Latest Gateway Firmware Discussion

Just ran the same test from my 5G cell phone near the can and getting 200 down. So can gets 2 down while the phone gets 200 down. Clear there is an issue with the can and not the tower.

Fan under can and room is ac cool so should not be an overheat issue.

007BondMI6 wrote:

Just ran the same test from my 5G cell phone near the can and getting 200 down. So can gets 2 down while the phone gets 200 down. Clear there is an issue with the can and not the tower.

Fan under can and room is ac cool so should not be an overheat issue.

 

Hopefully TMobile doesn't selectively throttle certain network protocols. Supposedly they don't. I'd expect a congested network to be reflected on T-Mobile phone speeds over 5G (not wifi) as well as the Internet Home service. Phone users going over 50 GB a month are "prioritized' according to the web site but I don't know (yet) if that affects Home Users.

I'm getting drastically different speeds now too. Massive amounts of "buffer bloat' according to the speed tests. With my old router I could adjust the settings but there's not really any option to do anything with this one.

At this point, the speed test fails without completing.

This seems to have settled down for me still on 1.2101.00.1609 so maybe we just have to be patient while they get the kinks ironed out. My old service was so slow it's hard to be worse than it was :|

FYI - I haven't had any issues since last weekend. This says "4G" because they don't have a 5G option yet.  
 

It’s now Sept 8 and I have not received the 5G gateway firmware (or “software” as it lists in the GUI) update from 1.2003.03.0178 to the new 1.2101.00.1609 which was supposed to roll out to users throughout August but has obviously been delayed because of some problems.

The T-Mo Report four weeks ago said: The update claims to fix two known VPN issues, one with Cisco AnyConnect and one with GlobalProtect. More importantly, the update claims to improve the poor 5G signal experience. Apparently, this fixes situations where a 5G signal is poor and the LTE signal would be a better connection.

One comment in a video of Tyrone's "Tech Life Channel" on YouTube said something which for me means this is the problem they are trying to fix before they roll it out to more people. That is, one comment says he got the new 1609 update, and used to get 500Mbps download speeds on the B2/n41 signal combination but is now stuck on a much slower 4G-alone B4 band.

On the other hand, for the few people who get better 4G service in their area and their 5G is terrible, this may be a great update for those people. This will help those people get their fastest speed on the 4G rather than having to trade their gray can for the old 4G model, at least until the 5G service in their area improves.

@Timsw I had not received the '1609' update either. I contacted support via Twitter direct message @TMobileHelp. They attempted to push it and it failed. I power cycled the router and they pushed it again...successfully. Time will tell if it helps.

My point is that by contacting support I was able to get the firmware update.

Steve wrote:

@TimswI had not received the '1609' update either. I contacted support via Twitter direct message @TMobileHelp. They attempted to push it and it failed. I power cycled the router and they pushed it again...successfully. Time will tell if it helps.

My point is that by contacting support I was able to get the firmware update.

Yup, that's how you can do it, and probably worth a try if you are among the people who want a 4G connection, because the 5G in your area is bad. Or they have the VPN issues mentioned in the T-Mo Report.

I would like to hear from people who get the update, if they notice any difference, speed improvement, stability, or whatever. So get back to us if you notice anything. 

Here in Hawaii my Nokia connects to B2 & N71, huge improvement in speed with the 1609 firmware.  My previous best speeds were 40 down/10 up ... now those are my absolute minimum speeds.  With the built-in WiFi my average is now 80/10. I no longer use the internal WiFi so I turned down the 2.4/5GHz transmission powers to 12%. 

I recently added an Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro SE & WiFi 6 Lite Access point in a double NAT configuration and was surprised to see peaks at 250/70, average 140/40. Until Tmobile gives us bridge mode that's how I roll my Nokia FG-21. 

I’m now a happy camper with Tmobile Internet. 

My gateway was upgraded (without any notification, mind you) to 1.2103.00.0338 a few weeks ago. No major issues with the internet service per se, but now the Home Internet app fails to show the list of devices attached to the network. I know my way around computers and can find workarounds, but this can be a big annoyance for most average users.