Forum Discussion
Brand new to home Internet and hoping to improve speed
I read a bunch of the horror stories in here, but decided to try T-Mobile's home internet anyhow 'cause I ALSO read some of the "I get 200+ Mb/s and it NEVER drops below 100" topics. I'm in a town o...
If you get the PCI value you can search for it on CellMapper.net and locate the tower that serves that signal out. With a 4G LTE / 5G NR capable phone it should be possible to obtain the cellular metrics for both signals. The bars on the LED screen are rather generic and do not provide enough information. It does not sound like you are receiving a 5G signal with those speeds or it is a very poor signal reception.
You state you are using CellMapper on your phone so are you looking at 4G or 5G signaling or both?
With CellMapper.net in a browser you can provide your area code to get the general location and then display 4G LTE, 5G NR, or both. I find filtering for one or the other helpful. You will see more 4G LTE towers and IF the 5G cell you receive is on the map that really helps but CellMapper is not 100% as it does rely upon users using the Android application and uploading the findings to the server to have the data installed into the database. This does require an account but it does not cost anything to set up. CellMapper seems to be one of the best resources for locating the cells still. Below is a chart that will help you determine more about your cellular signals. Use the T-Mobile home internet mobile application on your phone to see the cellular metrics. Determine if you really are receiving a functional 5G signal.
The up/down behavior does seem to fit the profile for when they are working on the equipment. If the cellular equipment that was in that location was Sprint they could be replacing the older gear with newer gear and the disruptions as such are quite common actually. Unfortunately that seems to be how things happen with the rapid expansion of the 5G rollout. In some locations the expansion with existing towers has been completed and in other they continue to push out more coverage. We are in a rural area in east TN with a pasture behind the house and rolling hills as we are in the ridge and valley zone just west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Even the cows could have connectivity here.
They really might be still tuning things up. It is worth a call. If you get with a level 1 engineer that just needs to meet the 5 minute call target you might not get the answers you need but if you get with a good level 2 engineer you might actually get some reasonable answers. I had to push for answers with a customer retention expert once and well, that has some advantages. You have to work the system. If Verizion or another carrier in the area is hungry for subscribers letting them know you are considering other options is a reasonable approach. Sometimes we just have to push to get answers and not be put off.
