Tmobile test drive & home internet

[RuralinternetSucks]

Figured I would make a new thread. Previous thread about verizon causing a lot of issues with my setup.

My setup is dual Yagis with a WE826GO-U and a Quectel EP06-A modem.

So yesterday I check the mail and to my shock I have a package from T-Mobile. It's the Test Drive I ordered at the begining of February. I honestly wrote it off as a lost cause because someone said on another forum that they halted shipping due to a bug.

The reason I ordered it is that TMobile home internet says it's available at my address. According to cellmapper though, the closest tower is 8 miles away

So I wasn't hopeful in the slightest this would work but since it was free I figured what the hell. Can't hurt to try.

So currently, I get crappy signal in my house (no wifi just on my phone's reception) with Verizon. Obviously due to me living in the sticks. My tower is about 4 miles away. With my external yagi setup, I get on average 5-10mbps. But this is moot as I appear to be completely stuck on hotspot now. I can get it working by dinking with the TTL settings multiple times then right back to hotspot within an hour.

Now I had to walk out to a small clearing (where I had 600ft of drainfield put in)about 50-75 feet in front of my house but I got signal with the test drive. I was shocked it even worked.

I'm just going off very basic understanding of how this works and applying simple logic. I could be completely wrong which is highly likely.

The Tmobile hotspot gets 5 down out in our drain field area. That's the best spot I could find(I'm sure I could get better with my Yagis). It seems a little more spotty than Verizon, but unlike verizon I get no signal in the house with it.

BUT

In the field I get 5 down 1 up with the hotspot. The hotspot has a Cat1 modem from what I could find (higher number better speeds basically right?). Now with my phone(Moto G7) with Verizon out there, which I have a Cat6, I get 2-3 down and .5 up.

So if this hotspot had a Cat6 I should theoretically have better speeds?

I couldn't figure out how to get signal information since the hotspot software doesn't seem to have it and since I'm connected to it through Wifi I only get the wifi signal information.

So I'm wondering, should I go for the home internet option or just get a regular cell line?

From what I understand, the Tmobile home internet gateway doesn't have external ports for yagi antennas but it does have them on the board. But you would have to take the case off and there is alot of debate I saw about what kind of connectors you need? I would love to do it this way as it would already be setup for unlimited data and I could just hook my Yagis to it. I'm very amateur when it comes to this sort of thing so none of this is exactly in my ballpark. I'm computer literate and can catch on to instructions easily enough, but I don't assume to know how much of this works lol.

I really want to try this out. I also need good latency for video calls so an MVNO is likely out. But I'm not sure what the best course of action may be. I was going to just stick the tmobile sim in my router and try it but I heard it almost instantly gets blocked because it's locked to the test drive hotspot

Any advice would be moocho appreciated. Thanks.

[MattB29]

There is a couple of threads about the T-Mobile home internet option and adding antennas. The old gateway is no longer being shipped and instead the new Nokia 4/5G gateway is what you get now. So antenna advice about the older Askey gateway is no longer valid. The new gateway uses more standard connectors but you still have to take it apart to get at them. Look for the reddit post where it gives you all the details.

In terms of will it work for you about all you can do is give it a shot. They do not require a contract for it so there is no penalty for cancellation (however it is a bit of a pain as I described in my Thread on the subject).

[Dr-BroadBand]

Would agree give the T-MOBILE a try if it works it would be the best option. Plan-B would get on the StarLink waiting list it cost $100. They are claiming a working system for the lower states by end of year. It’s a very exciting time things are changing very fast.

The fact that TM is available in your location they maybe updating a tower near you soooon

If the T-MOBILE Home Internet did not work in your house maybe you could put it in the clearing in a enclosure and use PoE (Power over ethernet)

[RuralinternetSucks]

Would agree give the T-MOBILE a try if it works it would be the best option. Plan-B would get on the StarLink waiting list it cost $100. They are claiming a working system for the lower states by end of year. It’s a very exciting time things are changing very fast.

The fact that TM is available in your location they maybe updating a tower near you soooon

If the T-MOBILE Home Internet did not work in your house maybe you could put it in the clearing in a enclosure and use PoE (Power over ethernet)

I literally pre-ordered Starlink the first hour preorders went live lol. Waiting here in my 33.8N neck of the woods. Though the obstructions may be an issue until they can make the skyview smaller.

I double checked and it looks like there's also a new ATT tower in the middle of my city 2-3 miles away. But I don't think it's a tower because I haven't seen anything so I think it may be a mini tower setup on top of a building. I'm gunna have to check. But to test that would cost me $25 to activate a prepaid line I believe.

[gscheb]

Could get a cricket sim to check it. See if you have service.

[MattB29]

As a final comment on T-Mobile.

I received a late payment notice yesterday for the $55 on my cancelled Wireless Home Internet account. I called and they reduced it to $12.88 which was a pro rated amount for a weeks service. Since I only had the thing for a day wherein it did not work satisfactory before sending it back I thought this was real crappy. However I am done with T-Mobile now and will never ever deal with them again. So much for their no cost if it does not work promise from the people that hawked the service.

Just be aware that for anyone contemplating their Home Internet service that their billing department is staffed by idiots and they make worthless promises. Curious though how they can say any old thing but not live to it like I have to.

[RuralinternetSucks]

As a final comment on T-Mobile.

I received a late payment notice yesterday for the $55 on my cancelled Wireless Home Internet account. I called and they reduced it to $12.88 which was a pro rated amount for a weeks service. Since I only had the thing for a day wherein it did not work satisfactory before sending it back I thought this was real crappy. However I am done with T-Mobile now and will never ever deal with them again. So much for their no cost if it does not work promise from the people that hawked the service.

Just be aware that for anyone contemplating their Home Internet service that their billing department is staffed by idiots and they make worthless promises. Curious though how they can say any old thing but not live to it like I have to.

That's weird. I've heard (like the tmobile subreddit) elsewhere that nobody has had to pay anything if they send it back. Isn't that quality assurance? If they say your address should have service and it doesn't, that's on them.

Fortunately mine came in the other day. It either wouldn't work, or only get 1 bar in the house. So I had to do what others have and take it apart and attach my Yagis. Luckily I was able to use the same pigtails I had for my EP06A modem and just switch it out. I still only get two bars but I get about 8-12 down & 3-4 up. Better up than Verizon but about the same down although occasionally verizon would hit 20 down. Still I was more hopeful than I should have been with hooking up my Yagis to it. Expected bigger gains. What really sucks is being unable to band lock. I'd love to test the other bands out here.

I will say even with the weaker connection, it seems more... Responsive? I just always had issues with my lte setup hanging randomly. With this there's no hiccup. Still what worries me is now that winter is over the leaves coming back may be an issue. We'll see how that goes. I'm still going to send it back eventually when I get Starlink.

[MattB29]

Yes they say there is no charge but they charged me anyway for about a weeks worth of service, 6 days of which I was waiting for UPS delivery of the gateway. Every rep I talk to all agreed but I received a mailed late notification saying it must be an oversight me missing payment and to pay now or be turned in to the collection department. That left me with no desire to fight the system over the $12.88 when it could hurt my sterling credit record. The other issue I am not happy is they provide no acknowledgment of receiving the gateway back. Yes I have the UPS shipping information if that ever becomes an issue but still not very professional on their part. These things should have proper documentation.

Out of curiosity I looked up if others experienced this with T-Mobile and found several posts on the net about T-Mobiles billing practices. Pretty much that if they get it wrong you can fight them forever and you may never win.

Looking at what you are getting with your t-Mobile setup, even with added external antennas, it is way below the suggested 25mbs down that they claim. But if it works for you I guess that is all that matters. BTW pay attention to the date they activated your service. You might end up paying for a few days before you ever received it.

[MattB29]

Well the absurdity at T-Mobile and their billing continues. I just received a "Notice of Collection Placement" from a company that T-Mobile placed my first months bill for. This is after all the assurances I was paid up and my account was closed.

Calling the collection company was an exercise in annoyance since all the representative did was start reading from a script and ignoring everything I said telling him to stop and listen to me. It was only after the script monkey finished reading that he said I would have to speak to T-Mobile and than transferred my call. Of course it was back to the computer and on hold for 2 hours.

Finally a Amy from the Billing department called me back, I explained everything again to her on the situation. She assured me that I was all paid up and that everything was taking care of. That she would email the collection company that there is no amount owing. I evidence more than a degree of doubt about that and she assured me that I will no longer be bothered by payment notices. Than she thanked me for being a T-mobile customer. I told her I am not a T-Mobile customer and never would be one since being treated so poorly.

I can not imagine a brand new account sent to a Collection company in the first month of setup and termination. What idiot of an management lizard thought that was a good way to deal with people?

[ylrkdr]

If you don't use Credit Karma already, sign up with them and check your credit, in case the collection notice on your bill dinged your credit.

[MattB29]

I have a credit check service through one of my credit cards. As of this morning it is still showing 0 Late payments. Hopefully it stays that way since who knows what T-Mobile's Billing department would do if they are willing to send my closed account to a collection company. The collection company itself may not get the issue straight in their system.

I still have worries about the returned gateway since there is no proof of me returning it other than the return label and UPS shipment trail. They could easily claim that I sent them nothing back and demand $370. I would not put that past them at this point.