Good day everyone!  I have experienced extremely slow upload speeds on my device. My phone shows that I should be receiving LTE coverage as "LTE" is displayed after "Verizon" on the notifications bar. The coverage map also shows that I am well within the specified area too.

A friend suggested that I download SpeedTest by Ookla.  For the past few months and throughout the day, I've been speed testing my service.  The average Upload speed I'm receiving is usually around 0.2 to 1.3 Most of the time upload speed is under 1 MBPS.  Download speeds are great and within the advertised range of 5 - 12 MBPS, but I don't believe I've ever had an upload speed between 2 and 5 MBPS.

Is there a special activation that I need or a certain setting I need to have on? I'm really at a loss and It's incredibly frustrating as I'm just not able to send pictures, bank online, browse social media, etc. I'm seriously considering switching carriers but I want to make sure it's not a problem on my end. Has anyone else experienced this? I would like to use my iPhone for something other than a paper weight!  Please Help!

Many thanks in advance.