iPhone 5 lte signal/reception problem

It seems like a hardware problem. I've restored the phone and set as new many times to no avail. I've had quite a few iPhone 5 replacements and the 3 other ones could use LTE just fine. With my current phone, it uses Edge and even GPRS. The only time I can connect to LTE and 3G is around 15-20 minutes after a reboot or after a long time in airplane mode. The LTE then turns into one bar before changing to Edge. It only goes down the chain of connections and never goes from Edge to 3G or LTE. The weird thing is that even when my phone is using Edge, when I reboot, I can use 3G/LTE for a few minutes so the signal is definitely there (plus, my other iPhone 5s have been fine in the same locations).

I've done extensive LTE vs. HSPA+ testing on my iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy SIII since LTE was launched in my hometown a week ago. LTE is always at least 13 dBm less signal strength, even when standing across the street from the cell site. In areas of town where LTE has not rolled out to all cell sites, my phones seem to prefer a lower signal LTE site, vs. a HSPA+ site. You can check out my observations and screen shots on my Google+ page https://plus.google.com/u/0/109206285216613026466/posts

Update to iOS 6.0.2 as it fixes wi-fi and other bugs and improvements.

I'm in Ontario Canada on Bell network, the LTE connectivity was spotty and almost non-existant in my City (Oakville). Updated to 6.0.2 and now LTE is on always, rarely do I see 3G anymore displayed, indoors or outdoors. So I'm assuming that the update fixed any connection issues for me.

P.S. the speeds are awesome (getting 25.+mps downloads, 22+mps uplads) I love it.

While I will be the first to complain about my LTE experience (in my case on Verizon), your conclusion is unfortunately flawed. See my post earlier on RSRP vs RSSI values. LTE vs. non-LTE are measured/reported differently and therefore the dBm readings cannot be compared between them. There is generally a 23dBm difference between the readings for the same signal strength. In addition, on AT&T, I can generally obtain super-fast LTE speeds even with low signal strength, while on VZW, my speeds (even more so for upload speeds), drop off like a clfif in lower strength signal areas.

living here in Australia out majour phone network provider is telstra they are the only ones that can provide any sort of reliable service for mobile wirless internet and there is still lots of drop outs its pretty bad unless you live in one of the main citys any where else and its just rubish the conection , i am having problems with getting reception with the iphone 5 with data very slow to nothing Spotify will almost never dl any thing , apps will not update at times very random , where they iphone 4 was 100% better with all that , when i went to telstra i explaind the the problems that i was having and also went to the apple store as well and they both informed me that the antenna in the iphone 5 is rubbish compaired to whats in the iphone 4 and 4S wellllll is this not a huge backwards step , what does Apple think people use there phones for making phones calls , they are basicly mini computer that can make a phone call some times , makes me regret buy the iphone 5

Unlocked iPhone 5, on Bell. I live close to a Bell tower in a LTE covered area of Toronto. I had no issues connecting to Bell's LTE, however I noticed that a lot of times my iPhone would drop the LTE network, connect to the HSPA/+ network (still only shows 3G which is normal I'm told) and after a while re-connect to the LTE network. This caused the battery to drain faster and would sometimes result in calls not coming through or getting dropped. The phone would even show "No Service" if LTE was enabled, but would show "Bell 3G" if I turned off LTE. Going from iOS 6.0 to 6.0.1 did not address the issue, and I became accustomed to keeping LTE off to preserve my connection and avoid dropped calls. I am happy to confirm that iOS 6.0.2 seems to have cured these issues for me, so far. Anyone experiencing these issues should definitely upgrade to 6.0.2, I haven't noticed any battery drain with 6.0.2 either in case anyone is wondering.

Hi Guys

I've got 2 iPhone 5, on the same location and same DU 3G service provide (we don't have LTE right now), on one of them I'm getting full signal the other one have maximum 4 bars then goes to 3 & 2. I did update to 6.0.2 but of no use!! I'm sure it a hardware issue on some of the batches. now I don't know what to do?!!!!!!!

Sorry, but I'm also on the Bell network in Toronto, and 6.02 does not fix the issue whatsoever.

Still, drops LTE like a hot potato, and only comes back if you switch the LTE switch off, then on.

And the battery still *****, trying to hang on between the 2 networks.

Seems like a couple of Apple plants are spreading mis-imformation.

I might have spoken too soon. I experienced no issues in the last 2 days, but I did notice a new symptom of problems this morning. While on LTE if I receive a phone call and answer it, my signal meter drops to one bar. After I end the call, the phone immediately shows "No Service", then after a few seconds reconnects to LTE. This never happened on my phone and does not happen when using Data, just voice. So I'm not spreading misinformation, I reported too early as the initial problems I experienced did appear to be solved, however now there's a new symptom to the same problem.

I have the update to 6.0.2 and I have the same problem. I am on ATT and in Denver CO. I work on the edge of LTE and HSPA+ netorks. LTE has 2 bars and HSPA+ 5 bars. My phone after about 3 min goes to full bars and no data at all. Then your turn LTE off and back on and you get LTE for another 12min.....

Here in Egypt,we do not have LTE,we have 3g or EDGE(coz in Canada or US you will see a switch with enable LTE,we do not have it,we have a switch with 3g).So I turned the 3g off and till now I have no problems but I am still testing this solution.The problem is that my friend have an iPhone 5,he have no problems with 3g. the only diffrence between me and him is that is iPhone is in a case cover.So after testing EDGE,I will test 3g with a cover maybe the old antenna problem is not solved yet with 3g.I guess whatever your are enabling in the cellular settings will cause the problem in the calls and reception.

I wasn't sure if LTE option was available for you but thought I'd mention it. Hope you get your issue resolved.

please help. i m from Turkey. i use vodafone. and i have same problem.

How do you measure lte signal strength?i read of a setting to haver the signal strength appear all the time near the AT&T signal.