Incredibly slow data on iPad 3

[Mawdryn]

Is anyone else experiencing extremely slow speed on the new Verizon 4G LTE iPad? I live in Tucson, AZ, which is a Verizon LTE market. I was so excited about the new 4G LTE, but I can't get it to work.

Once in a while, it flashes LTE in the corner and then immediately switches back to 3G. But worse, the 3G is incredibly slow. Multiple speed tests show 3G speeds between .01 and .7 x the speeds I got on my Verizon iPad 2 - usually near the low end. I did manage 1 speed test while 4G LTE was active, and it was about 7x as fast as my iPad 2. So I know the service is there, but I'm just not getting it.

Any ideas?

[kornchild2002]

Did you check Verizon's LTE coverage map by actually plugging your address in and going to that level of detail? You might live in an LTE covered city but the extent of that coverage is going to be limited. For example, I live near Cincinnati but the entire city isn't covered. Essentially everyone in the 275 loop has it but, if you go further north, LTE is lost. Oddly enough, if you go further south into Northern Kentucky, LTE is still active.

I haven't had any issues with Verizon's LTE where I live. My Droid X, a 3G/EDGE only phone, gets about 2.5Mbps where I live and my iPad 3 gets between 35-45Mbps depending on the time of the day (35Mbps during the day, 45Mbps in the mornings and later at night). In my office and lab, which are located in an old reinforced concrete building with walls that are about 2.5-3ft thick (the whole thing was made to be a large bomb bunker), my Droid X manages to get about 0.3Mbps but my iPad 3 still has LTE and gets around 10Mbps. So its not the fullest extent of Verizon's service but it shows you how things can vary.

I suggest going to Verizon's website and plugging in your address. Get down to that level of detail and see if LTE is offered in your area, not just on a city-wide basis.

[Mawdryn]

Thanks kornchild. Typing in my address at the Verizon web site shows that the 4G LTE coverage area stops about 500 feet short of my house. I am in "Extended" coverage area where it says certain conditions could force a switch to 3G. (That doesn't explain why the 3G coverage I got at home all weekend was so much worse than what I get on my iPhone 4S though.) But I don't care much about home anyway since I have wifi there. I just wanted to test the new device and that was where I was.

I was more concerned about my office where I have no wifi and use my iPad on cellular all the time. My office is right downtown in the middle of the main 4G LTE coverage area. I couldn't get a decent signal on Friday, but today (Monday), it's pretty good. I have no idea why it should be different. I get 5-10 Mbps on the iPad on LTE now. Not great compared to some of the other results I've seen, but good enough and still way better than 3G. My iPhone 4S (and the 4 before it) averages about 0.7 Mbps on 3G. I don't know what was up last weekend when I was getting 0.01 - 0.5 Mbps on the new iPad.

It's all good now. Thanks.