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?
Have the LTE router and it crashes all the time. When I'm away there's no way to reset it. Sometimes calling T-Mobile they can remotely reset it. Often it doesn't work.
T-Mobile recommended the 5G Trashcan as a fix. Bummed to see others still having the exact same problem with a completely different model.
We’ll see…
Also, no remote reboot is a bummerWell, you need to translate the problem statement a little and keep in mind, if you continue to do the same thing, you can expect the same results. The newer T-Mobile 5G Nokia built gateway router is yes a totally different appliance but it does have both 4G LTE & 5G capability plus the WIFI is 802.11ax so it also can support the newer 6G wireless clients on the LAN. If you go out and buy a flashy new laptop with a 6G wifi card you will be happy you jumped to the future solution. A "crash" and a uplink to tower signal loss are not the same animal. Some people have reported issues with freezes or other behaviors but nothing is perfect but the newer Nokia 5G router/gateway may just be a major improvement for you. The problems I experienced in July were related to the operation of gear on the tower NOT the gateway router itself. If your location is within 2-3 miles from a T-Mobile tower with the mid band 5G signal you would see a significant increase in bandwidth over LTE and much lower latency for the communication back and forth. The faster 5G mid band n41 channel can provide significant punch in the 1-2.5 mile radius from the tower and a HUGE jump from LTE. The lower broader delivery on the n71 channel will extend out and cover a much larger area and still provide 150-200 Mbs down even 5 miles away from the tower with the 5G and have lower latency. With both the 4G LTE primary signal and the 5G on the secondary signal you have a distinct advantage. You would have nada to loose going with the newer router. My take is it would be a win. I was given the option to just go with the LTE can or join the BETA program and wait three weeks for the newer 5G router. I opted for the 5G with the knowledge that the latency is lower and the bandwidth capability is mucho higher. The future is with 5G and 6G NOT 4G LTE. If you are given the chance to upgrade to the newer router my advice is to go for it! Think of it as a sleek version of R2D2 vs a trashcan. Put life in perspective and lets look on the sunny side of life. You will not know until you try it. You might find the issues you were having just go away. I try to keep a sunny disposition with the T-Mobile support engineers as they may not all be perfect but they are there trying to help out. They do appreciate consideration and respond. I try to treat people how I want to be treated as a rule. It pretty much gets positive results every time.
Having remote reboot capability can be possible, but let's be real. I worked in IT for 22 years and we built in extra terminal servers and IP connected APC power strips with alternate access portals to ALWAYS have such capability. If the connection to the gateway appliance only has the single tower connection we can't expect miracles. This is after all a home gateway appliance and well the price is right. Is it perfect? No but it is decent for what it is. Mine ran from early January through June without much of any burps. Sure July was a bit frustrating but now with the tower upgrade and equipment having attention it is back to stable and has even better bandwidth results. T-Mobile is pushing out the 5G rapidly and anything that is new will have its challenges as it matures. My only option here was Hughes Net with a 2 year contract and $20 more per month after the second month. That was a pretty poor option. I had nothing to loose with the T-Mobile solution and no contract! I get 10X the upload and download speeds I was getting from the provider in California for less cost. It is a win!
Same problem here. I've had the new gateway less than 24 hours and it has dropped all WiFi devices twice in the middle of meetings. No noticeable overheating on mine - it seems like more of a software issue.
The support "technician" didn't acknowledge anything I said about this being a common issue with other users and suggested that everything was fine if my devices are connected after rebooting the gateway. They said they would check back in three days to see if the issue continues, and only then would they send another device. Rebooting is NOT "troubleshooting" as they suggested and it is definitely not a solution. Troubleshooting would be looking at error logs to see exactly WHY all devices are getting disconnected but, unfortunately, this device doesn't give access to anything like that through the internal admin page.
Speeds are impressive *when it works* but dropping connections like this is unacceptable.
Keep in mind a call to T-Mobile support and a direct question will probably get you the answer to the tower location. They know, they can see where your router associates. They have the PCI information and can provide the coordinates to the tower. They did for me. If you call in first thing in the morning that is the best time I found. If they are busy and the automated message prompts you for a call back in 10-15 minutes just opt for that. It works well. I just did all the background work with cellmapper.net and using my iPhone in field test mode to really solidify the data. If I decide to get the external MIMO YAGI antenna it will be ~$300 to have the lightning arrestors and the entire ball of wax. I wanted to be 100% so I could get the best solution.
You are probably right about the single tower. If you can get a picture of the tower and the radio configuration we could try to identify the equipment on the tower. In such a small farming community adding an additional tower does not seem like it would be an economic choice for T-Mobile unless they have leased space on the other tower and have a more economical solution. I would think they would leverage the existing tower space vs adding yet another tower.
iTinkeralot wrote:
What are the actual Bands and RSRP, RSRQ and SNR reports from the web UI? It is clear when it has the 5G NR standing you get a solid down but when the signal does down are you seeing the PCI for the 4G LTE and 5G NR cells changing? That sounds very frustrating. If the behavior stays wonky after the router swap I would seriously question if there has been work going on on the tower and ask if they have had other complaints about the operation in the area. That close to the tower it should be good.
For the primary, the PCI is ALWAYS 308, that's the B66 tower. It never changes, the primary tower is by far the most consistent connection I have had. I can't even recall a time it said I had no connection other than when I took the sim card out to try and cool it down. If I could even just disable the secondary tower I probably wouldn't have drops at all, but that would sacrifice speed from n71.
It's the secondary one that's always flakey. As we have established, the cells on the second one occasionally change between the two. There's no rhyme or rhythm between when it's on one or the other.
In terms of the RSRP, RSRQ and SNR, the primary tower is stable unless it's raining. Even then I don't actually lose connection.
The secondary one shows quite a bit of noise. RSRQ is usually -14, and the RSRP ranges between -110 to -119, or dropping all together. SNR is usually 0, sometimes -2. Sometimes 1.
My complaint is about the MiFi hotspot. I purchase this service so that I could work from home having said that I am locked into a two-year contract for service that I cannot use. I am lost for words. I called support only to be told that there are two towers down and that I am on a tower in the middle and that the problem should be fixed by Tuesday. Well I start training Monday morning and cannot even connect to the Internet so I guess it's too bad for me🤬
I would install a router and use it for your wifi. Shut off ALL 12 wifi connections in the gateway. Everything that you can. I have not seen a vendor yet that produces a combo modem/router that behaves well, especially with numerous devices or heavy usage. They normally don't have enough memory or cpu horsepower to do all things required. You will encounter a few quirks with your own router, but in most cases it probably will not be noticed.
Log into 192.16812.1 and make sure you are rocking the current firmware (say's Software) … 1.2101.00.1609. If not call Tech Support and have them push this update to your Nokia.
Correct placement and orientation also helps, took me months to find the exact best spot, inches can make or break the best connection. I have no alternative ISP so I was forced to learn this the hard way.
Here in Hawaii my Nokia connects to B2 & N71, huge improvement in speed with the 1609 firmware. My previous best speeds were 40 down/10 up ... now those are my absolute minimum speeds. With the built-in WiFi my average is now 80/10. I no longer use the internal WiFi so I turned down the 2.4/5GHz transmission powers to 12%.
I recently added an Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro SE & WiFi 6 Lite Access point in a double NAT configuration and was surprised to see peaks at 250/70, average 140/40. Until Tmobile gives us bridge mode that's how I roll my Nokia FG-21.
I’m now a happy camper with Tmobile Internet.
How the Hell do we get any resolutions from this absolutely gigantic fail of a support system at T-Mobile? Support Are any T-Mobile people monitoring? Probably not because they don't want to address this issue! I have called over ten times over a month for this issue and keep being told either an Engineer will call back or that my problem ticket number is expired! WHAT THE FK! This has got to be the worst support EVER!!!
