Frustation with ATT - no LTE just 4g on a new iphone

[maflynn]

A tail of woe, I bought my two daughters two used iPhone 5s (ATT models), and tested them out before giving it to them. After we got to the ATT store and the new phone lines were activated, we noticed on the way home, they're only 4G. No LTE.

I was on the chat with ATT support for about 40 minutes to no avail. His last effort was to contact the group that manages IMEI numbers to make sure they're properly on the network for LTE. This makes no sense for the following reasons
1. I put my SIM in the phones, I get LTE.
2. I put their SIM in my phone, I get 4G only.

The problem is related to how the SIM is defined on the network.

Now about 5 hours later, one of the phones started getting LTE, but not the other. This morning nothing has changed, one is still 4g. Looks like I'll be calling or seeing ATT once again.

 

[aneftp]

Have u tried rebooting the phone?

 

[Applejuiced]

I noticed getting anything resolved by AT&T is a complete nightmare.
One person sends you to another or gives you wrong info just to get you off the phone. Nothing gets resolved and you're going back and forth explaining your situation a dozen times to different reps to take over a week for them to put in a case for you. And then to research and get it fixed.

 

[bbrks]

A tail of woe, I bought my two daughters two used iPhone 5s (ATT models), and tested them out before giving it to them. After we got to the ATT store and the new phone lines were activated, we noticed on the way home, they're only 4G. No LTE.

I was on the chat with ATT support for about 40 minutes to no avail. His last effort was to contact the group that manages IMEI numbers to make sure they're properly on the network for LTE. This makes no sense for the following reasons
1. I put my SIM in the phones, I get LTE.
2. I put their SIM in my phone, I get 4G only.

The problem is related to how the SIM is defined on the network.

Now about 5 hours later, one of the phones started getting LTE, but not the other. This morning nothing has changed, one is still 4g. Looks like I'll be calling or seeing ATT once again.

My I ask, is there any difference between 4G and LTE? Reading the internet articles, those two should be almost the same, or?

 

[chrfr]

My I ask, is there any difference between 4G and LTE? Reading the internet articles, those two should be almost the same, or?

AT&T calls HSPA+ "4G" even though it technically isn't.

 

[0940732]

as far as I know, its the same thing, no matter if it says 4G or LTE on top ribbon... I had LTE for about a year and half, then my carrier released carrier update and after that I have just 4G on top ribbon... try to check Genere > About > Carrier and compare that info between your and daughters iphone

 

[Applejuiced]

My I ask, is there any difference between 4G and LTE? Reading the internet articles, those two should be almost the same, or?

AT&T labels their hspa+ service as 4G and LTE seperate.
So if the op doesn't get lte then he only gets their fast 3G+ service.

 

[chrfr]

as far as I know, its the same thing, no matter if it says 4G or LTE on top ribbon... I had LTE for about a year and half, then my carrier released carrier update and after that I have just 4G on top ribbon... try to check Genere > About > Carrier and compare that info between your and daughters iphone

If you aren't seeing "LTE" on the status bar, you definitely aren't on the LTE network with any of the US carriers. I don't know if the situation is different with non-US carriers, but you may want to check.
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The problem is related to how the SIM is defined on the network.

I had a similar problem taking the SIM from my 5S and putting it in a 6; I was unable to get VoLTE until I contacted AT&T via the online support chat and the person on the other end was able to reprovision the SIM so that it was using the services appropriate for my iPhone 6. It was surprisingly fast and painless to solve.

 

[Mlrollin91]

What about getting a replacement sim card? Or resetting network settings?

 

[AustinIllini]

I saw this on my Nexus 6P and could never get it resolved. Good luck, maflynn

 

[bbrks]

as far as I know, its the same thing, no matter if it says 4G or LTE on top ribbon... I had LTE for about a year and half, then my carrier released carrier update and after that I have just 4G on top ribbon... try to check Genere > About > Carrier and compare that info between your and daughters iphone

Exactly the same thing happened to me...first it was LTE and after carrier update, I get only 4G. It's Telenor carrier BTW.
That is way I was asking, if there is any difference...and as far I can tell, there is none.

 

[chrfr]

That is way I was asking, if there is any difference...and as far I can tell, there is none.

In your case, then maybe you're ok, but with the OP's situation with AT&T, there is definitely a difference.

 

[maflynn]

Have u tried rebooting the phone?

Yep, and I tried resetting the network settings

My I ask, is there any difference between 4G and LTE? Reading the internet articles, those two should be almost the same, or?

as far as I know, its the same thing, no matter if it says 4G or LTE on top ribbon..

There's a huge difference in 4G and LTE.

I don't think its the phone, and in a sense I don't think its a defective SIM, because we added two lines, and for a several hours, both phones were 4G only. Then later in the evening, one switched over to LTE.

So let me summarize, if I put the SIM in my phone, its stuck at 4G, if I put my SIM in my daughters phone, its LTE. So clearly something is limiting that SIM/phone number to the slower 4G transmission speed.

 

[bbrks]

OK, I guess it depends from the carrier. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[aristobrat]

That is way I was asking, if there is any difference...and as far I can tell, there is none.

With AT&T, their 4G (HSPA+) network max theoretical down speed is 14.4mbps, whereas LTE is significantly faster. Some folks get 60-70mbps.

 

[bbrks]

Yeah, our beloved carriers they just do whatever they want.....I get in average around 25 to 30 mbps on 4G.

 

[Richdmoore]

I had this problem recently (2 weeks ago) when I switched to AT&T, LTE on my iPhone, but only 4g on my iPad Air 2. After doing the network settings reset, and a few other things, what fixed it was replacing the SIM card with a new one back at the store.

 

[maflynn]

I'm thinking that's what we'll ned to to do at this point - I'm on a chat session right now, but I think we'll need to drive to our local ATT store

 

[avanpelt]

I saw a similar problem when my mother upgraded from a 3GS to a 5s recently.

The phone CSR who provisioned the SIM card originally didn't provision it properly and she was only getting "4G" service on the 5s and was getting a "Call Failed" message immediately upon attempting to setup Visual Voicemail.

I called 611 again, told the rep that I had a feeling that the first guy didn't provision something correctly. The agent confirmed my suspicions, made a couple of tweaks on their end, asked me to reboot the phone, and when I did, the 5s hopped right on the LTE network and Visual Voicemail worked normally.

 

[Sketchr]

I'm thinking that's what we'll ned to to do at this point - I'm on a chat session right now, but I think we'll need to drive to our local ATT store

I sure hope you don't let them get by with charging you any activation fees after this is resolved. A second trip to the provider is on them, they need to eat any fees.

 

[fr4c]

maflynn,

Get a new SIM card and I'm 99% sure it'll solve your problem. Sometimes during registration SIM cards don't activate correctly on the line to reflect that your device is LTE capable. Make sure your lines have the correct "LTE" data plans associated with them and have them activate a new SIM card on that line. It should take no more than 5 minutes for that device to show LTE data connection if everything is done right.

 

[jetsam]

You got new SIM cards for the two lines, right? Also, in order to work on LTE, AT&T SIM Card numbers should have "27" or "28" in the ninth and tenth position.

And, as others have mentioned, it is still necessary for AT&T to provision the line for LTE.

 

[GuardsRed Apple]

Save yourself the headache and just drive back to the AT&T corporate store and get 2 brand new SIM cards made up for the accounts. Remember to actually BRING the phones with you otherwise they will not do it. They have to see the phone and IMEI numbers, etc now to give you new SIM cards. So don't forget 'em...

 

[maflynn]

As I mentioned, I was planning on going back, but I was hoping before I left, they could have resolved it. I bought two phone lines for two phones and both exhibited the same issue, but for some reason one started working after I called support, so I was hoping they could see what they did - alas they didn't.

The new sim worked though