Yeah but look at his signal strength in those pics. -118 and -114dB... he was at the absolute edge of that tower's coverage and we don't know what obstructions there were between him and the tower.
Right. So, let me explain.
That routinely is the level of signal I get. My understanding is that -110 is actually a decent signal for LTE. That being the case, I have only once or twice been under -100 for LTE.
I have an iPhone 5, which is Band 25 for LTE (1900 mhz) and 800mhz for voice only. So, I'm holding on not only to a fragile signal, but a high frequency signal that does not penetrate as well as low frequency.
That said, I am not deep in a metal or brick enclosed basement. At home I am generally next to a window when I use my phone. At work, my desk is right next to a wall and I'm on the second floor of a two story building. Granted, the walls are brick and my desk is wood, but the building is actually located right between the overlap of two towers. The one to the south is where my desk is. It's got a ticket open and has not received any backhaul upgrades yet. That particular tower is overloaded because right across the street is the city offices for the city of Glendale, AZ.
The tower to the north HAS been upgraded, but I can only connect to it if I leave my desk and go to the front door. I've hit about 12mbps down on that tower.
At home, all the towers around have been upgraded, but not the three that actually reach my house and that I regularly connect to.
This is what's so irritating. Everything around me has been or is being upgraded except the damn towers I connect to the most!
The last screenshot I gave was at a restaurant in a booth next to the outside wall. That wall is no different than the walls at home, yet I achieved almost 20mbps down on Band 25 there, but can't at home.