Question

5G home internet keeps dropping

J
Userlevel 5
Badge

I’m having a problem with T-Mobile 5g home internet that has not been resolved despite many calls in to the help line.  I’ve had T-Mobile 5g home internet for almost a month now, and the short version is that every so often the gateway drops the network.  When I say “drop the network,” I mean to say it throws everything off of the Wifi that it’s broadcasting, and anything plugged in via ethernet says “no network found.  (To elaborate this point, cell phones switch to cellular data because wifi is gone for them, and computers hardwired into the gateway think that they are no longer plugged into anything.)  Turning off the gateway and turning it back on resolves the issue, but doesn’t prevent it from happening again.  Whatever is happening doesn’t seem to affect our connection speed/strength when the gateway IS providing signal to devices in the home, but due to the nature of our work, we need a connection that won’t just disconnect randomly.  

 

To address this, T-mobile has so far run a bunch of tests on their end, and seem to have ruled out a tower issue (which makes sense, as the tower shouldn’t have anything to do with whether or not the devices on the gateway’s wifi or ethernet connection get thrown off of the network.)  They’ve sent me a replacement gateway, which is experiencing the exact same problem (3 times in the last 36 hours, in fact).   I’ve noticed that the device gets pretty warm, so I set up a computer case fan as a cooler to force air through the device, thinking that perhaps it’s an issue with the device overheating.  However, while the gateway is notably cooler than it was without the fan, it has not prevented the issue from persisting.  The last thing that I can think to do (and my most recent attempt at resolving this issue) is to plug a router into the gateway via ethernet, and allow the router to handle the wifi/connections w/ devices in the house, and to disable wifi from the gateway all together.  Maybe the gateway is simply too overburdened with connections and gets somehow overwhelmed and shuts down, and having the router handle the “heavy lifting” of taking care of all of the individual device connections will resolve it?  I don’t have a great deal of faith that this will fix the issue (as the gateway also kicks ethernet things off of the network when it experiences this problem), but I’m running out of options/ideas of what to do in order to just get a stable, constant internet service.   

 

Is anybody else having this issue, has anybody resolved this issue, or does anybody have any advice or feedback regarding how I might get this resolved so that I can get back to having stable internet?

264 replies

B

The problem is that this is a wireless connection and not a normal land connection like fiber optics. It all lies in the security protocol where they are using a dynamic IP address which assigned to you by your internet service provider (T-Mobile) and is subject to change. This means that your IP address can and will change each time you connect to the internet, or while you are connected which causes the issue.  This makes it a bit harder for criminal hackers to monitor your online habits.  Until they switch over to a static IP this issue will continue to happen.  Nothing you do on your end will solve the problem as you will see by reading the other posts.  

L

That shouldn't be an issue. If the 5g cell phone I'm currently using doesn't drop, the gateway shouldn't be dropping it's connection either. 

This is clearly an issue with the gateway and nothing else. Likely poorly or cheaply designed. 

If I find another provider, I'll be cancelling my service too. Because this is getting old. 

B

I’m having a problem with T-Mobile 5g home internet that has not been resolved despite many calls in to the help line.  I’ve had T-Mobile 5g home internet for almost a month now, and the short version is that every so often the gateway drops the network.  When I say “drop the network,” I mean to say it throws everything off of the Wifi that it’s broadcasting, and anything plugged in via ethernet says “no network found.  (To elaborate this point, cell phones switch to cellular data because wifi is gone for them, and computers hardwired into the gateway think that they are no longer plugged into anything.)  Turning off the gateway and turning it back on resolves the issue, but doesn’t prevent it from happening again.  Whatever is happening doesn’t seem to affect our connection speed/strength when the gateway IS providing signal to devices in the home, but due to the nature of our work, we need a connection that won’t just disconnect randomly.  

 

To address this, T-mobile has so far run a bunch of tests on their end, and seem to have ruled out a tower issue (which makes sense, as the tower shouldn’t have anything to do with whether or not the devices on the gateway’s wifi or ethernet connection get thrown off of the network.)  They’ve sent me a replacement gateway, which is experiencing the exact same problem (3 times in the last 36 hours, in fact).   I’ve noticed that the device gets pretty warm, so I set up a computer case fan as a cooler to force air through the device, thinking that perhaps it’s an issue with the device overheating.  However, while the gateway is notably cooler than it was without the fan, it has not prevented the issue from persisting.  The last thing that I can think to do (and my most recent attempt at resolving this issue) is to plug a router into the gateway via ethernet, and allow the router to handle the wifi/connections w/ devices in the house, and to disable wifi from the gateway all together.  Maybe the gateway is simply too overburdened with connections and gets somehow overwhelmed and shuts down, and having the router handle the “heavy lifting” of taking care of all of the individual device connections will resolve it?  I don’t have a great deal of faith that this will fix the issue (as the gateway also kicks ethernet things off of the network when it experiences this problem), but I’m running out of options/ideas of what to do in order to just get a stable, constant internet service.   

 

Is anybody else having this issue, has anybody resolved this issue, or does anybody have any advice or feedback regarding how I might get this resolved so that I can get back to having stable internet?

I have had this issue for several weeks, and the frequency of the internet dropping has increases.  I have contacted T-Mobile numerous time and have been told that the cell tower nearest me is being repaired or updated.  I have not been given a date as to when this will end, and I’m now researching new providers.

A

Same issue after trial period now streaming lags, but my cameras stay on which is good. I cannot stream on more than one TV and definitely cannot have my phones on the wifi or it starts buffering

S

I’m having the same issue.  I have 5 bars out of 5 pretty much all the time, though.  I wonder if I should switch back to a non-wireless ISP, or let them replace the tower, which, either way, requires me to re-setup all the wifi-devices in my house, though. 

A
Badge

I have the same problem every three months or so. (I do not leave my hotspot plugged in, I turn it off when I’m done). I call T-Mobile, have to wait for a call back, then the CSR tries to be uber friendly without actually helping me, and I try not to get irritated because they obviously have no idea or ability to do anything - and when I finally get transferred to the tech queue, my call is dropped. So I have to start allll over again. Every three months.  Except tonight. Tonight I’m done. I can’t get on the internet (thank god for my phone being a different provider). I called, got CSR’d, got dropped by the tech line, AGAIN. 

I’m tired of calling, tired of eventually being told “oh, a tower’s down” - I’m going to have to look for another provider. I’m tired of getting this run around, when it’s obvious they’ve bought up so many people’s accounts (like Mint now) that they are probably exceeding capacity and so don’t care if I leave after ten years. Fine. 

S

I have the same internet dropping problem. I am using Nokia 5G21 gateway. Has anybody used or tested with any other brand or model gateway?

S

I have a time switch that turns off the gateway in the night and turns on in the morning. That does not solve the problem. Sometimes it loses connection only 1-2 hours after turning on.

W

Black tower, was good for a little over a month but started doing random resets today.

C
Badge

Shutting it off at night isn't a viable option for anyone relying on it for basic service such as a telephone. When my wifi is down on the gateway my devices on ethernet loose wifi as well. I have to go outside to get any data for my phone to work (very inconvenient since it is winter time) t-mobile doesn't seem to have answers for any of us. I can watch TV sometimes for hours without much disruption and then like today it is up and down every few sections and then will straighten back out for awhile. At the end of my ropes hoping for an answer. 

E

I’m having a problem with T-Mobile 5g home internet that has not been resolved despite many calls in to the help line.  I’ve had T-Mobile 5g home internet for almost a month now, and the short version is that every so often the gateway drops the network.  When I say “drop the network,” I mean to say it throws everything off of the Wifi that it’s broadcasting, and anything plugged in via ethernet says “no network found.  (To elaborate this point, cell phones switch to cellular data because wifi is gone for them, and computers hardwired into the gateway think that they are no longer plugged into anything.)  Turning off the gateway and turning it back on resolves the issue, but doesn’t prevent it from happening again.  Whatever is happening doesn’t seem to affect our connection speed/strength when the gateway IS providing signal to devices in the home, but due to the nature of our work, we need a connection that won’t just disconnect randomly.  

 

 

 

Is anybody else having this issue, has anybody resolved this issue, or does anybody have any advice or feedback regarding how I might get this resolved so that I can get back to having stable internet?

So even though your post was about 2 years ago, this is for the current users of T-Mobile 5G Internet. Basically as most comments say the device is dropping off. Sometimes the devices won't connect even though I get a good signal from the Gateway. My service started in October of 2023. Today is Jan, 20, 2024. So for 3 months it’s been HORRIBLE. TERRIBLE SERVICE. I know that the device not only drop off when I am awake but it happens when I am asleep as well. I only put my phone on WiFi in the house bc my data signal on the phone is only 2 bars. I play music on my phone at night and need the wifi signal to hear the music. I get up to turn over and the music is off and the phone says. You are not connected to WiFi turn on wifi or data. 🤯  The other night it was 1;42AM it dropped. I wasn’t asleep, so I turned it back on. At 1:50AM, it dropped again. 🤯 YES, THE TECH TELL ME ITS THE TOWER TOO. Sure whatever. In December the told me the tower would not be fixed until February. Wow! 2 and ½ months to fix a tower. I bet they can build a new tower in less time than that and maybe they should based on the complaints here in this thread. ANYWAYS, I called them 3 times this week along. make me cray-cray. This tech tonight said he thought it would help if I were to get a wireless router extender to hook up to the T-Gateway. He said it would be about $60 and told me to get Netgear if it doesn’t work, he told me I could return the product to Walmart if I purchased it there. One thing I forgot to mention that about two weeks ago I was so fed up. I told them to send me a new gateway tower. And they did of course I'm still having the same problems. I will attempt to try the router extender. I don't understand why TMobile won't offer this option with a disclaimer. Because today's Tech told me that the White Gateway is so secure it basically has problems connecting to certain devices. They don't suggest the extender router because it is not secure like the new White Gateway that TMobile sends out.                                                              

The first two weeks of having this gateway I spent literally 30 hours trying to talk to IT, I spoke to Apple multiple times then Apple tells me to call TMobile back because my computer would not connect. I ran to the T-mobile store, everything works fine there, then got it home and it didn’t work. Funny thing is I found some article on why Mac computers are not connecting to the Internet even though you have an icon that shows that you have Wi-Fi. So I did a couple of the things they suggested which was 11 different things are more and my computer connected but two days ago I couldn't connect my computer with Wi-Fi or the ethernet. TMobile has really really sucked so far and it seems like 5G Internet service is not good at TMobile. Employees are very nice but service just is horrible.

C
Badge +1

It is a tower issue. T-Mobile sets it up to constantly be switching from tower to tower. Sometimes it will do it seamlessly, while other times you’ll notice a little interruption in service and then it will continue, unfortunately there are times when the tower switch is delayed long enough that it kicks you off the system altogether. They need to fix this by either not having the system switch towers or by making sure tower switches are close enough so the delay isn’t so long that you completely lose signal.

E

UPDATE TO MY SITUATION….Today is thursday, February 29, 2024. A couple weeks ago I went to the T-Mobile store and returned my 2nd (🤯🤯) white gateway and exchanged it for a black tall gateway. The black tall gateway hooked all of my devices up immediately. It didn't take weeks and months like the white gateway gave me problems. So between the cell towers being worked on and the White gateway (being too restrictive due to higher security thresholds), I think those 2 issues caused many problems for me. Currently, the service drops off maybe once a day compared to before, which was 10 or more times a day. So for those of you whose heads are exploding like mine did, try returning Your WHITE GATEWAY for a black one. Now if you have a black one already and have similar problems, please see Curious George’s reply. Best of wishes to all of you who prefer lower costs for internet!!

C
Badge +1

It is a tower issue. T-Mobile sets it up to constantly be switching from tower to tower. Sometimes it will do it seamlessly, while other times you’ll notice a little interruption in service and then it will continue, unfortunately there are times when the tower switch is delayed long enough that it kicks you off the system altogether. They need to fix this by either not having the system switch towers or by making sure tower switches are close enough so the delay isn’t so long that you completely lose signal.

UPDATE: After finding and speaking with a very competent rep, I found out that my tower needed a repair and was waiting on a part. He suggested that I try finding a different tower to pull a signal from. The T-Mobile app only showed the one tower as being available. Just for the heck of it I tried rotating in a direction opposite of where it indicated. BINGO, I got 3 bar signal and have not had it drop the internet for 2 days so far. I love T-Mobile when it’s working 100%. Good luck to all that might be experiencing issues. You might want to try the same.

 

Reply


New badge winners

Show all badges
Terms & Conditions