iPhone 5 Verizon LTE problem

I appreciate the heads up on the other thread but I'm not experiencing the same issue. My LTE signal stays at 5 bars and doesn't drop to 3G yet I still experience slowdown and can't complete a speed test or surf the web. Video services stop etc, so my data is effectively gone on LTE until I toggle Airplane mode or turn LTE off and use the 3G network.

For anyone that was following this thread its worth noting that I did a full restore of the phone and I still have connectivity issues on LTE.

Dialing *3001#12345#* on my Verizon iPhone5 brings up "Field Test" mode which shows my LTE signal strength at -82db. After spending a little time on google -82 seems to be a decent signal strength and is reinforced by 5 bars of signal strenth. I don't think the issue is with Verizon's network as they report no issues and the signal appears to be good.

At this point I think I will be scheduling an appointment at the Apple Store. I'm very weary of driving an hour since the issues crops up at a randomly during the day. I'd have a nagging feeling that everything will be working at my appointment which will have to be scheduled a few days out.

Oh well I'll update this thread once I have made some progress.

Per my first post I have already contacted apple and they suggested I first do a network reset and then a full restore to try and fix the issue. They said if I still experienced the issue after the trouble shooting steps were completed then I would need to take my phone into the Apple Store.

Pete your experience at the Genius Bar is exactly what I'm dreading. I have had the same LTE issue at two different locations an hour away from each other with varying signal strength at each site but never below 3bars.

I'm located in central NY south of Syracuse so maybe this an issue just in our area. Thanks for mentioning your location. Is anyone else here in central or western NY that can weigh in on their experience with Verizon LTE and FaceTime.

Today I went to the Syracuse Verizon store located at the mall and they were not helpful at all besides pointing me to the Apple store. They were not concerned at all with helping me troubleshoot the LTE signal issue and would not replace the Verizon SIM card.

I went to the Apple Store and was amazed by how helpful they were. They listened to me state the problem and asked relevant questions to confirm what troubleshooting steps had already been taken. They agreed that replacing the phone would help me get closer to nailing down the problem. If I can say anything positive about this ordeal so far it's how extremely professional and helpful Apple was during my first experience at their store. I felt like the service received justified the cost of ownership for their product.

Now to the bad news. Replacing the iPhone made no difference in the LTE issue I have been experiencing. The LTE worked for a few hours and then like before it dropped the upload. The only fix is toggling airplane mode and once the phone grabs LTE again it works fine for a hour or more then reverts back to failure (no upload, FaceTime etc)

I'm in the process of grabbing before, during and after screen caps of signal levels, speed tests and FaceTime attempts. To be clear this is issue is not just with FaceTime but its how I've been noticing the problem because I use that app often and it requires upload.

The signal level at my home is approx -85 which should not cause an issue. The signal strength indicator never dips below 4 bars on LTE and it doesn't cycle to 3G so the issue is not with terrible signal strength as it appears some people are experiencing. I'd like to in invite people into this thread who are experiencing this specific issue.