Phone vs "High-Speed" Internet Gateway

jph55 wrote:

Can anyone else verify my results that show a speedtest speed that is double on my 4G phone vs the silver tube gateway with the latest firmware?

I held the phone next to the gateway and got 119 Mbps down and 26.4 up with WIFI turned off so only using T-Mobile cell data. Connected to the T-Mobile gateway and ran the test again and got 54Mbps down and 10.12 up. 4 bars of signal strength on the gateway.

I can only assume that T-Mobile is limiting their gateways, but that is not a good selling point. It’s almost worth it to go back to the hated Comcast for $10 more per month with 4 times the speed.

I have a 4G tmobile phone and the 5G gateway and my 5G gateway gets 10x the speed of the 4G phone, and what you get has never happened to me. From reading about people’s problems, I’d guess that 1 in 20 people get a faster signal from their house on 4G than they do 5G. That 4G speed on your phone is very good, for 4G.

If I were you, I would first verify that I’m getting 5G on the gateway by going to the GUI at the following web address:

192.168.12.1

With either OVERVIEW or STATUS selected on the left, click the dropdown arrows near them to check and make sure you are receiving a signal on both the Primary and Secondary bands. Then you can establish that you are on 5G. If you are getting the Primary band signal alone, that is 4G.

It is possible for the 5G silver gateway to connect to different band combinations, after being turned off and on using the button on the side, and that these band combinations yield different speeds. That’s why a key thing when getting this gateway is to find a location and orientation (by rotating it and/or elevating it) that gives you the band combination with the highest speeds and best signal. Four bars is a good signal. My signal is only 3 bars, and 5 miles from the tower, I get download speeds in the 150 to 330 range. Yet some people with 4 or 5 bars can’t get even a speed of 5Mbps.

One of the characteristics of the 5G signal is that the speed can fluctuate wildly. I can do a speed test one minute that is 320 download, and the next minute that is 150 download, and I can tell from the GUI I’m on the same band combination. The gateway will sometimes dynamically switch you to a different band combination, but for me at least, I keep on a certain band combination for many hours usually. You can restart the gateway to get on a different combination.

Worst case scenario for you is that you are connected to 5G on the gateway, and that in your location, you are one of the rare people who has better 4G speeds than 5G. As far as thinking Tmobile throttles the gateway speeds, giving preference for phones during high traffic periods, that is unlikely because 5G speeds for most people are characteristically AT LEAST 2x the speed of 4G.

Nater Tater (channel on YouTube) has many helpful videos concerning issues with Tmobile  home internet, regarding gateway placement and orientation, using the GUI, finding tower location.

For me, the gateway works best in a window, raised about a foot from the sill, facing my nearest tower, which is 5 miles away. You have to be careful about putting the gateway in a place it might overheat though, like a South facing window, as that can hurt performance.