Forum Discussion
T-Mobile Home Internet Connection Quality
I just signed up for the home internet and received the gray gateway with the LCD touch screen on top. The gateway itself says that I have 4/5 bars for connection, which according to the app would be "very good"… but when I open the home internet app on my phone it says I only have 2/5 bars which is "weak". Service-wise it works fine, and I haven't noticed any issue with streaming or gaming, but it worries me that my phone, even when it's right next to the gateway, says that the connection quality is "weak". I am worried because some of the posts on this forum say that the app says "weak" connection and then the gateway stops working… Does anyone have any observations or advice on this? I've tried calling customer support but they keep putting me on hold for 3+ hours, and when I request a call back it's automatically silenced.
The device appears to show signal strength for the strongest connection, either the primary signal (which is required and always 4G) or the secondary signal (which if present is always 5G). The app shows the strength of the primary signal (the app does not show anything about the secondary connection, though an app update will probably add that at some point).
If you look in the web admin interface (http://192.168.12.1 - using the login information on the bottom of the gateway, unless you changed it) you will see both primary and secondary connection information.
Based on your description you probably have a “weak” (2 bars) primary 4G signal and a “very good” secondary 5G signal.
Note: at some point in the future T-Mobile theoretically could enable stand-alone 5G and a 4G signal wouldn’t be required, but that’s not how it works right now.
If you're not having any problems, like disconnection, intermittent extreme slow downs, etc. just leave it alone and enjoy. If you have problems, use the info from the web interface to try and improve the location and orientation to get a better primary signal, but your 5G connection might then suffer.
Things moved fast in 2021 for T-Mobile's 5G home internet service. It started rolling out as a pilot program early last year and one of my (now former) CNET colleagues, Rick Broida, was one of the first to give it a test run. By April of 2021, T-Mobile announced it had expanded its home broadband service nationwide. Now, a short year later, it's announcing it has expanded its availability out to 40 million households.
We've been aware of T-Mobile's desire to use 5G to break into the home internet game for quite some time. But now that the company's home broadband offering is getting established de this point of view, what does that mean for you? Does 5G home internet offer something new? Is T-Mobile Home Internet a viable option to replace your current internet service provider?
First of all, the price is right: T-Mobile charges $50 a month. On top of that, you don't have to worry about long-term contracts or data caps. Pretty sweet, right?
