Question

signal on Nokia gateway

  • 11 March 2021
  • 56 replies
  • 4664 views
R
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This apparently is a well documented issue but I can’t seem to get any real support on this problem. I’ve had the home internet for about 2.5 weeks now and it for the most part has been fantastic. Almost a half a gigabit download speeds with over 100mbps upload using B66/N41 primary/secondary with awesome signal strength because I have direct LOS of my local tower.

The primary signal has been bouncing around between B2/B66 for the past week for no reason but for the most part the connection has been very stable. Earlier today I had to unplug the device to move some furniture around, and when i reconnected it, the gateway will no longer lock a 5G signal on secondary (N41 from my local tower) despite the fact that it is still available on my phone.

Tried numerous reboots, and a factory reset and it is consistently stuck on B12 only on the primary connection, which has made my connection terrible in comparison to what I had before. I cannot for the life of me figure out what happened or what the problem is, other then possibly the LTE antenna is broken? But due to a power reset? That makes little sense to me.

Browsing the reddit page it looks like this is a well documented problem, but no one can make heads or tails of whether this is firmware related or hardware related. Has anyone dealt with this issue before?

56 replies

T

My secondary signal has been gone for days now.  No idea why.

M

I just setup my TM-HI Thursday, March 11th 2021.  There was a secondary signal when I turned on the device and it remained on until about yesterday, March 13th. 

Today I’ve tried moving device around to a couple different locations in my house.  Still no secondary signal.  I’ve restarted and will leave it up for a bit at its new location and see if it comes back. 

The primary signal seems to be better where it is currently located. When I started it up on Thursday, the primary signal was not very good.  I wonder if that is someone related.

D

Same problem here. I had an LTE primary signal (B12) and a 5G secondary signal (n71) for the first few days. Now the secondary signal is gone. It doesn’t seem to make any difference though. My speeds have been LTE level the entire time. I had my suspicions that the 5G signal wasn’t being used at all and if the web interface is correct, and I’m not connected to a secondary signal, then I may have been right.

The web interface is flaky though. I’m fully connected with 120/10 Mb yet the web interface says I’m not even connected at all.

Overall the service is “ok”. However, I don’t think I’m ready to ditch my cable company. Without port forwarding or UPnP. The gateway will get returned after a month of testing.

R
Userlevel 1
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I am also experiencing a 24hour outage of the secondary signal. As a result, my download speeds are severely degraded, getting at most 10 Mbps downstream, and sometimes as little as 1.5 Mbps.

I have experienced this since 4/8 noon PST.

C

I'm having the same issue. Have not moved the gateway nor done anything to it. Getting 4 bars. When I boot the gateway, I get N41 band for secondary signal with great speeds. That lasts about 15 minutes and secondary signal switches to N/A. It stays there. Speeds drop by half. If I reboot, it comes back and then disappears again. Despite of being nice, support is pretty useless and equipped to troubleshoot only basic questions. Looks like we're all stuck. 

D

Two weeks later and still no secondary signal. Also, the gateway seems to want to connect to the worst signal in the area. My iPhone (also on T-Mobile) does the same thing. Using field test mode on my iphone (dial *3001#12345#*) I can find a signal that is about -85dB. However, after a few mins my phone drops that signal for one that is -115dB! The gateway seems to do the same thing and I go from great speeds to poor speeds. I have no idea why this is happening, but it is frustrating and makes me feel like this can’t be my permanent internet solution.

W

This apparently is a well documented issue but I can’t seem to get any real support on this problem. I’ve had the home internet for about 2.5 weeks now and it for the most part has been fantastic. Almost a half a gigabit download speeds with over 100mbps upload using B66/N41 primary/secondary with awesome signal strength because I have direct LOS of my local tower.

The primary signal has been bouncing around between B2/B66 for the past week for no reason but for the most part the connection has been very stable. Earlier today I had to unplug the device to move some furniture around, and when i reconnected it, the gateway will no longer lock a 5G signal on secondary (N41 from my local tower) despite the fact that it is still available on my phone.

Tried numerous reboots, and a factory reset and it is consistently stuck on B12 only on the primary connection, which has made my connection terrible in comparison to what I had before. I cannot for the life of me figure out what happened or what the problem is, other then possibly the LTE antenna is broken? But due to a power reset? That makes little sense to me.

Browsing the reddit page it looks like this is a well documented problem, but no one can make heads or tails of whether this is firmware related or hardware related. Has anyone dealt with this issue before?

My secondary (5G) signal disappeared a day or two after I first installed the gateway. 

After a few days, I rebooted the device (without physically moving it from its original location) and the 5G signal was restored (as a secondary signal).

I’m operating at 3 bars of signal strength max; sure wish this gizmo could accommodate an external antenna (yes, I know there’s a hack for that, but I’m holding off on that option!). We’re about 2.5 miles from the nearest Tmo tower.

Connection speed varies wildly -- from 25 Mbps to >100 Mbps (44 Mbps currently) -- but at its worst, T-Mobile is faster (and $40 cheaper) than my former fixed wireless ISP (25 up/5 down, and that was as fast as it could go).

 

P

I’ve been having the same exact issue.  After hearing many people say that it connects for a while and then drops, won’t come back after reboot etc.  I started thinking…  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.  ;) 

H

I have only primary signal B12 and never able to get the secondary signal. The speed also varies between below 20Mbps to 100Mbps but mostly below 20.  I noticed that if I reboot the gateway then the speed is restored to close to 100Mbps. However overtime it drops back down below 20. So now I just reboot it a few time a day until I find a permanent solution.

N

I see the tall tower at the end of my block and have a strong connection (5 bars) but for some reason I don’t get the 5G secondary connection all the time.  Maybe their network has Home Internet as a lower priority if it gets congested? 

 

M

Same problem here. When I do have secondary signal the speed is much faster but that only connects on a limited basis. I can see the tower when I step ten feet out my front door so it’s very close. Puzzling….

T
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... After hearing many people say that it connects for a while and then drops, won’t come back after reboot etc...  Decided last night to try and stick a fan on the top of the unit to cool it off…  Within 5 minutes my secondary connection was back up on n71.  I’m not saying the fan fixed it…  But, worth a try.  ;) 

 

Hi-- looks like about a month since you posted that-- do you have a better idea of whether the fan helps now? I am trying it. Seems to help a small bit. 

Thx

M

Another day with only 4G connectivity - 16 mps down, 8 up. :(

 

Restarting or powering down the unit makes no difference. Very disappointing.

M

I’m having the same problem.  Does their tech support ever read these posts?

T

Same problem. Try to cool down the tower and still no secondary signal.

T
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Same problem. Try to cool down the tower and still no secondary signal.

 

Might try the following suggestion with the SIM:

 

 

I also tried rebooting my cylinder tmobile router to get the secondary signal but it didn't work so I pulled the sim card out of its slot and put it back in then rebooted the router and it worked. Both Primary and Secondary signal came on.

T

Same problem. Try to cool down the tower and still no secondary signal.

 

Might try the following suggestion with the SIM:

 

 

I also tried rebooting my cylinder tmobile router to get the secondary signal but it didn't work so I pulled the sim card out of its slot and put it back in then rebooted the router and it worked. Both Primary and Secondary signal came on.

Can you let me know where I can pulled the sim card? Thanks.

T
Userlevel 2
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Can you let me know where I can pulled the sim card? Thanks.

 

Refer to the gateway user guide, beginning page 35 - “Replacing the SIM card” :

 

https://www.t-mobile.com/support/public-files/attachments/T-Mobile%20High-Speed%20Internet%20Gateway%20End%20User%20Guide.pdf

 

W

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.

M

Secondary signal came back last night and still up this morning. 300 mps download. We’ll see if this lasts more than a day or two. 

T

mine is 

Software Version:

1.2003.03.0178

W

Mine was 0178 but this morning it went to 0168. The display showed software update at 5:00am this morning at 40%.Not sure if it was a downgrade or they update backwards. Still have 4 bars on n71 secondary. Usually I would get 3 bars in the morning and disappear 2 or 3 hours later.

M

1.2003.03.0178 too...howdid you know it was updated?

W

http://192.168.12.1/

W

They are pushing the update slowly, be patient. Still have 4 bars on n71, definitely an update and an upgrade.

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