Re: Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan
cmenscher
Enthusiast - Level 1

Oh man I sure wish I had seen this before upgrading to a 5s.  I thought my 4s 3G was bad and Verizon LTE would solve my problems.  It's actually WORSE. This is pathetic.  I am the only one in the office with Verizon and everyone else has fantastic service on either AT&T and T-Mobile.  I can't even receive phone calls in my part of the building, unlike everyone else.  And now I'm stuck with the service since it's been over 14 days since I bought the phone.  I might have to pay the ETF to switch to AT&T...it'll be cheaper (in value) than paying for LTE service that I can't actually use in the location I spend 90% of my time.

(I know this is not a problem with the iPhone 5s because my LTE iPad has the exact same poor service quality in the area.)

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Re: Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan
Inimical
Enthusiast - Level 2

For what it's worth your 5S is one of the first devices to utilize the AWS spectrum. Unfortunately it seems to only work outside. The idea is that once more people get devices that are able to use that spectrum, it will free up the congestion on band 13 (which is what you would use inside a building). So you're probably not going to see any uptake in service inside buildings for a while.

On a slightly better note, I got a phone that see's the AWS spectrum, and I'm now able to get very fast speeds outside just about anywhere in midtown.

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Re: Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan
cmenscher
Enthusiast - Level 1

Oh that's interesting.  Well at least it's something...although I still get worse data speeds than on 3G, even outside.  It's clearly a capacity issue as there are usually to 3 to 4 bars, but the latency for any data request fluctuates from several seconds to complete timeout.  (That is, when I get LTE and not 3G/1x.)

It's seriously embarrassing when my co-worker's T-Mobile Nokia running Windows Phone 8 runs circles around my iPhone 5s.

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Re: Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan
Inimical
Enthusiast - Level 2

Just wanted to share some news.. I'm on 52nd and 6th. Recently just about anywhere in the midtown area I have been connecting to band 4 (LTE) on my Galaxy S4 which is LTE compatible. Outside speeds are hovering around a steady 40Mbps down and 20Mbps up.

That's great, but I work on the 18th floor and wasn't able to connect to band 4 while in the building, only band 13. Glad to say they may have added an additional antenna as I am now able to connect inside and outside to AWS. So I guess my issue is resolved.. Hopefully some of you will be seeing the same thing (As long as your phone is AWS compatible).

Re: Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan
scoooter
Newbie

This has been going on with mme in Midtown for at least six momths. I thought it was my phone so bought a new one. Same problem after much troubleshooting changing sim cards swapping phones etc I finally got throough my thick skull its the network. Calls to Verizon have gotton me nothing besides "someone will get back to you" which never happens.The FCC has a new speed test app that records your location, provider, and speeds and with your permission send that info back to the FCC. I suggest anyone having this problem downlaod the app so as to have proof. This test was done in the middle of the afternoon 11-18-13 on 53rd between 6th and 7th ave but happens all over midtown.Screenshot_2013-11-18-14-07-04.png

I consider this to be a breach of contract and if i dont get some satisfaction will be contacting various bloggers and the NYS Attorney Generals Office

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Re: Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan
Paprab
Newbie

All,

This VZ problem is still very much alive and Midtown is still nightmere when it comes to data connection. I live in south NJ. That please used to be ok. But last few weeks I am noticing that even that place also started slowing down a bit.

Anybody has any further update on this? Customer Service in VZ remained same crappy as before.

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Re: Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan
Not applicable

I don't know if Verizon expanded AWS to south NJ. Also your phone has to be capable of using AWS. It's going to take awhile for Verizon to expand AWS. It took 2 1/2 years to roll out LTE everywhere.

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Re: Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan
Nordburgh
Newbie

I have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus which is AWS compatible. The service in midtown inside or outside the building is horrendous. As well as at my home it's unacceptable.

The top 3 results are at my home! The bottom result is outside my office building.

Screenshot_2014-03-08-09-35-51.png

I just signed up for a no contract service with T-Mobile. I've got 14 days to test it out. If their service is better it's adios Verizon. Here are my results so far on my T-Mobile line at my home. I'll be able to test it at work on Monday. Screenshot952014-03-08-09-39-49.png

As you can see, T-Mobile on a cheap smartphone kicks the crap out of Verizon.

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Re: Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan
FasterPlease
Newbie

It's also still bad in Lower Manhattan (Tribeca and Financial District) despite all the press about improvements. During a typical weekday, you can eke out 1 Mbps down and about 300 Kbps up — if you're lucky. Even early in the morning on a weekend the best I've gotten on my iPhone 5S is 14 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up. That's a far cry from the 40 Mbps in all the media coverage.

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Re: Inoperable LTE service in midtown manhattan
Not applicable

Yes because no one uses T-Mobile 4G yet. As T-Mobile gets more customers they will have issues. Nothing special about T-Mobile's network or spectrum. Simple math the more people suing bandwidth the less there is per person. Even with AWS that will only help somewhat with congested areas. Mobile data is like pizza, the more people that want a slice the smaller the slices. For some reason people think mobile data is an infinitely sized pizza.

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