Question

NOK5G21 Home Internet Gateway Not Working Properly

  • 8 January 2021
  • 23 replies
  • 8062 views

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Hello,

My NOK5G21 is not utilizing EN-DC as it will not grab a secondary signal like it is suposed to. My gateway is on n71 primary but it will not grab a secondary signal or flip to n71 on secondary and grab the much stronger signal LTE in my area band 2, 12. T-Mobile is no help with these devices, they dont seem to know anything about their product or how to work them. Very disappointed in their tech team. Does anyone have any idea on how to get it working? 


23 replies

Userlevel 1

Sadly there is nothing you or they can do. The modems hardware and the tower are making the decision on what to connect you to.

The only thing that can be done is you can move the modem around your area and see if you can find a spot it likes. Other then that there is nothing that can be done.

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Was afraid of that, thanks for the response!

Userlevel 1
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I heard T-Mobile has the 5G turned off for NOK 5G21.  So it should not connect to a 5G band.  Hopefully they get the 5G network working and turned on soon. 

Userlevel 1

I heard T-Mobile has the 5G turned off for NOK 5G21.  So it should not connect to a 5G band.  Hopefully they get the 5G network working and turned on soon. 

The 5G has been turned on from the very start. Anyone saying its turned off just doesn’t know what they are talking about. Now if 5G is enabled in your area is a different story. But Tmobile already has a massive 5g footprint and that combined with the Sprint footprint its a huge area of the US that is covered in some form of 5G.

Now its worth mentioning there are many different layers of 5G. You have a layer of 5G that was more made for distance by losing some speed (10+ miles easily). You have a layer that is the short range super speed 5G (just a few miles). Then you have the step up from 4G LTE 5G that provides a 2x to 3x speed boost with medium range in there.

I live out in the middle of nowhere rural america where we have a population of like 50 people out where. The entire area is bathed in tmobile 5G n71 signal. Easily 50+ mbps. 

The nokia (grey trashcan) modem will pickup b2 (4g) for upload and secondary up n71 (5g) for the download side of things. This makes for good download speeds that the b2 just can’t offer on its on in our area.

Userlevel 4
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I heard T-Mobile has the 5G turned off for NOK 5G21.  So it should not connect to a 5G band.  Hopefully they get the 5G network working and turned on soon. 

The 5G has been turned on from the very start. Anyone saying its turned off just doesn’t know what they are talking about. Now if 5G is enabled in your area is a different story. But Tmobile already has a massive 5g footprint and that combined with the Sprint footprint its a huge area of the US that is covered in some form of 5G.

Now its worth mentioning there are many different layers of 5G. You have a layer of 5G that was more made for distance by losing some speed (10+ miles easily). You have a layer that is the short range super speed 5G (just a few miles). Then you have the step up from 4G LTE 5G that provides a 2x to 3x speed boost with medium range in there.

I live out in the middle of nowhere rural america where we have a population of like 50 people out where. The entire area is bathed in tmobile 5G n71 signal. Easily 50+ mbps. 

The nokia (grey trashcan) modem will pickup b2 (4g) for upload and secondary up n71 (5g) for the download side of things. This makes for good download speeds that the b2 just can’t offer on its on in our area.

^ This.  

Userlevel 2
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According to their map, 5G is available to me. But my 5G21 router is connecting with LTE

Userlevel 2
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seems like quite a bit of a mixed bag…

some get service, some do not, and we have no way of figuring out wtf is going on, please pardon my french.

1st- I would think there would be a way to test for the presence of a 5G signal, using a 5G phone and one of several apps, which I am too lazy to list right now…halfway through a six-pack...

2nd- how can they sell an advertised 5G hotspot which is not 5G supported…

3rd- why do they think this bs will fly ?

just my two cents-not worth much

Userlevel 2
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I’ve had the 5G21 for about three weeks now and it’s on LTE (3 bars). When I signed up, Tmobile said that 5G will available sometime this year for the gateways. According to their 5G map, 5G is available at my address.

Would be nice if Tmobile participated in the forum to provide at least some info.

Userlevel 3
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Hello,

My NOK5G21 is not utilizing EN-DC as it will not grab a secondary signal like it is suposed to. My gateway is on n71 primary but it will not grab a secondary signal or flip to n71 on secondary and grab the much stronger signal LTE in my area band 2, 12. T-Mobile is no help with these devices, they dont seem to know anything about their product or how to work them. Very disappointed in their tech team. Does anyone have any idea on how to get it working? 

Same issue for me, this unit is not ready for public use. 

I had the n71 5g band working for the first couple weeks, although I kept losing it every 24 hours or so, a simple reset would get it working. into y 4th week, is no longer can pick up the N71 5g signal. My speed went from 100 Mbps to 15 to 40 depending on time of day. One week of trying, no more n71 5g signal. TMobile working on it, Ill wait a week or two then have to go back to Spectrum. 

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Alarmguy,

 

I have the same problem.   5G on n71 was great at first, but the unit keeps rebooting, resetting, etc and I went 3 weeks without connecting to 5G.   I moved the unit to another room last night and left it there.  This morning I moved it back and restarted.  I have 5G again and n71 connected.  Not sure how long this will last.

 
Userlevel 3
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JViola, 

I gave up, never could get the 5g N71 back and I had STRONG signal from a tower exactly 1 mile from my home.  
I spent literally days on this thing over a 5 or 6 week period.

I went back to Spectrum for now, of course it was nice to have that option and of course, Spectrum matched TMobile price for one year so was no big deal.

This time next year I will try Tmobile again, hopefully they fix all the HUGE issues with their new 5g deployment by then, if so, I will be looking forward to having their service. 

Right now for many the service is garbage, you have to be one of the lucky ones to have trouble free service.
I still follow these forums so it would be great to hear an update from you.

If Tmobile at any point during the year can tell me my service will work all the time, I will drop Spectrum right away and go back to them.

You didnt mention what speed you are getting, I was getting anywhere from 80 Mbps to as high as 120 or so WHEN it worked. Other then that I was 6 Mbps to 30 depending on time of day… in rough numbers.

Spectrum gives me a rock solid 90+ Mbps for the same price (for one year only) and it always works. Ill be GLAD to take TMobile back if they can make their system work.

Userlevel 2
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When I signed up for TMO internet, I was told 5G would be enabled sometime in 2021 for the router. I too have 5G in my area according to their map, but only connect to a b12 signal and that’s it, no secondary signal.

I typically get between 30-40Mbps down. Last week, I was getting 1.5 Mbps down (up was faster) and found that a restart of the router fixed that.

I hope TMO addresses all the concerns in this forum, otherwise it will lose customers. I’m willing to give them some time, but if I don’t get 5G speeds sometime this year as told, I’m going elsewhere.

Would be nice to hear what TMO’s roadmap is for 2021 for this. But it’s been crickets from them on all the issues posted in the forum.

Userlevel 3
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Metsfan ( I was from NY)

I hate to say this but time will prove me right to you. You might as well give up now IF you have an option for another internet provider, then if you wish go back to TMobile next year.
Im one of the lucky ones I guess, I went back to good old reliable Spectrum @$49 for 100 Mbps service. I will try out TMobile in Jan of 2022 again, hopefully they have everything fixed nationwide by then. 

Some areas are good but not are not just yet.

Full disclosure, I HATE Spectrum but $49 a month for 1 year maybe TMobile will have their act together in a year or sooner. 

TMobile has a tech support phone number posted all over your GUI, App and in the box, they do not monitor this forum to give answers, you need to call.

I never had n71 connection at all, only b12 (LTE) there, actually my download is good as 140 most of the time but my uploaded never reached the 10 ( doesn't work with gaming).

I called support for 3 times and as usual, different explanation and reasons, today is my last attempt to call them if they will get the n71 running (btw 5g works with my phone but not with the Gateway), they need to get the towers ready before advertising the service.

 

Very disappointed

I’ve been having the same exact issue.  Decided last night to try and stick a fan on the top of the unit to cool it off…  Theory being this is a hot radio/hardware issue.  Within 5 minutes my secondary connection was back up on n71.  I’m not saying the fan fixed it…  But, worth a try.  ;) 

Home internet via T-Mobile Gateway rolled out in my area a couple of weeks ago. Only one spot in the house gets 3 bar signal. The service has degraded daily since last Thursday. Email only works without wifi, tablet slow as molasses and email doesn't work. Videos on phone or tablet cannot load. TV streaming works 95% of the time. Where I live the signal will likely have to be hardwired to the house. The service is not ready for prime time. Darn, I really dislike Spectrum, but it appears there is no other option besides AT&T fiber which was awful and expensive. ☹

I had a similar problem; the 5G signal on the n71 (600 MHz) band came back (as the “secondary” signal) after rebooting the device.

My house is about 2.5 miles from the nearest tower, which is also delivering B2 (1900 MHz) 4G LTE as the “primary” signal.

My download speeds vary from around 25 to 100 Mbps (with 50 Mbps as the average). Doesn’t sound like a lot for most people in urban areas, but here in a rural stretch of North Texas, the average is at least double what I got from my former fixed wireless provider (the only previous terrestrial option), and I’m saving around $500 a year after the switch. 

Hoping TMo gets faster as time goes on, but haven’t had any issues working from home or streaming 4K videos!

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I too was surprised today when I called the T-Mobile customer service. They had no idea about Primary Signal vs Secondary. Totally clueless. The High-Speed Internet Gateway is a hit or a miss many times. The speed swings. Biggest problem I have is with the Citrix workspace app. It has never worked properly since I switched to T-Mobile home internet since the latency on the network is higher than the workspace app requirement. I think long way to go before we see anystability. A new software version is rolling out soon but not too optimistic on that one either.

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Sure hope there is a remedy for this soon.   I'm getting frustrated as well.   I'm about 1/4 mile line of sight to the tower, yet secondary signal will not stay connected no matter where I place the tower.    Plus, I'm in a small rural town with NO congestion on the network.    

 My feeling is if they promote it as 5g signal they should be able to deliver 5g signal.    This is just silly at this point.  

This morning I received a software update 1.2003.03.0168. Secondary Signal now has full bars and so far hasn’t disappeared. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

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I would say lucky you @WallaceT . I have software version 1.2003.03.0178 but haven’t seen any improvements in the connection quality. In fact the quality has dropped and I have logged a ticket with the Home Internet team. 

I agree with @DaveS - “If they promote it as 5g signal they should be able to deliver 5g signal”

I had to unplug mine and took it outside. I held up straight up in the air in the direction of the tower for at least 5 minutes. plugged it back into my house and i was pulling the secondary signal again.

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Sadly,

the only way I’ve been able to fix this is by rebooting the Gateway. When I have a secondary signal speeds are about 50 mbps and without it at the most 960 kbps. 

It is clearly a hardware issue - my cellphone also on TMobile acquires and maintains a 5g signal consistently. 

I’m currently looking for a third part compatible router I can stick the SIM into but they are all between $1000 and $2000 dollars. 

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