Forum Discussion
5G home internet keeps dropping
I'm having a problem with T-Mobile 5g home internet that has not been resolved despite many calls in to the help line. I've had T-Mobile 5g home internet for almost a month now, and the short version is that every so often the gateway drops the network. When I say "drop the network," I mean to say it throws everything off of the Wifi that it's broadcasting, and anything plugged in via ethernet says "no network found. (To elaborate this point, cell phones switch to cellular data because wifi is gone for them, and computers hardwired into the gateway think that they are no longer plugged into anything.) Turning off the gateway and turning it back on resolves the issue, but doesn't prevent it from happening again. Whatever is happening doesn't seem to affect our connection speed/strength when the gateway IS providing signal to devices in the home, but due to the nature of our work, we need a connection that won't just disconnect randomly.
To address this, T-mobile has so far run a bunch of tests on their end, and seem to have ruled out a tower issue (which makes sense, as the tower shouldn't have anything to do with whether or not the devices on the gateway's wifi or ethernet connection get thrown off of the network.) They've sent me a replacement gateway, which is experiencing the exact same problem (3 times in the last 36 hours, in fact). I've noticed that the device gets pretty warm, so I set up a computer case fan as a cooler to force air through the device, thinking that perhaps it's an issue with the device overheating. However, while the gateway is notably cooler than it was without the fan, it has not prevented the issue from persisting. The last thing that I can think to do (and my most recent attempt at resolving this issue) is to plug a router into the gateway via ethernet, and allow the router to handle the wifi/connections w/ devices in the house, and to disable wifi from the gateway all together. Maybe the gateway is simply too overburdened with connections and gets somehow overwhelmed and shuts down, and having the router handle the "heavy lifting" of taking care of all of the individual device connections will resolve it? I don't have a great deal of faith that this will fix the issue (as the gateway also kicks ethernet things off of the network when it experiences this problem), but I'm running out of options/ideas of what to do in order to just get a stable, constant internet service.
Is anybody else having this issue, has anybody resolved this issue, or does anybody have any advice or feedback regarding how I might get this resolved so that I can get back to having stable internet?
I used to think it was throttling or congestion then I unplugged it put the device near my ac unit to cool it down completely. After restarting device which felt too warm for comfort beforehand . A very noticable improvement occurred. Also placing by window was not the best spot for me actually room Center gave me 5 bars I was getting ready to return and give up. I imagine that unit's have an internal struggle for possibly maintaining signal , packet info size or 4k compatibility causing heating issues , And eventhough I provided the unit with a heating fan. In the end seems to be working better by having it get a Total cool down when issues arise. Good luck T- Mobilers
Let it cool down totally
I have had the newest 5g modem for a couple months. Tmobile has already sent a replacement due to this issue. I get great speeds all the time, over 300mbps. But at least once a day, always around 10am, it looses internet for about 6 minutes. Sometimes it does it multiple times a day. As I said, I'm on my second one in just a few months and still the same issue. I'm wondering if it may be a firmware issue.
I believe the problem is indeed prioritization. Cellphone traffic is prioritized over internet traffic as i understand it.
A couple days ago, my 5G internet slowed to 10.4 down/6 up. At that same moment, my 5G iPhone registered 389/12.3.
It’s not my WiFi as I’ve registered over 500 down in the mornings.
Last night, my streaming 24in kitchen TV had constant buffering and dropping to very low resolution. My phone on wifi was around 10 down but on cellular over 200 down.
snsokstan wrote:
I believe the problem is indeed prioritization. Cellphone traffic is prioritized over internet traffic as i understand it.
A couple days ago, my 5G internet slowed to 10.4 down/6 up. At that same moment, my 5G iPhone registered 389/12.3.
It’s not my WiFi as I’ve registered over 500 down in the mornings.
Last night, my streaming 24in kitchen TV had constant buffering and dropping to very low resolution. My phone on wifi was around 10 down but on cellular over 200 down.
Would deprioritization cause a full on disconnect thought? I have seen slower speeds on the home internet vs my phone's data which would certainly be due to deprioritization. We are having issues of full on internet loss, I wouldn't think a tower would cut a modem off completely.
You may have some neighbor or even some equipment in your house interfering with how your computer connects viaWI-FIi. Your operating system on your computer have be corrupting NETWORK drivers used for communications or an installed app may be interfering with the computers built in Wi-Fi card. Again it may be a bad t-mobile device too.
rdiiorio wrote:
You may have some neighbor or even some equipment in your house interfering with how your computer connects viaWI-FIi. Your operating system on your computer have be corrupting NETWORK drivers used for communications or an installed app may be interfering with the computers built in Wi-Fi card. Again it may be a bad t-mobile device too.
I’ve looked at all the neighborhood WiFi signals that I can see with Inssider app. I’ve moved my signal to the most open channels I can find.
With my computer off Wifi right now, my iPhone shows over 500Mbps down on cellular data and 51Mbps down connected to my Wifi. That tells me either some other nearby device is harming my wifi signal. But more likely, I am competing with a lot more internet traffic in the evening as other T-mobile 5G internet customers fire up their 4K big screen TV or sit down for some intense gaming, etc.
Or someone’s mining Bitcoin nearby 😂
Grumpyold3531 wrote:
snsokstan wrote:
I believe the problem is indeed prioritization. Cellphone traffic is prioritized over internet traffic as i understand it.
A couple days ago, my 5G internet slowed to 10.4 down/6 up. At that same moment, my 5G iPhone registered 389/12.3.
It’s not my WiFi as I’ve registered over 500 down in the mornings.
Last night, my streaming 24in kitchen TV had constant buffering and dropping to very low resolution. My phone on wifi was around 10 down but on cellular over 200 down.
Would deprioritization cause a full on disconnect thought? I have seen slower speeds on the home internet vs my phone's data which would certainly be due to deprioritization. We are having issues of full on internet loss, I wouldn't think a tower would cut a modem off completely.
We have that problem also. Around 6:45pm, we often get a "no network detected" message from our Apple TV device. It usually disappears in anywhere from 5 sec to 30 sec.
Add me to the list of people experiencing problems. I have only had the home gateway for a few days, but have had to reboot the device multiple times a day since getting it. Given the number of problems expressed on this thread and others, it would seem as though this gateway simply isn't ready for prime time, and I will go back to Cox for the time being.
Another data point - Drops recently started after months of constant uptime. Typically occur early in morning, between 5 & 9 AM. Very few connected devices and wired PC is generally device in use during disconnect. No fan. Approximately 1 mile from cell tower.
My guess, either capacity or interference. (If heat, reboot wouldn't immediately cool router...)
