Question

5G home internet keeps dropping



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Have the newer 5G home gateway. It was fine for a few months, the last few months it has been un-reliable. internet connectivity just drops (not slow, drops 100%).  This is not just the gateway by cell data on my phones also dies at the same time!   Multiple calls into T-mobile, technical tickets and promises of call backs, nothing.  Everyone should file an FCC complaint: https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/

 

I was having a couple of drops a day and changed router setting from auto to 2.4mz and it dropped my download speed from 240 to about 80, still fast enough for my needs and haven’t had any drops since.🤞

Userlevel 7
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OK so that is helpful!

I can see the 5G NR n71 is delivered from the tower on the other side of town. That is where your router links to for the secondary channel.

See the screen shots attached. Both the 5G NR and 4G LTE towers are there. Close to one another but not from the same tower.

So there’s no way to force the 5G Gateway to only connect to 4G?

Userlevel 2
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This is more of a poor device design then anything else. Others have noted the same thing that T-Mobile needs to design a better router with better hardware and more efficient software. This is a poor design of a router that T-Mobile rushed out the door. The FCC should hear about this company and how they refuse to address the problems they constantly keep having.

OK so that is helpful!

I can see the 5G NR n71 is delivered from the tower on the other side of town. That is where your router links to for the secondary channel.

See the screen shots attached. Both the 5G NR and 4G LTE towers are there. Close to one another but not from the same tower.

Correct. And my secondary connection keep swapping between two cells on the 5GNR tower, and those cells are 261 and 184. I’m hoping that an external antenna can penetrate through the thickness of the trees. The way I am seeing it is, if my trashcan can get a n71 signal on its own, then an antenna should be able to help.

 

Funnily enough, as I was writing this message, the internet dropped. 

 

Uptime from the last drop: 5h, 7m, 30s

Temperature at the top of the grill: 87F

Noticeable difference: Secondary connection wasn’t connected, however primary was. I don’t understand why there’s this inability to keep the internet going even though the primary tower connection still exists. Makes me wonder if there’s a handoff issue when the secondary tower drops off while the primary tower never disconnects?

A reboot from the gateway panel fixes it, like usual. Also, every time I reboot it has no issues connecting to the secondary tower. Another thing I find odd.

Not long before this, my wife started a large download for a 15GB game update for Black Desert Online. Just wanted to mention it incase it oddly has something to do with a massive influx of packets or if a massive load of data being transferred is somehow affecting it.

So here’s round 2 of images:

 

Userlevel 7
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I have seen with my router when the secondary signal drops there will be a disruption for 2-3 minutes. The router does not handle the transition from 4G LTE to 5G NR well. That is my take. 

The change between 184 and 261 on the tower. Interesting. Notice the reported cell direction N 16 degrees and N 0 degrees. You need to look at your position in relation to that tower. Cell mapper reports three cells on that tower. The red dot suggest unverified tower. I have looked to try to find the tower on Google Earth via sat images but it is transparent or no image exist with it included. Probably more uploaded data would help solidify the GPS info on that tower.

It might be helpful to have a call with T-Mobile support and just bring that up. There could be work being done on the tower or there might be some issue with the equipment. If they dont get calls on a given tower I would guess they take it to be good to go.

Userlevel 7
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If you describe the behavior and can provide data on what you have seen it might just help get someone to look closer at it. I am sure support would have to pass that on to the engineering team.

@007BondMI6 I found this thread and appreciate the help you are providing to others. I have had T-Mobile home for about two months now and really like it when it is up. Every few days, even if it shows a good connection, internet stops working so I have to restart it. We are not using the wifi on the router because we already have a mesh network. I disabled the wifi on the router a couple of times but every time I reboot it the wifi comes back on and it is a pain turning all of them off, so I have left them alone lately. I live in New Orleans 4-5 blocks from a tower. The home gateway is 7 feet off the ground, next to a window and consistently gets 3 bars. I tried a few other places in the house but was only able to get it up to 4 bars and I have several hardwired servers in the office so was happy with the 3 bars.

 

Primary Signal - PCI 276 / Band B66 / EARFCN 66711

RSRP -97 dBm

SNR 5 dB

RSRQ -14 dB

RSSI -64 dBm

I have seen SNR as low as 1 dB though. Seems to fluctuate

 

Secondary Signal - PCI 101 / Band n41 / NR-ARFCN 509790

RSRP -99 dBm

SNR 18 dB

RSRQ -11 dB

 

I was also wondering what you are getting from your primary and secondary signal so I can see how far I am off from a solid connection. Thanks for the help!

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@jlillard it fluctuates. Anywhere between 60 and 220 down, and 8 and 35 up.

You are lucky. My DL speeds are consistently below 10 Mb/s. I spent 3 hours today mostly on the phone installing a replacement gateway, switching out 3 SIM cards and 2 gateways. My LTE phone is consistently showing 18-30 Mb/s DL. I’m 1.5 Km from my assigned tower. Gateway has 4 bars of signal. Primary is 4 bars, secondary 3 bars. 

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I’ve been running mine with a fan blowing on it for the last couple of days.  My issues might be fixed, but I need more time to confirm.

I have seen with my router when the secondary signal drops there will be a disruption for 2-3 minutes. The router does not handle the transition from 4G LTE to 5G NR well. That is my take. 

The change between 184 and 261 on the tower. Interesting. Notice the reported cell direction N 16 degrees and N 0 degrees. You need to look at your position in relation to that tower. Cell mapper reports three cells on that tower. The red dot suggest unverified tower. I have looked to try to find the tower on Google Earth via sat images but it is transparent or no image exist with it included. Probably more uploaded data would help solidify the GPS info on that tower.

It might be helpful to have a call with T-Mobile support and just bring that up. There could be work being done on the tower or there might be some issue with the equipment. If they dont get calls on a given tower I would guess they take it to be good to go.

My trashcan has never reconnected to the secondary tower on it’s own after I lose connection. I have waited a 5 minute period and I had never gotten reconnected without rebooting. I’ll give it 10 minutes on the next drop to see if it eventually reconnects on its own.

I’m the only one in my area that seems to be driving off of the main road. I’ll probably drive around where there’s no data on the roads around town and see if I can help get a better sense of that unverified tower. Again, my guess is that the location is wrong, and that there’s just one big tower in town. I’ll keep an eye out though.

Also, the only window I have facing S. that direction is in our bathroom, which wouldn’t be a good place considering the moisture and the general awkwardness. I have tried placing it next to the wall facing South but I didn’t have a stable connection to the second tower nearly at all, and much less of a connection to the B66. That’s where I’m really thinking a external antenna would be a lifesaver to a stable connection to the 5GNR.

Userlevel 7
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What are the actual Bands and RSRP, RSRQ and SNR reports from the web UI? It is clear when it has the 5G NR standing you get a solid down but when the signal does down are you seeing the PCI for the 4G LTE and 5G NR cells changing? That sounds very frustrating. If the behavior stays wonky after the router swap I would seriously question if there has been work going on on the tower and ask if they have had other complaints about the operation in the area. That close to the tower it should be good.

Userlevel 5
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@007BondMI6 I found this thread and appreciate the help you are providing to others. I have had T-Mobile home for about two months now and really like it when it is up. Every few days, even if it shows a good connection, internet stops working so I have to restart it. We are not using the wifi on the router because we already have a mesh network. I disabled the wifi on the router a couple of times but every time I reboot it the wifi comes back on and it is a pain turning all of them off, so I have left them alone lately. I live in New Orleans 4-5 blocks from a tower. The home gateway is 7 feet off the ground, next to a window and consistently gets 3 bars. I tried a few other places in the house but was only able to get it up to 4 bars and I have several hardwired servers in the office so was happy with the 3 bars.

 

Primary Signal - PCI 276 / Band B66 / EARFCN 66711

RSRP -97 dBm Not good does not get dependable until it gets into the low -90s

SNR 5 dB boarderling Ok

RSRQ -14 dB OK

RSSI -64 dBm could be better.

I have seen SNR as low as 1 dB though. Seems to fluctuate

1-4 really bad.

 

Secondary Signal - PCI 101 / Band n41 / NR-ARFCN 509790

RSRP -99 dBm Not good does not get dependable until it gets into the low -90s

SNR 18 dB Great super

RSRQ -11 dB OK

 

I was also wondering what you are getting from your primary and secondary signal so I can see how far I am off from a solid connection. Thanks for the help!

Things to flux but here it is right now.

I had to add the external ant to get to this level otherwise I was as bad as you are and same issues as you.

Primary Signal

Connected

RSRP-76 dBm

SNR 6 dB

RSRQ-13 dB

RSSI-43 dBm

Secondary Signal

Connected

RSRP-80 dBm

SNR 7 dB

RSRQ-12 dB

 You should try to move things around to see if you can improve the reading but once you get to the best if it is not enough then only answer is ext ant.

 

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