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iPhone 5 lte signal/reception problem

I picked up my Verizon iPhone 5 today. When it's on 3G ill have full signal (5 bars) and the Internet works great. When I go into settings & change to LTE my signal will drop down to 2 bars. And this consistently happens in different cities. Why is this? Does anyone else notice this on their iphone 5? I tried resetting and turning the phone off and on and still same problem. It even goes as bad as 1 bar of reception on lte.


Thanks

iPhone 5, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 21, 2012 10:22 PM

Reply
612 replies

Jan 8, 2014 12:17 PM in response to remi9898

Just a quick update to my original post of Sept 2013. I traveled around the U.S. with my iPhone5 and had the same problem everywhere: San Francisco, Washington DC, Austin, Salt Lake, Denver, etc. I took my i5 to the Apple Store near my home and they ran complete diagnostics. They could find no evidence of dropped calls or other issues (their software tracks dropped calls among the many statistics), but they could see I was getting no cell reception and having trouble connecting to their in-store wifi. They replaced my phone with a new i5. The cell and wifi was immediately improved a little bit, but I still cannot enable LTE without losing both cell and wifi, and often I lose wifi connectivity even when standing a few feet in front of the router. I live with 3 others who all have the iPhone4s, and none of them have any such problems. All four of us are on Verizon. Hmmm.

Jan 8, 2014 1:26 PM in response to dnewpix

FWIW, my iPhone 5 (7.0.4) has absolutely no WiFi or non-LTE signal problems. The only issues I experience are areas with poor LTE performance and signal strength, which can easily be replicated with every other phone in Verizon's arsenal (I have not done any testing w/ the AWS-enabled phones to see if the performance issues are better since AWS is not overcongested - yet)

Jun 3, 2014 6:46 AM in response to Ypswytch

same problem as the OP. I hadnt yet associated it with wifi but once he mentions it, I am on wifi at home. If I leave to go for a walk, I get no internet/safari unless I disable LTE. I turn LTE off and web pages load again.


ATT and iPhone 5 fwiw. Sad the problem is still front and center after this length of time. Certainly annoying. I'm OCD and anal as **** and always worry I'm going to forget to re enable LTE. I guess it doesn't really matter though considering it just gets turned off again.


Sigh

Sep 27, 2014 5:45 AM in response to omsterathome

Well, I have problem with my iphone 5 and iphone 4, I have both. I'm in Asia, I don't know if the machine structure are the same with Europe or U.S, but I'm sure it's same.


Yes, signal problems. First of all, I got my Iphone 4, I just used it only for a year. Then I bought Iphone 5, why?because the signal problems. I barely can't received message from some apps. So I thought it was the phone, so I sold it and bought Iphone 5, but...darn..it was having the same problems. How do I know?


I was tested my sim-card on android, and the messenger apps, like w.a, bb ect, it can quick received all the message (I sent many msg, just like spam), and there are no problem, but when I changed it again to Iphone 5, ooohh..goossh....I have to wait a long time to received it(the message) on my Iphone. Even I was received many messages the day after.


Is it my provider?nope...like I told you above, I've put in my sim-card into an android phone and there's no problem at all.


It's my experiences from Iphone 4 and now 5 with signal problems. Please don't say just use android..nope, I'm not a fanboy of Iphone, but I like Iphone...but the signal problems...(sigh).


Anyone know why this happening?

Sep 30, 2014 2:48 AM in response to omsterathome

iPhone 6 with iOS 8.0.2, bouncing from 3G to 4G all the time and in between goes to NO SERVICE.

This has a huge impact on battery.


The only solution i have is to turn off 4G in Settings.


This is the worst iphone to date, ios is a big joke, i have bluetooth connection problems in car, a lot of apps crashing including system apps like Calendar, signal loss, battery drain due to useless jumping from 3G to 4G and back.


Notifications are a mess, i get huge delay in notifications, even delays between banner showing up and sound notifications, and i am talking about seconds delay.


When i answer a call, phone rings for another 1-2 secods before connecting the call.

Apr 26, 2015 5:22 PM in response to lifetimeboater

Operating this phone requires a rocket scientist! Since I am an average user, I am automatically locked out. By the way, I am trying to check out problems with Iphone 5S before I make a purchase. I have had an Iphone 4S IOS 8.3 which I bought on 24th April 2015 with very disappointing reception issues that I will return it to the Apple store today, here in Chengdu China. I have learnt the hard way to read reviews before I make a new purchase. So far, I am disappointed with the reviews of Iphone 5S too on reception. I feel that Apple is grappling with basic reception issues. Mobile phones have been around a long time. My shock with Iphone 4S was electric! Poor even where my Samsung Mega and Nokia 2730 are doing very well using the same service provider i.e. China Mobile (talking of phones of totally different generation). I will check out the reviews of Iphone 6.

Jun 2, 2015 8:37 AM in response to neo_andersson

It's not the phones. It's the networks. I'm coming to the conclusion that LTE is a joke. At least it is with Verizon in northern Vermont. We have several cell phones, an iPad and a Cradlepoint IBR600LE. All exhibit the same behaviour switching, apparently at random, between LTE and EVDO but spending the vast majority of the time in EVDO which means terribly sluggish connections (500 kbps or so). For example, from the router's log:

06:59:01 LTE -> EVDO

07:11:02 EVDO -> LTE

07:11:44 LTE -> EVDO

07:23:55 EVDO -> LTE

07:24:37 LTE -> EVDO


Interestingly enough the system worked well in the fall of 2013 and through the summer of 2014 with degradation becoming more and more the norm in the fall of 2014. A conversation last fall with the local Verizon shop guy garnered, after lots and lots of hemming and hawing, an admission that Verizon is well aware of the problem and working on it. No improvement over the winter however.


Also interesting is that in the DC Metro area (where I spend the winter) LTE is pretty consistent though I don't use it very often.

iPhone 5 lte signal/reception problem

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