iPhone 5 lte signal/reception problem

Agreed. At my local library 20Mb/6Mb on AT&T GS3 -98dBm and VZW iPhone 5 swapping between 3G (-99dBm) and 1-2 LTE (-114dBm). LTE here on VZ is 13/1.5.

I'm having the same issue on my iPhone 5. I thought maybe the carrier update from Verizon would help, but that doesn't appear to have been the problem. I have friends with Verizon 4G LTE devices and in the same area, they will maintain LTE signal, and my phone will go from 3G to 4G, 3G to 4G, and back and forth. Highly annoying! Most of the time, it will just stay at 3G (almost like that's where the phone is comfortable) and it has to work very hard to try and find an LTE signal (even though no other phone has this issue). To me, this is a firmware or hardware issue with Apple, not something they can update with a Software Update. I say shame on them for not testing the phone in more places, notably outside their labs and in the real world.

Well my VZW GS3 does the exact same thing so I'm not convinced the issue is solely Apple; in fact, I think it's more Verizon...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4343173

The same thing is happening to AT&T iPhone 5's. That's why I'm inclined to say this is an Apple issue. Unless both AT&T and Verizon are having problems with both of their LTE networks, which I'm not too sure about because just the other day, my friend with an Android phone had perfect LTE stability and my phone refused to connect.

JP-

Peabody, MA

Global Gas - Rt. 1 North

VZW iPhone 5 - Stuck on 3G (strong signal - 5 bars) -62dBm

Finally about 2-3 min. (not moving) regained LTE on its own 5 bars, strong signal -83dBm.

13.14Mbs/down 13.96Mbs/up

Costco - Rt.1 North (OUTSIDE)

VZW iPhone 5 -Stuck on 3G (-89dBm) / inside signal dead 1 3G bar at times, did not want to pass data reliably

AT&T Galaxy S III - 26.41Mbs/down 7.12Mbs/up - 3 bar -103dBm 37 asu (INSIDE as good as OUTSIDE)

Trader Joes - Rt. 114 (OUTSIDE)

VZW iPhone 5 4.58Mbs/down 0.22Mbs/up (-118dBm)

Inside signal was 3G

Only saving grace for VZW iPhone 5 here was that AT&T GS III had a weak signal as well, 1 bar HSPA/+ "4G" (no LTE) inside

Good comparison of VZW vs. ATT and iPhone vs. GS III upload speeds at:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-57518405-233/data-speeds-iphone-5-vs-samsun g-galaxy-s3-vs-iphone-4s/

Unfortunately I don't think they did any lower signal strength testing, but still good data and very similiar to what I had seen.

Pete,

Thanks for that. I think I'll have 2 weeks (14 days) to return the phone without an ETF, and if the Verizon LTE isn't performing for me, I may just return the phone and go with AT&T. I haven't been on AT&T for a few years. You seem to be happy with them the past few years, right? When I think of AT&T, I recall pretty good data performance and pretty lousy call performance...dropping calls on 128, Mass Pike, and other populated areas that I would expect great coverage!

Can't speak for AT&T w/ iPhone 5, may be horrible as well although I know people with iPhone 5's on ATT and they're not unhappy like I am (there are obviously some unhappy ATT customers in this post though), but AT&T w/ Galaxy S III has been pretty good up/down North Shore, 128, 93, 3, 495 and Boston area. Obviously your mileage may vary if you live in a spot without a tower nearby. I do find that in the middle of nowhere, VZW has better 3G coverage, including NH, VT, ME, etc. I spent a week in NH and VT a few months ago and VZW had pretty good 3G coverage while ATT was a paperweight for most of the trip.

Could the network not be as stable as 3g?

I'm not experiencing any of this behavior with my AT&T iPhone 5 so it's certainly not affecting everyone the same way. As I've done my testing with two different types of VZW phones (iPhone 5 and GS3) which both bahaved nearly identically with signal strength, LTE loss and data speeds; I am definitely not convinced it's all apple. In fact, I think that can be ruled out based on Pete and other testers I've seen. That's not to say there is no blame on Apple, however, or that some iPhone 5's definitely have issues, but it's clearly not the main cause for many people.

There is a report from a couple users in the VZW Community forum for iPhone 5 that disabling International CDMA under Settings->General->Cellular->Roaming improved their iPhone 5's ability to get back to LTE rapidly after locking 3G. I don't see this in my "fringe" VZW service area, but since the original poster and a follow-up user have both seen an improvement on getting back to LTE w/ this setting disabled, I am cross posting here so others can try.

Correction, this suggestion was from the Apple forum post "iPhone 5 Verizon LTE problems".

Interesting. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to try it out. Shouldn't atke very long to know whether or not it helps, given how frequently I encounter the problem.

Tried in NYC area for the past hour. Initially didnt see much of a difference.

Connection wouldnt switch in Bryant Park. Toggled airplane mode and noticed websites wouldnt load. Checked on Ookla. Less than 1mbps on 4 bars LTE. Toggles to 3G and connection was faster.

I honeslty dont know what to do anymore. Guess I am stuck with VZW for 2 years.

Anyone have any experience getting VZW to drop the ETF due to poor service?

More speculation on my part after speaking with someone who understands RF and LTE better than I do.

I believe one of the issues us VZW iPhone 5 customers are seeing is that there are still numerous towers throughout major metropolitan areas on VZW (marked as strong LTE on their maps) which are not actually LTE-enabled, some due to landlord and legal approvals required to add/modify the antenna configurations and others due to the fact that there is a massive built-out required to go to all of the thousands / tens of thousands of towers and add radio and antenna equipment which they cannot do simultaneously. This is one of the causes of poor LTE signal strength and/or bouncing to 3G since not all towers are actually serving up LTE signals even if they are serving up strong 3G. I had incorrectly assumed that all Metro Boston towers were serving up LTE by now, but this is not in fact true.

I can only speculate that AT&T must have focused on a few major metro areas (at least NYC and Metro Boston) where they have LTE and ensured that almost every tower inside their small advertised area had LTE up and running while VZW spent their money adding a lot of new her markets w/ LTE (which looks great in a marketing campaign or if you're lucky enough to be next to a tower that is lit up, but in my day-to-day experience is not terribly useful if you actually want to use it reliably and fast throughout the LTE-enabled area).

I don't know if the LTE build-out was easier for AT&T based on their legacy network technology than it has been for VZW.

I think at some point this will get resolved, but for us VZW customers it's going to take a while.