Hello, I have the 5G home internet cylinder, and I love the concept, but I have been having a very inconsistent and overall disappointing experience with it. Streaming TV will buffer constantly. Video conferencing for work has become impossible. Speed tests show 1-3Mbps. After several LONG calls to TMobile support, they have told me that work was being done to the tower in my area, but that has come and gone and the speed is still EXCRUCIATINGLY slow or sometimes just stops altogether. Is this a device issue or consistent with everyone else’s experience? My device is on firmware version 1.2101.00.1609. Any help would be appreciated!

It’s possible you may also be dealing with an overheating modem.https://community.t-mobile.com/tv-home-internet-7/home-internet-overheating-36560

All, I am thrilled to say I fixed this problem by adding a fan under the unit. I bought this one from Amazon, and it did the trick! No more slow downs! Consistent speed. It seems the lack of a fan causes overheating and slow speeds.https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07R659J8Z?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

I have similar issues with unreliable T-Mobile home internet. When I’ve spoken to the folks at T-Mobile about it, I get contradictory answers: towers update in my area not causing internet problems; tower update in my area is causing internet problems; my area is good for T-Mobile Wi-Fi service; my area is not good for T-Mobile Wi-fi; internet traffic on tower not cause of issues; amount of traffic on tower affects internet, etc. This has been going on for the 2+ months that I’v had T-Mobile home internet. I finally called and told them that they had won whatever they were trying to win. I’ve called one of their competitors to try their service. The price is similar and I also get several TV channels included (not cable TV). I have lost all confidence in T-Mobile home internet and I highly recommend that you avoid T-Mobile at all costs (make sure you search for complaints, including BBB complaints about T-Mobile home internet before you decide).

Thanks! I will try that. My device also shows a warning saying Modem Storage Full. Very odd. Also, I have 4 out of 5 / Very Good connection. im also attaching screens of my tower metrics.

How distressing for you, and puzzling. Your metrics are good to excellent. You should be getting speeds of over 200Mbps down because you have the more desirable n41 on the Secondary (5G) and a good signal strength.If you have an external router plugged in, try it without it plugged in, just using the gateway’s built-in router.It is easy to reset the gateway’s connection by restarting it via the button on the side, after making any changes and just to refresh things. I’ve read that the Modem Storage message on the top of the gateway doesn’t mean anything. Some people got rid of it via the reset.If you aren’t using an external router, and you have a laptop or computer with an Ethernet port, plug the computer into the gateway that way with the provided CAT cable, thereby bypassing the wifi to rule out wifi being the issue. If you got speed that way, you will know something is wrong with either your wifi setup or the wifi function of the gateway.When setting up your system, it’s good to get one device working properly, before adding all the smart devices on. Since you were trying to set it up when the tower was undergoing maintenance, you could try a hard reset of the gateway and starting all over again. By hard resetting, I don’t mean just restarting the gateway, but by depressing the reset hole at the top of the black insert panel on the side of the gateway, using a paperclip or pin, holding for four seconds, and releasing. Then you will need to re-enter all your setup data. I think if you haven’t done it, a hard reset like this is worth trying, given that you set up the thing at a time the tower was not functioning properly because of maintenance.Do you by any chance have a 5G phone on T mobile, or a friend who does, and does that work at your house doing a speed test? That is a sure sign, if it works well, that you have a problem with the gateway and need to request a replacement.One more thing I thought of...you said work on your tower has come and gone, according to a service rep you called. What kind of time are we talking about here? A few days, a week. Their tower maintenance issues can last from a few hours to a month, it seems. If they did a new n41 installation, the tuning of that can take days. Perhaps someone who knows more about this stuff than myself can clarify, it it possible to get these kind of good metrics and there be something missing with the connection to the backhaul or something, that would account for getting a 1 or 2Mbps speed?Another thing, I used to have my DSL modem/router two rooms away and it worked fine, full speed. This gateway’s wifi will not work that way. You need to be 20 feet or less from the gateway to be sure the wifi will reach you full speed.

Unreliable home internet | T-Mobile Community

PWilliams
Newbie Caller
3 years ago
jlillard wrote:

It’s possible you may also be dealing with an overheating modem.

https://community.t-mobile.com/tv-home-internet-7/home-internet-overheating-36560

Like I said, nothing but excuses.
PWilliams
Newbie Caller
3 years ago
jzimm wrote:

Hello, I have the 5G home internet cylinder, and I love the concept, but I have been having a very inconsistent and overall disappointing experience with it. Streaming TV will buffer constantly. Video conferencing for work has become impossible. Speed tests show 1-3Mbps. After several LONG calls to TMobile support, they have told me that work was being done to the tower in my area, but that has come and gone and the speed is still EXCRUCIATINGLY slow or sometimes just stops altogether. Is this a device issue or consistent with everyone else’s experience? My device is on firmware version 1.2101.00.1609. Any help would be appreciated!

All you will get are excuses, not solutions. I suggest you leave T-Mobile and get something reliable in your area.
PWilliams
Newbie Caller
3 years ago
I have similar issues with unreliable T-Mobile home internet. When I’ve spoken to the folks at T-Mobile about it, I get contradictory answers: towers update in my area not causing internet problems; tower update in my area is causing internet problems; my area is good for T-Mobile Wi-Fi service; my area is not good for T-Mobile Wi-fi; internet traffic on tower not cause of issues; amount of traffic on tower affects internet, etc. This has been going on for the 2+ months that I’v had T-Mobile home internet. I finally called and told them that they had won whatever they were trying to win. I’ve called one of their competitors to try their service. The price is similar and I also get several TV channels included (not cable TV). I have lost all confidence in T-Mobile home internet and I highly recommend that you avoid T-Mobile at all costs (make sure you search for complaints, including BBB complaints about T-Mobile home internet before you decide).
Jam25
Network Novice
4 years ago
I am having the same problem, I’ve had the service for 6 weeks now and it is getting worst by the day B2 or B66, B2 most of the time on my primary signal and N41 all the time on my secondary signal. I have seen users with way worst tower metrics than mine and they’re getting 150, 200 upto 300Mbps, I have done the router to computer connection via ethernet to no improvement at all.. if am lucky early mornings i’d get 30-40Mbps but from Noon to Midnight it is just crawling. I call customer service to no help at all.. I might give it a try to some suggestions here and see what happen but any comments are welcome..
jzimm
Newbie Caller
4 years ago
All, I am thrilled to say I fixed this problem by adding a fan under the unit. I bought this one from Amazon, and it did the trick! No more slow downs! Consistent speed. It seems the lack of a fan causes overheating and slow speeds.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07R659J8Z?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details
moofmilker77
Network Novice
4 years ago
I’ve been having the exact same experience with mine. I’ve concluded that “tower maintenance/upgrades” is a b.s. response from tech support when they don’t know what to do. Several times I have been told maintenance/upgrades had taken place recently and each analyst said it took place on completely different days when I spoke with them all on the same day. T-Mobile rushed this service into rollout before it was ready and they are making excuses or trying to paint the perception that they are modernizing their equipment all of the time. I’m on my third replacement gateway and ready to drop TMHI.
Timsw
LTE Learner
4 years ago
jzimm wrote:

Well, it’s weird. I got a spike earlier at 300+mbps, now it’s back down to 3mbps. I haven’t moved the tower. I don’t know what’s causing these erratic jumps and lows. It’s definitely more lows than highs with it.

I think that’s a good sign. Yeah, scratch the gateway exchange for a while. Having done work on the tower, they could be tuning the equipment at the tower, and will power up to full power soon.
jzimm
Newbie Caller
4 years ago
Well, it’s weird. I got a spike earlier at 300+mbps, now it’s back down to 3mbps. I haven’t moved the tower. I don’t know what’s causing these erratic jumps and lows. It’s definitely more lows than highs with it.
Timsw
LTE Learner
4 years ago
Hmm, it’s a close call, but 13Mbps is a lot better than 3, isn’t it. It still stinks though, except for your upload, which is reasonable. Only because they told you that work had been done on your tower recently, and you’ve got your old connection to rely on for work at home and other things for another week or two, you could wait a few more days probably, to see if the download kicks in.
When you do exchange a gateway, they’ll mail it to you but they allow you to return the old one to a Tmobile store, if that’s more convenient. My gateway works fine, doesn’t overheat without a fan, so I’m just basing this on the many people who have tried exchanging their gateway.
Another way to test the gateway is to take your gateway and computer (or phone, set to wifi) to another person’s house, maybe someone closer to a tower, or if you have a portable power supply, you can do it in the car. All you need to do is turn it on and it should work. It’s just like using a cell phone in another location.
T mobile has a warning that the gateway is to be used only at one location, but lots of people have tried it in other locations with no problems, just as experiments, and I don’t think they care when you’re using it for just a short period in another location. Hundreds of people have tried this and I haven’t heard of one person saying T mobile revoked their subscription. The point of this would be that if you can get blazing speeds when right near youraT mobile 5G tower, well then you’d know your gateway works great and it’s time to turn the whole business back to them and use another provider.
If you can take it near another T mobile tower and it works great there, but not right next to the T mobile tower nearest your house, then you know there’s still something not working with your tower, and that your gateway is fine. It’d be something you can do on the weekend, nothing you have to rush out and do.
From what I’ve read, about 9 out of 10 people who exchange their gateway, suspecting something may be defective about it, there is nothing wrong with it. But for that one person where it is a defective gateway it can send their speed soaring.
jzimm
Newbie Caller
4 years ago
I tried a direct Ethernet connection, and I am getting 13mbps download and 17mbps upload. Go figure. Do you guys think this is sufficient evidence that something is defective about my unit?