Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 frequently dropping data connection

[glastoveteran]

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. 

[Chris_B]

@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. 

[bristolian]

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?

[EssexBoyEE]

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.

[mikeliuk]

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?

[glastoveteran]

@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!).

[glastoveteran]

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

[glastoveteran]

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!

[glastoveteran]

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...

[mikeliuk]

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.