Child Item

Site Totals

61162 Questions Answered 267 Categories

LTE problem 1 bar

When I turn on LTE, I get 1 bar but when I turn it off I get 5 bars 3G. I live on the 14th floor (unobstructed) in a busy neighborhood in Brooklyn that is listed as having good service. My neighbor has 5 bars but me, merely 1. I just got a replacement 5S at the Apple Store in case the antenna was defective but now it is still stuck at 1 bar. Help. I have the newest IOS update.

Comments

Verizon_Support

Chum1,

Let's look into this further and ensure you are getting the service you deserve! What's your zip code? Does this happen only in your home?

KarenC_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

Chum1

Hi, thanks! I am in 11217 but honestly, it isn't too great anywhere, never more than 3-4 bars in different places in NYC, usually 2-3. But it is generally worse at home, where I need it most.

Verizon_Support

Chum1, we want you to have the best wireless experience possible no matter where you go! At this time, no issues have been reported in New York. However, you mentioned that you're having issues in more than one place which prompts us to take a closer look at your device. Try resetting the network on that iPhone in Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network.

Wireless reception can be challenging indoors. As a result, it's very normal for signal to fluctuate. Have you ever had reliable service at your residence?

LasinaH_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

Chum1

Never had Verizon before but my neighbor across the hall has five bars. I've done the reset stuff, I got a new phone in case it was the antenna, I got a new sim card. I've done everything possible. I've spent hours with Apple and with the in-store people. Maybe it is just that Verizon isn't as good as claimed in NYC? I don't know what else to try.

Weth

You may be picking up band 4 XLTE, where an older phone would only be able to pick up band 13. It is very possible an overloaded band 13 tower with 5 bars would perform worse than 1 bar of a band 4 tower that is not overloaded. Also band 13 penetrates buildings better, so signal strength higher, whereas band 4 doesn't.

You can check what band you are using on an iPhone by going to phone dialer and dialing:

*3001#12345#*

you will now be in field test.click on serving cell info and look at frequency band indicator.

I Would go by performance and not bars, how is the speed?

IF it makes you feel better, this happens to me, but speed remains good, and I know the logical why it is happening, so I am good with it. Happens with every phone with XLTE.

Chum1

Weth, thanks so much but I have no idea what you are talking about but I did what you advised and the Freq Band Indicator is "4" -- I am not worried about data speeds, as I am on my wifi for data. I am worried about call quality which is no good at 1 bar, except in one very tiny corner of my apartment, where for some odd reason, I occasionally get 3 bars. But it is impossible to stand in that spot for long. I work at home, so need the phone part to work well, if possible.

Chum1

Will the Verizon people ever respond?

Snn5

Does XLTE have an effect on call quality? I know it would with HD Voice, but what about standard calls?

Snn5

Duh, 5S doesn't have HD calling, nevermind.

Verizon_Support

Chum1, thanks for taking all the mentioned steps, it is appreciated. To be sure, you state that within the apartment you are definitely having issues with call quality. However, you also stated that it wasn't to great anywhere. We want to clarify, are you having call quality issues everywhere you go or are you stating that the signal is simply on average 2-4 bars? If the challenge for reception is primarily at your apartment, it would be likely that the signal is being obstructed by either the building or other structures in the area. If you have home internet we do have in home solution to assist with reception while indoors and those can be seen here http://vz.to/1rGr6wM.

AdamG_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

Weth

Before you do anything else, I'll try to explain this a bit. Verizon now has multiple frequencies depending on if you are on Really new tech (band 4 XLTE), new tech (Band 13 LTE), or original. With your phone, the signal strength will show the data connection while in standby, which is completely different than when you make a call.

Test this. See you phone with 1 bar of band 4 XLTE, that is standby on data. Now make a call, and you should see the signal strength change as soon as you initiate the call. This is the phone switching from new tech to old tech 3G CDMA to make the call. This is also the signal strength that your calls will go out on. I suspect you will see bars equal to before when you are in a call.

If this really bothers you, just turn off LTE, and you will stay in 3G CDMA mode, which uses different frequencies and sometimes different towers. You can also just turn off LTE temporarily to either prove my theory correct or incorrect.

Based on what you have said so far, I am not convinced you even have a problem, and it is a matter of understanding what the signal strength is measuring - your data signal or your voice signal. It will always show the data signal unless you are in a call, or force LTE to be off.

Verizon CS will likely just tell you to get a signal extender, but I am not convinced you need to do that.

Does that help? I really want you to understand this so you feel comfortable with what your phone is telling you.

unknown

Chum1 wrote:

Weth, thanks so much but I have no idea what you are talking about but I did what you advised and the Freq Band Indicator is "4" -- I am not worried about data speeds, as I am on my wifi for data. I am worried about call quality which is no good at 1 bar, except in one very tiny corner of my apartment, where for some odd reason, I occasionally get 3 bars. But it is impossible to stand in that spot for long. I work at home, so need the phone part to work well, if possible.

Verizon uses 2 difference frequency bands for 4G. They used to just use what is commonly called "700 MHz" or 700 c block which is 746-756 MHz for downlink and 777-787 MHz for uplink. It's referred to as LTE band 13. Verizon has upgraded most areas to what they called XLTE which uses the AWS band which is also known as LTE band 4. Which for Verizon in your area would use 1710-1730 MHz for uplink and 2110-2130 MHz for downlink. So the downlink frequency on 700c is nearly 3 times the size of AWS which means that signal can travel further and penetrate buildings better.

Any building will affect a radio signal. If you building has concrete/brick, metal, and uses e-glass then yes that will really do a number on a signal. Also I wasn't aware you could turn off 4G and leave 3G on I can't do that on my device. I can shut off mobile data but it's all or nothing. 3G isn't very fast even if you have 5 bards by the way. Are you sure that's 3G and not the 1x signal?

Chum1

So is the general consensus that an extender (or whatever it's called) will not help me to make calls without them being dropped or not connected? I should not look at the bars on my iPhone to determine whether or not I can make calls? That is so strange because I always thought the bars told me everything I needed to know about whether or not my calls would go through or stay on for the duration of the conversation? I'm sorry if I'm asking you to repeat yourselves. I'm sure that's frustrating but I would like to be sure of my next steps, if any. I'm kinda wishing I'd stayed with Sprint b/c at least I had zero expectations for undropped calls. haha Thanks!

Weth

The bars you see on your phone when you are not in a call is not measuring the signal you will use when you make a phone call.

I would go by the bars on the phone when you are in a call, that is measuring the signal it is receiving for making calls.

Despite what the number of bars on the phone have during a call if:

1) You don't drop calls or have other calling issues, then I would not do anything ( I realize you are not in this category)

2) If you frequently drop calls, despite having 2 or more bars on the phone when calling, I would check to see what other Verizon phones do in your apartment, as it could be a phone issue and not a signal issue.

3) If other phones drop calls as your phone does, and you already have wifi, you may certainly benefit from an extender.

Verizon is releasing wifi calling this year, so keep that in mind. Even if they do, it will likely only be for newer handsets, such as iPhone 6, but that information is not known at this time.

Snn5

WiFi calling. That's interesting. Seems like Verizon is catching onto features found in 3rd party apps and other providers like video calling (Skype, Hangouts, etc) and wifi calling (Hangouts, T-Mobile, Republic Wireless.)

clutchkz

This string of *number#* doesn’t work.

Child Item