iPhone 5 lte signal/reception problem

An update from Vancouver BC. My friend has a Samsung, with a different SP, but also on the Bell network, and his experience with LTE was even worse. He has switched LTED off, and I have switched mine off also. Perhaps the LTE network will become more stable at some point. So a challenge to the idea that it is the phone or the software. Otherwise, the phone is awesome!

I just got off the phone with VZW. They were very nice. After a discussion they waived my ETF.

I am going back to ATT very soon...Can't wait. Wish I could have stayed on VZW.

Did you talk to any one or department in particular?

Customer Service *611. I had logged service complaints in the past so this might have helped. Just be nice and patient 🙂

Let us know how AT&T works for you, I think you'll be much happier. I am convinced as I've mentioned a few times (and even more convinced today) that 95% of my problems are VZW and the other 5% are the iPhone 5. I'm playing around with a couple other of VZW's best phone's today and while one holds a weak signal better than the iPhone 5, the other holds one even worse. I think the 5% may be how long it takes to swap back to LTE after being in 3G, but frankly, the other phones on VZW really aren't any better at holding signals in these marginal coverage spots (a good portion of [Metro-Boston] Massachusetts)

With all due respect to everyone that is having such a hard time with Verizon and talking of switching to AT&T as their Savior, it is pretty ironic that AT&T was just rated the worst cell phone carrier for the third year in a row. Best of luck to all of you, from a Verizon iPhone 5 customer

Perhaps in your market, but in Metro Boston, Rootmetrics just proved that AT&T was superior and my own testing confirms their Data and proves the same in NYC. As a customer of both, I can tell you that AT&T is not the same AT&T that used to drop calls everywhere and died when the iPhone first came out and VZW hasn't kept up with AT&Ts network buildout. Instead of focusing on providing great service throughout the areas they served, they focused on adding poor LTE service to lots of markets since it looks good on a TV commercial. VZW LTE in Metro Boston is like comparing DSL to AT&T's FIOS. I actually am starting to feel bad for the iPhone 5 on VZW since as much as I'm unhappy with its signal strength, it really shouldn't take the blame for VZW (and other poor) LTE networks.

Quoting Consumer Reports hot off the presses:

"

-Verizon ranked No. 1 for best overall satisfaction and service.

-AT&T ranked No. 1 for best 4G network, taking that crown from Verizon.

"

I think it's great that very nice people who can't fix my problem answer the phone at VZW every time I call to report a problem (and that they get angry with me that I report their marginal coverage problems for locations that I am at since I cannot sit there for 2+ days waiting for them to investigate something that will still be marginal when they look at it). I'm sure AT&T customer service isn't as good, but since I've never had to call them to report a marginal LTE coverage problem, it hasn't really mattered.

Touché !

Just being honest. As I mentioned, I have been -the- Verizon Wireless fan-boy for 15+ years, but at some point I have to call it as it is. VZW is living off their past gold standard which doesn't exist anymore. They may treat customers better, their store staff may be nicer, but their network is not better, in fact, it's not even close, at least not in Metro Boston, NYC and the Bay Area of California. Is VZW better in rural VT, NH and ME? Yes, I had VZW coverage in those areas when my AT&T phone had no service.

Pete Boston,

Thank you for the tip. I will get started right away. It would be great if I lost the call while calling 611.

That is wonderful if you can get great service on your iPhone 5 through Verizon where ever you may live or AT&T where ever you may live. The one thing I will not do is cut down one carrier over another. After being an Android user ever since Android came out, and using or trying near every brand, make and model of phone I really got sick of reading the flame wars between iPhone and Android users. I switched to iPhone 5 about a month ago. I did try the iPhone 4S for a period of time before making my final decisions. And after my personal experience with iPhone 5, I am totally happy and satisfied, and if Apple continues to make great phones, I will continue to stay with Apple. In my personal experience in traveling many states, some carriers do have better service over others. For me personally it is Verizon in the states in which I travel and live, and no other carrier comes as close. Where as for other people, there is a specific carrier that is much better than Verizon. You must pick which carrier is better in your area. Or else your experience will be miserable. Maybe there will come a day that I may have to switch carriers based on issues such as you are having. I wish the best to everyone who is switching carriers in order to keep their iPhone's! 🙂

Pete,

I can confirm your issue..I called Verizon and apple and apple gave me a new phone and guess What? The same issue persist.. Now, Verizon LTE works great in some inhabited areas like Atlanta, Charlotte, but in the populated areas like NYC is horrible when LTE works..very slow and then also start seem 3G instead of LTE for days...it constantly changes from 3G to edge and no service.

Now this is not location specific, It happens all over NYC. I turn off the phone, the cellular data and it never changes back to LTE even in an LTE area. Only way to bring it back is a network reset, which works for hours oly and then gets back to the the LTE to 3G to edge and finally LTE just vanishes for days.

Since this is my 2nd iPhone and during the holidays I travelled to many states without any issues I think this is more of a Verizon issue. I called them and they said my area is within their standards and refered me to apple. Now, I have seem this issue being discussed at Verizon forums and even android users are having it.

By he way under Verizon 3G in NYC I never got past .5 mb download speeds...on LTE in midtown manhattan the average seems less than 2mb with .4 being the most common result I get. AT&T being the worst carrier starting to look like a paid advertisement for Verizon.

** IT'S THE NETWORK **

I have bad news for those who think that swapping the phone for new HW will fix your problem, it won't. (I have swapped mine and swapped my SIMs) as you've read my rants over the past 2 months. I have bad news for people who think that switching to an Android phone will fix your problem, it won't. One side benefit however is that the Android phones are capable of 3G/LTE simultaneously, so you can do voice and data at the same time, which is not possible on the VZW iPhone 5.

The problem is primarily the network. in my case, the Verizon Wireless network. In others case, whatever network you are on. Sure, the iPhone 5 has some issues, specifically it has exhibited more trouble than other phones in the most marginal coverage areas, but the real problem is the enormous number of marginal coverage areas throughout the VZW LTE network.

I can state this confidently because I spent today with 2 of the 3 top VZW Android phones, my iPhone 5 (VZW) and my AT&T GS 3.

While some VZW phones behave a little better than others, none of them locked solid LTE throughout the day in Metro Boston. Even when there were times when all 3 had good LTE signal strength, all still underperformed AT&T by a wide margin. In every marginal coverage area, every VZW phone had marginal coverage, none of these marginal coverage areas were AT&T marginal coverage areas. HTC DNA seemed a little better at locking 4G LTE, but also visited 3G (EHRPD) plenty. The RAZR MAXX HD had the strongest signal of all 3, but spent even more time on 3G than either the iPhone 5 or HTC DNA and all phones visited the 1X network (o on iPhone 5) on more than one occasion. In the most marginal coverage area of all (my house), the iPhone 5 came back to LTE sooner than either of the two Android phones, the RAZR MAXX HD took a while to come back to LTE, but did, and the DNA which has been the best on marginal 4G, is still stuck on 3G (10-15m and counting). The iPhone 5 definitely spent a little more time on 1X (o) than either of the Android phones. The Android phones did seem to hug 3G in the most marginal coverage areas while the iPhone 5 seemed to stick on 1X. Do keep in mind that once the phone hits 1X, the switching back to LTE/3G is ugly (not a nice handoff), vs. with EHRPD, the 3G to LTE transition is a little smoother.

I also ran the "Pandora" test that InkStrategy was talking about and had no problems w/ the iPhone 5 streaming Pandora between towns and even when my phone transitioned from LTE to WiFi. Unrelated to the music streaming, there was one instance where my iPhone 5 refused to pass any data in a strong LTE area and I did have to toggle Airplane mode to get it to play nicely again. This instance seemed like an iPhone 5 SW bug.

Save yourself the frustation, if you are not happy with your signal strength, find another carrier. In my case because of the # of family phones I have, I intend to keep VZW for these lines, but I am not happy with how they perform vs. AT&T (EVERYWHERE).

I wonder if Apple or Verizon reads these posts? If they (primarily Verizon) does not, then that is kind of sad.