New Home Internet Connection Problems

I finally got my laptop connected by buying a WiFi USB adapter after talking to a T-Mobile agent who couldn't fix it but gave me a case number that a technical expert will call me which they never did. The worst thing is that I was put on hold for an hour. Thanks guys for your suggestions.

If the laptop has an Intel WiFi card, you may need to update the NIC drivers. 

My wife had problems like you are having. The problem was her VPN was not compatible with T-Mobile newest software version on the gateway. After getting T-Mobile to roll back to the previous version she was able to connect to the gateway. Our gateway  worked fine until they worked on the cellular tower, it's slow and works erratic now. I do have a work order for the problem but after about 3 weeks I still have issues and I am considering dropping the internet service because it is not what I was promised.

How old is your laptop? Could it be that it's old enough that it doesn't have a 5ghz-capable wlan chip? I know my father-in-law's laptop was the same way. He had to buy a wireless n USB adapter to get 5ghz wireless networks to show up on his laptop.

mattgyver.it wrote:

How old is your laptop? Could it be that it's old enough that it doesn't have a 5ghz-capable wlan chip? I know my father-in-law's laptop was the same way. He had to buy a wireless n USB adapter to get 5ghz wireless networks to show up on his laptop.

The gateway has both 2.4ghz and 5 ghz. I've been using it with an old laptop that only has 2.4ghz and it works. I believe I saw a similar discussion here:
 

There are other threads on here of ones having the same issue. All that I've seen were resolved with a WiFi card firmware update from the manufacturer.

How about trying on a different laptop? If the different laptop works, then it must be your HP laptop.

I am having the same problem, was able to connect all my devices except my HP LAPTOP. Can someone help 

Jay Ud wrote:

I finally got my laptop connected by buying a WiFi USB adapter after talking to a T-Mobile agent who couldn't fix it but gave me a case number that a technical expert will call me which they never did. The worst thing is that I was put on hold for an hour. Thanks guys for your suggestions.

I am about to order one now from Amazon -- $20 fix -- I hope it works -- I will keep you all updated.

For users with older laptops and wireless adapters that don't play well with the T-Mobile gateway and WI-FI6 - 802.11ax the best option is to just buy a USB adapter and upgrade that part. If the laptop is older and the vendor's support for the device is no longer available then the old drivers are all you have. 

When selecting a USB wireless network adapter please consider what you want and need. If you upgrade to an adapter with 802.11ax capabilities then you will be able to take advantage of the newer technology the gateway brings to the table. If you need to keep costs down a bit buy an 802.11ac adapter and you will still have pretty good performance. As you move backward your speeds will be reduced and the connectivity to the newer gateway radios may be a problem or more effort. If you run Linux vs Windows or Apple be sure the adapter has driver support for Linux. There are some with Realtec chips that work pretty well. My experience with ASUS adapters is they don't seem to have Linux driver support. Read the reviews carefully and decide on what you want. Fighting with an old adapter is more of a waste of time than just moving on with a newer wireless adapter.