5G home internet keeps dropping

As many of you in the community has stated, T-mobile's 5G wifi is well stocked with issues. I am not new to networking protocol and setup opportunities, so I expected some challenges with this service. Yes, I have experienced multiple dropped broadcast from the router, issues with 5Ghz and 2,4Ghz selection, etc. The main thing that is really driving me crazy with this is everytime the system fails, I have to completely reset all my devices to be recognized on the wifi. Once or twice I don't mind doing, but in the 48 hours that I have had this service I have spent more time with wifi connectivity management than I have with "enjoying" the service. The carrot of 5Ghz for $50 sounded too good to be true, and so far it has only disappointed. Don't think I can kick xfinity to the curb yet.

Very disappointed.

It’s a shame Tmobile has fallen into the trap as all the other cell providers, gain a huge market share and stop helping customers. 

I have a Nokia trash can modem and had issues on day one, wouldn't connect to 5g, was sent another modem and it worked for maybe 8 or 9 months and i was very happy with it until 2 weeks ago. It too started dropping 5g that could be reconnected with a modem reboot last week that option failed and after several calls to a "Expert" they agreed to send me a new router.  I got that 3 days ago and it too can't connect to 5g, here it is 3 days later , several wasted hours on the phone with a "Expert" asking me if the modem is near a window, does it have a singal bar in the display etc etc.  I am amazed that when I asked to speak to a next level tech I was informed that was not a option.   I called corporate office to ask for a tech number that wasn't a phone bank of scripted people and was patched to another department who once answered sent me back to the home internet helpline and he has very limited knowledge of it. 

As I write this am on hold at 27 minutes to talk with someone.

Maybe tmobile uses text searches so if so Abdul Saad start training your people. 

dahc wrote:

… it worked for maybe 8 or 9 months and i was very happy with it until 2 weeks ago. It too started dropping 5g that could be reconnected with a modem reboot last week that option failed ...

Same thing with me.  Always fanned and worked reliably for 9 months, then for whatever reason, the Nokia gateway decided to switch from reliable n41 5G band, to n71.  Horrible after that, with slower speeds and constant drop outs.

Rebooting and restarting (NOT resetting) the gateway did nothing.  Still stayed on n71.  As a last resort, I removed the Nokia battery, and cold-started it.  It chose n41 once again, and has been stable for over 2 weeks now.

Maybe the battery keeps the band configuration, and by removing it, forces the gateway to start from scratch with band choice.

I have the same issue. My Apple TV will flash a No Network Connected message and my Roku streaming stick will flip back to the no-signal screensaver image. 

These usually last either a few seconds or maybe as much as 30 seconds.

I don't lose cellular service on my iPhone. I presume the buffering capacity in the streaming devices makes the interruption appear a brief interval after it actually occurs,

Right now it’s not worth ditching T-Mobile’s price, free Netflix, airline wifi, etc.

CharlieBoy wrote:

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

Interesting thought.  I have an infrared thermometer near my gateway. Right now it measures 123°F internally under the top grid and about 110° on the metal rim of the top.  I'll check it later with both TVs on and see.

I tried walking my unit all over the house and didn’t see any difference in bar whether upstairs, downstairs, or on the N/S/E/W side of the house.

I really wanted to drop xfinity. I got T-mobile in April while keeping xfinity in case. For 2 months, T-mobile was great and fast. Then about a week ago, my signal started to drop. Now it's up to almost every couple of hours. I'll give T-mobile another month to get it right. If they can't, I'll return and cancel. 

jtheiss wrote:

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 just received the Arcadyan router a day ago. I actually have 4 bars and still getting max 29mbps down and 40 upload. Had the tech check the towers around me to see was anything wrong with them for why my download was so slow. He couldn't give me an answer to why. and to add insult to comedy he asked me to do a survey after our call….LOL!!! It was so funny that i couldnt be mad at him or TMO. I really hope they get this together because i will easily hop back over to spectrum and at least get a stable coax connection with an expensive price tag… DAYUM!!! Come on TMO I'm rooting for you guys b4 i make that next move….

Having the same issue. Tower says it's on and has signal but nothing will connect to it, it doesn't even appear when we search for networks on our TV or phones. This is the first it has happened to us. 

5am and 8am. Unusable. 

I had to send mine back and cancel the service.  We were getting dropped out of meetings with no warning several times a week, which was unacceptable.  Real shame because XFinity is our only other option here and the TMO gateway speeds were comparable at almost ½ the cost.