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Help Here's a REAL weird one!

crystalship1

crystalship1

Newbie
OK... First things first; Alcatel Fierce XL, MetroPCS (of course), & Unlimited plan ($60 mo.). So... (this is while at my house): up until about 4 days ago my phone and service were working just great. I had strong signal (full bars) and very fast data speed (4G LTE @ 20-30 mbps). Then all of a sudden, I've got no data flow at all. I've still got full bars, fine voice quality, but NO data. So I do the the data switching on/off thing (both by using airplane mode and by using settings data on/off switch). When I turn the data back on data works fine for about a minute and/or as long as the data flow is continuous as in when watching a YouTube video. But when the data is not flowing for a minute or so and when something requiring data is turned on, the data is now not working. After several frustrating calls to Metro C/S involving resets and manually entering T-Mobile address settings, I tried something different on my own. I turned the LTE off. All of a sudden, I've got data!! It's 3G data (9-12 mpbs) but it works!! Now here's where it gets REALLY weird. The next day I left my house (I'm disabled and don't go out every day) and just for giggles, I turn the LTE back on and it works just fine! I use it all day while away from my home and no problems! When I get back home, the problem returns. So back to the "LTE off" setting and once again while on 3G, my data flows fine. I then downloaded the "Open Signal" app. and write down the cell tower (T-Mobile tower) ID number and info.. The next day I again leave the house and when I get out of range of this "home tower", I can once again turn the LTE back on and everything is fine. I attempted to tell this fellow at Metro C/S all of this info. but he totally "glazed-over" and told me he would advance my problem ticket to a higher level tech.. So.... while I wait for the next move from C/S, has ANYBODY ever heard of this scenario before. Is it a T-Mobile tower issue? Is it my phone? Any INTELLIGENT idea/info. would be appreciated!
 
crystalship1 said:
OK... First things first; Alcatel Fierce XL, MetroPCS (of course), & Unlimited plan ($60 mo.). So... (this is while at my house): up until about 4 days ago my phone and service were working just great. I had strong signal (full bars) and very fast data speed (4G LTE @ 20-30 mbps). Then all of a sudden, I've got no data flow at all. I've still got full bars, fine voice quality, but NO data. So I do the the data switching on/off thing (both by using airplane mode and by using settings data on/off switch). When I turn the data back on data works fine for about a minute and/or as long as the data flow is continuous as in when watching a YouTube video. But when the data is not flowing for a minute or so and when something requiring data is turned on, the data is now not working. After several frustrating calls to Metro C/S involving resets and manually entering T-Mobile address settings, I tried something different on my own. I turned the LTE off. All of a sudden, I've got data!! It's 3G data (9-12 mpbs) but it works!! Now here's where it gets REALLY weird. The next day I left my house (I'm disabled and don't go out every day) and just for giggles, I turn the LTE back on and it works just fine! I use it all day while away from my home and no problems! When I get back home, the problem returns. So back to the "LTE off" setting and once again while on 3G, my data flows fine. I then downloaded the "Open Signal" app. and write down the cell tower (T-Mobile tower) ID number and info.. The next day I again leave the house and when I get out of range of this "home tower", I can once again turn the LTE back on and everything is fine. I attempted to tell this fellow at Metro C/S all of this info. but he totally "glazed-over" and told me he would advance my problem ticket to a higher level tech.. So.... while I wait for the next move from C/S, has ANYBODY ever heard of this scenario before. Is it a T-Mobile tower issue? Is it my phone? Any INTELLIGENT idea/info. would be appreciated!
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How much data have you used? Metro throttles the highest data users on each tower.
 
Not a throttling issue as I am nowhere near my limit. Also changing towers doesn't override a throttling issue nor does switching to a non 4G LTE setting. I'm getting ZERO data flow, not a slow flow. Thanks anyway! :-)
 
Maybe something happened while they were turning 2G off? Or it could be something in your house?

I've often wondered if adding connected products to your home affected the data stream. Then there's the completely different issue of where you are in the house. I was looking into data repeaters but the were ridiculously expensive. I just use WiFi at home now.
 
Hmm... Interested theory. I've added no new equipment but I'm wondering about the 2G thing. If I weren't so "home bound", I wouldn't mind being forced to shut off my LTE when I'm home. But... I'm always ALWAYS home! :(
 
Since your phone works fine when connected to other towers it sounds like an issue with the tower next to your home.

If that's the case I hope they get back to you and are able to fix it. :)
 
Exactly my deduction. That's why I'd like to talk with a T-Mobile tech. (located in the USA) as all I can get are foreign-based MetroPCS "techs." who try to sound hip and American as they read from their scripts! :(
 
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