T-Mobile Connection Jumping between Data Centers

[Jflex113]

I have a Linksys WRT3200ACM with an EM7565 mounted in a The Wireless Haven m.2 to USB 3.0 enclosure using two genric yagi antennas. I'm using a T-Mobile unlimited phone plan with HD streaming active so I can stream things with easy past 1080p resolutions. I typical pull between 75 to 100mbps down and 10mbps up. I live in central Michigan in the middle of nowhere and the tower is about 3 miles away with LoS. I have great signal strength and quality.

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!GSTATUS: 
Current Time:  1200		Temperature: 30
Reset Counter: 1		Mode:        ONLINE         
System mode:   LTE        	PS state:    Attached     
LTE band:      B2     		LTE bw:      5 MHz   
LTE Rx chan:   825		LTE Tx chan: 18825
LTE SSC1 state:INACTIVE    	LTE SSC1 band: B11    
LTE SSC1 bw  : 5 MHz   		LTE SSC1 chan: 5035
LTE SSC2 state:INACTIVE    	LTE SSC2 band: B1     
LTE SSC2 bw  : 5 MHz   		LTE SSC2 chan: 975
LTE SSC3 state:NOT ASSIGNED
LTE SSC4 state:NOT ASSIGNED
EMM state:     Registered     	Normal Service 
RRC state:     RRC Connected  
IMS reg state: No Srv  		

PCC RxM RSSI:  -66		PCC RxM RSRP:  -87
PCC RxD RSSI:  -68		PCC RxD RSRP:  -89
SCC1 RxM RSSI: -60		SCC1 RxM RSRP: -76
SCC1 RxD RSSI: -62		SCC1 RxD RSRP: -78
SCC2 RxM RSSI: -69		SCC2 RxM RSRP: -89
SCC2 RxD RSSI: -69		SCC2 RxD RSRP: -88
Tx Power:      13		TAC:         a6ff (42751)
RSRQ (dB):     -6.1		Cell ID:     007da40c (8233996)
SINR (dB):     26.0

My issues is where I end up connecting to and the resulting ping times. Typically when using speedtest.net it automatically picks either the T-Mobile server in Chicago or one of the other servers in Chicago and the ping time is typically under 40ms. Sometimes randomly the service will switch over to a T-Mobile server in Denver, CO and my resulting ping doubles to 80ms or higher. This makes online gaming rather difficult due to lag. I also went into Powershell and pinged google's DNS server and could see the same differences in ping time when connected to the T-Mobile server in Chicago vs. the one in Denver. I do not have band lock on currently as I let the modem and tower pick and chose what it wants to do and that seems to be the most stable thing. With band locking on it still has the same issue as described above.

Any help with this would much appreciated.

[BillA]

Unfortunately you have no control over Tmobile's servers, which can change by the minute as you have experienced. I use a Tmobile based service called SimpleMobile, and can confirm that typical ping times are between 30-50ms (mostly on the lower side) depending on the time of the day/night. Your higher ping times may be due to Tmobile's server changes and/or congestion which can also change by the minute.

You have a good modem, so you may want to try a high quality flat panel antenna which seems to perform better than Yagi's. Here's a top of the line model from The Wireless Haven.
https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/antennas/4g-lte ... onnectors/

It has been suggested by others on this forum that changing the modem's mode to QMI can improve latency and speeds.
To switch to QMI mode.

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AT!ENTERCND="A710"
AT!USBCOMP=1,3,10d
AT!RESET

If you loose connection you can switch back to MBIM mode.

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AT!ENTERCND="A710"
AT!USBCOMP=1,3,1009
AT!RESET

[Jflex113]

Well that's unfortunate but I kind of expected that answer. I'm currently connect to a Chicago server so I'll see how long that lasts as I'm away for work during the week. If it's still good then I might leave and see what happens and then give QMI a shot. Thank for your reply and I'll eventually upgrade the antennas.