Question

Suddenly slow home internet.

  • 5 November 2021
  • 63 replies
  • 36012 views

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I've had the home internet for a few weeks now and it's been great. Getting speeds of 100 megabytes or more with a fair signal. But tonight the signal is poor and I barely get 10 megabytes a second. What gives?


63 replies

Userlevel 2
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You mean 100 Megabits or 100 megabytes? 12Megabytes = 100 Megabits. Download speeds from the browser are most often given in terms of bytes/sec but ISPs provide speed in bits/sec because it looks better :)

If you are getting 100 MegaBYTES/sec that would be 800 Megabits/sec. That’s kick butt!! Almost as fast as Google Fiber’s 1Ggiabit/sec service.

 

You’ll get the best link speed if your device is as high as possible and away from solid metal surfaces by a few feet (i.e., don’t put this on top or right next to a metal filing cabinet).

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This has been a common issue for many of us.  It is easy to fix.  Turn off your gateway. ( push that little button in the back of the unit.)  If you can unplug it from the wall too.  Give it 2-5 minutes and restart.  it will be back to what you expect.  It the early morning while the house is sleeping and I get up and use the T-Mobile app on my phone, go to on the bottom “more” and hit reset gateway.  This will reset your internet and clean out your components.  This 5G phenomenon is so new and T-Mobile is rushing to get their network to be its best, it is all growing pains.

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This has been a common issue for many of us.  It is easy to fix.  Turn off your gateway. ( push that little button in the back of the unit.)  If you can unplug it from the wall too.  Give it 2-5 minutes and restart.  it will be back to what you expect.  It the early morning while the house is sleeping and I get up and use the T-Mobile app on my phone, go to on the bottom “more” and hit reset gateway.  This will reset your internet and clean out your components.  This 5G phenomenon is so new and T-Mobile is rushing to get their network to be its best, it is all growing pains.

Maybe going slightly faster but not back to normal. 

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You might also be dealing with an overheating modem.

 

Userlevel 1

Easy fix??? How often are we expected to "fix"? Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. I don't want to but if it does not became more reliable it's back to overpriced cable for me

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When I first subscribed to the home internet service in April the speeds were pretty good, 65-70 Mb download and upload speeds. By July I was lucky to get 40-45 Mb. I cut the cable a number of years ago and decided this summer to invest in a 4K TV, AV receiver and the 4K apple TV. The last few days have seen my internet slow to less than 5 Mb/s. I’m thoroughly disgusted with T-mobile’s service. When interacting with them they repeat the same BS in order to repair the speed yet nothing improves. I’ve considered going back to my DSL service and buying a dual WAN router to combine two separate ISP’s. This is 2021. Is it too much to ask for a consistent 40 Mb? JFC, we can go to Mars.

When I first subscribed to the home internet service in April the speeds were pretty good, 65-70 Mb download and upload speeds. By July I was lucky to get 40-45 Mb. I cut the cable a number of years ago and decided this summer to invest in a 4K TV, AV receiver and the 4K apple TV. The last few days have seen my internet slow to less than 5 Mb/s. I’m thoroughly disgusted with T-mobile’s service. When interacting with them they repeat the same BS in order to repair the speed yet nothing improves. I’ve considered going back to my DSL service and buying a dual WAN router to combine two separate ISP’s. This is 2021. Is it too much to ask for a consistent 40 Mb? JFC, we can go to Mars.

its about prioritization. after you are ‘satisfied’ with your first month, you now get to enjoy bottom of the barrel priority on the tower which results in this clear throttle and packet slowdown.  Call in to fix? they can’t tell you how they fix it, they just manually assign your priority to capture you saying on a recorded line, oh wow its working again. then back to this.  If you can get a broadband option in your area, it's worth the extra cost for the reliability. Otherwise get the mobile hotspot, then at least you can have priority access to the tower even if it means having a data cap.

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I've had TMobile internet for 3 weeks. Consistently get less than 1mbps download between 4pm and midnight. Right now at 7pm, download speed is 0.12 mbps. This service is not worth $50 a month. Spectrum cable just lowered their internet to $49.95 and I'll be switching before the next billing cycle. This 5g internet is all hype and no substance

I started out getting speeds at or over 100 Mbps.  Today I am getting speeds at less than 4 Mbps and that is the fastest it has been all day.  Absolutely horrible...near useless for my needs.

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Same here, Lake Norman NC. Something is going on, it’s not just my home internet but my phone as well, I’m about a ¼ mile from a 5G tower and can visually see it with the gateway by the window in direct path of the tower. 

Had excellent 150-200 down 50-90 up for months straight. Last two days have completely tanked with no real answer from support. 

I started out getting speeds at or over 100 Mbps.  Today I am getting speeds at less than 4 Mbps and that is the fastest it has been all day.  Absolutely horrible...near useless for my needs.

To their credit my issue is now fixed and I am back over 100 Mbps.

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as some have said, it’s an easy fix but….how often should we have to “fix” it? My wife and family are tired of having to go thru all of this. My blazing speed today, after numerous reboots and refreshes….

 DOWNLOAD Mbps

2.33

 UPLOAD Mbps

21.82

 

Userlevel 1

When I first subscribed to the home internet service in April the speeds were pretty good, 65-70 Mb download and upload speeds. By July I was lucky to get 40-45 Mb. I cut the cable a number of years ago and decided this summer to invest in a 4K TV, AV receiver and the 4K apple TV. The last few days have seen my internet slow to less than 5 Mb/s. I’m thoroughly disgusted with T-mobile’s service. When interacting with them they repeat the same BS in order to repair the speed yet nothing improves. I’ve considered going back to my DSL service and buying a dual WAN router to combine two separate ISP’s. This is 2021. Is it too much to ask for a consistent 40 Mb? JFC, we can go to Mars.

What’s disgusting is that there other countries that have faster speeds. This is ridiculous and embarassing to us as a country that in the year 2022 our internet speeds are so low. I think the average speed in the US is 26 mbps but even that speed is unpredictable for most of us no matter who is the isp. On tmobile, I’m only getting 1 mbps. It keeps me on the 4g. I am looking for another service. I work from home and I need reliable and consistent internet. This is worse than dsl.

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What’s disgusting is that there other countries that have faster speeds. This is ridiculous and embarassing to us as a country that in the year 2022 our internet speeds are so low. I think the average speed in the US is 26 mbps but even that speed is unpredictable for most of us no matter who is the isp.

 

Other countries do not have “Broadband For Everyone” programs, where free or low-cost internet is made available for the “disadvantaged”, which increases the cost for all other users and ties up net bandwidth.

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It depends of the country. And you are so wrong about the “disadvantage” tying up bandwidth. Those low cost programs have limits to them. Stop blaming people who can’t afford Internet and start blaming the companies who keep holding back technology so that they can continue to jack up the prices in the first place. Your criticism is misplaced. You sound like the type that would reject universal healthcare because the “disadvantage” might also get universal healthcare.

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I got this gateway on January 5th and it was slow at first, but then jumped up to 120Mbps, so I thought I may be able to finally cancel my $60/month 200Mbps cable internet, and called them to do so. They offered me another year of $45/month 200M, but I persisted and then they offered me a year of $35/month 100Mbps speeds, but I already had this device and felt committed so I am returning their modem tomorrow and my service with them ends on the 20th.

NOW, however, my internet just went out completely last night, and repeated unpluggings of the gateway did not work, and the final one did, but speed was 1Mbps. I called and talked to someone and they diagnosed it from afar, and then had me turn it back on and test the speed, and it was now 106Mbps. They claimed I was on a problematic tower that they knew about, and he was now “locking” me into the better one, and this shouldn’t happen again.

I got on this morning, and speed was back down to 1Mbps and even 0.26Mbps!! I don’t know what to do, my wife and I both work at home, and need consistent, reliable internet. 

I don’t now know if I should call back my cable internet company and tell them I will take them up on their offer after all, and send this T-Mobile device back, or stick with it and try to glean some tips from this forum, but I don’t know if it’s worth it. How difficult is the return process, and what happens with my bill if I’m supposed to autopay the first one on the 21st?

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I don’t now know if I should call back my cable internet company and tell them I will take them up on their offer after all, and send this T-Mobile device back ...

 

Take the offer from the cable internet company.  You already have the equipment, it is cheaper, and much more reliable, especially if your jobs depend on it.

 

I started out getting speeds at or over 100 Mbps.  Today I am getting speeds at less than 4 Mbps and that is the fastest it has been all day.  Absolutely horrible...near useless for my needs.

To their credit my issue is now fixed and I am back over 100 Mbps.

What did u do to fix, if u dont mind??

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I’m having this problem now. Call T-Mobile everyday but the problem has persisted for over 3 weeks now!

 

 

Add me to the list also...speed dropped by factor of 30. Can only muster 2Mbps download and lost my secondary connection. This happened suddenly and tech support has no clue. Waiting on new gateway but I dont think that is the issue. My neighbor is having same issue also.

Its hard to believe that no one at T mobile can tell me why or how to fix it. 

 

Userlevel 7
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The erratic speeds so many are talking about seems to becoming a much more prevalent trend with the T-Mobile home internet solution. Well, based upon what appears to be a real up tick on the community regarding the behavior it seems to be pretty common topic of conversation. Many reports have the hallmark of tower equipment behavior not as much with the gateways themselves. If you add the gateway short comings, the disruptive issues due to tower deployment and problems getting reliable responses from support it seems like a recipe for a fire. This is not playing to win.

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Another day, another slow speed!$#%!?-/$

 

 

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If the speed is dropping off and the 5G secondary signal is lost then both up and download are on the 4G LTE frequency. It seems to be very characteristic of work being performed on the tower equipment. The 4G is commonly used for upload and the 5G is used for the download when both are present. If the problem is with delivery of service at the tower there is not much you can do other than call T-Mobile support and report the problem. They may or may not be able to resolve the problem. It depends upon the problem location and cause. 
It seems the engineers work on the cell tower equipment during normal business hours so service disruptions are pretty obvious. Once the do get the tower delivery right usually service delivery is pretty stable

I’m experiencing the same slowness everyone mentioned. It’s ridiculous. I’m about to go back to Verizon at the end of the month. 

Ok, well i’ve had my t-mobile home internet for 2 weeks now..   It seems to be running smoothly and quickly enough… mind you i’m not hopping back and forth checking the speed.  I do IT support for a large insurance firm from home 5 days/week, and when done at 4.  I’m on the computer from 11pm-1am.  I”ve not seen any real latency to speak of yet.    This is also running 4 large TV’s, and 4 cellphones, and a Playstation.    I have not returned my Xfinity hardware yet;  i’m holding onto it, for as long as I can just in case.  I was paying Xfinity up to $280/month and i’m frankly i’m tired of it.

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