No 4G Bell ????

I've been in Wisconsin since Wednesday and since travelling to the USA, my i5 has been displaying 4G for the first time. Within the Canadian Bell/Telus network, it has been a solid 3G with no reliable LTE. Speed tests in Canada confirm the poor reception. Although I'm currently in an area that does not offer LTE coverage, the 4G connection has been a significant improvement above the Bell/Telus network.

I lament returning back to Canada tomorrow, expecting poor service.

I got my iPhone 5 with Virgin Mobile in Montreal when it came out on Friday. I was using an iPhone 4 before that. I've had similar issues as others. When I enable LTE, I lose service 2-3 per day. And when LTE is connected, it's usually 1-2 bars only. If I disable LTE reception is fine in 3G, always get solid bars. I've been dealing with Virgin and with Apple to try to find out what the issue is. I spoke to a Virgin tech this morning and he told me that apparently they have an advisory for certain areas right now (including Montreal) that the LTE network is having issues. He didn't specify what the issues are, but he acknowledged that Bell/Virgin is aware of an issue, and apparently it's being worked on. Long story short, I was told to sit tight and be patient until the issue is resolved. He did suggest trying a new sim card, which I doubt will make any difference, but nonetheless I will try that today just to cross out any other potential issues. He told me I will be contacted when all these network issues are resolved.

I have the IDENTICAL problems using the Galaxy S III in Victoria. Bell has brought up LTE here in the last couple of weeks (but has not announced it yet). Until this happened, I never lost the HSPA+ signal but now it connects to LTE, then disconnects after a while and shows "no connection" until I restart it, even though it is also showing three bars. Then it immediately connects to LTE and the scenario repeats itself.

I found the workaround from subscribers to US networks experiencing the same problem -- tell the phone not to connect to LTE. Then it only connects to HSPA+ and the connection is very robust.

So I do not think it is an iPhone-only problem. Either the carrier equipment, or the chip manufacturer, or both have not figured out the logic of how to handle switching between 3G and 4G.

So to follow up on my previous post, I tried yesterday to change the nano sim on my iPhone 5, but it made no difference. I have a Genius Bar appointment at an Apple store in a few hours. The girl at the store told me they can run some tests on the phone to see if it is indeed a hardware issue, which she said is very possible. She told me she has an iPhone 5 with Telus, and although her LTE connection is spotty, she never loses services. Starting to think I might have bought a lemon. Hopefully I'll know soon!

I don't think it's a hardware issue.

I'm with Koodo, Telus's cheaper brother, and I'm getting terrible LTE problems. Like others in this thread, I've simply disabled LTE in the cellular settings to at least get a solid 3G connection. If I didn't disable LTE, I would get random drop outs while driving to work and listening to streaming radio.

Over on HoFo, people are saying that Bell is aware of the problems and they are working towards a fix.

FYI, I had the Galaxy S3 before the i5 and never had any problems with Koodo's LTE signal.

Update #3

I just got back from my Genius Bar appointment at the Apple Store. The tech acknowledged that LTE is still spotty in certain cities in Canada (in this case Montreal) however he said it's not normal that I would be losing service 3-4 times a day. The tech has an iPhone 5 with Bell, his girlfriend with Telus, and mine is with Virgin, so we are all using the same towers, but the tech has only lost service twice since Sept. 21st, and his girlfriend just once. It was his opinion that this is most likely a problem with the baseband (antenna). Long story short, he replaced my iPhone on the spot. So far so good! I'll report back after a few days if the problem is gone.

One more note for people considering going to Apple with this issue. Right now the iPhone is a new phone, so there aren't many refurbished models out there. If you're considering attempting to go replace your phone, do it soon so the replacement will be a brand new phone!

Im sorry if I missed this while reading through the thread, but does your phone ever show 4G or connect to an HSPA+ network when the LTE is not available?

I did state a while back that your phone will NEVER say 4G in canada... only 3G or LTE... 😟

Thanks, sorry I missed it.

When I was getting my iPhone 5 from the Mobile Shop (located in your local Real Canadian Superstore), the salesman said that Bell and Telus share towers. For example, on the West Coast of Canada, Bell uses the Telus towers. On the East Coast of Canada Telus uses Bell towers. EG: If you are on Bell and live in Vancouver BC, you are probably using Telus towers. This means that Telus is kind of local to the West Coast and Bell is kind of local to the East Coast. That's whats an independant salesman told me. (The Mobile Shop is not "in the pocket" of any one cell carrier)

Hope this helps!

Update #4

24 hrs after getting my iPhone 5 replaced at the Apple Store, I have not lost service once! The swtiching between LTE and 3G also seems to be much more fluid, without any noticeable delays. Seems like my issue was indeed a hardware problem. I know some people will attribute issues like this to a possible hardware problem, or a software problem, or a carrier/network problem. But at the end of the day no matter what the issue was, the bottom line is everyone just wants their phone to work properly. I actually could care less what the problem was, I just want a phone that didn't lose service, and I have that now. I highly recommend if you are having similar issues like I was, head over to your nearest Apple Store. Your warranty is there for a reason!

That's good to know. After reading your earlier posts, I have made an appointment on Sat for my phone.

My issues are no LTE or LTE switching to 3G, even when I'm in an LTE area (I used to have an S3 that ran fine on LTE), data connections dropping while traveling in my car (streaming radio cutting in and out). To eliviate this problem I simply turned off LTE data, which gave me a stronger 3G signal.

I'll post my results here too.

Took out my Galaxy s3 today using a sim adapter and also had the same problem. "No service" till reboot. It worked fine till prior to the iPhone launch. I am now sure that this is a network issue.

This weekend, was standing right beside my sister with her Samsung S3 on the exact same provider network (Bell/Telus). The S3 had a stable HSPA+ connection with expected speed, while my iPhone 5 was stuck at 2-3 bars of 3G. Tried resetting the network settings, tried rebooting, tried walking around a bit ... Same results on both phones.

Called Telus this morning, and was told the iPhone 5 issue is "nationwide" but there is no expected timeline on when it will be resolved.

Then I called Apple for the first time. I explained how the phone only connects to 3G on the Bell/Telus network, informed them about the "nationwide" issue, but also mentioned the Samsung S3 side-by-side experience. The phone support person put me on hold for a bit to consult with a senior advisor, and then came back and offered a replacement phone. In their opinion, it could be a defective device.

However, I mentioned before how my current iPhone 5 reported a 4G connection while travelling in the USA last week.

So this can be ...

a) a Bell/Telus issue

b) a defective phone

c) both (a) and (b)

Will know more Friday after my Genius Bar appointment.

In the meantime, I see that Rogers has expanded its LTE coverage to more Ontario cities.