Low LTE bars and speed on iPhone6sPlus

[Fearme]

I just signed up with Rogers 2 days ago and I been getting really slow LTE data speeds? Highest I'm getting is 5MBPS and I have a iPhone 6s Plus and i am from Waterloo region. I am not understanding this. Any advice?

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[Meowmix]

Hello @Fearme

Have you tried troubleshooting your device?. Doing a reset or changing your sim?. Also on your previous device, did you have the same problem?.

Where in Waterloo are you? Im in Toronto and I'm fine. The only time I get low LTE bars is when I am in the washroom in my basement.

[Fearme]

Yes I have done a reset haven't tried sim removal yet though but new to Rogers I have no other devices i am in Cambridge on green vista drive

[Meowmix]

Hello @Fearme

I would suggest calling into Rogers and speaking to their technical support for wireless. But before you do that do a sim change and see if it will eliminate the sim card from being defective. Also i wanted to add are you in a house or building?

[Fearme]

It's a house top floor, do I should remove sim then insert it if that doesn't help go the store for new sim and if it's the same then call Rogers? Last night numerous times I was going to 1 bar. 5MBPS download speed isn't right? Right

[kco]

The signal bars just give a very rough idea as to signal strength. More useful readings should be available by reading signal strength in your IPhone settings. I don't have an IPhone so can't help there. However, on my Android phone I use a program "Network Signal Info" which shows signal quality without having to go into the phone settings. It also shows the location of the tower to which I connect. No doubt similar utilities are available for the IPhone.

It should make it easier to determine your signal quality under different conditions. How is the signal outside the house? Knowing that can be useful for knowing the best signal you can expect at your location. Also, are there higher buildings or trees blocking the signal? You may be able to determine that by trying your phone at different locations in your neighbourhood.

To illustrate; I am 6 km from the nearest cell tower but it is behind a huge hill so I cannot get a connection. Instead, my phone connects to a tower 30 km away. If I walk 1/2 km to where the hill does not block the closer tower too much(although I still cannot see it) it connects to the closer tower with a stronger signal.

[Fearme]

Well certain areas outside when I go I get 3 bars or full bars but then it drops to 1-2 bars. The speed is really low. I dont know how to switch to 3G but I think even 3G speed would be faster then Rogers LTE my wind carrier use to give me 10MBPS data speeds but in every single building that i am in. Mall. Work. House. It's 1-2 bars nothing is blocking the signal my room is on the top floor no trees or hills around

[Fearme]

I even took out my SIM card and put it in and I see no better reception oh also when my phone does drop to 3G I still get 1-3 bars from Rogers. With wind I use to get full bars. This is just crazy maybe I should switch to Bell

[kco · Accepted solution]

It looks like you may be able to change frequencies by going to Settings-->Cellular (or Mobile).  It looks like it depends on the provider. 

It may be premature to assume it is a Rogers problem.  Is your IPhone 6S plus the same phone you were using with Wind mobile?  There can be quite a difference in phones' capabilities to receive signals, even within the same manufacturer's models. For example, I have read several articles complaining about poor performance with Samsung's newest model S7 compared to their older models.

Seeing degraded performance in all areas where you had better performance before may suggest it has something to do with the phone's characteristics(assuming you were using a different phone with Wind Mobile).  Hopefully IPhone users will see your post and provide knowledgable suggestions.

Here's an interesting article to show how to turn show an IPhone's signal strength in numbers rather than bars:

http://www.cnet.com/how-to/force-iphone-to-show-numerical-value-for-signal-strength/