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.

ka79535 - In some rural locations it does appear to be a bit questionable for some customers. I have seen postings in the community that seem to reflect even customers closer into large cities experience unpredictable results. Sometimes it is spot on and other times it is unpredictable.

T-Mobile must have projections and plans/schedules laid out for the 5G expansion which should be used in coordination with the confirmation for new customers to make an informed decision. For such a huge undertaking the planning, provisioning and equipment final installs would require significant advance efforts. It would be very helpful if the customer decision process would include "realistic expectations" from the start. If the tower upgrades in a given location for a new customer is a month out they should provide proper notification as such and give a new prospective customer a more qualified response for 5G delivery. Project managers need to work with marketing better and deliver ongoing updates so marketing can adjust their efforts to provide more accurate expectations. The churn and burn is only resulting in negative publicity. We all know bad news travels faster and wider than good news most of the time.

If you have some of the metrics data from your router solution you can share maybe with hard data members on the community can help with direct suggestions. I get the frustrations but if there are bits of data you have to share from the router operations maybe the solution can be improved enough to get an acceptable level of performance until the 5G goes full bore where you are. I had at least 4 calls with T-Mobile support engineers in July when this location went crazy. The disconnects and random 5G signal drops were due to some issue on the tower. After two weeks or so they got it figured out and afterward it was actually a bit better for the 5G delivery. The signal was stronger and better quality. It was not huge but enough to make a nice difference.

If you know 100% the tower your router connects to with the PCI information that is a good start. The location of the router, as you may have seen in several posts, is sometimes a real challenge and the end result for the best location of the router does not always seem logical. If you are not 100% on the tower location you can call T-Mobile support and get the coordinates of the tower(s) and also use cellmapper.net to confirm or gain clarity. I used my iPhone 12 in field test mode to confirm the PCI information with the router reporting. I know the phone might latch onto another tower but if there is really only one good option they will probably reach the same destination. With knowledge of the tower location vs reliance upon the generic bars on the LED display on top of the router it is possible to dial it in much better. There are lots of things others have done to get the solutions improved or stable. Post some data and maybe you will get some directed recommendations that help. If you are familiar with the web UI of the router and the metrics that is great. If not maybe you will find the attachment helpful.

Here are the stats on my system. I am going to try hooking up an antenna later today and hoping that will help.

$50 a month is too much for such an unreliable internet service. Spectrum cable just lowered monthly price to $49.95 for 1,000 gb of internet. Just approaching one month of Tmob home and am tired of dropouts while watching the tube and less than 1 mbps download speeds between 4pm and midnight. T-Mobile is not delivering what they are advertising. 

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).

I have spent hours  and days on the phone with support and non of the issues have been resolved.  Support personnel have been professional and we run through general reboot scenarios but  it does not fix the problem.  The problem issues have been turned over to the engineers but still no resolution.

I would like to keep the home internet solution but it has been a very frustrating experience.  I may be forced to go back to my previous internet provider as there were no speed and reliability issues with them.

If there is anybody from t-mobile reading these posts…….please resolve these issues before you loose customers.

 

Same for me. Speeds nowhere near what I was promised. May have to go back to Comcast (ugh)

iTinkeralot wrote:

roninaz You are not alone in your quest for internet nirvana. It would help to know details as to what your  gateway router reports in the web UI interface. I will assume you have been over this with the T-Mo support engineers but it is hard to help without data. 

The LED display on the top of the router can provide some idea but not much detail about what is going on with the communication to the tower. The web UI at 192.168.12.1 will help much more.

Sugerencias:

Record the reporting of the primary & secondary signals from the Información general>Internet Connection

Record the reporting of the primary & secondary signals from the Estado>Cellular network section

Confirm if there are packet drops or errors from the Estadísticas>Cellular information

Do you know where the tower is; how far away it is...?

Snips of information from the web page are sufficient. It is pretty easy and helpful to make screen clips of data from the Overview, Status, & Statistics pages in the web UI and make a quick document with that info and then attach the info to the post. With more info I would be happy to make some additionalsuggestions.

ITinkeralot...  Even without an Overview, Status or Stastical info... throw some ideas out anyway.  I hate to sound harsh, but there's not alot that even the outside techie can do, other than to assist in optimal location placement.

The problem lies in both the gateway unit itself (over-heating) which may have some merrit, as ive tossed mine out in 30 degree weather for 30 mins, then powered back up and get better than it was, not great service, but did function better... after it being on for a solid 10 days.  Additionally, its not a congestion issue as TMobile tech may claim.  I performed an onsite (last mile near tower) test with a seperate hotspot device, also on the TMobile network, and pulled near 80Mbps speeds.

Bottom line... the issue is the gateway and transmission penetration.  Whats the solution....  getting TMobile to provide its customers with repeaters, as does Verizon for those customers who pushed hard enough in numbers to get its signal out beyond 10 miles, and through simple terrain obstruction s (ie. Hills and mild timber).  And, to replace the gateway intirely with a different unit all together.

That said, Im interested to hear what you got to say... without stats provided.

they said the same ting was rerouting to a new tower and upgrade will take 6 months. been like over a year still crap.

Everyone should file an FCC Complaint - https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/

Here's my problem the fluctuations are really starting to make me cranky. Everyday it seems to be getting worse. Our record low of 0.44mbps our record hi is 245mbps and this has happened all in less than a hours time, and at anytime of the day.

Do poor internet speed and not reliability need to be repaired or fixed?