Poor Internet speed and not reliabity

Timsw wrote:

roninaz wrote:

I have had home internet for 30+ days.  The speed and reliability has not been consistent.  I have seen speed from 80 ~ 100 mbs and then have seen speed from 1 ~ 5 mbs.  Also while streaming Netflix and Prime we have seen buffering and sometimes the movie locks up and I have to restart the movie.  My Sonos One device keep disconnecting due to slow internet speed (speed test was less than 1 mbs).

The disparity between getting a connection speed of 80 to 100 at times and 1 to 5 at others is probably too great to be congestion/traffic. It's possible when you are stuck on the slow speed (which often means frequent internet disconnection) it could be that you are connecting to 4G only, instead of the 4G/5G non-standalone signal pair that constitutes 5G, with the 5G signal being an n71 or an n41, depending on what is on your tower.

The essential thing to try is finding a gateway placement in your house that helps you connect at the fastest speed range possible. If you don't know where your tower is, that's okay, but then try placing the gateway in various windows, or as high as  you can, like in the attic, and include various rotation angles. Each time a position change is made with the gateway you restart the gateway via the button on the side, wait two minutes for it to reconnect automatically and do a speed test. You're looking for a location/position of the gateway that will maintain the highest speed range, which usually, but not always, goes along with the highest number of bars of signal strength available in your house.

What I mean by rotation angle is the gateway can be rotated in place, and because it has 4 little antennas inside, their orientation can make a significant difference in what signal bands you are connecting to. That can make a speed difference.

The nature of this beast called 5G cellular is a neighbor three houses away up a hill near you may get a great connection while your geographic position and elevation, just behind a hill between you and the tower, means your connection is bad. 

I live in a rural area 5 miles from the tower, and get an average of 150 download, often over 200, whereas on DSL I was in the single digit speeds, with a 1 for an upload, and paying $45 for that. I understand what it would be like for you, hoping for the 100 that "most customers," or "some customers" get, or however it is worded in their ads.

Besides distance to tower and number of obstructions, other factors can come into play in how good the reception is at your particular house. Even if 30% of their customers are a fail, it just doesn't work well at all for them, turn back their equipment, T mobile will still be raking in huge profits.I stuck with stupid CenturyLink for 12 years,having to call them every year or so to negotiate a more reasonable price for the slow connection I was getting, and so Tmobile's flat $50 forever price, and the way I've already had one significant speed boost in the last three months, it has been unbelievable, almost.

I'm just a customer, and It's not that I mind people airing their frustrations against Tmobile -- this is probably as good a place as any to air your frustrations -- but I think sometimes people are causing themselves excess frustration by demanding to communicate directly  with the CEO -- not that you did that  -- or thinking a massive corporation actually cares about the plight of individual customers and their internet problems. Tmobile often has the highest customer satisfaction among cellular providers.

In fact, I kind of sympathize with your particular problem, of getting good speed sometimes, and then it just being horrible at other times. Therefore, I posted this and hope something I suggested helps you.

In some ways, T-mobile is their own worst enemy. I have been with them for phone service for years. When I called in about Home Internet availability (after looking on the map and seeing my area was all 5g extended) I was told I could expect at least 25mbps…...so I ordered the package.

I get nowhere near that and, like others, get the "our engineers are working on it" answer from support. They are all pleasant and thorough, but there is nothing they can really do, and it isn't their fault.

Maybe T-mobile should adjust their maps to reflect reality and maybe consider setting a lower expectation for customers….especially in rural areas. I am 2 miles from the tower and cannot get a 5g signal on the router. ...plus, I only get 2 bars. 

I had one of the T-mobile personal cell spots hooked up to my Frontier Router because the signal was weak here. I thought maybe they had corrected the issue so I took the chance. Perhaps I should have known better, but I do think T-mobile is being overly optimistic with their promotion of this home internet solution. It is likely much more stable in urban areas.