5G router losing power despite being plugged in.

[ScouseNotEnglsh]

Evening, have v.similar issue myself.

Have a fairly new (Maybe 2 months old) version of the EE 5G Mobile broadband hub (before anyone directs me to the larger, home version i used to have at my previous address - Fibre connected) It's not that. It's the small why one, single button, single usb-c port)

Since day one, it's been a bit of a struggle to get more than a single bar of signal out of the thing no matter where i place it in the new house, however i finally found a spot, precariously  balanced ontop of a lamp in one of the room, consistantly around 2 bars, with the occasional 3 bars for a few hrs every other day) Anyway, i digress...

I only mentioned the above as after reading MULTIPLE (Understatement) posts, to discover, not only am i not the only one that is having this power issue, with what sounds like similar if not identical model to mine, but more shockingly is that, it appears that a few of the mentioned "fixes" are to drop the config down to 4G only!!! By the way, this has not worked for me, but SERIOUSLY how can this be offered as a solution to an issue which has been clearly going on for some time, and offering this "solution" to customers, some of who have switched from a 4G to divice to a 4G one, for THAT REASON, TO HAVE 5G....

To be specific, for a couple of wks, things settled down, i could move the device around the home now and then in the search for a better signal when more devices were added to the network, would never really go above 1/bars but there was no real issue with the power, until last week, then specifically friday. I had the device plugged in on fully power, runnning fine all day, then as i have been monitoring the signal, for a few wks, i noticed the power level drop from 100% all the way down to around 14%!!! Yes this is the original cable, plugged directly into the provided and previously working plug directly into the wall.

In my panic, i tried 15/20 different usb plugs both USB-A to C, C to C and every socket in my house, including power banks, 30/40diffent cables, cable/plug combinations, to no avail.

At the early hrs of saturday morning, i got desperate, used a combination of a HDD USB-C cable and a random socket/extension combo and it began to take a charge. Over the w/e it maintained its 100% after god knows how long to get it to max, then suddenly, again, after holding charge for 24/36hrs, low n behold, it started again... 100%, 90,80 etc.. After a few more hrs this evening i am sat here with the device plugged into my brand new Samsung GalaxyBook Pro4 60w beast of a charger (this thing charges everything, as is its purpose and design!) and this tiny little EE piece of **** is just blinking at me, mocking me. Not taking charge. As i am typing this i am now down to 31% and suspect i maybe have a couple of hrs left before the things dies completely on me.  After being on full fibre BT, then EE for over a decade without incident, i am EXTREAMLY disappointed in this level of dross on offer from "the UK's leading broadband" supplier.

I am not in a position to get my full fibre installed at this time as i am in temporary accomidation between the sale/purchase of permanent residence,  so i have no choice but to use this cr*p. Please tell me, someone, anyone, got any explination/work-arounds, a hammer?

Before anyone asks, i have checked every.little.piece of the VERY LIMITED setup/configuration options available to me in the admin config page of 192.168.1.1, yes my firmware is up to date, yes i have checked the plugs/cables are seated correctly, yes i have power cycled the unit, countless amounts of times, resets, factory resets, switch to 4g only (DONT MAKE ME LAUGH) and yet, here i am, now 30% about to lose my connectivity, for reasons, in this day n age, bewildering and unknown to me....

[ScouseNotEnglsh]

After reading & researching i am conscious this will likely be a repeat of others who have this issue, but as the last one was some time ago, without resolution, i am, in vain attempting to resurrect this issue in the hope a route cause of propper fix has been found since... At the risk of repeating myself ( i apologise) i am just going to post my reply into the most recent/relevant thread i found regarding this issue.....
"Evening, have v.similar issue myself.
Have a fairly new (Maybe 2 months old) version of the EE 5G Mobile broadband hub (before anyone directs me to the larger, home version i used to have at my previous address - Fibre connected) It's not that. It's the small white one, single button, single usb-c port)
Since day one, it's been a bit of a struggle to get more than a single bar of signal out of the thing no matter where i place it in the new house, however i finally found a spot, precariously  balanced on top of a lamp in one of the room, consistantly around 2 bars, with the occasional 3 bars for a few hrs every other day) I mention this only as a possibly RC of the issue is searching for signal/weak signal... Anyway, i digress...
I only mentioned the above as after reading MULTIPLE (Understatement) posts, to discover, not only am i not the only one that is having this power issue, with what sounds like similar if not identical model to mine, but more shockingly is that, it appears that a few of the mentioned "fixes" are to drop the config down to 4G only!!! By the way, this has not worked for me, but SERIOUSLY how can this be offered as a solution to an issue which has been clearly going on for some time, and offering this "solution" to customers, some of who have switched from a 4G to divice to a 5G one, for THAT REASON, TO HAVE 5G....
To be specific, for a couple of wks, things settled down, i could move the device around the home now and then in the search for a better signal when more devices were added to the network, would never really go above 1/2 bars but there was no real issue with the power, until last week, then specifically friday. I had the device plugged in on full power, runnning fine all day, then as i have been monitoring the signal, for a few wks, i noticed the power level drop from 100% all the way down to around 14% gradually over the course of the evening!!! Yes this is the original cable, plugged directly into the provided and previously working plug directly into the wall.
In my panic, i tried 15/20 different usb plugs both USB-A to C, C to C and every socket in my house, including power banks, 30/40 diffent cables, cable/plug combinations, to no avail.
At the early hrs of saturday morning, i got desperate, used a combination of a HDD USB-C cable and a random socket/extension combo and it began to take a charge. Over the w/e it maintained its 100% after god knows how long to get it to max, then suddenly, again, this evening after holding charge for 24/36hrs, low n behold, it started again... 100%, 90,80 etc.. After a few more hrs this evening i am sat here with the device plugged into my brand new Samsung GalaxyBook Pro4 60w beast of a charger (this thing charges everything, as is its purpose and design!) and this tiny little EE piece of **** is just blinking at me, mocking me. Not taking charge. As i am typing this i am now down to 31% and suspect i maybe have a couple of hrs left before the things dies completely on me.  After being on full fibre BT, then EE for over a decade without incident, i am EXTREAMLY disappointed in this level of dross on offer from "the UK's leading broadband" supplier.
I am not in a position to get my full fibre installed at this time as i am in temporary accommodation between the sale/purchase of permanent residence,  so i have no choice but to use this cr*p. Please tell me, someone, anyone, has got any explanation/work-arounds, a hammer?
Before anyone asks, i have checked every.little.piece of the VERY LIMITED setup/configuration options available to me in the admin config page of 192.168.1.1, yes my firmware is up to date, yes i have checked the plugs/cables are seated correctly, yes i have power cycled the unit, countless amounts of times, resets, factory resets, switch to 4g only (DONT MAKE ME LAUGH) and yet, here i am, now 30% about to lose my connectivity, for reasons, in this day n age, bewildering and unknown to me...."

[valspr]

After some more time with the router, I no longer think this is a software issue. 

I think there are a few things at play here. First of all, the poor 5g is signal is probably due to cheap and old hardware from 2020 or so, which was slower and less reliable then as most devices used less bands, most phones in 2020 would have poor 5g performance compared to now as a result of this, from my experience at least. 

The main issue with the disconnects is probably due to how batteries can supply less power at once as they get worn down with every charge cycle, and this router is quite power hungry when it is in 5g mode, the power requirements of the device exceed what a slightly worn battery can do and will shut down and turn on again, which happens on phones without protections against this (manufacturer tells the phones software to become slower as the battery becomes worn down to avoid this situation). 

This router also likes to lose charge even when it's definitely getting the full power through it's usb-c port, this and everything else it's just a super power hungry and poorly designed device. There needs to be an updated version with up to date 5g hardware and a better battery solution and I think we might have a really good 5g router from EE when that happens. 

[Debbie_G · Accepted solution]

Hi @ScouseNotEnglsh.

Thanks for coming to the community.

I'm really sorry to hear about the issues you're experiencing with your 5G mobile broadband device.

Because you’ve already tried different chargers, cables, sockets, resets and firmware checks, and the device is still draining while plugged in, I’d recommend getting in touch with our customer support team so they can look into this in more detail and help get things sorted for you.

Debbie

[XRaySpeX]

Maybe you need a new battery if it's not holding its charge?

[ScouseNotEnglsh]

Thanks Debbie, 

Whilst i appreciate your response and clearly reading my post before suggesting things like other CS reps, marking the suggestion of 'getting in touch with our customer support team', as a solution is not only misleading to others, but also not very helpful, therefor, not solved, is it?  Does marking this solution as solved then not allow others to contribute to this post?

I, like MANY OTHERS have seen how useful said customer support team has been, or not in many cases, add to the completely useless support functions, such as 'click here to view your account' or many other EE links related to support, typically from EE's own consoles like administration pages and apps, they all inevitably lead to the same place i, and thousands of others experience on a daily basis... "Sorry, something went wrong" or "This service is unavailable, please try again later" or many other completely unhelpful messages! 

Add this to the reply seen often of, just pop into a store and someone will be happy to help... This one is even funnier as if, and when a store visit can be made, the in-store 'help' knows even less, unable to help even less and more often than not, have absolutely no idea, why they, EE employees themselves often cannot even get other EE "support/technical professional" colleagues to assist THEM!! I'd laugh if i wasn't serious. The severe lack of legitimate, knowledgeable technical support 'available' from "The Best Broadband provider" is quite frankly, schocking.

This all leads users, like me, to scour the internet for solutions, rather than generic answers from bots or CS Reps who basically don't have an answer to a fault that should have at least been acknowledged/addressed years ago.

Long and short, i seen this issue first be raised around 2023, the same support "solutions" were offered back then.  Meaning any reports of like issues have been met with disregrard, not one RCA has taken place, this issue clearly has been escalated to yano, say, decision makers and the like... I've worked in technical support for over 25 yrs, and quite frankly if i worked for any company with "support" as inept as EE they all would have went out of business years ago.

My device is pretty much brand new, i have already been in store x5 times for EE products in 3 months, i guess i am jus baffled at this point.

[ScouseNotEnglsh]

Couldn't agree more!

[ScouseNotEnglsh]

Maybe, almost probably, definately came to similar conclusion after extensive research & testing... My question is, however, Why?

A brand new device using less connected devices than the advertised amount supported.

A brand new device in low-avg coverage, so not thirsting for coverage, meaning a battery drain you would think it would be able to cope with.

Lastly, from my research similar to identical issues were reported around 3 yeaers ago, why then have EE not addressed these issues, released a newer version, even tried to test fixes, solutions, alternatives or even just an explanation!? It's as if they know about the issue and one of 3 things have happened;

1.) They know and don't care, probably have a couple hundred thousand units to ship, so by not acknowledging the problem, hoping it goes away.

2.) They know and don't have an answer. This is slighly less-worse but even this requires clear communication with the customer, something they clearly lack in this area.

3.) The more sinister in me thinks, they have identified the issue, can fix it but choose not to, meaning either, they can make more money from the consumer this way or the fix/resolution is a new device or upgrade... They can't bank on this due to the massive failing of the previous model...

[Rach_H]

I'm sorry to hear you've been left feeling disappointed with the support from our team @ScouseNotEnglsh, as this absolutely isn't the experience we want out customers to have.

If our team haven't been able to offer you the support you need then you can reach out to our Complaints team, and they will be able to look further into this, and work to get things back on track for you.

Rach