RPO, I agree!

I used to live in San Francisco, and visit often. And when there, typically enjoy amazing Verizon LTE Speeds!

However, in the last few months LTE service in Seattle has become abhorrent! I live in South Lake Union, just north of downtown Seattle, and rarely see LTE speeds exceed 5mbps download  in my apartment. When I travel outside, it's often also the same, poor LTE service throughout downtown seattle and areas north of the city. 

When the service started back in 2010, it was common to see download speeds exceed 25mbps in the downtown core. This is no longer the case, and while it's to be expected that LTE download speeds would suffer as more people use the network, it should not be below 5mbps.

I will say that yesterday I recorded a download speed of 14mbps near the Seattle Public Library on Madison Street. This was after 9pm and indoors. I was pleasantly surprised. Furthermore, a few weeks back on my way to Chicago, I recorded an amazing 60mbps download speed at the Seattle Airport. I assume Verizon must have installed some indoor microcell equipment designed to amplify the signal and increase bandwidth.

Either way the above instances are the exception, and not the  norm. Most times service is below the advertised download speeds for 4G LTE. Files take longer to download and video buffers; and is usually streamed below the 720p HD standard when using LTE on YouTube, NetFlix, Hulu, or another streaming app. And don't get me started on their mobile hotspots. Though my work VPN connection remains stable, it's nearly impossible to use a bandwidth intensive database when on Verizon LTE. Things have gotten so bad that for work purposes, I've resorted to an AT&T LTE Mi-Fi Device.

--Alex