Forum Discussion
Tmobile switch the gateway to a distance cell tower
My internet speed is 30 mbps on a good day, after 1 to 3 days, it drops down to 5 mbps, sometime below 1mbps. Power cycle the gateway won’t help, but restart by using the mobile app usually works.
I called CS several times without any conclusions. Then I pay attention to the cell towel CGI in the Advanced cellular metrics page, whenever I have bad performance the CGI is aways the same cell tower one mile away from my house(by using the cellmapper.net). And whenever I have better performance the CGIs are always the two cell towers at the same location 0.35 miles away.
So I called the CS today with the finding, his explanation was when the traffics to a cell tower increases to the threshold the system simply switches the gateway automatically to another cell tower, and currently there is no way they can lock you to a certain cell tower.
I asked him to create a ticket to enhance the algorithm to find a closer and better performing cell tower to switch the gateway. Or to increase the capacities of the cell towers nearby.
I also told him that my home security system depends on the internet, I travel a lot, sometimes out of country, I can’t monitor the internet speed nor manually restart the gateway when I am not at home, this has to be addressed otherwise I have to go with Cox.
If you have the same issue, now you know the possible cause. please call T-Mobile to create a ticket, hopefully this will get their attention to address it soon.
Hi Rogracer2000, thanks for the tips. At the time I posted my first post, a reboot didn’t help to switch the gateway to another cell tower, I must use the T-Mobile App to restart the gateway then it’ll switch, the firmware version was 1.00.18. Now that the firmware is 1.00.20 maybe reboot can trigger the switch so your tip may work.
daniel...I notice in your first post you mentioned that you cannot restart your gateway remotely. If that’s still an issue, you can add a timer that power cycles the router at times of your choosing. I have mine set for auto-reboots 3 times a week at 3 am….to keep things running smoothly when I’m away from the house.
Currently my gateway still connects to the nearest LTE cell tower with ~30mbps/5mbps performance, sometime it is switched over to a farther LTE cell tower with ~5mbps/3mbps, when this happens I either restart or reboot the gateway, if it still doesn’t work, I’ll move the gateway a few inches from its current location then restart or reboot and it works. Rarely it connects to 5G with > 100mbps/20mbps performance, but it only lasted a day or two before going back to LTE which I really don’t care, since I don’t play games and 30mbps is sufficient for my daily usages.
Any update on this? The last two switches have been so far away that it messes with our ability to access Hulu as we are no longer in our “home network”. Additionally, I received multiple request and had to confirm my identify when logging in to most of my stuff because it said I was in Texas...I live in Minnesota…...
This morning my internet speed dropped down to less than 5mbps, the firmware was updated to 1.00.18 overnight, it is connected to the distant cell tower using LTE again.
Before I headed to Cox to get the cable modem, I made a final try by moving around the gateway from north side to south side of the house, then I got 5G again! I spent hours to find the best location in the north several weeks ago, I guess the firmware updates has something to do with the cell towers selection.
So if you lost 5G like I did, try moving around your gateway because the best spot you found for it maybe changed due to the firmware updates.
@daniel787 i am glad you got a good resolution.
T-Mobile didn’t call me back 72 hours after the trouble ticket was issued, I call CS today and he couldn’t find the ticket! He told me my area has no plan to increase capacities, and my main LTE cell tower is under congestion so expect to be switched to a distant cell tower. It is what it is, I am ready to go to Cox.
But before he let me go, he suggested to go to the retail store to exchange a new gateway, he said: “you should be able to get 5G in your area”. Yes copz1998 made the same suggestion, so I did.
After I installed the new gateway, I got 5G! I check the new gateway firmware, it is 1.00.16 and my previous gateway was updated to 1.00.18 which I didn’t get the 5G. pphw was right!
I am hoping T-Mobile won’t try to update this gateway’s firmware, we’ll see.
I lost internet this morning, by looking at the CGI from the Advanced Cellular Metrics(LTE), T-Mobile system switches the gateway to another cell tower far away from my house, again.
This is the fundamental reason of T-mobile home internet instability. T-mobile promised to get back to me in 72 hours after they issued the ticket, we’ll see.
As for the 5G issue, I used to get the 5G coverage but it only last for 2 weeks, the Advanced Cellular Metrics(5G) shows dashes most of the time which means there is no coverages and cellmapper.net confirms that, this is a separate issue I’ll ask T-Mobile to address later, right now I want stable internet connection, 30mbps is sufficient for me.
Thank you @daniel787,
I would take your screenshot to the local T-Mobile store and ask for a replacement unit. If the device is not presenting your cellular metrics, there is probably an internal problem with the gateway, especially in light that you can obtain them from another app/device.
daniel787 wrote:
As I mentioned in previous reply, I don’t have 5G coverage at all. See my 5G metrics.
I have the Arcaydia gateway. It was working fine on firmware 1.00.16 but I had unreliable 5G since TMO pushed an update to 1.00.18. I lost 5G and had to relocate the gateway to the bedroom closest to the tower to get 5G back. Even then, it’s not reliable, I had 1mbps download early this morning. TMO says the tower closest to me is down (but it still work), so hopefully things get better after they get the tower back to 100% functional.
My current Advanced Cellular Metrics for 5G:
RSRQ -8
RSRP -87
SINR 3.1
Band N41
