topic Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection. in Mobile Broadband

5gee home router, intermittent connection.

sea92 — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 00:24:47 GMT

I recently signed up to a 5gee home router, signal strength for 4g is perfect for my area and 5g comes on sometimes, speed tests seem to be on average 70mbps download and 30mbps upload, which would be the best I could get for my area however the connection seems to drop and lag the majority of the time. I'm in an area where I can't recieve fibre so this was my only option to use. The router is placed by a window on the top level of the house and always shows full bar connection even when I am experiencing the issues. Sometimes i can be in a voice call on discord and hear and see streams perfectly but internet pages wont load and my game disconnects/lags and others cant hear me talking. I have searched the forums and tried other solutions to fix it but none of it seems to work.

- I have tried switching it to 4g only and 5g only, also 4g and 5g simultaneously.

- I have tried forcing it to use ipv4 only and also tried forcing it to use ipv6 only

- I have tried disconnecting every other device to limit usage and it still happens.

- I have tried using ethernet only/WiFi only and both at the same time (bought a better ethernet cable incase the previous one wasn't good enough)

- I have tried having it on 2.4ghz and 5ghz only and both simultaneously.

- tried it on different devices through WiFi, on different mobile phones/pc/laptops and still happens.

From other posts I have seen online I feel like it could be an issue with the router itself as the connection always shows to be fine and there is never any outages in my area. I'm unsure what steps I should do to improve this any further. I have been contemplating wether previous older routers will be more stable and stop the disconnections even if the speeds are slower. I have been looking yo see if an external antenna would stabilise the connection or if it would just be another expense and not fix the problem if it is indeed an issue with this model of router.

it is the first time I have tried using an isp that wasn't with a wired router so I'm unsure if this is just normal or if it is actually possible to have a stable connection without it constantly disconnecting even when showing full bar connection on the device. Paying £50 a month on a contract for something that isn't providing me with what I need is making me very stressed and I don't know what to do now. Any help is appreciated, thank you.

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

sea92 — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 00:15:51 GMT

- I have tried switching it to 4g only and 5g only, also 4g and 5g simultaneously.

- I have tried forcing it to use ipv4 only and also tried forcing it to use ipv6 only

- I have tried disconnecting every other device to limit usage and it still happens.

- I have tried using ethernet only/WiFi only and both at the same time (bought a better ethernet cable incase the previous one wasn't good enough)

- I have tried having it on 2.4ghz and 5ghz only and both simultaneously.

- tried it on different devices through WiFi, on different mobile phones/pc/laptops and still happens.

it is the first time I have tried using an isp that wasn't with a wired router so I'm unsure if this is just normal or if it is actually possible to have a stable connection without it constantly disconnecting even when showing full bar connection on the device. Paying £50 a month on a contract for something that isn't providing me with what I need is making me very stressed and I don't know what to do now. Any help is appreciated, thank you.

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

sea92 — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 00:36:08 GMT

- I have tried switching it to 4g only and 5g only, also 4g and 5g simultaneously.

- I have tried forcing it to use ipv4 only and also tried forcing it to use ipv6 only

- I have tried disconnecting every other device to limit usage and it still happens.

- I have tried using ethernet only/WiFi only and both at the same time (bought a better ethernet cable incase the previous one wasn't good enough)

- I have tried having it on 2.4ghz and 5ghz only and both simultaneously.

- tried it on different devices through WiFi, on different mobile phones/pc/laptops and still happens.

From other posts I have seen online I feel like it could be an issue with the router itself as the connection always shows to be fine and there is never any outages in my area. I'm unsure what steps I should do to improve this any further. I have been contemplating wether previous older routers or other make routers will be more stable and stop the disconnections even if the speeds are slower. I have been looking yo see if an external antenna would stabilise the connection or if it would just be another expense and not fix the problem if it is indeed an issue with this model of router.

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

Katie_B — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 06:36:00 GMT

Good morning @sea92.

Welcome to the EE Community.

Thank you so much for posting such a detailed post regarding the issues you are facing.

It sounds like everything we would recommend here on the community has already been tried.

The next step I would advise would be to speak with our technical care team on 150.

The team will be able to run a diagnostics and help figure if your router is faulty or if there is a different issue causing this.

Please be sure to keep us posted on the outcome.

Katie

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

Kendine — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 15:34:12 GMT

Hello sea92! I was beginning to think that I was the only one experiencing intermittent connectivity issues with my Quanta (QTAD52E) 5G WiFi router. I have been experiencing the problem since in May when I acquired it, although I did not immediately notice the issue as I was regularly away from home since I got it. However, as I began staying at home more regularly and using the broadband, it eventually became apparent to me that there was a problem with the box. I'm an IT Support Technician by trade so I comprehensively set out to troubleshoot and ruled out that the problem was not with any of my devices. The problem was clearly related to the router box. I then contacted EE Tech support and outlined the problem I was experiencing along with the steps I took to troubleshoot. They even went through some of the steps again - I didn't let them know what my profession; Everything they suggested to fix the problem did not resolve it. At this stage, having exhausted all possible fix, I was convinced that the only thing that should be done is to replace the box. Unfortunately, they did not think that would be necessary. They advised me to take the faulty box to an EE shop where they would arrange to get it repaired! They still didn't get me a replacement box while the faulty one was away for repairs and rather, they suggested I use my smartphone as a router for the duration of the repair. As a tech guy myself, of course I know that I can use my smartphone as a router box - hot spotting. In fact, it was the same smartphone that was giving me internet access at home prior to getting the faulty WiFi box in May. It was one of the reasons I went for the 5G box from EE because I wanted to preserve the smartphone battery as hot spotting rapidly discharges the battery, which impacts the battery health overall. So, I had to resort to using it again instead of EE simply providing me with a replacement box. Even during my troubleshooting I had used my smartphone to hotspot my devices and would you believe that the smartphone, which is NOT a dedicated router was providing a stable internet connection, that is, without any intermittent connectivity issues as opposed to the dedicated 5G router from EE. Once I use a different device other than the faulty 5G WiFi box from EE to provide internet access, I do not experience the constant intermittent connection issue and I had effectively communicated that to EE 's Tech support but alas, it did not seem to matter to them.

The faulty box returned from repairs after about a week and they initially claimed that they were unable to replicate the problem I was experiencing. However, their paperwork did claim that they did experience the problem and they fixed it. Twenty minutes after receiving the box and setting it up for use, the problem was still there! Remember I was using my smartphone while the device was away and I had NOT experience the dropouts during the time and as the dedicated router was returned to its only job - providing a stable 5G WiFi connection, there was the same dropout issue half an hour after it was received and trialled.

I eventually (reluctantly) got back to EE Tech support and outlined the same issue again. Even while I was talking to them, the box was dropping connections! They troubleshooted and eventually arranged for the device to be, yet again, sent off for "repairs"...

I've just received the device back from repairs today and I'm in no haste to connect and trial the box as I'm pretty sure the problem isn't resolved! EE has made me feel as if I was creating the problem; that the problem did not exist because their claim of not being able to recreate it or experience it!

Meanwhile, I must continue to pay the ridiculous price of the contract with a 5G WiFi router and they do not seem to have a comprehensive resolution for the problem I am experiencing with this box!

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

PNZR — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 22:13:37 GMT

@sea92 @Kendine

It took me a while to find a suitable forum thread whilst investigating how I can make my router better... But this hit the nail on its head!

You guys aren't the only ones with the intermittent issues using the 5G "smart" routers. I've done the exact same thing that @sea92 has mentioned in his original post, with very little improvement over the connection stability. I quite honestly can't explain my situation any better than what you've already highlighted... From browsing the web, to VoIP via Discord, to even having to wait for a 1080p video to buffer on YouTube... ALL WHILE SEEING THAT AN INTERNET CONNECTION STILL EXISTS!

[Maybe one additional configuration setting I adjusted from my end, was disabling the Mesh settings entirely, using a WiFi analyzer to determine the channel bandwidth and utilization in my area, and move over to the least used one; router on 2.4GHz and a seperate mesh network that is emitting 5Ghz]

What I really would like to undersatnd, is that I too got my module around April/May time, so I'd be quite interested if we can in some way, determine if the modules we have are of the same (possibly faulty?) production batch.

It's just horrendous, having to pay that amount of money every month, for an internet connection that disconnects every 20-30minutes... 2023 and still these issues occur over a technology that's been out for well over a decade...

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

milesharrison87 — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 23:48:39 GMT

I think I'm having the same issues although it's just 4G in my area. I can get speedtests of between 200-400mbit most of the time and have good signal strength and line of sight to the local mast (confirmed as my active cell).

It will be behaving fine, then suddenly go through a period where no http traffic works. I've been trying to identify the problem and have worked out that the connection is certainly remaining active during the periods where it appears to have failed. I ran a continuous ping test and it was consistently successful throughout the failed period. I have also have just found out that even when normal internet traffic appears not to be working, I can successfully connect a VPN and then continue to browse the internet by that.

The symptoms are all http/s traffic seems to stop working on all devices across my home network. TV streaming on most platforms fails, although Netflix on my TV seems to continue, although I don't know if that's because they're using an alternative protocol to stream the video, or perhaps it just has a better storage buffer that prevents the blackouts. On other tv apps (Disney, Amazon etc) the quality either drops massively or the app times out with an error message about internet access.

TLDR: Web browsing across all devices stops working for brief periods of about 5 mins throughout the day (or solved by closing and relaunching the connection). HTTP/S stops responding but works fine if I use a VPN. Am able to continuously ping 1.1.1.1 or news.bbc.co.uk etc throughout the failed period with or without a VPN. Router shows the 4G connection behaving just fine during these periods.

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

PNZR — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 18:41:14 GMT

Hi @Katie_B

It is very evident that this issue is shared by many people, experiencing the exact same thing, and each one of us is at concern given that evidently nothing has been or is being done in order to resolve the issue.

It makes no sense whatsoever for such a device to be acting in the way that it is, let alone getting a more stable and reliable internet connection when connected to VPN.

Something must be done. Neither are we getting the service we're supposed to be getting, especially if the smart-hub equipment is not reliable or cut out for the job it's made to do, nor are we getting what we are paying for.

Please, we require additional explanation on the subject matter.

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

Katie_B — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 09:24:55 GMT

Hello @PNZR.

Our technical care team on 150 will be able to look into this and complete a full diagnostics, if successful a explanation will be provided as to what is happening.

If the team are unable to resolve this a ticket can be raised for this to be escalated to another department.

I recommend reporting this to them so this can be looked into further.

Katie

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

pjordan — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 15:28:07 GMT

Same symptoms that we are experiencing.
No dropped packets to either the router or Google DNS servers, but all http/s traffic stops.
SONOS radio stops first. That's usually my first indication of a problem occuring.
My Microsoft Teams calls seem to continue with poor quality, but don't tend to drop.
Unable to browse web for approx 5 mins.

No action taken to reinstate connection -it just starts working again.

Tech support have asked me to run a speed test when the issue occurs - but I can't connect!!

5G EE Router with external antenna.

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

cgs101 — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 08:06:00 GMT

I’d like to add my voice here too, I just got the router and it’s much worse than people here describe. I tried all the suggested fixes and nothing works including multiple restarts, resetting, switching to 4g only, creating ipv4 only profile,checked for updates, changed channel, changed frequency, etc
it appears the router can’t handle more than 1-2 devices at a time. I lose connection every few minutes and things that need to be on constantly (like homepods) don’t work at all.

of course I’ll contact support to return the router but I wish EE would stop selling this device 😕

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

Leanne_T — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 09:58:44 GMT

Hi there @cgs101

I am sorry to hear this, our technical care team will be able to look into this and complete a full diagnostics on the router to see what could be causing these problems for you.

Leanne.

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

cgs101 — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 19:40:06 GMT

First router returned, second router arrived and similar problem. Connection drops every half an hour and all devices lose connection. The problem goes away after restarting the router but obviously I can’t be doing that all the time. This is so disappointing, EE shouldn’t be selling these. Half an hour on hold again now trying to arrange the return. What a colossal waste of my time. I wonder if EE will compensate me?

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

PNZR — Sat, 04 Nov 2023 12:48:11 GMT

It seems very obvious to me that nothing is being done in order to shed some more information on why this service works only intermittently. I find it absolutely ridiculous that when connected to a 3rd party VPN service, the internet connection is many many times more stable and with even higher download/upload rates.

EE, please, provide a fix. It's probably very simple. And actually involve someone who is a subject matter expert on how things are handled in these forums as well.

I'm sure that just like the rest of the people here argumenting against this service, they have already done everything to remedy the solution with the typical diagnostics and return-and-replace strategy. It's evident that these solutions are no solutions at all.

Re: 5gee home router, intermittent connection.

Leanne_T — Sat, 04 Nov 2023 16:24:27 GMT

Hi @PNZR

To get this looked into and reported to the correct team, please get in touch with our technical support team. They will complete a full diagnostics and let you know the next steps for this issue.

Leanne.