The Signal Booster DUO (Band 12) is made of UNOBTANIUM

Here's an update to my adventure.

After getting nowhere through this Forum, tech support or the Facebook Force, I sent off an Facebook email to the T-Mobile CEO and a TWEET to the Senior VP for tech Support.  Within a few hours I was contacted by the Executive Support group and the next day I was told that they had located two Band 12 Booster units for me (for my primary and vacation residences, both of which have poor coverage provided by Band 12.  Twenty-four hours later I had my two units.

Unfortunately, getting the units to boost my received LTE signal was tricky since (as I found out later) there is a strong 3G Verizon tower nearby that was capturing the booster unit.  T-Mobile provides minimal documentation with the unit so I couldn't get the Duo combo to boost the T-Mobile LTE signal.  My calls to tech support broght no joy.  As a last resort I went to the Cel-Fi website (they make the booster unit) and found out that they had an app that provides quantitative information of what the booster devices are seeing and how they are operating.  With this I was able to find an area that was somewhat shielded from the Verizon tower and gave me a 1-2 bar LTE signal (-110 dbm).  I have been able to get signals boosted to -80 to -90 in most of my house.  Tomorrow I will call into the Cel-Fi tech support to see if I can do better.

So my friends, I learned a few lessons.

1) The T-Mobile Executive team is very concerned with customer support and can get things done that the ordinary customer facing support team cannot do

2) The T-Mobile inventory system is chaos.  I kept on getting the old Duo unit being sent to me instead of the Duo+ (for Band 12) even though I explicitly asked for the Band 12 unit.  Even after I had returned two Booster units and two mini tower units using prepaid labels provided by T-Mobile, and signed off as having been received by T-mobile, I still get 1-2 letters a week threatening me with having to pay for the units if they weren't weren't returned by March 22.  It took 1 phone call for me to realize that the Level 1 CSR has no tools that will tell them the status of the returned gear.Even though I have an official letter that states that all of my boosters and towers have been returned, I still get a letter every Tuesdaty threatening me with a bill for $138 if the unit isn't returned by by March 22.

3) The Tech Support team (even the enhanced level support personnel are no help if you have a problem figuring out where to place the units.  They appear to be unaware of the WAVE software app from Cel-Fi that quantitatively shows the network environment and the operation of the booster units as you change locations.

On the positive side - I REALLY like my new iPhone 8 and the T-Mobile service.  In virtually everywhere I go in Orange County I get 3-4 bars of signal.  Unfortunately my house in Newport Beach is just in a low signal area.  About 1/4 mile away there are 3-4 bars of LTE.  There is a new tower scheduled to be installed nearby later in the year so coverage should improve.  Having unlimited calls and data removes second thought of picking up a Face Time call from my grand children when I am out of the house.  The Tuesday feeebies are neat and I picked up a subscription to MLB-TV and save $125.

I hope others can use this info to improve their service.  Unless you are in a barren area the combination of Signal Boosters and Wi-Fi calling should provide acceptable service.  If anybody needs some help navigating the Booster DUO+ arena, just drop me a message.

Marty

Well, there was that little kerfuffle on Pandora. 😀

Hola Duhmel,

I'm sorry you were provided some misinformation. The device hasn't been out of stock since December. It has been on again - off again. We run out of inventory quickly and can't seem to keep it in stock. I just checked our inventory levels and we have that model in stock right now, and have had it in stock since at least last week.

I'd recommend calling Care to walk through the order.

Is the one in stock Model D32-21266 or D33-24? If it's the first one how can I get it sent to me. Tech support keeps sending me the second unit which doesn't cover Band 12

@duhmel​, I'm checkin' on that for you now. I may not hear anything back until Monday but I'll keep you in the loop.

" Tech doesn't have the option of which option of booster to send.  

automatically defaults to whichever is in stock when your order is placed"

THIS IS THE STUPIDEST EXCUSE I HAVE HEARD IN THE TWO MONTHS THAT I HAVE

BEEN TRYING. FANFARE LAST NOVEMBER - WE HAVE A NEW UNIT THAT COVERS BAND

12. NOW I AM EXPECTED TO BELIEVE THAT THERE IS NO WAY TO SPECIFICALLY

ORDER SUCH A UNIT. NO COMPANY CAN BE THAT STUPID, ONLY PEOPLE WORKING AT

SUCH A COMPANY WOULD BE THAT STUPID, I HAVE EMAIL YOUR CEO LETTING HIM

KNOW ABOUT THE RUNAROUND I HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH AND HAVE LET HIM KNOW

THAT YOU AND NIC HAVE GIVEN ME THIS ABSURD REASON.

Marty...

You are the only one to get the bottom of this issue that I know of; so glad I found your thread. You are correct, all my issues are the same pretty much. When I first saw your message I did contact Cel-Fi, and it was actually Evelin that contacted me. I had sent her a log from the Cel-Fi app and it did show I was getting Band 12 (but not boosted) but also a week band 4 signal but so week it couldn't be boosted. Long story short, Evelin told me that the band 12 wasn't repeating so she had her tech person send me the software change info to only allow the coverage unit to use band 12 only. Once I use that information and hooked up my laptop up to the Cel-Fi coverage unit, I reset the software to only use band 12. That's all it took and it worked great, got full coverage in house now. I wish the T-mobile tech personal were aware of this w/out all of us going through all this trouble. Did you get your issue resolve? If you need the info she sent me regarding setting the unit to use band 12 only, just let me know, or you can probably ask her and she will do it (if you haven't already). Thanks again for getting back with me in this thread. Let me know you if it works out for you as well.

Its crazy that there are so many folks having the exact same issue getting these magical devices... T-mobile!!! Don't advertise something you can't deliver on! I have been through 4 or 5 of the old devices sending them back as soon as I open the box... PLEASE! Get your system updated, or stop lying with your coverage maps...

Hi Amanda - I am having the exact same experience where I need to get a band 12 Duo+ per the manufacturer given the location of my home, but no one at T-Mobile support knows what I am talking about or how to put in an order for that specific band 12 Duo+ device. Can you please help me?

duhmel wrote:

John

Your experience is very similar to mine.   Using Field Test on my phone *3001#12345#* I found that I had LTE coverage in my house is between -110 and -120 that changes between Band 2, 4 and 12 depending on the time of day.  4G coverage is usually pretty good.  The Cel-Fi usually locks to a strong Band 2 signal that is listed by the Cel-Fi app as T-mobile 3G CDMA and is always boosted.  Sometimes the booster will lock to a Band 4 LTE signal if that is the strongest one near the Window unit - otherwise it will stay lock to the 3G/4G signal and not boost LTE.  The Band 2 3G/4G signal is always boosted.

 

I sent the log into Cef-fi and started exchanging emails and yesterday spent over a hour with tech support (Evelin) on the phone (858-485-9442, Option 1). I discovered a few things.  She claimed that the strong Band 2 signal that was being boosted that is labeled as 3G CDMA could actually be a 4G T-Mobile signal.  Also - even though the new unit can boost Band 12, T-Mobile has decided to set the software to not boost B12 signals if there is any B2 or B4 signal available.  So even if B12 is the strongest signal received, the unit is set up to not boost it if a weak B2 or B4 signal is present.  However, the weak B2 or B4 signal may be too weak to be locked on by the booster and will not be boosted so the net result is that no LTE signal is boosted.  Evelin told me that Cel-Fi can send a signal to the Booster to allow the B12 LTE to be boosted but that should be the last resort if you are not getting any other band coverage,  I am fiddling on disabling LTE on my phone at home to get it to lock to 4G and see how that works first or to use Wi-Fi calling as a backup before asking for the software change.  I would suggest that you do the Field Test check to see what Bands are in your home and then give Evelin a call.  She is very patient and helpful.  Looks like you have a similar situation as I have.  Let me know how it works out.

 

Marty Melnick

Yeah so T-mobile doesn't actually have 4G. It's just a rebranded fancy 3G that they call '4G LTE', meaning Long term evolution. The 3G CDMA was most likely either verizon or sprint.