iPhone 5 lte signal/reception problem

i was wondering why my new iPhone 5 on Verizon did not show LTE and what i found out is that if either the phone or new iPad are in WiFi range, the LTE is shut off.

I am a verizon customer in NY and I too see the antenna switching all over the place - I can go from 2 LTE Bars to 3 3G bars to non-3G signal (that little circle) in the same place within just a few minutes.

I am going to Apple Store today to see if I can get the scoop. It's a very frustrating problem for an otherwise nice phone.

I gave my wife my old 4, and she consistently has better 3G signal when out of LTE coverage areas than I have on the 5.

Argh!!!

Having the exact same issue. Went to the apple store and they said to be patient with lte network and also with the phone. Let me know what they say for u.

I have similar problem. I have 32gb Iphone 5.

Before the 5 I had 3gs, and I had excellent reception at my work, now with the new iphone 5 I keep dropping calls, and most of the time the people can not even reach me. I tried to turn on the old phone again, and no problems.

Not just that, but the wifi at work and home does not work most of the time.

I ran speed test on my old Iphone 3gs and the new Iphone 5, and the results were ridiculous. The 3gs had 8mbps download & 1.5mbps upload, and iphone 5 one time had 1mbps download and 0 upload, and the second time couldn't even connect to the wifi......VERY DISAPPOINTED!!!!

I am still waiting to see if there is any software fix, or I will return it, and keep using my old 3gs.

Your issue doesn't appear to be the same as everyone else's. if what your saying is accurate, then you likely are living in a tinfoil box on top of a mountain, or you have defective hardware. My down/up speeds are dramatically enter than my iPhone S and that is regardless of 3G, LTE or wifi being turned on.

Seek help from Apple.

Can someone confirm whether replacing the phone at apple solved the 3G/LTE connectivity issues?

Could someone with Rogers or Fido comment on your connectivity as well?

I was originally on Fido using iPhone 4 with no problems. On iPhone 5 launch day Bell offered me some amazing incentives so i switched over to them.

Throughout the city in Vancouver/Burnaby area my phone would be on LTE about half the time, and 3G (it is actually 4G Bell claims) for the remainder. The bars also move around like crazy, ranging from full bars to 1 bar of 3G. I noticed my battery doesnt last as long as my iPhone 4 as well, most likely due to my phone always searching for/switching between cell towers.

Also, i notice some "dead spots" with Bell, in particular the highway that leads to UBC campus. Never had problems here before with my iPhone 4 on Fido. To confirm this, I borrowed a friends Fido iphone yesterday to do side by side tests and her iPhone 4 on 3G was actually faster than my iPhone 5 running on one bar of "3G" (Bell's 4G which is supposed to be faster!) I tested this both with speed tests and loading webpages in safari. There were areas my phone couldnt even connect to the network! Now, would this be a hardware issue or a network issue?

I am seriously considering switching back to fido/rogers (as im still in Bell's cancellation window). If you are on rogers or fido, would love to hear about your experience

As per my earlier posts:

- Bell LTE does not work. Period. was told it does not really work for any LTE phone including galaxy S3. Trying to see if it works is pointless. You will get a poor LTE signal and barely good 3GS

- TURNING LTE OFF is the soultion. Then 3GS kicks in. Now here the thing: 3GS on iPhone 5 is clearly weaker than 3GS on my 4. drains faster- be it that not as badly as when LTE enabled.

- Was told wait a few months. Well, the S3 has been out many more, and for its owners it still has not been solved.. yiikes...

My iPhone habits haven ot changed since my 4. no games, no iCloud, nothing demanding. A few minutes talking here or there, and maybe surfing a few morning minutes. Emails. The 4 I had gave me 1 charge for 2.5 days. IPhone 5, SAME USAGE? 1 must do rapid charge / 24 hrs... With LTE enabled.

Another suspicion, is the antenna partially to blame? Maybe Aluminium vs iphone steel? I do not know.

also tried a simple case, and any case seems to weaken somewhat the signal. Not by much but it seems so. I could be completely off.

jay460...

I am on Bell here in Ottawa and I am seeing the same situation. Spoke to Bell Tech Support; they indicated the LTE issues appear to be everywhere and they have created a "master ticket" to address. I might suggest you phone them as well; they will create a ticket for you and then add it to that 'master ticket". Not that that fixes the problem...but at least it is recognized.

I live in the far west end of Ottawa (Kanata) and it is "technically" LTE here, although aside for a few brief moments this morning I am still on 3G. As I drive east into the city the phone flips from 3G to LTE and back again. Bell (again) has stated this is an ongoing LTE issue (not the phone) and has indicated they are addressing it as quickly as possible.

As for going back to Fido / Rogers...each carrier seems to have better and worse zones of coverage that are different enough to make you think about it. I would suggest you see who has (and/or soon will have) the best coverage in your area and the places you may travel. I would also suggest you check out the Tower Locator app in the App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/towerlocator-canada/id390821949?mt=8) I found it really helpful, especially in describing your local area to a Tech who is likely in Toronto!

Thanks for all the responses

Beisarius: LTE for me has worked, but only in certain locations. I have gotten speeds close to 30-40mbps however its very sparadic

Albru00: Thanks for suggesting the towerlocator app! Strange thing is the closest tower along the UBC route is actually Bell, yet i am having problems with them. I will try contacting someone from Bell, but if this problem has been around since the S3 and hasn't been solved yet, I'm a bit skeptical itll be resolved soon

Next to any WIFi LTE disappeares. And toons of wifis around, malls, macdo, starbucks.... In Montreal and Ottawa, with LTE on, you watch the power percentile drain by the minute- or every two minutes. So 200 min for 100% drain. And may get an LTE bubble, just your phone will be completely drained well before afternoon.

Worse though, with LTE disabled (my mistake above) I still need to plug it once per 24 hours even though i have, thus far, 45 min talk, about 50 SMS and 5 minutes surfing- includign emails. With the 4 it was once every 2.5 days.

So this aluminium antenna does not deliver in my geo location even in 3GS mode.

Has anyone gotten to test the reception of an iPhone 4 next to a iPhone 5 with the same carrier?

As i mentioned, i tried this with a Fido iPhone 4 which outperformed a Bell iPhone 5 in regards to number of bars. If someone could do this though using the same carrier though, maybe we could isolate whehter it is the atennas in the new phones that is to blame

Update for Toronto Telus customers. I'm still getting sporadic LTE, but mainly 3G. I know that the LTE works; the signal just isn't strong enough to be maintained. I called tech support at Telus today, and was told that the ticket was opened up on September 22nd and still hasn't been closed. This tells him that Telus believes it's an issue that they have to work on -- and it's not an Apple/iPhone problem. Unlike the Bell customers on this thread, there is no "master ticket" for Telus customers, which suggests that they're working on individual complaints (that's what the tech told me).

I downloaded the TowerLocater app that someone suggested, and I have four towers, in a square pattern, all within a reasonable distance to my house. So I find it both interesting and baffling that I can't maintain an LTE signal!

I am in Vancouver on Telus and I can confirm I have the same problem of LTE degrading my signal. If LTE is turned off my signal strength will increase. I am switching between 3G and LTE if it is enabled. Battery drain seems to be faster with LTE on even if I'm connected to wireless.

Telus support said she hadn't heard of this problem and to take it back for replacement.

Went to the Apple Store today to complain about Verzion service switching around. At first, the Genius was reluctant but he said he would reset my phone to factory settings and let me test it for a week - if it didn't get better, he'd replace the phone.

So he reset, then I had him do some speed tests with Safari between the 5 and the 4S both on 3G.

About half the sites took 5-10 seconds LONGER on the iPhone 5. He and his manager didn't feel that it was a hardware issue, but they gave me a new phone. The new phone is exactly the same. I think it is a software/antenna switching issue. The issue does not seem to be relevant to AT&T phones. I know someone going to Sprint over the next few days, and I'll give another update.

Bottom Line - I think that there is a problem with LTE - The HSPA+ AT&T 4G is fine. Hopefully it is a software fix that will be addressed by Apple, but we are going to need to make sure voices are heard.