Recent Android update on Galaxy S5

[pc2]

Earlier this month (June) Straight Talk pushed a firmware update along with other updates onto my Samsung Galaxy S5 (Verizon network). Right after the updates, my phone stopped connecting to 4G/LTE and was stuck in 3G or 1x data mode. It would only occasionally connect to 4G/LTE when I'm out driving around. The other symptom was every couple of days the phone would show no signal and start re-booting on its own every couple of minutes and then eventually it would find a signal. I live in an urban area (San Francisco Bay Area) and previous to the update it would connect to 4G/LTE 95+% of the time and almost never had any problems with a signal unless I was in a basement parking garage. I called the service line several times and they had me reset/wipe the phone but nothing worked. The useless call center people in the Philippines said there was nothing wrong because I was getting 3G and they don't guarantee 4G/LTE since it depends on location. I tried explaining to them that I used to get 4G/LTE almost all the time but then they just resorted to reading their useless script about not getting 4G/LTE everywhere. I went to see a Samsung rep at the local Best Buy and he told me to contact the Samsung service number and return the phone since it's still under the 1 yr warranty period. The Samsung call center person said that since the phone was purchased through Boost/Straight Talk they cannot take the phone back and I need to contact Straight Talk to get a replacement. Well, I had already tried that option and it got me nowhere and just wasted several hours of time. The phone was purchased at Walmart so I decided to google Walmart's return policy and it turns out there is a 90 day return policy for defective products. Since my phone was just within the 90 day window I went to Walmart and did an even exchange for another Galaxy S5 and guess what - the new phone works like a champ, 4G/LTE most of the time like it is suppose to work. So if anyone else had their phone start acting up after the firmware push earlier this month it's because Straight Talk did something wrong which probably blew out the 4G/LTE radio. If no one else had this problem then I'm going to assume it was just a bizarre coincidence.