I'm curious Wandering, what carrier are you using, and what device to connect?
I have 2 phones that I use, one is a Moto E 3G phone, the other is a Moto G 4G phone, I am in a fringe area with 2 bars and my phones are both able to get data.
My 3G phone is receiving data at 860 kbps
My 4G phone is getting 1.4 Mbps
Both are running on Verizon towers, and today is a slow day, usually the MotoG gets 3.5Mbps or so and works well for streaming movies etc.
You may want to experiment with yours, and with the phones location depending on where you park and how you are oriented, big differences can be made in data speed. Sometimes moving your device a couple of feet, especially if a metal item like a frige is blocking line of sight access to a tower.
www.fast.com is a great way of checking your speed, multiple times to find what works best in a given area.