External Antenna Makes Massive Difference For Me!!!

Timsw wrote:

Moneypenny wrote:

There is nothing bad in my post and all I have done is try to help people keep and get their TM can working better.

Uh oh, I've been consorting with a suspected GW alterator? I didn't do it! Don't they know you're with MI6? I read the terms of service about the gateway  when I got it and when it worked well by itself it was a relief. No outlaw activities for me.

On one hand, the people doing this to the gateway have the potential of being loyal customers in years to come, and just want the service to work for them, and by sharing information are just trying to help some truly desperate people, who may be crushed that they can't get the speed they hoped for. But...it is against their rules. And this is the TMO discussion board set up by the company. You know what I mean?

I was thinking about the reason they might not have included an external ant port to begin with, and other than saving a few dollars, it might have something to do with lightning strikes damaging the gateway when connected to something that is going outside. Or, too many people getting doubly frustrated that they went to such lengths ordering an antenna, and having to return it when it didn't work, and it just makes them madder at T mobile. 

On some equipment you buy, sometimes there’s a seal on it that if broken, the warranty is violated, but they aren’t even charging for this gateway, so you can understand why their policy is to not allow its disassembly or alteration.

In ancient times, Ma Bell used to charge for phone rental of a Bell phone, calling it an "instrument." I had an uncle that got their new touch-tone phone and paid something like $5 more a month than a rotary dial phone would cost. When the phone plug was modular and companies started selling cheap phones that worked very well, Bell made threats that anyone caught using an "instrument" which was not one of theirs could be prosecuted. Their claim was one of these cheap phones could damage their network, which was not true at all. All it would do was cut into the profits they made from the absurd prices they used to charge for a phone. Eventually, Bell's monopoly was broken up, and you could get any phone you wanted, and even sign up for other long distance services. 

Anyway, I think TMO is being reasonable about their policy compared to Bell, and it's not about profits. It's that they know that they would get customers leaving and wanted to have as many undamaged gateways as possible to recycle.

Well my first brand new best I could tell gatway day one was upgraded and got stuck in a boot look I was down for 3 days, then they sent me a refurb that was clear not checked before sending as it started right up to RF failure, now we are at over a week of brand new service down and the third refurb shows up and lucky it worked. The real issue is they are getting them back but just reboxing them and not even checking them for issues. I put a note in both saying what was wrong and that it needed to be fixed before sending to someone.

Yea I guess but bottom line is my home shows as Ultra 5G and that's just not the case really at least not with just the can. Also I was told on the phone I was close enough to have 5G as they were only sending to customers that could use the 5G at the time I signed up. So I expected 5G service can only but they did not deliver. Also there is no way unless they build a new tower that I would get 5G can only. The can in any window cannot hold the 5G it is to weak so that leaves me with ok signal from the 4G tower only. That is not the service I signed up for. So TM should be happy I am not sending the can back that I have invested weeks of time to investigation, several hundred dollars in equipment just to make it work as good as they sold me on.

I don't like or want to use Comcast it was my only options I am glad to have an option that’s why I have put so much into making it work for me.

I can sure understand the lightning angel but shoot they tell you to put it in a window of a second fl if possible so go figure. Did you see the one guy he put it on a pole and covered it with a plastic bucket now that's desperate. I seen another guy with it in his roof vent to get a signal. At least I have done something practical and along the lines of good design.

The full price of the Gateway is like $300 if I break it I will pay for it if needed. I actually bought one off ebay should come next week. I want to have a backup unit in case of failure as it takes at the least several days for them to send a replacement. Not sure how the people are getting them to sell but I see many for sale. Heck with the money I am saving by not paying Comcast the outrageous fees I can afford to pay for the can if I break it.

There are other post about ext antennas this is not the first on here maybe the most detailed but again I was looking to help people that want to keep the service but are in a similar spot as me.