T-Mobile HOME Internet Service

[alarmguy]

I placed my order on 1/14/21 with the intention of evaluating the service against my current vdsl - with which I pay $55/month for 28/6 typical speeds. I was given a shipping window of 2/19 - 3/11. I was stunned to receive a shipping notification early this week. I received the Nokia unit a couple of days ago and hooked it up yesterday.

Thus far it's powered up and located in front of a window where I get the strongest signal on the built-in signal meter (4 bars out of 5). I believe it is being served by a T-Mobile antenna located high up on a electrical tower in my neighborhood. At the location where the Nokia is placed, I can actually see the tower & antenna. It's probably about 500 yards away.

I already had a good idea of where the best signal/placement location would be because I used a signal finder app on my T-Mobile phone to do a "survey". To verify, I intially powered up the Nokia unit on a 50' extension cord and placed it in multiple locations in the house and doing a speedtest. This confirmed my thoughts on where it would best be located based on speed test results and signal grapgh on the modem.

Now for some results. My first speed test resulted in 75/35 speed (from memory). That would definitely be acceptable. Unfortunately, I never got another result even close to that since (?). Throughout the afternoon my speeds were anywhere between 15 to 50 download, averaging around 30 (approximately what I get with vdsl). Uploads were much better, ranging from mid-teens to mid 30's. In the evening speeds were lower, averaging 25/20 I'd guess. One factor could be that I had the cellular shade at the window closed, but I did open them around 9 pm and did a test that was only marginally better.

As Alarmguy mentioned, the router setup is very basic and the web app is buggy as heck. At one point I had to power cycle the Nokia just to get the app to connect again. Since then I've made a point of logging off the app when I'm done and haven't lost the ability to connect using it. (when the app couldn't connect the unit was still functioning properly otherwise). I've also connected via IP address 192.168.12.1 to view the same info. From all I can tell I don't connect to any 5G antennas (primary signal is band B66 with -77 dB and secondary is n71 with -96 dB).

At this point I'm not sure it's worth keeping as a replacement for what I have. If I got consistently good speed tests (like the first one I did or what others have reported) I'd strongly consider making the switch. But slightly better download speeds (albeit with significantly higher uploads) for a near-equal price is not compelling - not to mention higher pings, restrictions in where the unit must be located, being affected by time of day/increased usage by others, and the lack of options with the router (bridge or DMZ at least). BTW, I did see a 'rumor' that a customer was told by T-Mobile customer service that an enhanced/improved firmware update should be pushed in the next few weeks. That would be good, depending on much it is improved.

I am thinking about contacting T-Mobile to see if they might be able to tweak something on their end like they did for Alarmguy. For the record, when I placed the order the customer rep ("Ace") promised my downloads would be higher than 50.

Alarmguy: Could you share what method of contacting T-Mo you used for getting
support. Anything that can save me some time and frustration would be appreciated.


P.S. One really weird observation: The location where I have the Nokia unit placed happens to be on top of a full-tower PC that sits on a desk beneath the window. When the modem is receiving/transmitting I hear what sounds like a small hard drive whinning and moving the heads (just like a 2.5" hdd). It only happens while sitting on the PC - never at any other location. The kicker is that the PC is unplugged and the noise is coming from inside it's case. Perhaps something in there is resonating? It seems to be coming from the PC power supply. Strange.

ok, Ill try my best to break this down so I dont miss anything, first, let me say, based on how I am reading your post, I think for you, you might be more happy with your current VDSL for the next year or so. You really need to be motivated and enjoy this stuff at this extremely early stage of the end of landline internet. Its kind of like the days of dial up internet service back in 1995. For me its a hobby AS LONG as it doesnt interfere with my wifes work day or access to the internet. Its a fantastic feeling to no longer be a whore to Spectrum.
Your current VDSL is around the same price and speed. For many others the lowest price from a company like Spectrum is $80 and if you buy your own router $75.
Ok, with that said!

1. Lose the phone app if you can and use a computer and Nokia's GUI @ 192.168.12.1 You will go insane with that app. For the typical consumer, it makes an easy out of the box set up, after that, lose it *L*

2. TMobile Support is pretty good, like any support, its who you talk too. But if you call them, they will walk you through the standard reset process and it that doesnt work, it gets escalated to an "engineer" customer service will call you back in a few days to see if they fixed the issue. best part is, you dont have to be put on hold when you call, you will be able to enter your phone number and get a call back in the order they received your call, like clock work, they will call you back within the time they said. Pretty good.

More impressive, they have their home internet support phone number posted every single place you look, its at the bottom of every screen on your app and every screen of the GUI in Red ! *L*
Says this "Questions? Call T-Mobile Customer Service at 1-844-275-9310" Yes the number is even in red!

3. Im not sure of your need to have to move your Nokia to near a window if you have a tower nearby (assuming that is the tower) I was using my router inside a closet in the middle of the house but only down to 2 and 3 bars on primary and secondary yet got 100Mbps + in that closet, but then could not reliably get those speeds so moved it to an interior wall of the southern part of the home for 3 and 4 bars.
(more on this later)
Tmobile like all companies has many towers, in fact they share them, they dont own them, its more then likely one signal is from one tower and one from another I think. It doesnt seem to matter how many bars, I lose the secondary signal every 24 to 48 hours (with 4 bars) and go from 100+ Mbps to 40 Mbps. I default the unit, get it back and then lose it again. Im not sure if its the tower or the unit. I just went the longest amount of time and then lost it again, Im no longer able to get it back, which doesnt make sense, so Im wondering if its the tower.
Remember all these 5G transmitters on towers are new too and must have bugs in them. Anyway, right now I am at 30+ Mbps again. For me, that is ok, this was a quest to break free of the 70% Spectrum price increases over the years and I KNOW its just a matter of time before all these bugs are out of the system and I will have MUCH faster speeds then I was paying Spectrum 50% more in cost for, as I already have had it but then lost it.

4. You have a 5g signal at your house. The N71 band is 5G

5. Finally (think I covered everything) and once again my thoughts.
Out of the gate, for anyone getting this service it will be hit or miss. The Nokia Router/Modem is full of bugs for some, the app even worse.
Its only started to be produced and brand new to the market. Yes, rushed to market way too fast.

I think firmware updates and possibly new equipment will fix all the issues for most, in time though. Im thinking a year or two, maybe a few months, like any new technology there will be bugs.
This unit brand new, 5g on towers brand new, double whammy. There is such world wide demand, chip makers are backlogged for orders to build these devices, for like forever. Same as it used to be for computers. Netgear also produces a unit and I am sure one day others will too. Right now, your SIM is locked to the Nokia unit but some talk in the forums of possibly TMobile one day allowing you to install it in different equipment.

6. I have personally, must have, defaulted my Nokia 50 times playing around with it. I reset the device to factory. Just the other day for the first time I no longer can get the secondary cell signal which for me is Band N71 and my speeds in the Toilet of 20 to 40 Mbps much like you. Im good with this as long as it is stable until TMobile fixes everything, whether its the towers or equipment.
They are moving so fast, added 100 million people to the areas that can get 5g in the USA and this year adding 2 million a week more, that is incredible, but there will be issues for a while.
To give an idea, it took Verizon an entire year last year to add two million people and Tmobile is doing that every week.

I have been as honest as possible in my posts on this, I started out freaking awesome thrilled when I first got the unit and AMAZINGLY right out of the box it performed. Then as time goes on, seems things start to go downhill. Not sure why or again, TMobile just working on things. Time will tell.
I do want to restate one thing for others reading this. At no time in the last almost month now of using TMobile Home Internet did we lose our connection, this is critical for us or my wife would not be able to work and have to take PTO if the connection went down.
Yes, it slowed down but fully acceptable and barely noticeable but you do notice, the first day I was ever concerned was yesterday, it slowed to a crawl and then reset, all is good now.
Im hanging in there and will update should things improve or go south but once again, remember, everyone will be different because you will be on a tower near you, not my tower. For me, a no brainer, Im a bit of a rebel and Ill be darned, if offered an option to not get price gouged by Spectrum to the tune of $80 a month for nothing more then a data connection with no other options, Ill take the new guy on the block and work with them. For goodness sakes my winter electric bill isnt much more then Spectrums data connection.

(let me know how you make out!)

 

[alarmguy]

^^ Ps. Here is the user manual.
https://www.t-mobile.com/support/pu...igh-Speed Internet Gateway End User Guide.pdf

 

[Touring5]

Thanks for the reply and info. This morning I did a lengthy process of moving the unit to multiple locations (probably 20+) and running speed tests. Generally the original room does appear to be best, but it's really unpredictable around the house and indicated signal strength isn't necessarily an indication of speeds. Speedtest apps and server selection is very inconsistent. I was able to find a T-Mo server in my city on the speedtest.net app and I used it for my comparisons. I got a few tests of about 65-70 down, 25-30 up pretty consistently on my "optimum" location. By about 10:45 @am those speeds notably dropped off, presumably because of more traffic?

I noticed this morning when I first began testing that my primary signal was then being served on band B2, but it went back to B66 at some point, likely after moving and rebooting the unit.

I'm fairly knowledgeable about how cell towers & antennas are deployed. Funny thing is I've used apps like open signal to see where my T-Mo cell phone was connecting and it will point to a different tower than another app - I'm not sure how reliable those are. I have seen that the phone is connected to the nearby antenna based on reported cell ID. A new standalone tower was erected within 1/4 mile this past summer, but has yet to be populated with antennas so there's no way of knowing what providers will be on it.

I am going to contact T-Mo, just to see what if anything can be done from their end. I was hoping that because I get very good LTE signal on my T-Mo phone service, that I might get some speeds similar to what some are getting. I live in a county of around 1 million residents, within a half mile of densely populated communities, retail, and a major interstate highway and cell strength at my property has been lousy with other providers including verizon.

Higher frquency radio waves are almost "black magic". I did figure out the source of the noise when the modem was sending/receiving data - it was an old radio shack alarm clock near the modem. The sound was coming from it's speaker. I have wondered what if any affect the trees will have when they get leaves (plenty of large trees in my neighborhood & property)?

We'll see. This whole exercise has been a small-risk test.

One bit I noticed from your posts is that you use Ooma. Any issues with that? I've seen where some get excessive moments of really high latency (upwards of 1000 ms+) that really adversely impacts their VOIP service. I ask because fast.com speedtests give a loaded latency measurement and I've 500 ms numbers several times and I too use Ooma telo (I have only tested wirelessly and briefly via ethernet to a laptop thus far).

 

[alarmguy]

^^^ If you think about it, update on how it works out with TMobile. I'll do the same.
Yeah, I figure the source of noise was unrelated but heck, never know.

I trust you know way more then me about cell towers but I am learning quickly. I also wonder what will happen when leaves on trees are back.
The whole thing doesnt add up and why I think a fix will be coming soon, meaning months or less. it wont even be a thought in a year or two, it just depends if I send it back or hang in there. So far its working great albeit at 30ish Mbps instead of 100.

It doesnt add up when I can reliably download 40 Mbps or more on my IPhone but this big Nokia Tower in my house has issues and I dont have to wonder what position in the house I am with a little handheld iPhone!

Oh, Ooma, *L* lets not go there yet. We dont rely on Ooma to make calls, so its at the very bottom of the list, we only receive, though it is a security back up as well.
Depending on how the Nokia router/modem "resets" determines if I will be able to make outbound calls. More or less we can always receive calls but only make calls if the reset works well.
We have had this issue with Spectrum/Charter as well, a simple reset of the modem always corrected it and very RARELY ever happened with Spectrum but it did happen however rarely a couple times over the last 5 years.
The thing is with the TMobile I have been resetting so much, sometimes it works and if it does Ooma will continue to work correctly but then sometimes on a Nokia reset it wont work correctly but if the internet is working correctly at that moment I dont bother with Ooma since its not as important right now.
I figure if the Nokia EVER works correctly then I can simply reset the Nokia unit the Ooma device works correctly and will be good. Yes, on certain resets when it did work I noticed a long delay between dialing a number and the number ringing on the other end BUT, other times worked just fine.
This could maybe be an issue cleared up by Ooma resetting a server too and again, not important to me right now.

Ironically my wifes work station at home for her job has a Voip Avaya "multi line" phone, same as you see in an office building and it works flawless though the Nokia Modem as well as her computer connection to her corporate headquarters far away, as long as the TMobile is working *L* So far it has always worked but yesterday was the first time ever it got scary slow.
All good today and I expect it will stay that way, now will wait to hear back from TMobile, I called this morning, was told the ticket was still open, meaning engineer hasn't looked at it yet and they will follow up with me Tuesday to make sure the issue was cleared up.

 

[alarmguy]

Pss ^^^
Ok, I think I got this whole thing figured out and REALLY pretty happy about it. Though time will prove it to be true and why I started this whole thread.
Not sure if I posted that I did call TMobile yesterday to follow up on a ticket they created a couple days back and sending to an engineer.
Anyway, its still open which means engineer hasn't got to it yet. Normally takes a few days. Anyway, lady is going to call me back on Tuesday to check and make sure everything is good.
With that said, in that conversation I also was able to nail down my local tower. We have a few within a mile or two (not road miles but straight line) from our house and I was always trying to figure out which was which. She said our tower is only a mile away, so I know exactly which one, in fact I can watch carefully and see the blinking red light at night on the next block through one tiny section of trees. However she cant know exactly which tower I am picking up *LOL* right?

So anyway, that is good the tower I am seeing has some TMobile transmitters on it.
Time will tell, right now after searching, I see I have an LTE signal B12 (EARFCN 5035) as the main, what is missing is the 5G signal as the secondary. When that signal is there which was almost all the time, my speeds shoot up to over 100 Mbps. Normally If lost I can get it back by a reset, all the time, except no longer since two days ago, so I think this is a tower issue which will be corrected or maybe the unit. When that 5g signal came in, it was actually stronger then the LTE by a full bar = 4 bars.

Anyway, this morning Im at roughly 40 Mbps through a power line adapter which typically slows things down 15% or so. This is LTE Band B12
Where it gets tricky is sometimes on a reset only, I will end up with a B2 (I think or something lower) when I do, speeds are slow and I reset until I get the B12 back. I have a few towers so honestly not sure what is coming from where. One is close arounds a mile, but the other 1 or 2 are only maybe 2 miles.
Anyway, everything has been perfectly stable by not playing around with the Modem/router and trying to pick up the 5g signal. Ill let it stay with the LTE and stop trying to reconnect the Secondary 5g signal and let Tmobile work on that, I really think it may be down at the tower or again, something wrong with our Nokia Unit.
No big deal as long as our LTE stays connected and I know it will.
Im not sure of the significance of "loaded latency" I dont know, sometimes to me, website try to find a measurement that someone else doesnt have, Im not saying I am right, I am saying, there always seems to be a place you can find a lousy number but the standard numbers have always been excellent for me and voice quality better then cell phone... anyway, just ran a speed test with fast.com since you mentioned it. Speed measured much higher and actually peaked in the 70Mbps range. So I am glad I tried it! *L*

 

[Touring5]

Interesting!

I did a test this morning, expecting to see higher speeds (best results have been in the morning). Instead it was around 20/12 (although with a very low ping of 13 ms). I looked at the t-mo router webpage and sure enough only had a primary signal (B66).

I rebooted and then tested - speeds were 60/20 and I was now connected to a secondary signal (n71). Not sure why ping increased to 45 ms and upload wasn't better(?).

Thanks for previously identifying n71 as "5G". I recalled there were LTE bands including 71, but ignored the 'n' prefix. Presumably it is part of what is apparently the technically correct identifier of 'nr' (new radio) rather than " 5G".

As you observed, it looks like connecting to a 5G/n signal really benefits speeds. In my case I connect to it but the signal level is not great (-96ish db). My nearby antenna serves the B66 band, but I don't think it does any format band 71, thus I don't know where that band is being transmitted to/from. BTW, the site cellmapper.com has good info on towers/antennas (what location/provider/technology & bands).

I did a fast.com test this morning to compare the T-Mo to vdsl. T-Mo had similar unloaded ping to vdsl ~ 30 ms, but loaded was very different - vdsl was like 45 while T-Mo was 850. Not sure what the consequences of that are. BTW i always get slower results with fast - I think because the T-Mo IP seems to show up as me being in TN or MO. That's why I've been using the speedtest.net app, so I can set a local T-Mo server for best & consistent tests.

 

[alarmguy]

Very cool in a way. So here we are two different homes, hundreds of miles apart and I think it is safe to say the new 5g Nokia units are having issues with 5G right now. Almost makes sense to me in a way. Brand new units, new technology, new towers, rushed out to market, hopefully cured by a firmware update someday. I would assume TMobile would be a big customer for Nokia who is struggling right now and looking for resurrecting in the 5G world is working on this.

The only thing is, some do not report problems. Time will tell for me.

If not then it will be a newer model modem in the future. My N71 signal had an RSRP of -84 which is pretty darn good but no where to be found anymore *L*

 

[Touring5]

Very cool in a way. So here we are two different homes, hundreds of miles apart and I think it is safe to say the new 5g Nokia units are having issues with 5G right now. Almost makes sense to me in a way. Brand new units, new technology, new towers, rushed out to market, hopefully cured by a firmware update someday. I would assume TMobile would be a big customer for Nokia who is struggling right now and looking for resurrecting in the 5G world is working on this.

The only thing is, some do not report problems. Time will tell for me.

If not then it will be a newer model modem in the future. My N71 signal had an RSRP of -84 which is pretty darn good but no where to be found anymore *L*

It will be interesting to see how the service evolves and matures. I'll tinker with it for the next few weeks but will likely cancel before the end of this initial billing period - unless T-Mo has a rabbit up their sleeve. Then I'll wait to see if ATT ever runs fiber here or T-Mobile (or someone else) advances the service quality & reliability to a more tolerable level. What I won't do is ever have comcast again. It's a pity that so many Americans have no access to affordable & reliable internet like so much of the rest of the world.

 

[alarmguy]

^^ Yeah, I am eagerly awaiting the outcome of this service ticket. I suspect that our Nokia Unit is bad, at least now since the "CPU Overheat" message appeared over the weekend on the LCD screen and I no longer can get the N71 secondary cell signal or maybe the 5g on the tower is bad.
Hopefully have some answers in the next 48 hours.
Im giving this one really good last chance myself. Really dont want to give it up because I have witnessed and had really good 85 to 120 Mbps for days, so I know its capable, now just have to hope Tmobile figures it out OR its just too soon and Nokia has some things to work on.
If so, we will have to go back to Spectrum for the time being, I assume they will work it out over the next six months or so but with the wife working form home, Im afraid the current unit might die and leave us stranded. I wouldn't care as much if not for that, as so far (fingers crossed) we still have not lost internet to the point that is was unusable, though one short term scare Friday afternoon.

Monday Morning 2-1-21
Pulling 25 Mbps through Motorola 2600 wifi via power line connector to Nokia Modem on main floor.
Ill be ok with this if speed doesnt take a dive during the day while my wife works and while TMobile works to resolve the issue. I suspect Ill have all the answers in the next few days. I really would like TMobile to send out a new unit but need the "engineer" to work through the process first.
I want to make this work, I had the speeds of up to and over 100 Mbps so I know its "there" and I know right now the secondary N71 5g signal is not there, so where is it and who's fault, my router/modem or the tower?
When it was there it was a darn strong signal at 4 bars, its lost, hopefully they will find it *LOL*

 

[Touring5]

Just some more observations.

1. I moved the unit to a different place in the same room (further from the window) and it shows 3 bars (instead of 4). My speeds are now more consistent. Last night I was getting ~50/30 on repeated tests. Oddly, the speedtest app thinks I'm located about 300 miles away (presumably by IP address), but I do get noticeably better speedtest results from the suggested, 2 states away, servers. Go figure.

2. Today I ran an ethernet cable from the Nokia to a switch that serves my "office" (main PC, Roku TV, printer). I tested the connection with some 4K UHD videos on Youtube app. No issues at all. Turned on "Stats for Nerds" and in 10 minutes of streaming saw 0 dropped frames and the networked healthy as best I can tell. Also did normal web browsing on my PC. Despite similar speedtest results, I have to save that pages load noticeably faster. Haven't tried any uploading (maybe put some large files on Dropbox later).

3. My Nokia does tend to be pretty warm, but never had any error displays. Definitely that sounds problematic. (BTW, I saw Alarmguys posts on the T-Mo forum).

Most of today's testing has been done prior to noon - when I usually see my best test speeds. It'll be interesting to see if it's noticeably different in "prime time".

Previously mentioned Ooma: I haven't connected it to the T-Mo yet (baby steps). But last night at almost midnight I noticed the logo was illuminated red. The message button illuminated for a while, then the logo began flashing red for a while, then went solid red and the message button extinguished. It was "clicking" occasionally. I power cycled it and it booted up, but still solid red. Just for giggles I power cycled the ATT gateway AND the Telo. 10 minutes later - blue logo, everything back to normal. Weird. I've never observed that before. If it was an Ooma server issue, I'm glad I wasn't connected to T-Mo as it'd make me assume it was my internet connection.

Carry on.

 

[alarmguy]

2-1-21 at 3:30 PM
Im at 35Mbps
Funny you mentioned moving the Nokia. I did too yesterday, just a few feet to the most Southern part of the home, about 1 foot off the floor from about 5 feet off the floor, I went to an ever so slightly less signal but better SNR and keeping it there.
Its been more consistent in the area I now have it. Our house is a bit higher in the community and why I knew I didnt need it to high, also Tmobile recommended 3 feet off the floor once they calculated my address.

Ooma, the trick is this and it can be nerve rattling when everything is working correctly.
You have to power down the Nokia, meaning turn off the switch on the back and pull the power cord for 8 seconds OR a factory reset.
Power it back up and power up the Ooma as soon as you do the Nokia. \or just do a factory reset with a paper clip and wait until the timer on the LED screen says 8 seconds.
This works 50% of the time, if not the first time, try again. bad new is, you have to do a factory reset. Unless a simple reset works, dont think so, but forgot because not at the top of my list right now. *L*

I used to have to do this with Spectrum less then a handful of times over a 5 year time frame.

 

[PandaBear]

I placed my order on 1/14/21 with the intention of evaluating the service against my current vdsl - with which I pay $55/month for 28/6 typical speeds. I was given a shipping window of 2/19 - 3/11. I was stunned to receive a shipping notification early this week. I received the Nokia unit a couple of days ago and hooked it up yesterday.

Thus far it's powered up and located in front of a window where I get the strongest signal on the built-in signal meter (4 bars out of 5). I believe it is being served by a T-Mobile antenna located high up on a electrical tower in my neighborhood. At the location where the Nokia is placed, I can actually see the tower & antenna. It's probably about 500 yards away.

I already had a good idea of where the best signal/placement location would be because I used a signal finder app on my T-Mobile phone to do a "survey". To verify, I intially powered up the Nokia unit on a 50' extension cord and placed it in multiple locations in the house and doing a speedtest. This confirmed my thoughts on where it would best be located based on speed test results and signal grapgh on the modem.

Now for some results. My first speed test resulted in 75/35 speed (from memory). That would definitely be acceptable. Unfortunately, I never got another result even close to that since (?). Throughout the afternoon my speeds were anywhere between 15 to 50 download, averaging around 30 (approximately what I get with vdsl). Uploads were much better, ranging from mid-teens to mid 30's. In the evening speeds were lower, averaging 25/20 I'd guess. One factor could be that I had the cellular shade at the window closed, but I did open them around 9 pm and did a test that was only marginally better.

As Alarmguy mentioned, the router setup is very basic and the web app is buggy as heck. At one point I had to power cycle the Nokia just to get the app to connect again. Since then I've made a point of logging off the app when I'm done and haven't lost the ability to connect using it. (when the app couldn't connect the unit was still functioning properly otherwise). I've also connected via IP address 192.168.12.1 to view the same info. From all I can tell I don't connect to any 5G antennas (primary signal is band B66 with -77 dB and secondary is n71 with -96 dB).

At this point I'm not sure it's worth keeping as a replacement for what I have. If I got consistently good speed tests (like the first one I did or what others have reported) I'd strongly consider making the switch. But slightly better download speeds (albeit with significantly higher uploads) for a near-equal price is not compelling - not to mention higher pings, restrictions in where the unit must be located, being affected by time of day/increased usage by others, and the lack of options with the router (bridge or DMZ at least). BTW, I did see a 'rumor' that a customer was told by T-Mobile customer service that an enhanced/improved firmware update should be pushed in the next few weeks. That would be good, depending on much it is improved.

I am thinking about contacting T-Mobile to see if they might be able to tweak something on their end like they did for Alarmguy. For the record, when I placed the order the customer rep ("Ace") promised my downloads would be higher than 50.

Alarmguy: Could you share what method of contacting T-Mo you used for getting
support. Anything that can save me some time and frustration would be appreciated.


P.S. One really weird observation: The location where I have the Nokia unit placed happens to be on top of a full-tower PC that sits on a desk beneath the window. When the modem is receiving/transmitting I hear what sounds like a small hard drive whinning and moving the heads (just like a 2.5" hdd). It only happens while sitting on the PC - never at any other location. The kicker is that the PC is unplugged and the noise is coming from inside it's case. Perhaps something in there is resonating? It seems to be coming from the PC power supply. Strange.

Definitely sounds like resonation. Sometimes switching power supply circuit switch at a certain frequency and resonate with the metals. Sometimes it is not the switching frequency but the wake up from sleep following the network protocol's packets and they may happen at a human audible frequency.

 

[alarmguy]

Just some more observations.

1. I moved the unit to a different place in the same room (further from the window) and it shows 3 bars (instead of 4). My speeds are now more consistent. Last night I was getting ~50/30 on repeated tests. Oddly, the speedtest app thinks I'm located about 300 miles away (presumably by IP address), but I do get noticeably better speedtest results from the suggested, 2 states away, servers. Go figure.

2. Today I ran an ethernet cable from the Nokia to a switch that serves my "office" (main PC, Roku TV, printer). I tested the connection with some 4K UHD videos on Youtube app. No issues at all. Turned on "Stats for Nerds" and in 10 minutes of streaming saw 0 dropped frames and the networked healthy as best I can tell. Also did normal web browsing on my PC. Despite similar speedtest results, I have to save that pages load noticeably faster. Haven't tried any uploading (maybe put some large files on Dropbox later).

3. My Nokia does tend to be pretty warm, but never had any error displays. Definitely that sounds problematic. (BTW, I saw Alarmguys posts on the T-Mo forum).

Most of today's testing has been done prior to noon - when I usually see my best test speeds. It'll be interesting to see if it's noticeably different in "prime time".

Previously mentioned Ooma: I haven't connected it to the T-Mo yet (baby steps). But last night at almost midnight I noticed the logo was illuminated red. The message button illuminated for a while, then the logo began flashing red for a while, then went solid red and the message button extinguished. It was "clicking" occasionally. I power cycled it and it booted up, but still solid red. Just for giggles I power cycled the ATT gateway AND the Telo. 10 minutes later - blue logo, everything back to normal. Weird. I've never observed that before. If it was an Ooma server issue, I'm glad I wasn't connected to T-Mo as it'd make me assume it was my internet connection.

Carry on.

Well I think we can agree this thing is not ready for "prime time" yet. Just too many people with issues like us. Im just not sure of the percentage as we know with forums and the web. But I think safe to say this brand new 5g unit has issues for many and plenty of bugs.
ALMOST UNDERSTANDABLE, geez must be one of the first home 5g units, not understandable is how it was not realized with the issues it has, unless it was simply because we are test subjects. *L*

Im hanging in there for sure, after all its their equipment and costs other then my monthly charge and I am saving $25 a month for now over Spectrum, for most people it would be $30.
Assuming at some point solutions or new equipment is produced. I had the HUGE benefit of seeing how fast this router can be or maybe better said the huge potential of 5G home service. So impressed I invested in the company after getting TMobile home Internet ... *LOL* Seriously wondering now. *L* But in it for the long term... maybe, could change my mind tomorrow.

SO for weeks I get this 5G speed, granted had to restart the darn thing every other day, now I honestly think the part of the processor for 5G has burned out with that overheat CPU warning you saw that I posted in TMobile forms OR maybe a failure at the cell tower created that and will be fixed. I am supposed to hear back from TMobile today/Tuesday.
I think what I will do, is keep creating service tickets until they send me a new unit, if its not the cell tower its the unit and I clearly get a 4 bar signal on the 5g N71 when it works or maybe just ask for the older LTE unit, if they still have them and be happy with 40+ Mbps until they get these Nokia or other brand working correctly. It will happen, just a matter of when and no matter what equipment you do get, it doesnt cost you anything, they are paying for it.

What I am nervous about is the thing breaking all together, since that overheat day, even at the slower speeds of 40Mbps... by the end of the day they seem to creep down to as low as 8Mbps. I used to get upset when it creeped down to 45Mbps!
Ill see what happens tonight. Oh by the way, I moved it back to its other position 5 feet off the floor for the stronger signal, I thought the other place was working better but after I had to reset last night I guess not.

Had to reset it last night in the middle of watching an Apple TV show. Most Apple TV is in 4K which is why I LOVE it. We are into audio and video too.
This morning Im still in the 40 range, yesterday was 54... go figure but still acceptable for now with no "Secondary Signal" showing in the Nokia.... sometimes I like fast.com because I seem to get better results *LOL* I never liked it before but now Im always looking for a ray of hope someplace.
Still not sure what I think about these sites with "buffer bloat" or "loaded" I wonder if they just create a reason for people to "click" on their site. Jitter is widely talked about with Voip. But these others I would agree at an extreme might matter but at what extreme if you dont notice anything? Just rambling .. below is Tuesday 7:30 AM

Fusion below

 

[willbur]

UPDATE Monday 1/11/21 =

Well all is working so far, more complete review at the end of this week. The unit I have is a brand new 4g/5g Nokia unit only been shipped for a couple weeks by T-Mobile, it has some bugs in the app, GUI and firmware for sure if you are going to set it up past the typical homeowner set up.

The GUI is very limited in what settings you can change, actually never saw such as limited web based interface on a router/modem.
There is nothing wrong with that, as it is clear that T-Mobile is going after your ordinary homeowner who is interested in getting on the internet as simple, fast as possible, much like a "cable guy" coming to the house, setting up their system and going home.
This unit does that. I have set up my own settings and have 3 bands with separate SSIDs .
2.4, low 5, high 5. or again, if the typical homeowner, you set it up with the app, simple stuff and will have 1 SSID for all 3 bands and unit will choose the best band for each device.

Speed, this is where I am getting a WIDE DISPARITY and reason for this post to be completely upfront, I posted previously above fantastic speeds but I am not getting those now. Speeds are running between 20 and max 70 Mbps depending time of day.
Average seems to be now leveling out to around a more consistent 45 Mbps. This is 100% fine with me.
Im unsure of the reason and to be quite honest I cant tell a difference, latency and jitter still very good.

You will need to use the built in router, at least as far as I know right now, I haven't played around with it much more yet, but according to others you would need a bridge mode for the TMobile Router/Modem and it doesn't have one. I thought I was having an issue when I tried to use my own stand alone router but I think I MIGHT have been wrong on that, as far as the cause I thought it was causing but anyway, the TMobile router wont let you do it the right way if you want to use your own router but it MAY work the wrong way. ... *L* I advent gone back to trying my own separate router because the TMobile Router combo is working so well, BUT I might try it again one day.
AS a REMINDER, I am limited during the weekdays on how much I can play around with it, as I have to be careful not to take down my wifes work station.

With that said, besides the really good performance I feel we are getting/meeting hopes and expectations mostly, which I think is going to improve more and vastly more once 5g is here, the router works outstanding for a combination modem/router. Range is every bit as good as my previous stand alone routers, TP Link AC 1700 and new Motorola AC 2600. The built in router is an AX.

The unit so new, the downloadable PDF manual is helpful but not very accurate in some places. This is truly meant as a plug and play router and I suspect the reason for that it TMobile does not want you if you are a business (they state businesses not accepted at this time but maybe future) or a heavy tech user. They need to get this out without affecting and overtaxing their network.

BOTTOM LINE as of this day, Monday=
WOW! We are thrilled! I cant believe we actually are able to now get our internet from someone who doesnt have wire or fiber running under our street. The unit comes in the mail, you plug it in, your done. No extra charges for anything, $50 a month with autopay. No equipment fee, no rental fees, no nothing! I think maybe there is even a free trial period, they haven't charged my card yet and gave me the date it will be charged. I cant remember with everything we were doing.

Anyway, left it up to my wife this weekend since she works from home and if our internet ever goes down she would have to take a PTO day, much like if your car broke down on the way to work.
After a lot of testing she gave the go ahead, even though we thought we would test this over a month or two time, less then 5 days passed by and we decided it will be reliable.
So we called Spectrum/Charter and told them to stick their 70% price increase over the last few years and cancelled our service. WOW what a feeling of freedom!!!!!!!!!

Btw- I did a device count, we have 28 devices hooked up to this TMobile router, granted some are rarely used and some will be gotten rid of, most noteworthy - two laptops since we got two new one for Christmas. But they all work on the network.

My son put his order in for T-Mobile Internet at his house on Sunday/yesterday.
Possible my daughter may too, but she takes her time with things *LOL*

Thank you for the excellent info. Much appreciated.

 

[Touring5]

"Not ready for prime time" is true. The phrase I thought of was "half-baked" (Alarmguy's literally).

It really is a huge undertaking. To be able to distribute internet service without the maintenance requirements of cables, wires, etc. is very attractive. I guess the issue is getting the necessary transmission system in place (which they need to do for phone service anyway) and making sure there is adequate bandwidth capability. I'm kind of old school when it comes to internet: I trust a hardwired/ethernet connection far more than wireless. It just seems significantly more solid and reliable, if not inconvenient in some circumstances. That said, wi-fi works well for me when I need it.

I know no one at T-Mo would ever admit it, nor would any commercial PR department, but I suspect at this point their service is basically a large beta test. Realistically, it's a great way to deploy it, test it, and develop it. It's probably why they have no caps on speed or downloads and offer it at such an attractive price. Skeptically, I don't see any company offering similar capability at 50% less than their competitors - I'd love it if they would, but big business doesn't work like that. I can see them refining and perfecting the system, then eventually having pricing and service levels commensurate with their competitors.

From my limited real world testing, the service is certainly capable of providing adequate throughput. I'm very concerned about how VOIP will play with it and how stable the modem and connection will be. Devices that need rebooting are just not attractive to anyone. I saw a video review of some type of device (It's been a while and I just don't remember many details) that has a setting to do scheduled reboots. I, like the reviewer, found that to be a bit suspicious - that there is a need to preemptively reboot it.

I, too, have seen online reports of reliability issues with the service and calls for added functionality to the Nokia unit. We'll see if/when upgrades are pushed out. I'm going to continue to evaluate the system, for how long will depend on what if any improvements come our way (the sooner the better).

 

[alarmguy]

Thank you for the excellent info. Much appreciated.

Update, late evening 2-2-21

Sure thing, I’ll keep this thread updated. Im also going to refrain from speculation and opinions as much as possible. Im trying to keep this factual so as much as I would like to I dont want to get into those conversations.

We all know there will be bugs on any new roll out of technology, to me this is big and I truly think a matter of time that people will be having their internet delivered to their home in a box, plug it in and your done. Im kind of enjoying it but not for everyone, YET.
As far as in a "box" this isnt a system for techies who want to play around and program wifi networks and port forward and and and .. .this is for a plug and play society which is the huge majority of people in the market place and quite honestly in this country.
Im sure any of these companies, Verizon included do not want high bandwidth tech hogs eating up bandwidth, they cant handle it yet.
Even right now, with its faults, it serves a lot of people who are stuck with 5 Mbps DSL connections. There are also satisfied people with 100+ Mbps service working ok.

The unit is stable now leaving it alone and letting it run at 20 to 40 Mb per second. I have no secondary signal which I should have and with it I saw speeds of 100 Mbps easy and vastly faster uploads over Spectrum cable. But my notes speak for themselves, bugs and issues, yet I know what is possible and there are those who do better then me, when things work right.

I have been on the phone a couple times with TMobile Support which is in my notes, its an easy phone call to them which is nice. Two service tickets later and tonight I was informed they are going to send me out a new unit. Once I get the new unit I send back the other with a shipping label.
So as hard as this is to believe I will be quiet for a while (I think -ha ha) Ill try the new unit before commenting further. Ill touch base here and there if I found out when it is to arrive. There is a shortage of units, chips to make the units ect .. though have no reason to believe that will delay shipping me a new one, one last time, we have not ever been without internet service, just not as fast as I first had internet service.

BTW for those that do not know, Verizon now also offers 5g Home Internet Service but in very limited areas as Verizon is very, very far behind TMobile in activating new 5G cell towers. Verizon pricing is about $20 more a month for non cell phone holders and if you have cell service through them, $50 a month.
Most areas they cover are in CA but there is one are closer to me in Atlanta, GA if you read their website, they are promising speeds up to 1GB per second! Other areas as low as 400 Mbps I think .. .like I think, its the future.
https://www.verizon.com/home/
I personally have no interest in Verizon, never have but thought I would mention it. its the future and competition is a good thing.

and once and for all, Im giving this a real good try but like anything, if its just not up to the task in my area, Ill go back to cable internet for a while as I know, its just a matter of time before things are perfected.
I would highly recommend it to anyone because there are success stories out there, and hopefully soon I will be one of them. )
But if not, nothing lost, no contracts, so shipping costs, no equipment costs, nothing to lose and even some free fun for those who like electronics.

 

[alarmguy]

Update 2-4-21,
Wow, well that was fast! Spoke to TMobile the evening of 2-2 and they were going to send me a new Modem/Router. I didnt ask how long it would take, I figured a week or so.
The office where they shipped from is 1000 miles away in Texas. I received the new unit 22 hours later Wed afternoon! Impressive customer service for sure. Actually in all my phone calls I have to say their customer support is an equal too or better then a company like Apple which is also excellent.

Thats the good news!
Bad news is my old router wasnt bad, still cannot get the secondary cell signal that I had weeks ago (with 4 bars no less) when I first joined TMobile Home Internet.
Actually I think that can be both good and bad news for the future. The good news is the only explanation must be something is wrong with the transmitter at the cell tower and the 5G signal is MIA, so the 100 Mbps speeds I had when I signed up were real and doable. The bad news is TMobile to the best of my knowledge is unaware there is something wrong at the tower. (maybe) Or it isnt translated down to their customer support.
So the new unit is all hooked up, old unit going into the box with the provided shipping label.
I had to call TMobile Home Internet Support to activate the new SIM card. I then called them back after my speed results were the same. Poor to very good. 10 to 50. As of this morning Im at 50Mbps to 45 mbps after multiple speed tests.

On the return call to TMobile Home Internet support the guy was great. Took down every detail for a good 10+ heck maybe 20 minutes as he typed it in and updated my service ticket, including having me do speed tests and my reporting to him about the secondary cell signal missing and what type it was. Ect. He then read it all back to me, he also read me the last service ticket results from the engineers.
Also confirmed my location and told me what street my cell tower is on, the good news is, it is the one literally a mile from my house. I can see the top of it peaking through the trees around the corner from our home.
So this is all good for the future but the future isnt here just yet. 5G was a massive roll out for TMobile, MILES ahead of ATT and Verizon so I am hoping down the road in a year or less all this stuff is worked out at my local tower, Mobiles 5g is coast to coast so I am sure yours is fine. I am sure it will be corrected, all the phone companies are always working on the towers around here in this growing area, but I dont think it will be days, more like months where I live.

Which leads me to this, Ill give it a week or two, see if they work out the tower issue. I have seen the speed and almost glad it is something at our tower, not in my home realtionship to the tower, not in the "buggy" new equipment. If its not worked out my then, Ill send the unit back/cancel. My wife will call Spectrum start service again, being a new customer at this point (Spectrum qualifies you as a new customer after 30 days) we will get the special 1 year $49 pricing for 100 Mbps service. I hate to do it, as I hate Spectrum but I know in a year I will be back to TMobile.

Once again, with that said, during this entire trail of almost one month now, we never lost service with TMobile Home Internet. We just stopped getting the 100Mbps speeds that we had with them and then went downhill to 10 to 30 and for some reason right now today I am up to 50 with the new unit but still missing the 5g secondary signal from the tower.

It is the future for many people, you have choices now, no longer held hostage to a cable company pricing because no one else can get in your community. 5G is the future with Tmobile, Verizon and ATT. Heck your car will be using it too, as well as almost any electronic device.
It will make landline internet insignificant for the average homeowner. Prices will stabilize and even get lower, just as cell service has over the last 25 years. )

Ps, if you have a Verizon cell plan, in VERY limited markets they are rolling out their 5g home internet, being its Verizon of course it cost more money but if a cell customer already, you can get up to 1 gigabyte speeds for $50 a month. Just keep in mind with Verizon you know the price will go up so better read the fine print, its a special right now and I figured that out because their older LTE home service actually cost more right now. Plus you have to watch out for the typical Verizon BS of equipment changes, fees and taxes which is on their LTE service.
TMobile is straight forward pricing, price you see is price you get.

 

[Touring5]

...
I had to call TMobile Home Internet Support to activate the new SIM card. I then called them back after my speed results were the same. Poor to very good. 10 to 50. As of this morning Im at 50Mbps to 45 mbps after multiple speed tests.

...

This echos my recent experience. This morning I was able to get a 50/20 range speed test (depending on test site). Last night at 10:30, I couldn't crack anything better than 15/10. I've never seen the 100+ speeds, but my initial speed test was 75/33 and haven't matched or exceeded it since (have probably run 150+ tests at 25 different locations in the house).

I have to wonder if they are throttling/prioritizing their bandwidth. Almost seems like they'd have to, at least until their 5G is rolled out at a majority of their towers. IDK.

Regarding signals and towers, I've found that my primary (non-5G) signal seems to vary a lot (different bands and ID's) but my secondary, n71 signal always shows the same info (when it's connected, which is most of the time). Makes me think there's only only antenna nearby to service that band.

BTW. If I could get 100Mbs speeds for $50 I'd be all over it. I'm paying $55 for 28/6 and consider that to be fairly reasonable. lol

 

[mk378]

Verizon's offering is based on the mm-wave bands, which offer huge capacity but short range, thus only workable in a city. Apples and oranges to compare the two. T-Mobile is adding a new MCS to 70 MHz of former UHF TV spectrum and calling it the greatest thing ever.

 

[alarmguy]

This echos my recent experience. This morning I was able to get a 50/20 range speed test (depending on test site). Last night at 10:30, I couldn't crack anything better than 15/10. I've never seen the 100+ speeds, but my initial speed test was 75/33 and haven't matched or exceeded it since (have probably run 150+ tests at 25 different locations in the house).

I have to wonder if they are throttling/prioritizing their bandwidth. Almost seems like they'd have to, at least until their 5G is rolled out at a majority of their towers. IDK.

Regarding signals and towers, I've found that my primary (non-5G) signal seems to vary a lot (different bands and ID's) but my secondary, n71 signal always shows the same info (when it's connected, which is most of the time). Makes me think there's only only antenna nearby to service that band.

BTW. If I could get 100Mbs speeds for $50 I'd be all over it. I'm paying $55 for 28/6 and consider that to be fairly reasonable. lol

Yes, we have been dropping off at night, the primary b12 LTE has been varying a lot in the evening. However, when we had the N71 5g band it never changed much. We were always morning, afternoon and night (roughly) 80 to 120 Mbps.
A week ago we seem to have lost the secondary N71 5g band forever. I can only surmise it went dead at the tower. Now only the Primary B12 band and no secondary at all.
The reason I think it is our tower is the secondary N71 band was always 4 bars and better stats then the primary LTE B12 but now N71 is just gone. poof, like it never existed.
In the weeks we did have the N71 we would lose it every 24 to 48 hours, reset the modem and it would come back, now that it is gone I suspect there was an issue at the tower all along. Im hoping but have no clue that they check this out, but who knows, could take weeks, months?
We will be back to Spectrum by then, can only wait so long. It was a learning experience and maybe they will correct something in the next less then 2 weeks before I go back to Spectrum. Good news if we do, Ill be paying spectrum $50 instead of $75 now as a "new" subscriber for the next year, then will re-visit Tmobile. Its only a matter of time and I am sure others are doing ok with it.
Lets not just blame Tmobile, the Nokia router/modem needs work too, though I will say, its wifi is very strong as far as range for us.

I do find it interesting you get those slow speeds even with the n71 showing as working on your secondary. I assume you are refreshing your computer when checking the signals, something else I found funky if you dont. (I am sure you are BTW)
I can see them throttling the LTE band, assuming it is shared with cell phones but have no idea.

Very frustrating for us because our second band is just gone! *L*
Even when I first came in to BITOG after work, we have gone from about 30 Mbps @3 pm to 15 @4 pm
Its messed up, yes, we are the test subjects and ok, well, it is a solution for people who have nothing. but I want 100 anything past 75 or so isnt noticeable so I dont need more then 100 or so, though its exciting to see more.

Ok, know I am repeating some of what I posted, tonight will be interesting, first full night with the new modem but already know I suspect nothing will change, the last modem was good if only because the N71 band is still MIA