Forum Discussion
TMobile Home Internet causes phones to not work
I have just recently started using TMobile Home Internet (the 5G Nokia device that looks like a tall coffee can). When the device is plugged in, our TMobile phones (multiple versions of iPhones) lose about half of their signal strength - and calls end up going to voicemail. Plus text messages (SMS) do not send (get errors).
If we turn off the Home Internet device, signals return to normal and everything works again.
We have had 3 of these devices - and the behavior was observed on all three. (The first one had a broken power button and I had to hold down the button to get it to work. When I got it working - I noticed the problem immediately. The second device had an issue with the SIM activation, but even without an active SIM we still noted the same issue. The third device is in service right now - same problem.)
NOTE: we only have about 2-bars of signal at our house (even the Nokia 5G device has only 2-bars), so this drop in signal to our phones is sufficient to take us out of service.
Has anyone else experienced this behavior?
Is there anything we should try to fix this?
I didn't realized that you can get 100Mbps download speed with 2 bars of 4g. I am getting only 90Mbps ethernet speed with 3 bars. What happens when you switch off the WiFi on your phones? Will they then work normally?
Thanks for the reply Den_in_USA! I appreciate that 2 bars is not enough. I'd be happy with 5 :-)…
But the device works - and I get over 100Mbps download speeds (only 4-10Mbps upload - but that's sufficient). So I don't care much whether it is 5G or LTE - it is sufficient for what I need in terms of Internet capacity.
HOWEVER, if it somehow blocks my cell phones from working - that's a different issue. I don't have a landline (nor do I want one).
I can't control how much signal I'm getting into my house - save for not using the T-Mobile Home Internet device. Unless there is a way to fix this problem, I will have to bail out and return to Spectrum.
My long term plan is to have both Spectrum and TMo - so I have a failover for Internet service. I work from home now (thanks pandemic) and I can't afford to be without Internet. Spectrum is "pretty good" but that's not sufficient to assure that I don't go down during a critical time for my work.
BTW, I bought a TP-Link TL-R605 SafeStream Multi-WAN Router. I have hooked up both my Spectrum and my TMo WAN devices to that, and then hooked up my home WiFi router to the LAN port. It works great. If I disconnect Spectrum, TMo picks up and continues working. If you are look for a cheap "failover" setup for home internet - this device works.
First of all, 2 bars is not good enough to supply internet to your whole household. The fact that you only have two bars indicates that you are getting 4g, not 5g. Even thought there are two T-Mobile 5g towers within a mile from me, I only get 3 bars, so I will continue, for now to pay for both T-Mobile and Spectrum internet. I am confident that once I am on 5g, I will be happy and can drop Spectrum.
