5G Home internet keeps dropping!

I signed up and requested 3 gateways. I got NOKIAS  ( labeled refurbished) One at my main home just was not going to cut it with 2 bars and 7MBPS. Another at a home 30 miles away is pushing 550-600 as I can see the tower. Perfect. The other one 200 miles away at another home was awesome from install to about 3 weeks in and was also pushing 5 bars and 650-700MBPS . I have cameras, smart lights, thermostat, etc and it just started dropping off intermittently. data usage is low, and I suspect a bad unit, A new (refurbished  one) was shipped and I will install in a couple days. I just hope it lasts as I only get there 2 X /mo  but I run all my systems on it. ON a chat I was told I was getting throttled, but  for what??? 24 Gigs a month at a place I don't live at? That was not in my plan and they clarified that.  Hey, I just want consistent good service. I've heard that the NOKIAS have issues, as well as the ARKADYIANS, so what is the resolve? I was also told that broadband is controlled by my rep, and once it is full, no more  gateways would be available at the tower. But does Cell phone data  trump the gateways?

I just cant get a straight answer. I'm happy so far but if a salesperson, on a recorded line says something, it needs to be true. I love the company after 32 years with ATT, but just give me what you say you are going to give me.

HoHoHo5 wrote:

Looks like Tmo deprioritizes home internet users. I found this article on the Internet

Speed claims

It wasn't all rosy for T-Mobile. Charter argued that because T-Mobile Home Internet customers share the same network as mobile users but are prioritized last, consumers may experience much slower speeds than advertised during times of congestion. 

HoHoHo5 wrote:

Looks like Tmo deprioritizes home internet users. I found this article on the Internet

Speed claims

It wasn't all rosy for T-Mobile. Charter argued that because T-Mobile Home Internet customers share the same network as mobile users but are prioritized last, consumers may experience much slower speeds than advertised during times of congestion. 

 

This is starting to feel like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. You can't offer a home internet service that is highly unreliable without some blowback.

I've been using T-Mobile 5-G for about seven months now. At first I was having to restart the gateway several times each day. Then for a while between Thanksgiving and Christmas I didn't have to restart it at all. I had read about the problems with overheating so I've put the gateway on a shelf under an end table where there are no other heat sources near by. Since New Years Day I have had to restart the gateway on average once or twice each day. It's really frustrating to be in the middle of a movie or a football game and have to restart the gateway. 

Hey everyone, I do actually have a remedy that will go a long way to solving some of these issues around constant disconnects. Not saying it will work for everyone but it worked for us where we were constantly getting dropped from video business meetings.

Out of the box the 5688W comes with the 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz network selection as automatic. Don't know about the other router models but assuming the same. This basically means that any devices you connect to the network will automatically connect to the 5Ghz network (faster but lesser range) unless the 5Ghz is out of range in which case they will connect to the 2.4Ghz (slower but greater range). This can actually cause an issue with functionality of some 2.4Ghz only IoT devices (e.g. my craftsman garage door opener) as they will automatically try to connect a network that doesn't support them creating a whole new set of problems. Additionally networks can become 'bogged down' if too many devices are connected to them. Every single smart light bulb or plug etc. counts as a connected device. I was >50 devices.

If you log into the TMO app and select the Network tab you will see default network shows as Frequency Band = Automatic (recommended). To remedy the situation take the default network and under Frequency Band select the dropdown and change this network to either 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz (doesn't matter which) and name it accordingly. Then click the pink (I used to work for TMO and they hate their magenta being referred to as pink 😊) + icon in the bottom right hand corner which will allow you to add a second network. If you chose the default network to be 2.4Ghz ensure this new one is 5Ghz and vice versa remembering to make sure you name it accordingly.

Now you will have to completely separated and easily selectable networks. One 2.4Ghz and one 5Ghz. Every connected device in your house will lose connectivity at this point and will need to be reconnected. Now comes the painful part. You need to redo the setup process for everything. Smart TV's, Fire TV's, Plugs, Bulbs, AC, Oven, Fridge, Irrigation, Security Cameras, Tablets literally everything. When going through this process ensure that you connect them all to the 2.4Ghz network. Anything where connectivity is not critical, sideline them all onto this new network.

This should leave your 5Ghz network completely empty and reserved for anything that is time critical. For my Wife and I this is purely our work laptops and cellphones as we both spend most of our days on zoom/teams/conference calls etc. We went through  weeks of constantly having to restart the router and it would always happen right in the middle of a critical work call. Since I went through this process a few weeks ago we haven't seen a single drop for work calls.

Hope this works for you

Notewriter wrote:

EJSimpson wrote:

This started happening to me back in July.  I ultimately had to cancel my T-Mobile home Internet because it just wasn't working for us.  It was nearly flawless for the first seven or eight months of service.  Easily over 300 Mbps for all of our (20+) devices.  It was a dream replacement for our cable Internet that was just getting more and more expensive.  However, no Internet just doesn't work, so we replaced it with Verizon 4G LTE which is admittedly MUCH slower.  Slower, but reliable and always present.  That works for us.  I am very sad that T-Mobile quit on us.  It was great while it lasted.  I think that our usage got us bumped off.  We routinely used in excess of 1,600 Gb of data monthly.  Interestingly, though, during this time our phone's 5G failed to provide Internet for us.  To get an Internet connection with our phones, we needed to downgrade to LTE.  5G would connect, but it wouldn't provide ANY Internet access.  That is clearly unacceptable for a home Internet solution.

This continuing modem dropping issue is very frustrating especially when we're out traveling and our security system isn't functioning. The only way to get it back up and operating is to unplug the modem, wait for a few minutes and then plug it back in. Should this continue, we'll be closing our "T-Mobile" account as well. We can't afford to have our security and monitoring systems compromised. 

We are experiencing the same for 3 months worked perfectly and then keeps dropping the internet connection and it got worse with the new gateway. However my cell phone connection is very strong so I have been using a hotspot created with my phone. But I think that I am going to look for different provider.

WJUT01 wrote:

HoHoHo5 wrote:

It looks like the stores are no longer stocking Nokia 5g gateway. I spoke with another representative and said the tower is going to get a capacity upgrade 4Q2022. There is a capacity issue at the tower at the moment.

According to my Sagecom Gateway, I only have access to the N71 band (low band low capacity) connection.

I assume if and whey they upgrade, Tmo will add the N41 band (mid band higher capacity). Is everyone experiencing the frequent drops only connecting to the N71 5G band?

Same issue on N41. 

Update 2/23/23: installed a Keep Connect 1/19/23. Since then 16 resets. Of those 1 DNS failure, 2 TCP/TLS connection failures and the rest Unknown loss of internet. Resets have been at random times day and night. At least now we don't have to manually reset the gateway and therefore don't notice it.

Notewriter wrote:

WJUT01 wrote:

WJUT01 wrote:

HoHoHo5 wrote:

It looks like the stores are no longer stocking Nokia 5g gateway. I spoke with another representative and said the tower is going to get a capacity upgrade 4Q2022. There is a capacity issue at the tower at the moment.

According to my Sagecom Gateway, I only have access to the N71 band (low band low capacity) connection.

I assume if and whey they upgrade, Tmo will add the N41 band (mid band higher capacity). Is everyone experiencing the frequent drops only connecting to the N71 5G band?

Same issue on N41. 

Update 2/23/23: installed a Keep Connect 1/19/23. Since then 16 resets. Of those 1 DNS failure, 2 TCP/TLS connection failures and the rest Unknown loss of internet. Resets have been at random times day and night. At least now we don't have to manually reset the gateway and therefore don't notice it.

 

How to find which band we are connected to on our modem? "Thanks." 

On the TMO Internet App, go to More then Advanced Cellular Metrics, 5G.  Your band will be at the bottom.

pphw wrote:

Notewriter wrote:

WJUT01 wrote:

WJUT01 wrote:

HoHoHo5 wrote:

It looks like the stores are no longer stocking Nokia 5g gateway. I spoke with another representative and said the tower is going to get a capacity upgrade 4Q2022. There is a capacity issue at the tower at the moment.

According to my Sagecom Gateway, I only have access to the N71 band (low band low capacity) connection.

I assume if and whey they upgrade, Tmo will add the N41 band (mid band higher capacity). Is everyone experiencing the frequent drops only connecting to the N71 5G band?

Same issue on N41. 

Update 2/23/23: installed a Keep Connect 1/19/23. Since then 16 resets. Of those 1 DNS failure, 2 TCP/TLS connection failures and the rest Unknown loss of internet. Resets have been at random times day and night. At least now we don't have to manually reset the gateway and therefore don't notice it.

 

How to find which band we are connected to on our modem? "Thanks." 

 

On the TMO Internet App, go to More then Advanced Cellular Metrics, 5G.  Your band will be at the bottom.

Thank you for your reply and knowledge. 😉

Notewriter wrote:

Notewriter wrote:

pphw wrote:

Notewriter wrote:

WJUT01 wrote:

WJUT01 wrote:

HoHoHo5 wrote:

It looks like the stores are no longer stocking Nokia 5g gateway. I spoke with another representative and said the tower is going to get a capacity upgrade 4Q2022. There is a capacity issue at the tower at the moment.

According to my Sagecom Gateway, I only have access to the N71 band (low band low capacity) connection.

I assume if and whey they upgrade, Tmo will add the N41 band (mid band higher capacity). Is everyone experiencing the frequent drops only connecting to the N71 5G band?

Same issue on N41. 

Update 2/23/23: installed a Keep Connect 1/19/23. Since then 16 resets. Of those 1 DNS failure, 2 TCP/TLS connection failures and the rest Unknown loss of internet. Resets have been at random times day and night. At least now we don't have to manually reset the gateway and therefore don't notice it.

 

How to find which band we are connected to on our modem? "Thanks." 

 

On the TMO Internet App, go to More then Advanced Cellular Metrics, 5G.  Your band will be at the bottom.

Thank you for your reply and knowledge. 😉

It does show we are using band "b66." Guess we're using the best available for our area? 

Go to cellmapper .net and find towers in your area.

Alternatively, place the gateway at different windows to try getting N41.

My Nokia.  Activated 16 days ago.  Speeds up to 650 during the 15 day trial.  Now 1.5 unless I keep resetting.  Speed goes up to 200 after reset.  It's like they are giving people on the 15 day trial the fastest speeds.  Wish I didn't disconnect my slow but reliable DSL.