An LTE technical question...

[CalWizrd]

Hi,

Could someone tell me (knowledge please, not a guess) whether an LTE signal will do better penetrating the concrete/steel walls of an office building than GSM?

I currently have an AT&T iPhone 4, and the service inside my office in NYC is horrible, while an old Verizon CDMA phone works fine. I was thinking of switching to Verizon for my iPhone 5, but I'm not sure I want to give up the simultaneous voice/data capability that AT&T provides.

If I could get some concrete (pun intended) info on the LTE capability to feel more confident, I think I would prefer to stay with AT&T.

Anyone who can help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[sammich]

The 'penetrative' capabilities of a signal is more to do with the frequency it is operating at. It's a mildly complex topic, but simply put, the lower the frequency, the less attenuation (loss of power) of the signal will occur in the same scenario. So lower = better for signal strength.

With that in mind, there might be an appreciable difference between 700 and 1800 MHz, but I can't tell you exactly how much. Anecdotally, there are many people who have said that 700 MHz gives them better signal strength.

 

[citivolus]

Hi,

Could someone tell me (knowledge please, not a guess) whether an LTE signal will do better penetrating the concrete/steel walls of an office building than GSM?

I currently have an AT&T iPhone 4, and the service inside my office in NYC is horrible, while an old Verizon CDMA phone works fine. I was thinking of switching to Verizon for my iPhone 5, but I'm not sure I want to give up the simultaneous voice/data capability that AT&T provides.

If I could get some concrete (pun intended) info on the LTE capability to feel more confident, I think I would prefer to stay with AT&T.

Anyone who can help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are concerned about signal quality in your location during simultaneous voice and data service, even on the iPhone 5 this is provided on AT&T using their 3G service, not LTE.

 

[CalWizrd]

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are concerned about signal quality in your location during simultaneous voice and data service, even on the iPhone 5 this is provided on AT&T using their 3G service, not LTE.

Thanks much for that. That tells me that Verizon is my answer.