Wireless Joint

I'm new to all this. I live in a rural area with no internet providers so I've been using T-mobile on a Kuwai WG3526 router with a EC25 modem running GoldenOrb firmware and 2 yagi antennas for about 19 months. 12 months of that time was used with a service and I had excellent speeds (60-70mbps down 20mbps up) but then the service went out of business so I purchased the exact same modem model and opened a pre-paid account with T-Mobile. 2 or 3 months in were good (not as good as with the service but reasonable), the last 4 months have been horrible sub 1mbps down and up. According to Cellmapper there are 2 T-mobile towers in my area one is about 1.5miles away and the other a little over 2. Cellmapper shows bands 2 on one tower, 2 & 71 on the other. My modem is connecting to band 4. I don't see that band anywhere on Cellmapper. I know I can lock bands but I don't know enough about this to just throw AT commands at the modem and not brick it.
How do I tell from my modem details what tower I'm connecting to? Any suggestions to improve my speeds?

You may have to zoom out a bit to find a tower; the tower I used to use from AT&T had about 10 closer towers, but due to the geography, connected to it instead, I think 13 miles away. Look for a TMO tower that supports band 4, then check the eNB/ID # and see if it matches your tower.

I'm afraid what's going on in your case may be deprioritization from TMO. Not sure what to do about that; hopefully, someone else will chime in on changing the necessary settings on the modem to get you up to speed.

ylrkdr wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 5:26 pm You may have to zoom out a bit to find a tower; the tower I used to use from AT&T had about 10 closer towers, but due to the geography, connected to it instead, I think 13 miles away. Look for a TMO tower that supports band 4, then check the eNB/ID # and see if it matches your tower.

I'm afraid what's going on in your case may be deprioritization from TMO. Not sure what to do about that; hopefully, someone else will chime in on changing the necessary settings on the modem to get you up to speed.

I've zoomed out on the map but the eNB/ID# is nowhere to be found in over a 35 mile radius. No towers noting band 4 on the map either. If I zoom out further cellmapper throws an error.

My thought is deprioritization too. I have 2 separate accounts. One account is solely for phone and it too is having the same issue. I've used half my data for the month on my router account which will reset again in about a week. My phone I've only used 2GB and it will reset in 2 weeks. So they shouldn't be deprioritizing already. Every time I call TMO about the service level on my phone, I get a different reason for the poor service; the device, obstructions, congestion etc. My area has a higher population in the spring and summer. The fall and winter there are few people here so congestion is ridiculous. Also, I get the same level of service if I'm sitting in my car in direct line of sight of the closest tower so obstructions doesn't fit either. If I had another choice, I'd switch to another provider.

Are you using cellmapper actively and allowing it to upload the data? This should help locate the towers over time as the system gets your data and adjusts the maps.

Didneywhorl wrote: ↑Thu Dec 03, 2020 11:07 am Are you using cellmapper actively and allowing it to upload the data? This should help locate the towers over time as the system gets your data and adjusts the maps.

No I don't think I am. I'll have check that out so others can get info if they need it. Thanks for letting me know about that.

According to cellmapper, the tower info you have above indicates your MCC/MNC is VTel Wireless. The tower with the 223 eNB/ID# is located on Walnut St., just north of Brandon, VT. It has bands 4 and 12. Hope this helps!