Forum Discussion
finding best location for T-Mobile home Internet gateway
I'm confused about moving the unit around the house to find the best location. To do this must the unit be plugged in, or can it be done using battery power only? It seems crazy to have to walk around and keep plugging in and then unplugging between locations. You should be able to just walk around on battery power only... and watch the signal meter on the top to find the best spot. Please advise as I just got mine and it's unclear how best to do this.
Yes I saw you had found the Waveform information on the antennas. I posted the reference to the manual for the Arcadyan router as others might find it useful and convenient if they review the conversation. I understand about considering taking it apart and the consequences if something was messed up by an unexpected event.
With the unpredictable behavior of the signal I would really be suspicious that the T-Mobile engineers continue to work on the equipment feeding the traffic.
Ltngdrvr wrote:
Also, I thought these gateways had battery backups that would allow you to unplug it and move it around to find the best placement for signal strength? Unplugged mine and it powers off and won't power back on until I plug it back in. Then I have to wait for it to boot back up, makes moving it around to check the signal strength a PITA.
Apparently, the Arcadyan does not have a battery like the Nokia does.
Options include using a very long extension cord, or a portable battery inverter, like the Ryobi.
Also, I thought these gateways had battery backups that would allow you to unplug it and move it around to find the best placement for signal strength? Unplugged mine and it powers off and won't power back on until I plug it back in. Then I have to wait for it to boot back up, makes moving it around to check the signal strength a PITA.
iTinkeralot wrote:
When I spoke with the Waveform engineer he was very helpful and courteous. They currently have a guide for the Arcadyan router like they did for the Nokia.
He pointed me to the guide for the Arcadyan in no time. It seems very clear. Not as simple as the Nokia for opening but not bad. Pretty easy to crack it open and have it spill the beans.
Yes, as I stated above, I found the waveform antenna kits and their installation guide, and watched a few of the nater tater videos. Looks like a viable alternative, just very apprehensive about taking apart the gateway and possibly boogering something up.
And, obviously my gateway is providing me with internet service, a I'm using it now. Although, late last night my internet speeds totally tanked, was down in the single digits for download speed.
When I spoke with the Waveform engineer he was very helpful and courteous. They currently have a guide for the Arcadyan router like they did for the Nokia.
He pointed me to the guide for the Arcadyan in no time. It seems very clear. Not as simple as the Nokia for opening but not bad. Pretty easy to crack it open and have it spill the beans.
I found the waveform antenna kits, according to the cell antenna map I found online, the local t-mobile 5G is on the n71 band, and waveform says the 2x2 system will work for that on the arcadyan gateway, so less expensive. So far though today, the internet speed has been acceptable so will wait and see and may or may not mess with the external antenna.
Guess mine is the Arcadian unit.
Well, there are external antennas but connecting one and obtaining results needs a bit of research first. I would first ask if you have the Nokia round router or the Arcadyan router with the rounded off corners and squarish vertical router with the LED on the front vs the Nokia that has the small LED screen on the top of the router.
The Nokia is pretty easy to add external antenna solutions to. Waveform.com has 2X2 MIMO antennas and a various host of antenna solutions. They have good info on the installation of the antenna as well at least for the Nokia router. On reddit they even posted information about their 4x4 MIMO antenna but if you are on n71 and not on a n41 channels 2X2 MIMO or another similar antenna is sufficient. The 4X4 MIMO is expensive. Start with $400 for the 4X4 antenna then add 4 lightning arrestors $200 and maybe some custom cables for length well you can see not cheap.
https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobileisp/comments/sn2wyf/product_launch_waveform_4x4_panel_antenna/
So, I just hooked up my new 5G gateway, best signal I get is 2 bars, even opened my front door and held it outside, no change. Is there no option for an external antenna?
My internet speed seems pretty good, at least as good as my suddenlink cable internet, but the weak gateway signal strength worries me.
Ran speed test, 40.1 Mbps download but only 1.1 upload.
Is that the round shaped Nokia router or the rectangular with the rounded corners, the Arcadyan? If it is the Nokia router you can look at the details in the web interface and get a cellular connection metrics and the internet connection metrics and it will be much clearer as to how it is operating and the signal strength and quality.
