Is there a problem with iPhone 5 antenna

Bars mean very little.

they both on "4G" service?

Do you have LTE in your area?

If so, is the 5 connected to LTE or 3G service?

The 4S will only connect to 3G and psuedo 4G (HSPA+) networks.

You would need to contact the carrier to see if you are in an area with LTE coverage.

I am having the same exact problem. I am going to the apple store to check it out tomorrow. I had a 3GS for three years and had no problems with signal in my room. My girlfriend has the 4S and also has no issues. I have the 5 now and have low signal strenght. I disabled LTE and have my phone right next to hers (both AT&T) and she has 3 bars and I have 1.

I am extremely upset about this issue as people have been calling me and the call is not going through.

I am having a similar issue.. Today at work my phone was just sitting on my desk and going from E to No Service to 4G with one bar. I keep having to turn my phone off and on to get my apps to connect.....

Same issue for me. I was having slow downloads and some call problems and noted the E insread of the 4G showing on my 4S. Checked another iphone 4S in the same spot and it shows 3 - 4 bars and 4G, while I get 1 - 4 bars and E. I have a new replacement phone on the way after discussing this with tech support, but I am concerned this is a design problem, not just a bad antenna.

I ordered my iPhone from Apple through the mail and so I had both my 4S (which has never had anything less than 5 bars steady service in my room, next to my new unboxed 5. The 5 (not active until the first call was made but still showing signal strength) only had ONE BAR, while my 4S next to it still held its steady 5 bars. I activated the new phone and was horrified at how sketchy my reception on it was. I was missing texts and calls. The phone was horrible. It had a pressure hairline crack (another wow moment) which appeared across the entire display two days ago (at the ripe old age of only four days old!) so I had it replaced today, it must be a hardware issue because this phone can't hold signal either! I have been watching in dismay as I've been typing this as my service jumps from 1 bar to 2 down to one and up to 4 and just fluctuates. I am returning this and going back to my trusty 4S if this isn't fixed.

Ps, I have AT&T and have NEVER had ONE problem with their service in my area.

I had the same issue with my iPhone 5 and thought it would get better on it own due to recently getting LTE in my area. I tried everything to resolve this problem. I got a new SIM, reset and restored the phone a bunch of times, got them to re-provision my phone, etc... and nothing worked. I switched my phone's signal to display -dBm instead of bars for a more accurate reading. Without a doubt either I also got a dud or there are antenna issues yet to be discovered by the masses. Now out and about my phone worked great even with low signal but at work and at home it could not get any data service. With my iPhone 4 the signal strength was incredible at work and home.

I took my phone back on the last day to which they extended the return policy until my new phone comes in.

It this is experience in my new phone I will pass on this model of the iPhone as not being able to stream music, or get emails, etc.... is a big let down.

All in all I like this phone.

I like the phone, BUT I am on the second one and the antenna problem persists. I sent apple screen shots of my daughter's 4S side by side with my iphone 5. Hers shows 4 bars 4g, mine shows 3 - 4 bars E. Doubt they will respond to the literal 1 in a million. Not sure why more complaints of this are not showing up. And, like the above post, I have Data problems. It will not download web pages quickly, or not at all. Even slow opening email. My 4S could stream NBC olympics live, no way can this phone hope to... Not sure what to do now.

We have no LTE for ATT in my area. so now I am stuck back on the Edge Network. Not even 3G!!