iPhone 5 lte signal/reception problem

Why are the 3G speeds on the iPhone 5 much slower than on the 4/4S? I don't live in an LTE area and I get full 3G signal strength but it's almost like the iP5 rejects 3G and it's slower than dial up. It's very disappointing because my 4S was very fast on 3G here and my 5 barely works at all. My only other option is wifi and we all know that there are issues with that too.

I'll try a few 3G speed tests later today.

I also noticed the 3G is slow, like very slow. My friend has the iPhone 4 and her 3G seems three times faster than mine if I'm in a 3G only area. Makes no sense whatsoever. I have Verizon as well. The update iOS 6.0.1 hasn't changed much after playing around with it for a lil while. Still slow speeds.

Same in Ottawa, Bell. After the update it held a steady LTE signal, and it basically went from no LTE to LTE, 3 mps to 25 mps download. It still is a weak signal in most areas, but it holds and clocks fast data. However, drains battery fast.

Bell told me they are working with Apple on this one, so Apple definitely covered Bell in this last release. Now, remmeber ladies and gents, these LTE networks ARE NOT THE SAME even if nominally called as such... So what is released for Bell would not necessarily cover ATT. But this release tells me that one is no doubt coming your way.

I've been at the apple store in Louisville for 2 hours now and the genius Rep is telling me that it's a Verizon network issue. Verizon is telling me it's a hardware issue. From what I can tell a lot of Verizon iPhone 5 users are having extreme slow data speeds. This is unacceptable. I need some answers because my phone is useless on 3G.

I was out running a few errands and did a couple 3G speed tests (LTE toggled off). I did one at home first, and that one was lousy (mediocre reception inside my house) That one was .28 Mbps down and .56 Mbps up. When I was out I did 2 tests and the results were better... 2.12 Mbps down/ .33 Mbps up and 2.03 down/ .98 up. I was able to quickly load web pages while on 3G when I did those tests.

I'm also continuing to hold an LTE signal, even when it drops to 2 bars. Those speed tests have been around 8-15 down. Not AT&T speeds, but stll plenty quick for me.

Are all of you seeing the 13.3 Verizon update on your phone? I wonder if that has anything to do with my iPhone working as designed?

In my office in downtown DC, I have three bars whether I'm on wifi, lte or 3G. LTE is at about 6 mb/s. 3G is at about 850 kb/s. Carrier Compare is showing AT&T at 3.5 mb/s (don't know if that's lte or not). I get about 15 mb/s with five bars at my house nearby. No problems with holding lte signal. My Verizon iPhone 5 occasionally switches from wifi to 3G, even when there is an lte signal, but it happens less often since I installed 6.0.1.

I have this problem as well on Telstra in Australia

iPhone 5 reception overall is dreadful. I'm angry I traded in my 4S.

I was one of the ones that was able to return the iPhone 5 before being stuck with it. I was able to spot the reception issues right away as I use my phone all day pretty much everyway, streaming music. Even just strictly sticking with 3G on the iPhone 5 the issues persisted. Now, going back to my iPhone 4 I can honestly say there is nothing that I miss about the 5 except the cpu speed and bigger screen. To me now that all the hype is gone it's not worth it. The battery life was absolutely horrible. Years later my iPhone 4 is performing better on battery life than the iPhone 5.

I'll wait for something better to come along from Apple. Being as though there is/was some internal restructuring/struggles going on within Apple I would be willing to bet that the iPhone 5 suffered as a result of this. As most company would do they kept the news surpressed until after the release of the iPhone 5.

I love Apple products but I hate the iPhone 5.

Couldn't agree more. I have chosen to hold on to my iPhone 5, but between poor VZW LTE coverage in Massachusetts and the iPhone 5 dropping the network completely with a 5-bar LTE signal every now and then, the overall experience has been crummy. To have a VZW LTE phone in Massachusetts which says 3G as much or more than it says LTE is quite a downer.

As I mentioned many threads ago, if I did not also own a Galaxy S III on AT&T, I wouldn't know how good LTE really could be and I would think that these are just normal growing pains for an immature network technology. It is unbelievable that VZW still has towers in Metro Boston which are 3G only because they haven't been able to get local/legal approvals to roll out the LTE antennas/equipment and that their LTE coverage combined with the iPhone 5 problems can be this bad. With all of this said, JP, also in Mass seems to be happy with his iPhone 5, so who knows. Perhaps I still have bad HW as well.

Hi JP,

Yes, I have run the 13.3 carrier update since the day it came out. I am interested in knowing if you hold LTE at the locations I mentioned on the North Shore. I am also curious if you're still seeing LTE everywhere you go, as I still constantly see 3G all over the place. If the answer is LTE-everywhere, perhaps I'll buy you coffee some day and bring you on a tour to see my phone vs. yours in the same locations.

With the recent hurricane and nor'easter the cell towers for Verizon must have been knocked out of sorts or something because I'm having even worse LTE coverage. And now it basically just goes to 3G before going to "o". This is after I swapped my hardware on Tuesday nov 6. Problem is the same. This is my first iphone and I can't even get rid of it know because its been two weeks. I'm so fed up. I love the phone but what use is it if I can't use it? Pathetic. I live on south shore Long Island for the record and I had 4G with my android.

I swapped my hardware. Same crappy speeds and always one bar. Verizon does nothing. Why did I pay 300+ for the crap service? I'm livid lol

Hi Pete,

It's been 6 days since I rec'd my iPhone 5 and can't say I've seen any real issues. That said, I do work from home these days and am on wifi at home. If I turn on cellular at home, I usually have only 3G in the house, but everywhere else I've been holding LTE very consistently. Though one time today, I was out and made a call. After the call the phone then settled into 3G, and didn't go back to LTE until I toggled airplane mode. I tried to replicate that problem again later, and was unable to do so.

I've been mostly in Salem, Lynn, Swampscott, and Marblehead. I've also been in East Boston (near Logan) and Revere, and Peabody (North Shore Mall) the past few days and typically saw LTE and rarely 3G (except in the lower level of Macys...saw some "o" there). Oh, and I did a speed test at Vinnin Square in Swampscott around rush hour tonight...saw my fastest download speed so far...30Mbps!