topic Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection in Mobile Network discussions

Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

glastoveteran — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 11:57:31 GMT

Hi all,

As per the title, my CPE Pro 2 (H122-373) keeps dropping the mobile data connection every few hours. It always reconnects, but there is a loss of internet connection for a few seconds each time which isn't great for video calls.

The connection timer in the dashboard resets each time this happens:

Has anyone else experienced this and found a fix?

I bought the device independently of EE so it's unlocked and has the latest firmware (10.0.5.13).

The APN is set to IPv4 but the problem happens with both IPv4 and IPv6.

Thanks all.

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

Chris_B — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 12:26:11 GMT

@glastoveteran Do you have an EE router to test this ? It could just be the router at fault chances are it’s not but you need to eliminate this.

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

bristolian — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 12:28:22 GMT

Hi @glastoveteran

Just by means of an instinctive response and without any direct experience of this device - could it be handing between 5G & 4G network layers when this happens?

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

EssexBoyEE — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 12:50:41 GMT

Couple of things to check, within settings there is a Router Reboot Timer which reboots the router automatically at set times of the Day, check the settings or switch it off, if you prefer to leaving it on set it to 4 am in the morning etc, there is also a DHCP lease time, make sure this has not been set to an hour or similar, set it to 24Hours or more, it probably will reset on the Reboot Timer anyway.

As @bristolian says could be a 5 to 4G Drop or even a Cell site change over, keep an eye on the 4 and 5G Signal Indicators.

Login to the Router and grab the Signal Levels for both 4and 5G also the Cell Site information from time to time and note any sudden changes.

If poss Post up your current 4 and 5G levels for RSRP, RSRQ and SINR and Cell Site information.

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

mikeliuk — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 18:26:24 GMT

Hi @glastoveteran ,

I've been reading of issues for this device for a number of months now, including on this forum and for the older version, which has put me off preferring it over other 5G routers.

I can't currently find an online manual, but are any logs shown in the management interface giving a hint at why the connection dropped or why the router rebooted?

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

glastoveteran — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 18:22:17 GMT

@Chris_B Sadly not. I might see if I can arrange one, even if it means buying one from Amazon and returning it (I don't feel too guilty about doing that with Amazon!).

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

glastoveteran — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 18:23:53 GMT

Thanks @bristolian - not sure to be honest. Both 4G and 5G signals are normally pretty strong though.

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

glastoveteran — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 18:31:47 GMT

Thanks @EssexBoyEE - scheduled restart was on but between 01:00 and 05:00. I've disabled it so we'll see if it makes any difference.

DHCP is already set to 1 week.

Here's a snapshot of current device stats:

CELL_ID: 8673811

RSRQ: -9.0dB

RSRP: -94dBm

RSSI: <=-113dBm

SINR: 20dB

Wireless transmit power: PPusch:2dBm PPucch:0dBm PSrs:0dBm PPrach:0dBm

Uplink mod/demod of MCS: mcsUpCarrier1:27

Downlink mod/demod of MCS: mcsDownCarrier1Code0:0 mcsDownCarrier1Code1:2

PLMN: 23430

5G RSRQ: -10.0dB

5G RSRP: -96dBm

5G SINR: 18dB

Does anything there look out of the ordinary to you? Is the cell site the cell ID?

Thanks!

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

glastoveteran — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 18:37:35 GMT

Hi @mikeliuk

I've just done a factory reset actually but next time it happens I will double check those. I think I have checked before though and there was nothing useful there.

Out of interest are there (m)any other 5G routers out there? I thought this was pretty much the only one at the moment.

To be fair, apart from this, randomly factory resetting every few weeks, and the about IPv4/IPv6 it's generally been ok! But that is still 3 issues...

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

mikeliuk — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:47:43 GMT

Hi @glastoveteran,

I'm aware of a small number of other 5G routers at the moment:

Netgear M5 MR5200 (retails GBP 500 to GBP 700) https://www.netgear.com/uk/home/mobile-wifi/hotspots/mr5200/ (crazy price but I think was used by some US carriers as their stock device, AT&T perhaps as an example)

ZyXEL NR5101 (retails around GBP 550) https://www.zyxel.com/uk/en/products_services/5G-NR-Indoor-Router-NR5101/ (manual under tech support and includes support for IP Passthrough, has SSH support and other things but lack of load-balancing multi-WAN has me leaning towards MR5200 for something more compact and flexible/portable)

D-Link DWR-2101 (retails around GBP 300) https://www.dlink.com/en/products/dwr-2101-5g-wi-fi-6-mobile-hotspot (probably the cheapest 5G WiFi 6 mobile router I'm aware of but ruled out as cannot be powered with battery removed)

Less noteworthy ones are:

ZyXEL NR2101 (seems to share similarities with the cheaper D-Link but also has various quality and build differences)

ZyXEL NR7101 (outdoor but lack of RJ45 reduces flexibility for consumer usage)

D-Link DWR-978 (recently found out about this one and don't know much about it)

Huawei E6878-370 (portable Balong 500)

HTC 5G Hub https://www.htc.com/uk/5g/htc-5g-hub/ (don't know much about this one)

In addition to the topic of this thread, I believe the Huawei 5G CPE Pro2 H122-373 (WiFi 6), there's the one before it that may be suitable for some users, the Huawei 5G CPE Pro https://consumer.huawei.com/en/routers/5g-cpe-pro/ (H112-370 or H112-372 variants listed)

There may be nothing wrong with the Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 and it might just be the high number of them in the field such that we see many reports of issues. My feeling is that 5G routers are currently so expensive that it may be worthwhile getting a Three or Smarty SIM on a rolling one-month contract (or cheaper, certainly not a long term/year long contract) to check, if any hardware fault is suspected (I think you should expect a minimum of three days uptime without issue, a full week is better, a rock-steady router should go for a year or multiple years without requiring a reboot).

If you think the DHCP server is falling over (or otherwise failing), the simplest thing is just to set a static IP which will be valid so long as you don't change your private subnet. You can also check if you have an IP address in the right subnet to diagnose a DHCP issue so it never needs to be a point of speculation (as it can be checked with certainty by the above and using nmap to make a DHCP request under Linux to see a response or lack thereof).

I can't find a manual for the Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 which I wanted to consider whether to purchase it, but if you search for "HUAWEI H122-373 5G CPE Pro 2 V100R001 Product Description", you should find a detailed description document which may give hints as to things to try. One thing that comes to mind as I browsed is disabling anything to do with operator maintenance and TR-069 as you own the device and will not want a third party configuring it (probably already disabled). There's mention of "HUAWEI AI Life APP" which may or may not be useful, or non-existent.

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

EssexBoyEE — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 22:17:15 GMT

@mikeliuk apart from the D Link and the Zytel I've pretty much tested all those 5G Routers you have mentioned plus some others you haven't.

If your looking at the Huawei 373 Pro 2 it's worth pointing out that there are no external Antenna Sockets on the unit, for that reason only is, well for me anyway why I'm not using one at home right now.

If you want portability, the Huawei E6878-370/870 are a excellent bit of 5G kit, no bigger than a Modern large Mobile but does the job really well.

Also worth pointing out that Huawei Equipment and their Routers are welll made kit, they've been at it for a long time now,go back to the 2.5G, 3G and HSDPA days and there's is a good chance that your Voda, O2, Orange, T Mob branded Dongles and branded MiFi boxes were made by Huawei.

Most of the issues on Huawei Routers are where the Network and Firmware has been locked down by the Networks, I personally have never really had any issue with Huawei Routers but having said that all my stuff is always Network Unlocked / Global Devices.

There are other 5G CPE Routers on the Market , namely Samsung, ZTC and Nokia, but not a strong presence in the EU or UK.

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

EssexBoyEE — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 07:13:57 GMT

RSRQ: -9.0dB

RSRP: -94dBm

RSSI: <=-113dBm

SINR: 20dB

5G RSRQ: -10.0dB

5G RSRP: -96dBm

5G SINR: 18dB

Ok, there's nothing obvious jumping out with theses Signals, there all looking good, ignore the RSSI on the 4G it's just reported an invalid number, normally I would expect the RSSI to be around 20 to 25 higher than the top RSRP (it's a negative value so higher will be a lower number eg, RSRP of -94dbm would expect around -70dbm RSSI).

And yes Cell ID will be linked the the Cell Mast Identification, I see if I can get the eNBiD worked out a bit later on.

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

bristolian — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 08:01:37 GMT

@glastoveteran wrote:

CELL_ID: 8673811

RSRQ: -9.0dB

RSRP: -94dBm

RSSI: <=-113dBm

SINR: 20dB

As per Essex's reply, those look entirely reasonable figures for a perfectly usable radio service.

You're connected to the Band 1 (2100Mhz) carrier on a site in Portishead, North Somerset. Coverage from all the available network layers is good in that location, so I'm confident your radio coverage isn't the cause of this issue.

For what it's worth, the site in question is dual-carrier for both Bands 3 & Band 7, so capacity is plentiful too.

I suspect the answer lies in the router config somewhere, but don't have any direct experience to help further. Sorry.

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

glastoveteran — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 17:31:54 GMT

Thanks everyone for the responses on this.

Just thought I'd follow up to say that Huawei advised me to return the device for repair/replacement, and so far the replacement doesn't have the same issues at all. The current connection has been active for 26 days now which was completely out of the question previously, so I guess it was a faulty device.

Thanks for your help.

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

EssexBoyEE — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 18:01:55 GMT

Good stuff, thanks for coming back with an update.

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

KamH — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 12:03:07 GMT

@glastoveteran

Can you please advise how long it took Huawei to repair the device and what you did in the mean time for Internet connection.

I have asked them to repair mine too but not sent off yet.

Thanks

Re: Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

Rajaimrankiyani — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 04:21:09 GMT

Simple is that EE they not happy to give data to customers

if u use same SIM card in mifi device with one is 4G it will contact but if u trying to use in 5G router sims will work without data what a joke and plus point is lol no one is happy to help all customers service representatives have no knowledge of anything why sims are not giving us a data they just suggest u to visit a store and have a replacement SIM card that it and after u replaced SIM card issue will be same so EE is not an ideal network to use them for 5G they have signals but full of lagging on video calls my suggestions switch network

vodaphone for same issue

only three is the best option if u have a three signals in ur area