iPhone SE falling back to 4G when LTE is available?

[gottafly]

I'm enjoying my SE (coming from an iPhone 6) but have noticed that it often times is falling back to 4G signal strength in areas where I know there is strong LTE signal.

If I cycle it, it will pick up LTE again. But it doesn't seem to do so on its own without prodding.

Has anyone experienced similar?

(Battery life has been incredible in comparison, BTW)

 

[LiveM]

4G and LTE are not mutually exclusive. LTE may be the first pick, but the other network is probably superior.

 

[dcpmark]

Yes, I've noticed that when I get out of an elevator at my office, the SE stays on 3G until I toggle the LTE switch, or switch it to Airplane mode and back. My iP6 never did this in the exact same place every day.

Now, I'm not patient so I haven't waited to see if it eventually changes back to LTE, or how long it takes....I just know that my iP6 used to reestablish LTE while I was still in the building's indoor parking lot.

 

[gottafly]

4G and LTE are not mutually exclusive. LTE may be the first pick, but the other network is probably superior.

You're not getting the point.

Same exact location as when using the iPhone 6. iPhone 6 is on LTE and the SE is on 4G.

Something about the antennae/reception quality is different.
[doublepost=1460712126][/doublepost]

Yes, I've noticed that when I get out of an elevator at my office, the SE stays on 3G until I toggle the LTE switch, or switch it to Airplane mode and back. My iP6 never did this in the exact same place every day. I just know that my iP6 used to reestablish LTE

EXACTLY1

 

[ecschwarz]

My SE seems to do this quite a bit at work (compared to what I remember from my now-sold 6)...since it's usually the area in between Wi-Fi access points, I'm not too concerned. Maybe it's the different antennas? Maybe that it's a weaker signal area in general and AT&T's HSPA+ is propagating further?

When I'm at home, I always go to LTE with full signal, as is almost everywhere else, so again, I'm not worrying too much.

OP, who's your carrier?

 

[Paratel]

I'm enjoying my SE (coming from an iPhone 6) but have noticed that it often times is falling back to 4G signal strength in areas where I know there is strong LTE signal.

If I cycle it, it will pick up LTE again. But it doesn't seem to do so on its own without prodding.

Has anyone experienced similar?

(Battery life has been incredible in comparison, BTW)

I have the same issue with mine. Clearly knowing i am in a good LTE area, phone with go to 4G. I will put it on airplane mode and then is switches to LTE.

 

[dcpmark]

By the way, to clarify to those who have posted that it falls back to "4G" when "LTE" is available, LTE is 4G, at least on Verizon. Do you all mean "3G"? Unless other carriers have both some form of 4G AND LTE.

 

[LiveM]

Exactly.

 

[ecschwarz]

By the way, to clarify to those who have posted that it falls back to "4G" when "LTE" is available, LTE is 4G, at least on Verizon. Do you all mean "3G"? Unless other carriers have both some form of 4G AND LTE.

If it's in the US, I suspect many are on AT&T or T-Mobile, where 3G HSPA+ is branded as 4G and displays as such - this was something that started with the iPhone 4S...when the carriers started branding HSPA+ data as 4G, Apple started displaying that as the indicator. Thus, anything iPhone 4S and later on T-Mobile and AT&T will really only show GPRS, E (EDGE/2G), 4G, and LTE for data. Verizon and Sprint will usually show 1xRTT, 3G, and LTE.

http://www.tmonews.com/2010/12/hspa-now-officially-4g-according-to-itu/

 

[dcpmark]

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

 

[electronicsguy]

You're not getting the point.

Same exact location as when using the iPhone 6. iPhone 6 is on LTE and the SE is on 4G.

Something about the antennae/reception quality is different.
[doublepost=1460712126][/doublepost]

EXACTLY1

ok. maybe there's a cellular bug and they'll eventually get around to fixing it. Instead of writing here, it'd be more helpful if you send your feedback to apple thru the official channel.

 

[FuNGi]

Same thing here in a low coverage area on verizon. Phone reverts to 2 bars of 3G from one bar of LTE. Unfortunatly data transfers are always faster on 1 bar of LTE, and more to the OP's point, LTE connections can be reliably reinitiated by cycling through airport mode.

As noted in another post, my ipad Air stays on LTE