Forum Discussion
Brand new to home Internet and hoping to improve speed
I read a bunch of the horror stories in here, but decided to try T-Mobile's home internet anyhow 'cause I ALSO read some of the "I get 200+ Mb/s and it NEVER drops below 100" topics. I'm in a town o...
If you get the PCI value you can search for it on CellMapper.net and locate the tower that serves that signal out. With a 4G LTE / 5G NR capable phone it should be possible to obtain the cellular metrics for both signals. The bars on the LED screen are rather generic and do not provide enough information. It does not sound like you are receiving a 5G signal with those speeds or it is a very poor signal reception.
You state you are using CellMapper on your phone so are you looking at 4G or 5G signaling or both?
With CellMapper.net in a browser you can provide your area code to get the general location and then display 4G LTE, 5G NR, or both. I find filtering for one or the other helpful. You will see more 4G LTE towers and IF the 5G cell you receive is on the map that really helps but CellMapper is not 100% as it does rely upon users using the Android application and uploading the findings to the server to have the data installed into the database. This does require an account but it does not cost anything to set up. CellMapper seems to be one of the best resources for locating the cells still. Below is a chart that will help you determine more about your cellular signals. Use the T-Mobile home internet mobile application on your phone to see the cellular metrics. Determine if you really are receiving a functional 5G signal.
I've continued monitoring the Home Internet speeds. I presume everybody must be on their way to grandma's house 'cause last night between 7 and 10 it DIDN'T suck as badly as usual. It only got down to below 1 Mbps 3 or 4 times in the 3 hours, and mostly seemed to be between 4 and 7 Mbps with the monitor taking a reading every 10 minutes… FAR from stellar, and far from what I was told by support that I'd be getting on Thursday, but I'll see what happens Monday or Tuesday.
If I can’t put the Verizon/Visible SIM in the spare Moto G7 Power, and performance continues to be bad, and support doesn’t come up with anything, the box will have to go back to T-Mobile by the end of next week.
I was told by the support person that they’d credit the month of service AND guarantee me I could return the device beyond the 15 days, but they never sent me anything confirming that, so I’m guessing it was “inaccurate”...
