iPhone wifi WAY slower than Macbook wifi

Using speedtest.net and the mobile speedtest app, I get >80Mbps via wifi on my old Core 2 macbook. I routinely get 1-2 Mbps on my iphone and ipad. I sometimes get 4MBps and rarely--very rarely--get north of 20Mbps. At 1-2MBps I can't reliably do facetime, which is important to me because I travel a lot and want to see my kids.

Hardware:
iphone 4s
iPad 2
Max speed FIOS, Actiontec MI424WR Rev I
Macbook Core 2

I've already tried a lot of things:
1. Disabling WMM/QOS on the Actiontec router - the standard fix.
2. Switching the Actiontec from 802.11a/b/g/n to a/b/g only and to N only (in N-only mode, the iphone couldn't connect at all because it doesn't support the necessary WPA2 standard)
3. Resetting network settings on the phone
4. Power-cycling the router
5. Using an Airport Extreme to provide the wireless signal (5th gen AEBS into a LAN port on the Actiontec router, and put the AEBS in bridge mode. In this configuration, speeds are identical via AEBS wifi).
6. Calling Verizon - they say it's a hardware problem
7. Playing with security settings on the router - WEP/WPA
8. Connecting via an AEBS wifi with security turned off on the AEBS (I can't do that with the Actiontec)

NONE of this works. Speed is important to me because I travel a lot and use facetime to see my kids. Can anyone help…please!