Deco X80-5G modem not connecting to 5G

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b0jang

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#299118 12-Aug-2022 14:23

I recently got onto VF's 5G mobile broadband plan as of Tuesday while I sort out fibre to my house (if anyone can recommend an ISP that will actually contact Chorus about getting a granny flat's address validated and whose customer support has dealt with requests like this, I'm all ears).

It seemed to connect to the 5G network fine enough, but each morning this week I'd wake up to see it had dropped back to the 4G+ network and required a reboot which would then connect it to 5G. When I'm on 5G it's decent enough, speeds are 300 down 10 up with maybe 15ms increase in latency over fibre in some of the games I play, as well as a 4 out of 5 bar signal according to the Deco app.

However today it doesn't seem to want to connect to 5G - I've checked VF's mobile status and there's only maintenance happening north of where I live in three days time.

I get that it's a fairly new service, but I thought I'd raise this more to find out if anyone's had similar experiences or some insight into what's going on, and potentially any troubleshooting I can do on my end. Unfortunately I don't have another 5G-capable device I can test it with. For reference I'm in the Mount Albert area in Auckland.

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14 posts

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#2954027 12-Aug-2022 18:38

Third time's the charm on the live chat support, they did a refresh on my network connection and after a minute powered off the modem was able to connect to 5G. Hopefully this helps anyone in the future.

Linux

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#2954063 12-Aug-2022 22:18

What is this refresh they speak of? Utter bull no such thing!!

b0jang

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#2954078 13-Aug-2022 00:17

Linux: What is this refresh they speak of? Utter bull no such thing!!

Yep I wondered the same thing. That said it's past midnight now and the modem has swapped back to 4G+. Oh well will see in the morning...

quickymart

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#2954087 13-Aug-2022 07:14

LOL sounds like more bs just to get a customer off the phone when the rep didn't know what they were doing.

Linux

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#2954092 13-Aug-2022 08:16

A device handing down to 4G from 5G is normal this does not sound like a fault at all

You could be on the fringe of 5G coverage

SATTV

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#2954112 13-Aug-2022 09:22

If you want a more solid 5G performance you will need to connect external antenna to the router.

5G in NZ uses 3.5GHz if I recall so it will be a fickle beast at the best of times, at this frequency there is not going to be a huge range from the tower.

Two of these and the appropriate cables and pigtails will be a good option to keep it more stable.

https://www.gowifi.co.nz/antennas/ant-252.html

John

I know enough to be dangerous

b0jang

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#2954122 13-Aug-2022 10:07

Linux: A device handing down to 4G from 5G is normal this does not sound like a fault at all

You could be on the fringe of 5G coverage

SATTV: If you want a more solid 5G performance you will need to connect external antenna to the router.

5G in NZ uses 3.5GHz if I recall so it will be a fickle beast at the best of times, at this frequency there is not going to be a huge range from the tower.

According the modem's phone app I have worse signal strength to 4G (3/5 bars) than 5G (4/5 bars) and according to their 5G coverage map I'm a decent way in. Plus I'm able to force only 5G connections on the modem, but it goes red and there's no connection. Obviously not the most ideal indicators but all I can really observe at a customer level. If it truly is that fickle then I'll probably drop the service - no point paying for something I'm not getting most of the time or going out of pocket to make it work.

That said I'll see if there's a way I can scoot around the regular customer service route and get to somewhere a bit more technical where they might have a better view as to its fickleness.

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#2954123 13-Aug-2022 10:14

Bars mean nothing you need to look at the RSSI and 5G is on a higher frequency than 4G

richms

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#2954175 13-Aug-2022 11:14

Linux: What is this refresh they speak of? Utter bull no such thing!!

Its something that call center staff do inorder to get off the phone, Just like the turn your phone off for 10 mins thing and then try again.

Does it actually exist? There is probably some option they clicked to change something that would pass as a "refresh" - Then tell them that will take some time and try later, get off the call, stats are better and customer is thinking they were "helped" - win win all round.

You know what its like dealing with customers and the BS that you do to get off the phone.

Richard rich.ms

richms

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#2954176 13-Aug-2022 11:16

Linux: A device handing down to 4G from 5G is normal this does not sound like a fault at all

You could be on the fringe of 5G coverage

Not if you were sold and promised a 5G service. This is like how the telcos promise me a 4g network and I get dysfunctional H+ 3g on them in so many places.

Richard rich.ms

stick

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#2954204 13-Aug-2022 14:03

Surprised no one's @'ed Jason Paris lol...

(im not going to incase he's busy or something)

b0jang

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#2954361 13-Aug-2022 19:46

St1ick: Surprised no one's @'ed Jason Paris lol...

(im not going to incase he's busy or something)

Escalate straight to the top 😄

Managed to get on 5G this evening after a reboot, here are some signal stats from the modem app just for reference:

5G Signal Information

SS-RSRP -89 dBm

SS-RSRQ -11 dB

SS-SNR 0 dB

4G Signal Information

RSRP -104 dBm

RSRQ -13 dB

SNR -2.2 to 3.2 dB (varies a lot)

b0jang

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#2954778 15-Aug-2022 11:15

@JasonParis if you have an insight on who I can talk to about this.

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#2954781 15-Aug-2022 11:24

b0jang:

@JasonParis if you have an insight on who I can talk to about this.

@b0jang You just might need to move the modem to a better location in the house or up a bit higher

Spyware

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#2954787 15-Aug-2022 11:53

b0jang:

Managed to get on 5G this evening after a reboot, here are some signal stats from the modem app just for reference:

5G Signal Information

SS-RSRP -89 dBm

SS-RSRQ -11 dB

SS-SNR 0 dB

4G Signal Information

RSRP -104 dBm

RSRQ -13 dB

SNR -2.2 to 3.2 dB (varies a lot)

Shift house or have an external antenna installed. I've had better 4G signal with modem in a steel box. You obviously aren't within 500 metres of tower.

Spark Max Fibre using Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+, CRS125-24G-1S, Unifi UAP, U6-Pro, UAP-AC-M-Pro, Apple TV 4K (2022), Apple TV 4K (2017), iPad Air 1st gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 13, SkyNZ3151 (the white box). If it doesn't move then it's data cabled.

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