did for me)

my laptop has a WiFi 6E antenna and has literally no problem connecting to the Xfinity gateway. Speed tests at over 1100 Mbps wirelessly.

It's the devices, and sadly it looks like a lot of us missed the boat by very little.

I don't think this solves it for all of you, but may for some!

Cheers

Unless you have at least a 2GB internet backbone connection, 6, 6E and 7 offer no benefit at all and have the downside of very short range. And even if you do have a high speed fiber connection it really doesn’t matter, because there are practically no internet sources that can send data fast enough to take advantage of the higher speeds. So the simplest solution is to disable 6/6E/7.

I do have a 2Gb connection to the house and it does actually help with the 5G wifi too. Theoretically, you're right it shouldn't make a difference, but the whole set up has access to greater bandwidth so it seems to pick everything up quite a bit. My MacBook and Mac Studio are the real winners each WiFi 6e capable and the 10G wired connection on the studio is going to be nuts. Haven't had a chance to hook it up yet, that's next.

Home server / NAS streaming is a good reason to have crazy upload speeds.

What exactly is the connectivity issue? Please provide specifics. Why do you think a mesh router will resolve the unspecified issue?

Xfinity PLEASE acknowledge and fix

This is an Apple user to user forum, why you are asking Xfinity for fix their issue in here?

You can edit a post for 15 minutes after it is posted.

Not sure if a fix was rolled out by Xfinity or Apple, but my iPhone 16 seems to be transitioning correctly between the pod and router. Hopefully so as it has been working for me for a few days now.

only issue with this has been that the router constantly re-enables wifi 6. probably at every update

Thank you Pieterw for these instructions!! I just disabled 6Ghz in our router and my iPhone connectivity issues appear to have been fixed.