what is LTE on top of my iphone 5s means

"LTE" is considered part of the revised 4G standard. In fact, it's often referred to as "4G LTE". I think you may be confused by the fact that AT&T started labeling HSPA+ as "4G" as it is also part of the 4G standard. Neither meets the original standards sett by the 3GPP Consortium for the LTE Advanced standard.

In the U.S., at least, it's becoming the standard type of network and is quite common, far more so than HSPA+.

LTE means "Long Term Evolution", also known as 4G network in some places. Is a kind of cellphone network.

Hello, welcome to the community!

LTE stands for "Long-term evolution", and refers to the current cellular data standard that your cell phone is connected with. In the same way as when it says "4G" at the top of your phone, "LTE" is the type of connection you currently have. LTE is a bit faster than 4g, however it does drain slightly more battery and is not as widely available.

All good things

Bradley