Why does full strength LTE switch to 4G when on a call?

[jaustindds]

Has anyone else noticed that you can have a 5 dot LTE signal and as soon as you answer or make a call, the network immediately jumps to 4G? It happens on my phone all the time. I mainly am on calls on my car's bluetooth or on speaker so I will frequently use data while on a call. I would say that this happens 100% of the time on my 5S and happened probably 80-90% of the time on my 5. Any explanation for this?

 

[navindralr]

If I remember correctly it's only for data transmission at the moment. Not voice calls...

 

[faams]

This is because there is no support for Voice over LTE as of yet

 

[viperGTS]

LTE, regardless of carrier, does not support voice. Only data.

 

[eyoungren]

Has anyone else noticed that you can have a 5 dot LTE signal and as soon as you answer or make a call, the network immediately jumps to 4G? It happens on my phone all the time. I mainly am on calls on my car's bluetooth or on speaker so I will frequently use data while on a call. I would say that this happens 100% of the time on my 5S and happened probably 80-90% of the time on my 5. Any explanation for this?

Mine jumps to 1xRT the moment I get or make a call. But I'm on Sprint.

As has been noted, LTE is only for data. Voice is handled differently.

You should note too that those signal bars on your phone don't indicate data signal strength. Only voice. That's how in some areas you can have full bars and crappy data.