I've had 5G home internet service for about two months, after two weeks it started acting up. For about five times a day all my devices connected to the Arcadyan KVD21 gateway lose internet yet stay connected to wifi, I've tried everything! Do I need to replace my gateway? Very frustrating.
+8
It is hard to say for sure. Maybe it is related to congestion on the tower and traffic throttling or possibly it could be another source disrupting the traffic.
Do any of the cellular metrics fluctuate significantly during that period from when the traffic works?
Performance can be seriously impacted due to signal noise. Watch the RSRQ, signal quality and the SINR, signal noise. It might be some noise that results in significant impact on the signal. If you are in an urban area where there are more potential sources of RF noise I suppose possibly there could be a relationship to some factory or possibly a distribution center.
In addition to recording the cellular metrics you might experiment with the orientation of the gateway just a bit at a time. I discovered that by rotating the gateway clockwise or counter clockwise the exposure of the antennas in the gateway of course is different. There are multiple antennas in the Nokia that are in an alternating pattern with the cellular - wifi - cellular - wifi … orientation. As you rotate the gateway you can expose different antenna to the signal improving the signal wash over the antenna. I found by rotating my gateway pretty much 180 degrees from my initial placement to having the backside facing inside the room the signal receive power improved 2-3 dBm and signal quality also improved. It was a minor change but did result in a bit better performance.
On the back side left and right of the LAN ports there is the 5G-4 and 5G-1 antennas. Directly across from the back is WIFI-4 and to the left and right are 5G-3 and 5G-2. From my tinkering I found exposing the 5G-3 and 5G-2 antennas toward the window produced much better reception. I don’t know quite why that is but it did make a difference. If the exterior shell is removed the labels on the antenna are clearly visible. Those two antenna exposed more direct toward the tower make a difference for me.
Another possible thing to consider would be some transient signal on the power line. It might be rare but with power conditioning it can be prevented. I run all my electronic gear on UPS systems to protect them but that also conditions the power filtering out any noise that might be on the power lines. Think about it. If you can send Ethernet modulated over a power circuit there are possible transient signals that can also ride those power lines. You often will never know what others are doing around you so identifying a source of noise without expensive equipment is pretty difficult.
Then again with all that said it could have nothing to do with the gateway or local influence. It might just be congestion on the tower and excessive throttling. Doing things you can have some influence over to rule out local issues is a start but might not still resolve the behavior.
I’m using the Nokia Home Internet unit, currently on B66 and N41 with decent signal strength. However, every day, usually in the early to mid mornings, my internet connectivity completely vanishes for an hour or so, and then comes back later on in the day. Logging into the unit wirelessly works fine, and it shows LAN and WAN being active, but no data passes. Total data usage so far this month is 29GB, well within the 50GB soft cap. This problem has been happening for several months, and I called customer support and they ended up swapping out my unit, but the problem remains.
Any idea WTH is going on?
+8
Preface: I don’t work for T-Mobile. I am just another subscriber.
From the spread of community conversations regarding disconnects & no internet even though the clients appear to be connected; I have seen similar behavior. My experience with both and from what other users have reported relate to a number of possible sources.
If you see the cellular signals connected in the management and the signal is strong then test the DNS by changing/replacing/adding say 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4 for Google or Quad9s 9.9.9.9 or pick another. If the client starts getting the internet i.e. the browser pages work well the host names were not resolving. I saw the behavior a week or so ago along with many others.
It seems to be common that support will throw hardware at the “issue” but well that is just a hail Mary pass which is often short. They don’t seem to have a proper play book nor database that they use to work through possible solutions. Users with some knowledge and patience can figure some things out with a little help from the community conversations. Some support engineers are really good and others not so much but that is a common aspect of technical support.
T-Mobile engineering seems to do maintenance and deployments of cellular equipment during the middle of the day anytime that works and there are NO notices provided to customers about possible disruptions. It seems to be the same for new deployments that are not fully worked out. In some cases it is premature it seems and possibly just errors here and there. If there is work being done and the user’s gateway is between cells then when the handoff takes place due to the loss of signal this is another situation where it becomes difficult to know exactly what is taking place IF you are not looking closely at the cellular metrics. If the PCI, physical cell identifier changes well it is clear that the gateway lost its prior connection and moved to another cell. It could be both the primary and secondary frequencies or one of them. It seems to be more common that the 5G signal changes. Regardless it is a disruption and gets frustrating.
Cellular internet with 5G is NOT like a cable solution and has its own set of complications. The upside is the monthly cost for no data cap and no contract and no additional fees and costs for the gateway. The speeds when it is done right are impressive. There are growing pains and it has its challenges. I am not trying to defend it. I am just stating my opinion. Here I have had a few disruptive periods but when things were fixed it became stable again and has been a good solution. It can be a fickle animal though.
This morning, I have 5 bars.
Running Time 2d 3h 35m 1s
Not holding my breath, but this is the best I have seen it in a long time.
I made the decision today to go back to cable internet. I had the service for about 2months. I could no longer tolerate the daily disconnects in the middle of a VOIP call or Zoom session. This was now occurring on a daily basis. Most days 2-3 times but on bad days, 5-10 times or greater.
I replaced the Sagecom 5g gateway twice but that did not solve the problem. I put the Sagecom near a fan to cool the device but that did not solve the problem either (as someone suggested).
On the exit call, I spoke with Tmo representative and he said that they aware of the problem with disconnects. He believes in some areas, Tmo may have accepted too many home users without determining the impact on local lower capacity. Also, he could not give a reliable ETA as to when this problem will be fixed or when they would upgrade tower capacity.
The Tmo service has promise. If they can deliver 60-100mbps down consistently. that would serve my needs especially at the $50 forever price point. Only if they could fix the frequent disconnects. I will check out in 12 months time if things have improved or not.
Fortunately, cable internet offers 12month promo at $50 per month for returning customers. You have to have been a non-customer for an unspecified amount of time. Internet posts says 30 days but others say 90 days. Anyway, I got the $50 promotion back.
I will check out this thread frequently to see if this problem will be resolved at some point so if other users could continue to post their experience.
My end result is the same - devices connected to the gateway but no internet. However, my issues do not occur throughout the day - only in the middle of the night when there is no activity. To me, it is almost as if the gateway (Arcadyan) is going into a sleep mode and losing the connection to the tower. After I reboot the gateway in the morning, it will be fine throughout the day.
I first reporting this issue several weeks ago and was told they were upgrading towers (Later discovered this is standard response when they don’t know the answer). When this continued, tech support seemed perplexed. I offered a temporary solution of adding a feature to the app where we can schedule a reboot at a specific day/time. They ignored me.
when I called back in last week, I was told they are aware of the issue and the engineers are working on this. Was told it was reported within the last few days - told them I had been reporting this same issue to them for 6 weeks. Now they want me to take notes on the error codes (there are no codes on the gateway or within the app). Guess I am now an unpaid member of their tech support.
This is getting frustrating and If this was happening throughout the day to me, I would be looking for a different provider.
Also have frequent cut outs and drops. Likely firmware or hardware of "modem." Modem screen shows connection, but neither wireless nor wired connected devices show an Internet connection. It might also be their equipment connecting to internet on the system side.
Annoying and not what I contracted for.
I see some comments here that are questionable. Now to be clear, I don’t think T-Mobile is perfect by no means, but the disillusioned people that consider high dollar Verizon the “only” way to go, and the unreliable AT&T farce, T-Mobile certainly stands out. I switched to T-Mobile way back when they were a nobody and began the no contract(un-carrier) craze that forced every carrier to follow. They were definitely the best value, they had you assigned to a fixed customer support location( I live in SC and mine was in Charleston) which was great, and always answered immediately with an English speaking rep. I have never before or since experienced such great support from any company hands down. Now, due to their growth and merger with Sprint, they can(understandably)no longer provide this personal support now, but it will take a lot to get me to move away from them. Now if you wish to pay more and go to a no better solution, all power to you. T-Mobile has the largest 5G network (although others lie about theirs being the largest and the best), the best deals and prices on their service, and my commitment through these growing pains. I only have 3 bars on my Nokia Gateway bust get as high as 700-800/60 speeds. My bill is constantly the same amount(unlike every month different with AT&T) and constant problems with Spectrum even though they had sufficient speeds. Never tried high dollar Version but I have service when others with Verizon sometimes don’t. I too am seeing some problems with internet that I didn’t see at first, but I fail to believe it is intentional by throttling but I could be mistaken. Anyway, life is full of frustrations, and we become more and more inpatient and feel like we deserve the very best with no interruptions. However, sometimes “we bite off our nose to spite our face” and have regrets later. So, if you’re new to T-Mobile, I am aware that you are unfamiliar with how they really stood out at a period in time, but hang in there, I don’t think you will regret it. If you are a longtime customer, maybe you can confirm what I think. By the way, I do not work for T-Mobile. I have no incentive to bragg on them. I just have been there through the ups and downs and am confident they have saved me a considerable amount of money. Remember, Apple used to be the most expensive phone by a long shot, but look at the prices now on others, ie:Samsung, Google, OnePlus, etc. So I’m staying with Apple also but not because I’m diehard Apple. They just happen to provide some very reliable equipment. Thanks for letting me sound off!
I feel the same way you do. I have been with T-Mobile for close to 20 years. If I ever had a problem, they helped. But this feels like something much worse. I feel like I was sold a service that they knew wasn’t what they were selling. One of the techs I talked to told me it was an experiment and just be patient and hang in there, I didn’t buy an experiment I believe everything you say they oversold and now they’re trying to play catch-up. To keep me they are going to have to offer me something I do not want to go back to cable and now I am so deep into T-Mobile with a new phone and all these bells and whistles that I bought and the Internet, I don’t know how to get out without spending a lot of money , they don’t throttle us, but if we have unlimited data plans, which on the home Internet, we all do, they do, you prioritize us during rush hour, whenever that is. So my 2MBPS drops even further to the point of not even being able to run a speed test . That’s going to far.
I had a bad day today. Two conference calls on Zoom and Microsoft teams. Disconnected in the middle of both calls. I had to use my trusty reliable Verizon hotspot to continue with my call while rebooting the Tmobile home internet service.
I do not think this service is fit for business use. I am looking for alternative ISP at the end of this month.
+2
What I’ve learned through this is T-Mobile has signed on more people than the towers can handle. As such, there are drops. At this time, there is nothing the support dept. can do except continue to regurgitate the generic script, i.e. working on towers, replace router etc.
Until they expand their systems, drops will continue.
For what it’s worth, I’ve had the newer SAG FAST5688W gateway for about 2 months now and it is having the same drop issues, so I would doubt the issue is with the various gateways. The longest connection sustained so far has been a little over 2 days, and the worst has been multiple reboots per day. That said, when the service connects, I do usually get over 50Mb throughput (it’s using the N71 band). Being in rural Virginia, this is great for us.
To help make the constant rebooting less aggravating, I did see in another thread a device called Keep Connect - $50 on Amazon. Installed it yesterday and it has already automatically rebooted the device once, so now I don’t have to manually intervene. We’ll see - gateway has now been up 16h 38m 19s.
It’s unfortunate that T-Mobile can’t/won’t fix their software to do what the Keep Connect device does - automatically detect connection failure and restore it. Funny how you never have to reboot your phone.
If you’re listening T-Mobile, the device has dropped 21 times since I added the KeepConnect 6 days ago! At least the KeepConnect is handling the rebooting for me.
This is what I found: (don’t know if it’s accurate or complete?)
Older: Nokia 5G21 (gray)
Current: Arcadyan KVD21 (black)
Newest: Sagemcomm FAST 5688W (black)
My KVD21 is not overheating. My devices rarely disconnect from the gateway. A few weeks ago, I started frequently losing Internet access, even though they are still connected. Sometimes it will repair on it’s own. Often I have to reboot the gateway to restore Internet access. Sometimes several times a day. It feels like a software problem on the gateway. Maybe with DNS not working?
I almost always have 4 bars on the signal strength, occasionally 3 or 5, but 4 is pretty consistent.
The frequent disconnects are annoying when using the internet for working from home. I could handle 1 or 2 discounts late in the day but not multiple discounts throughout the day.
I use Zoom and VOIP calls so you can imagine how inconvenient the frequent disconnect can be.
So for this week (week of 10/10), I am experiencing only 1 or 2 disconnects per day occurring between 5-7PM.
The worst was a week ago in which I experienced 10-15 disconnect instances for several days.
If the tower is congested, I would rather have the bandwidth slowed to around 5mbps rather than being completed disconnected.
I never experienced these kinds of disconnects using AT&T or Verizon. Luckily, have a Verizon hotspot as backup for work.
For what it’s worth, I’ve had the newer SAG FAST5688W gateway for about 2 months now and it is having the same drop issues, so I would doubt the issue is with the various gateways. The longest connection sustained so far has been a little over 2 days, and the worst has been multiple reboots per day. That said, when the service connects, I do usually get over 50Mb throughput (it’s using the N71 band). Being in rural Virginia, this is great for us.
To help make the constant rebooting less aggravating, I did see in another thread a device called Keep Connect - $50 on Amazon. Installed it yesterday and it has already automatically rebooted the device once, so now I don’t have to manually intervene. We’ll see - gateway has now been up 16h 38m 19s.
It’s unfortunate that T-Mobile can’t/won’t fix their software to do what the Keep Connect device does - automatically detect connection failure and restore it. Funny how you never have to reboot your phone.
I see some comments here that are questionable. Now to be clear, I don’t think T-Mobile is perfect by no means, but the disillusioned people that consider high dollar Verizon the “only” way to go, and the unreliable AT&T farce, T-Mobile certainly stands out. I switched to T-Mobile way back when they were a nobody and began the no contract(un-carrier) craze that forced every carrier to follow. They were definitely the best value, they had you assigned to a fixed customer support location( I live in SC and mine was in Charleston) which was great, and always answered immediately with an English speaking rep. I have never before or since experienced such great support from any company hands down. Now, due to their growth and merger with Sprint, they can(understandably)no longer provide this personal support now, but it will take a lot to get me to move away from them. Now if you wish to pay more and go to a no better solution, all power to you. T-Mobile has the largest 5G network (although others lie about theirs being the largest and the best), the best deals and prices on their service, and my commitment through these growing pains. I only have 3 bars on my Nokia Gateway bust get as high as 700-800/60 speeds. My bill is constantly the same amount(unlike every month different with AT&T) and constant problems with Spectrum even though they had sufficient speeds. Never tried high dollar Version but I have service when others with Verizon sometimes don’t. I too am seeing some problems with internet that I didn’t see at first, but I fail to believe it is intentional by throttling but I could be mistaken. Anyway, life is full of frustrations, and we become more and more inpatient and feel like we deserve the very best with no interruptions. However, sometimes “we bite off our nose to spite our face” and have regrets later. So, if you’re new to T-Mobile, I am aware that you are unfamiliar with how they really stood out at a period in time, but hang in there, I don’t think you will regret it. If you are a longtime customer, maybe you can confirm what I think. By the way, I do not work for T-Mobile. I have no incentive to bragg on them. I just have been there through the ups and downs and am confident they have saved me a considerable amount of money. Remember, Apple used to be the most expensive phone by a long shot, but look at the prices now on others, ie:Samsung, Google, OnePlus, etc. So I’m staying with Apple also but not because I’m diehard Apple. They just happen to provide some very reliable equipment. Thanks for letting me sound off!
This is also happening to me. I purchased this service back in May I believe and it was working really well up until the past couple of months or so. I called them today and they said I should come get the updated gateway that would fix the issue, came home and connected the new one - nothing has changed. I live in an area where most internet services can’t reach so I’m at a loss here.
Looks like Tmo deprioritizes home internet users. I found this article on the Internet
Speed claims
It wasn’t all rosy for T-Mobile. Charter argued that because T-Mobile Home Internet customers share the same network as mobile users but are prioritized last, consumers may experience much slower speeds than advertised during times of congestion.
It looks like the stores are no longer stocking Nokia 5g gateway. I spoke with another representative and said the tower is going to get a capacity upgrade 4Q2022. There is a capacity issue at the tower at the moment.
According to my Sagecom Gateway, I only have access to the N71 band (low band low capacity) connection.
I assume if and whey they upgrade, Tmo will add the N41 band (mid band higher capacity). Is everyone experiencing the frequent drops only connecting to the N71 5G band?
I have the same story. Worked great for the first several months. Last 5 weeks it has sucked. Dropping calls, streaming, just cuts out for 1-2 minutes every hour. Works great late at night or early morning, so it is probably over-crowded cell towers. Customer service checked everything out, didn’t find anything wrong, so they just said there is nothing they can do. I am shopping for new internet service.
Please read and respond if the link helps you.
I did my homework before I even decided to get the home internet.. i always have a computer fan placed under it running 24/7.. so unfortunately this isn't a case of overheating.
Please read and respond if the link helps you.
Hi Melo,
thanks for the reply. I can definitely relate to your experience as it almost matches mine. I was getting very good internet service from Jan. 2022 to around August 2022, and then the wifi/internet would cut off and come back on again after a few minutes, this would happen a couple times per day, then it got worse where it would cut off multiple times per for longer times. I called the so called “experts” and got no where. They sent a new modem (I was led to believe it was a different and better one but it was the same model!), and they changed the account to a lesser (limited data) so this did nothing other than waste my time. The “exeperts” are all from a call center Tmobile has in the Philippines. The people there are nice but they read/play off a script and really just say everything will be fine, we will fix it, and that is all a lie. They cannot fix anything. I then had to return the modem, and went to a Tmobile store and they were useless, just told me to call 611. I called again and the girl gave the same story, oh they are working on the 5g tower and it will be better. They provided no other details, when the work started, what the nature of the upgrades are, when it will be completed, etc. I was suppose to get a 20$ discount but Tmobile charged me extra for the modem that didn’t work so now I need to call them again to fix it. I liked the idea of coupling cellphone and internet for $135 all inclusive per month; the cell service is not great but so far I can live with it (I had ATT previously and they are better but Verizon is the best (and most expensive unless you have multiple lines on account)) but the internet service from this 5g system is not consistent and Tmobile customer service and business is deceptive. I will wait and see if it does improve, but if by January 2023 (1 year of Tmobile for me) it is not better, I am dropping Tmobile.
I'm also starting to think they are throttling service. Everything worked fine for months up until about 3 weeks ago. Now my internet drops out all the time which is making it extremely hard to get my work done. Customer service gave me the run around saying the tower was being upgraded the first week.. ok cool.. still happening after they said the tower upgrade was complete. They sent me a new gateway.. still happening with the new gateway but now I'm being told the tower is being upgraded again?
Customer service and their "experts" are a joke! This is getting ridiculous
I signed up for Tmobile Home Internet 5G service on 9/7/22 and had no problems during the first 2 weeks. Then, on the 3rd week, I started to notice frequent drops in service. where I would get drops between 7:30am to about 7:00PM. It has progressively gotten worse. Today (9/29), I had a total of 10-15 drops. I can no longer make Zoom or VOIP calls as it frequently cuts off during the middle of the calls.
My daily usage is about 15G per day so about 450G/month. I don’t think this is is excessive but it appears Tmobile is throttling me now.
Ive spoken to Tmobile several times and I tried all their solutions.
Power off the device for 1min and power on - Nope.
Replace the Sagecom Gateway with another one - Nope
Do a factory reset on Home Gateway device. - Nope.
Tmobile representative reset the connection from their end - Nope
We will add more capacity to the tower - Tower is transmitting N71 (600mhz band but low capacity). I am hoping they will add N41 (2.5ghz band with higher capacity). I live about ½ mile away from the tower with direct line of sight so I should be able to receive N41 signals when it become available. Tmobile could not give a ETA for adding N41. I would not hold my breath.
One last observation that has me perplexed. My Gateway is a Sagecom 5688W, I get strong signals (RSRP = -78) but the quality of the signal is poor ((RSRQ = -12) according to Tmobilie. I am going to swap out the Sagecom for the Nokia 5g21 gateway at the Tmobile store to see if it makes any difference. I will add comments after I test this.
I do have a question about the nature of how Tmobile throttles your internet connection. I noticed that the throttling that Tmobile imposes is the following. When in the middle of browsing, getting email, or Zooming, the internet data transfer stops completely but does not actually disconnect. After about 1 minute, it is restored. In fact, I usually run a speedtest after the internet recovers. I get the following result: 125m down and 30 up. Rather than slowing you down, they stop data transfer for about 1 - 3 minutes. This result is worse than slowing your data transfer speed.
In fact, I tested this with another carrier (Verizon hotspot) but it never stopped completely. Rather, data speed was in fact slower.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Does your gateway drop when you are not using the internet. When on computer and I stop to do something else it drops the internet after 10 to 15 minutes ??. If the tv is streaming it stays on. I think there is a timeout built into the system. I have old cell phone connected to my wifi plays music all day seems to keep internet connected.
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