Forum Discussion
Intermittent Service t-Mobile 5G
I just received my 5G gateway and have set this up. I'm a software engineer with a solid knowledge of electronics and telecoms but I'm not up to date with latest stuff.
Anyway I have the device setup, we also have ADSL but I want to explore 5G so I subscribed to see how it behaves.
I have a single PC cabled into the gateway, nothing else in the house communicates (yet) with the gateway (my phone does talk to the gateway over wifi to inspect it, but that’s all).
I got a 3bar signal and set the unit on my desk and it seemed OK, very much faster than ADSL.
But after an hour I began to get randomly "No internet" and the device had disconnected. This has been the case for the past two hours now. Up then down like 10 mins, 5 mins, 2 mins, 8 mins uptime then brief loss of connection.
The 3bar signal strength seems steady.
There are a primary and secondary signals reported on the web page that proves the gateway.
Does anyone have any idea what lies behind these disconnects?
My zip is 85207 and all indications are we have “5G Ultra Capacity” I am a few miles away from various buttes that have lots of towers, one is west of me and during the setup my phone indicated a signal source west of me, so I’m assuming that tower is the location of the signal.
Because of these buttes and my proximity to them and no tall buildings around I’d assumed I was advantageously placed.
So what to do? I can see numerous threads about this from other people, is the service really that poor?
My ADSL - though much slower - has no reliability issues, up 24/7.
So here’s the stats:
20220608 12:05:05 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:05:05 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:05:06 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:06 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:19 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:05:19 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:05:20 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:20 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:27 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:05:27 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:05:28 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:28 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:32 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:05:32 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:05:33 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:33 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:37 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:05:37 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:05:38 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:38 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:43 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:05:43 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:05:44 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:05:45 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:07:00 NEW_LOCAL_IP_ADDRESS 172.24.176.1
20220608 12:07:00 NO_ACTIVE_VPN_DETECTED
20220608 12:07:00 GATEWAY_TESTING_ON
20220608 12:07:16 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:07:16 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:07:17 GATEWAY_OFFLINE
20220608 12:07:18 GATEWAY_TESTING_OFF
20220608 12:07:20 CONNECTED_VIA_ETHERNET
20220608 12:07:20 GATEWAY_TESTING_ON
20220608 12:07:22 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS 192.168.12.1
20220608 12:07:24 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS fe80::e21f:2bff:fe7b:e655%5
20220608 12:07:24 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:08
20220608 12:07:24 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:08
20220608 12:07:52 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:07:52 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:07:53 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:07:53 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:08:09 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:08:09 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:08:09 GATEWAY_TESTING_OFF
20220608 12:08:13 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS 192.168.12.1
20220608 12:08:13 CONNECTED_VIA_ETHERNET
20220608 12:08:13 GATEWAY_TESTING_ON
20220608 12:08:17 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:08
20220608 12:08:17 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:08
20220608 12:08:20 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS fe80::e21f:2bff:fe7b:e655%5
20220608 12:08:24 GATEWAY_TESTING_OFF
20220608 12:08:24 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:08:24 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:08:28 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS 192.168.12.1
20220608 12:08:28 CONNECTED_VIA_ETHERNET
20220608 12:08:28 GATEWAY_TESTING_ON
20220608 12:08:33 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:09
20220608 12:08:33 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:09
20220608 12:08:36 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS fe80::e21f:2bff:fe7b:e655%5
20220608 12:09:22 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:09:22 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:09:23 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:09:23 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:09:30 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:09:30 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:09:31 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:09:31 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:09:32 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:09:32 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:09:36 GATEWAY_TESTING_OFF
20220608 12:09:38 CONNECTED_VIA_ETHERNET
20220608 12:09:38 GATEWAY_TESTING_ON
20220608 12:09:40 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS 192.168.12.1
20220608 12:09:45 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:12
20220608 12:09:45 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:12
20220608 12:09:48 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS fe80::e21f:2bff:fe7b:e655%5
20220608 12:10:10 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:10:10 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:10:11 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:10:11 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:10:21 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:10:21 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:10:22 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:10:22 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:10:26 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:10:26 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:10:28 GATEWAY_TESTING_OFF
20220608 12:10:30 CONNECTED_VIA_ETHERNET
20220608 12:10:30 GATEWAY_TESTING_ON
20220608 12:10:32 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS 192.168.12.1
20220608 12:10:37 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:10
20220608 12:10:37 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:10
20220608 12:10:40 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS fe80::e21f:2bff:fe7b:e655%5
20220608 12:10:41 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:10:41 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:10:42 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:10:42 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:01
20220608 12:10:44 NEW_PUBLIC_IP_ADDRESS 2607:fb90:2d87:5230:3c0f:9fbe:3849:e506
20220608 12:11:43 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:11:43 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
20220608 12:11:47 GATEWAY_OFFLINE
20220608 12:12:22 GATEWAY_TESTING_OFF
20220608 12:12:24 CONNECTED_VIA_ETHERNET
20220608 12:12:24 GATEWAY_TESTING_ON
20220608 12:12:26 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS 192.168.12.1
20220608 12:12:28 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS fe80::e21f:2bff:fe7b:e655%5
20220608 12:12:29 INTERNET_OUTAGE_ENDED DURATION: 000:00:00:45
20220608 12:12:29 DNS_RESOLUTION_RESTORED DURATION: 000:00:00:45
20220608 12:12:44 NEW_PUBLIC_IP_ADDRESS 2607:fb90:2d87:5230:e93c:d8e:fc77:145d
20220608 12:12:59 GATEWAY_TESTING_OFF
20220608 12:12:59 INTERNET_OUTAGE_START
20220608 12:13:01 CONNECTED_VIA_ETHERNET
20220608 12:13:01 GATEWAY_TESTING_ON
20220608 12:13:03 NEW_GATEWAY_IP_ADDRESS 192.168.12.1
20220608 12:13:05 GATEWAY_TESTING_OFF
20220608 12:13:09 DNS_RESOLUTION_FAILURE
These were obtained using ISP watchdog: https://www.isp-watchdog.com/
The above is with a LAN connection, we get pretty much the same behavior with WiFi connection.
OK so you are in Mesa AZ. Sounds nice and hot. 🙂 If you just received your T-Mo Gateway I will assume you have the Arcadyan. (rounded corners, not a cylinder) If the web interface provides the info now for the PCI values for the 4G and 5G signals use the PCI value to find the tower(s) that source your signals. Look at and record the cellular metrics and determine the signal strength and quality. If you can put the GW in a location so it gets a stronger, cleaner signal that might help. If T-Mobile engineers are working on the equipment for the towers in the area then the disruptions can be tower related not router related. Some users have complained about heat issues and found if the gateway gets too warm it tends to have such behavior as signal integrity issues.
If the signal source is West and based upon you saying, "we have "5G Ultra Capacity"." that tells me it is an n41 signal. You need to determine how far it is to the tower and know your cellular metrics. The n41 is a millimeter wavelength so it does not travel as far as the longer n71 but is faster for downloads. The functional distance for really good speeds might range out to 2.5 miles but 3 miles is pushing the edge of the signal for the performance you really want. If the signal is strong and has good quality with the SINR in the good to excellent range then you can expect some nice speeds. Keep in mind those buttes may cause reflected signals so improving the SINR would be important. The actual direction the signal comes in might be surprising as a reflected signal might what your gateway is seeing vs a direct signal. Cellular communication has lots of things that can influence the signal so I would say dont assume anything. Investigate what is going on and experiment a bit to get a strong clean, signal.
Below is a chart that explains the cellular metrics. This plus 100% location of the tower, if possible, via using cellmapper.net can help know and improve the signal to the gateway.
I dont have the Arcadyan gateway. I have the Nokia GW so getting the PCI values with the Nokia is simple and direct. I don't know if the latest firmware for the Arcadyan reports the PCI values via the web interface via 192.168.12.1. I believe the mobile application does report the PCI values for the signals. The PCI is the physical cell identifier. Very useful info.
If not the link below from Nater Tater’s YouTube videos on the Arcadyan does provide cellular information.
http://192.168.12.1/TMI/v1/gateway?get=all
Hopefully this will help you get the signal more stable. If not then find out if T-Mobile monkeys are on the tower messing with the cables and gear.
Hi and thanks for the details.
I do have the NOKIA Gateway, grey cylinder.
It has most recently released firmware.
The device lists two signal details:
Primary: 2 bars, PCI 154, Band B2, EARFCN 675
Secondary: 3 bars, PCI 166, Band n41, NR-ARFCN 527790
The SNR on the primary is a frightening -6 dB
The SNR on the secondary is 10 dB
Now, I’m seeing something odd, no hard evidence but definitely a suspicion
If I connect the unit with a LAN cable to my PC I get repeated loss of internet, regularly, up for at most a minute, down for like 10 secs and up again for random time, usually less than a minute.
If I relocate the unit across the room and use long LAN cable, same thing.
If I disconnect LAN and use my Surface to connect to its WiFi, it seems I get higher stability, seems almost fine in fact.
Is there a know issue with the LAN interface? could such a thing really go unnoticed?
Here’s what that cellmapper reveales:
My house is the square in the upper right hand part of the picture. Seems there's nothing on that small butte after all, the far left red dot is more or less west of me and the nearer red dot is more or less due south west.
That Band 41 tower is 2,500 ft or so from my house in fact, and there are several other band 41 towers west of me too it seems.
A huge weakness with this Nokia gateway is the lack of logs or counters. With my ADSL modem I can see a huge amount of details like how many DSL link losses to date or past 24 hours and so on. There's no way to find out from the Nokia if we've lost and regained a connection because there's no history, none that I can find anyway.
Another gripe is the location of the status display. Having that on the top is crazy because one must be looking down on it to see the signal strength, pretty hard to do if one is situating it high up in a room.
That manual says
The Connection screen is the first that is displayed after on boarding is successful. The Connection screen displays the RSRP of 4G/LTE and 5G signals. The title of the screen is "CONNECTION". The bars indicate the signal strength. The RSRP of 5G signal is shown when there is only 5G connection (in SA mode). The strongest RSRP signal (4G and 5G) are shown when both 4G and 5G connections are established.
Yet I see in the web UI that the 5G signal has 4 bars and the 4G has 3 bars, yet the display on the top of the unit shows 3 bars!
This is quite insane. I now have my desktop cabled to the gateway on a LAN port and at the same time my Surface connected to the gateway over wifi. The device using WiFi sees a stable service, the PC see's the connection going up/down, up/down…
What the heck is going on...
The LAN cable is 35 ft long but I had the same issue this morning with a cable just 4 ft long so I doubt its cable or cable length. The same 4ft cable is used to connect to DSL modem anyway and that has no issues.
Well, keep in mind the LED bars on the router are generic and the cellular metrics are where you can dial it in. With your location roughly ½ mile from the n41 you should get some pretty good speeds. Use speedtest.net and fast.com and get some speed results. The T-Mobile solution uses the secondary 5G signal for downloads and the 4G LTE for uploads so I would expect to see poor uploads and higher latency and jitter on the 4G. Having some data related to performance, speed might be good. With the clean signal to the n41 you should get pretty impressive download speed.
So, what category of cable are you using? Is the Ethernet cable fabricated in a facility or home built?
I started a thread:
The cables are all purchased and several have been used today (not because I suspected a problem with them).
I’ll do some more testing in a minute, it could conceivably be the cables….
OK so if you had no issues with the DSL modem with the cable what is the client? Windows, Apple, Linux? What is the network card? Realtec or Intel, any idea? If windows pull up system information. Check the driver. Maybe the client NIC has a driver issue. If you have another PC connect the two back to back with the same cable and give both IP addresses so they can talk. Then run a constant ping between the two and see if they stay up and stable for a test.
