Slow 4G connection only, but only sometimes -- SOLVED

It is clear you are doing your homework. 😉 I would have to only take issue with the "I think" statement. You have put considerable thought into your analysis and your logic seems spot on with regard to the various channels and how they behave. I did a considerable amount of reading investigating the problem and I agree 100% radio wave propagation is extremely complicated. It would be easy to make a simple mistake standing up equipment on a tower. From what I have read the n71 band does have more reach than the n41 but one source did suggest n41 has good penetration. I guess it is all relative to power and lots of other factors. It is not like modulating a signal down a highly controlled path. The n260 or n261 bands are probably only going to be useful in cities and will probably be more expensive to have. I would guess they will be leveraged more for business customers. The n71 signal we receive down here is probably just one of multiple cell paths off that tower as it is just south of the highway and feeds signals along the highway and probably primarily south as the population north of that tower is pretty sparse. The cellmapper information about that string of towers is not "verified" information so it does not provide significant details like the 4G LTE information. The information from cellmapper is only as good as what is loaded into the database.