Is My LTE Radio Broken?

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iPadCary Author

Level 1

10 points

Is My LTE Radio Broken?

I just got a brand new iPad Mini 4 with AT&T as the carrier yesterday.

And for 24 hours now, all I get is ONE DOT of LTE signal.

It'll start out with 3 or 4, then after a couple of minutes, it's down to one.

Sometimes it'll creep back up to two dots for a minute or so, and then it's back to one.

With past AT&T iPads, I steadily get four, with the occasional five appearing now & again.

And the letters "LTE" even disappear now for awhile & "4G" is displayed, instead.

Did I get a defective unit?

iPad mini 4 Wi-Fi, Cellular, iOS 9.2.1

Posted on Feb 2, 2016 10:47 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,299 points

Feb 2, 2016 11:10 AM in response to iPadCary

It sounds like a signal issue there for your carrier. If you change locations does it improve? Have you contacted AT&T to ask them if there are signal issues where you are located? There is an app in the App Store, Mark the Spot from AT&T you can use to report signal issues, but AT&T should be able to identify any possible issues there.

EDIT: You might also want to try turning of LTE for a minute and see how the signal goes with 4G. If you get a strong 4G signal, then it is possible the LTE signal in your area is a problem. But check with AT&T.

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Answer 2

iPadCary Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 2, 2016 11:09 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

Thank you for answering so quickly.

If I'm near a strong wifi signal, then I'll get four solid dots of LTE.

No, I haven't contacted AT&T yet.

I'll try the "Mark The Spot" app right after I post this.

But I wanna watch "The Sopranos" first! lol

And it's funny you mention the 4G thing.

I was so desperate, before I read your suggestion just now, that I did, in fact,

turn off the LTE radio and just left it at 4G to see if that would do anything.

The result? FOUR solid dots! lol

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Answer 3

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,299 points

Feb 2, 2016 11:44 AM in response to iPadCary

Sounds as I said earlier, like this is a just a signal issue in your location. If you are seeing this behavior on 4G, then your LTE just may not be as strong where you are. Can you go somewhere else with the device and test your signals? Find out from AT&T where an LTE capable tower is in your area, test there. There are so many variables when it comes to cellular signal that anything could be a causation. Good luck testing.

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Answer 4

iPadCary Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 2, 2016 11:53 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

I'll try the LTE tower search, thank you.

And that "Mark The Spot" app keeps crashing when I hit "Submit" on my problem ....

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Answer 5

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,299 points

Feb 3, 2016 1:25 AM in response to iPadCary

To be honest, I've not had to use the Mark the Spot app in quite some time, so I'm not sure how well it is working. You should not have any issue working directly with AT&T. Heck, if you have an AT&T corporate store around where you live, that would be the best place to go, as they can do the reporting right on your account, and make any adjustments if necessary, and even replace your SIM if needed, right on site.

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Answer 6

iPadCary Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 3, 2016 4:26 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

And the location is irrelevant in that I've used previous iPads with AT&T LTE in this exact same spot

where I'm using it now and have gotten, as I say, four of five solid LTE dots consistantly.

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