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Any other iP5 owners just disable LTE and do without?

DynaFXD

DynaFXD

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 15, 2010
799
368
East Coast
We did not get our iP5s because of LTE. ATT's 3G speed has always been enough for my wife and I. That 'enough' includes using the phones as hot spots so the kids could watch Netflix on the iPads while driving down the PA Turnpike without hiccup, etc. Still, we had iP4s and we don't get a discount for being off contract...so we got the iP5s. The camera was our most desired upgrade and the rest of the phone is just the nads :).

When I noticed the LTE connection competing with our wifi, I just went ahead and disabled it on both iP5s and have not had a second thought about it. Sure, if I need to use my hotspot to help others connect while at a meeting or something I'll fire it up (never had to before). But otherwise ... eh. Beyond that I just am not enamoured with the speed benefits LTE offers and sould prefer to save my battery for other usage. I was just curious, for curiosity's sake, if others had a similar experience.

BTW, yes, I like the fact that the benefits of LTE are a 'slide switch' away. I just don't see it as a primary sales pitch to the average smart phone user. Media junkies and power users (80% of the time, probably the same thing I'd wager ;) ) may naturally have a different bent.

Cheers

edit: *owners
 
DynaFXD said:
We did not get our iP5s because of LTE. ATT's 3G speed has always been enough for my wife and I. That 'enough' includes using the phones as hot spots so the kids could watch Netflix on the iPads while driving down the PA Turnpike without hiccup, etc. Still, we had iP4s and we don't get a discount for being off contract...so we got the iP5s. The camera was our most desired upgrade and the rest of the phone is just the nads :).

When I noticed the LTE connection competing with our wifi, I just went ahead and disabled it on both iP5s and have not had a second thought about it. Sure, if I need to use my hotspot to help others connect while at a meeting or something I'll fire it up (never had to before). But otherwise ... eh. Beyond that I just am not enamoured with the speed benefits LTE offers and sould prefer to save my battery for other usage. I was just curious, for curiosity's sake, if others had a similar experience.

BTW, yes, I like the fact that the benefits of LTE are a 'slide switch' away. I just don't see it as a primary sales pitch to the average smart phone user. Media junkies and power users (80% of the time, probably the same thing I'd wager ;) ) may naturally have a different bent.

Cheers

edit: *owners
Click to expand...


I plan on turning mine off when it's delivered tomorrow. No point in having it on when there is no LTE coverage in my area! Lol Did you notice any battery life increase when you did turn it off?
 
I just like seeing the LTE in the status bar. :D

My battery is waaaay more than I need on a daily basis so I keep mine on.
 
I turned LTE off on the iPhone 5's I've handled. It increases the battery life and you can't really use LTE speeds without worrying about blowing through your data caps in a couple hours.
 
We we with AT&T I keep LTE off most of the time because HSPA+ speeds are more than enough. I didn't buy the iPhone 5 because of LTE. My 4S on AT&T network performed well.
 
I have mine turned off. It is fast enough for me without it and I'd rather have the battery last longer. :)
 
For me LTE is not working at all ! It mess with the 3G and the 4G .it cause the battery to drain too faster and cause connectivity networks issue!

THE LTE speed has attract everyone but for me it's more like a false lying selling attraction because it's not stable at all and it has not been test on every provider before the lauch of the iphone 5 .
Maybe one day but not for tomorrow .
 
I leave it on here in Tampa, but when I am on the road for my job (locations three hours away) I disable it.

By the way, I streamed music for a couple of hours yesterday, used turn by turn, uploaded about 60 photos, and emailed and browsed, all on LTE. Used 122mb.
 
Interesting to hear everyone's opinions :D Like a 300 HP V-8, I guess it is nice to know the power is there if you need it. However, I kinda like my 90HP TDI Jetta. Since 99 I never "needed" super HP. So, yes I am happy to have the option. Just would not make that a high priority in my buying decision at his point.

Zackmd1 said:
Lol Did you notice any battery life increase when you did turn it off?
Click to expand...

I am a bad data point as I have not really lived with LTE on. I will say that [without LTE enabled] my battery easily lasts a day or two with casual web surfing, a little hotspot usage, and a lot of podcasting (DL'd, not streamed). No complaints here.
 
DynaFXD said:
We did not get our iP5s because of LTE. ATT's 3G speed has always been enough for my wife and I. That 'enough' includes using the phones as hot spots so the kids could watch Netflix on the iPads while driving down the PA Turnpike without hiccup, etc. Still, we had iP4s and we don't get a discount for being off contract...so we got the iP5s. The camera was our most desired upgrade and the rest of the phone is just the nads :).

When I noticed the LTE connection competing with our wifi, I just went ahead and disabled it on both iP5s and have not had a second thought about it. Sure, if I need to use my hotspot to help others connect while at a meeting or something I'll fire it up (never had to before). But otherwise ... eh. Beyond that I just am not enamoured with the speed benefits LTE offers and sould prefer to save my battery for other usage. I was just curious, for curiosity's sake, if others had a similar experience.

BTW, yes, I like the fact that the benefits of LTE are a 'slide switch' away. I just don't see it as a primary sales pitch to the average smart phone user. Media junkies and power users (80% of the time, probably the same thing I'd wager ;) ) may naturally have a different bent.

Cheers

edit: *owners
Click to expand...

With a side by side comparison I don't notice a significant difference between 4G and LTE.

I think AT&T in general didn't need LTE as much as others because AT&T network has gotten significantly better. I was very happy how my AT&T 4S performed. I would have been just as happy with a non LTE iPhone 5.
 
I did for 2 days and didn't notice that much difference in battery life, if at all. I have LTE coverage where i live and once you're spoiled with it, its hard to go back. But i can kinda understand what you mean by AT&T 3G (well, 4G) being good enough. I too live in PA and their coverage seems to be pretty spread out and speedy, compared to Verizon which seems to have neither.
 
I had LTE on for the first few days and loved to see the 50Mbps download speeds on a speedtest but quickly realized it didn't actually make anything I was doing faster. HSPA+ in Toronto is 5Mbps at least and I normally hit 9Mbps. Videos and music can only stream as fast as they will play and webpages/email can only load as fast as you can see them. I basically run an entire 5 person office on a 10Mbps line. I'd rather get better battery life than be visually satisfied with a speedtest or LTE icon in the status bar. If I were in an area where HSPA was really slow but LTE was still blazing, I'd toggle over but I'm not sure that's usually going to be the case.
 
darkside flow said:
I had LTE on for the first few days and loved to see the 50Mbps download speeds on a speedtest but quickly realized it didn't actually make anything I was doing faster. HSPA+ in Toronto is 5Mbps at least and I normally hit 9Mbps. Videos and music can only stream as fast as they will play and webpages/email can only load as fast as you can see them. I basically run an entire 5 person office on a 10Mbps line. I'd rather get better battery life than be visually satisfied with a speedtest or LTE icon in the status bar. If I were in an area where HSPA was really slow but LTE was still blazing, I'd toggle over but I'm not sure that's usually going to be the case.
Click to expand...

I'm in Philly and get good HSPA+ speeds as well.

I would assume those that had the 4/S on VZW are happy to be on LTE with the 5 because of much slowe network than AT&T. Those with AT&T already experience good speeds for the most part.

The people I talked to couldn't wait for a VZW LTE iPhone because data speeds were slow.
 
greytmom said:
I leave it on here in Tampa, but when I am on the road for my job (locations three hours away) I disable it.

By the way, I streamed music for a couple of hours yesterday, used turn by turn, uploaded about 60 photos, and emailed and browsed, all on LTE. Used 122mb.
Click to expand...

Was in Tampa a few weeks ago with my Sprint I5 and turned LTE on but my phone never changed from 3G I was between the Brandon area & the fairgrounds.
 
LTE is not a big deal if you have AT&T 3G/4G, but if you're on a CDMA network like Sprint and Verizon who's 3G network averages less than 1 Mb / s download, LTE is quite noticeable.
 
greytmom said:
By the way, I streamed music for a couple of hours yesterday, used turn by turn, uploaded about 60 photos, and emailed and browsed, all on LTE. Used 122mb.
Click to expand...

See, that's half my data plan gone in one day. LTE speeds are great and all, but you have to be willing to pay through the nose for it.
 
Having a Verizon iP5 with an AT&T data plan I have no option as LTE isn't available on my device.

The 4G seems to be just fine. Having a page open almost instantly- can't imagine the true, real life difference.
 
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