5g home internet with Nokia router

[Chrismurray]

Hi there I have the Nokia fast tomorrow 5G home Internet plan for 500 GB and the Nokia router. The problem is as I don’t get 5G service. I only get one light on my router and when I’m connected any of my devices are connected via Wi-Fi I can’t even load one page on Google or anything. I can’t listen to music I can’t stream music I can’t do updates, it’s just so slow and so weak. I don’t know if it’s settings issue or the router issue I don’t know what to do because Roger is telling me that I can’t cancel it even though it doesn’t work I want to up my plan and get rid of the 5G Internet and the Nokia router or replace the router for a different rocket stick or something does anybody have any suggestions on how I can make this work or how I can cancel it with Rogers

[-G- · Accepted solution]

Here's the basic troubleshooting page for the Nokia FastMile 5G gateway: https://www.rogers.com/Support/Internet/Troubleshooting/Connecting-Devices-Nokia-FastMile-5G

At the very least, the Check LEDs section should tell you there is a problem or confirm whether or not you have any connectivity to the Rogers network.

If you do not (and cannot) get any connectivity to the Rogers wireless network, then you will need to contact tech support for assistance.  If your gateway will not connect to the Rogers network and your service is down, then Rogers should not be charging you for your service.  If Rogers cannot get your service working, then they should allow you to change or cancel your service.

[Chrismurray]

Thank you.

I was able to get a connection as far as the cellular. But the devices that are connected to the router….lag and time out. It's useless. Is there setting I can change so that I get 100 download. At the moment I am getting 40 download with a computer to Ethernet to router. Any help would do.

[RogersCorey]

Greetings @Chrismurray!

In a case such as this, we really should troubleshoot from your account if the basic troubleshooting isn't keeping your devices connected.

As for the speeds, you're getting the speeds you're subscribed to. Our 5G Home Internet Essential has speeds up to 25Mbps and 5G Home Internet Premium has speeds up to 50Mbps. There would be no setting you could change to increase your speeds.

We'd be happy to take a closer look to see what is going on! Feel free to send a private message to @CommunityHelps so we can assist you further. For more information on how our Private Messaging system works, you can find out more here.  

Regards,

RogersCorey

[satkepa]

Nokia 5G Fastmile Gateway 3.2 from Rogers 

Check out the new 5G gateways that rogers is offering.  I just got mine and shot the video above while driving in southern Ontario.  The internet was more stable than my rocket hub, and in the populated areas I was getting 5G connections, and rural I believe it down negotiated to 4LTE which is all the rocket hub can do to begin with.

The best part is that the first 500GB, yes you read that right, half a terabyte, is @50Mbps/20Mbps  beyond 500GB its throttled to 10Mbps/4Mbps.   I can't think of a time when I used 500GB on my Rocket Hub, but than again, I am not Richie Rich.     Sure its not 1Gbps, but its still mobile internet and 50Mbps is more than livable while in the car, boat or on the go.   

I was able to watch youtube for a whole 1 hour drive without a single service disruption, on the Rocket Hub I would usually get 2 or 3 in that same time.  The only problem is that the Gateway is a little bulky, but not by much and as long as you have an inverter in car not a problem to switch it on.   You can buy one at Canadian Tire or Ebay for 50 bucks... however, it is a 12V device, so it has an adapter to go into AC at home, that adapter is not needed for car, you can probably find a 12V cigarette lighter plug and have it running, or make your own batter pack out of some 18650 and 12V bms.   

Anyway at $65 a month without overage its got me smiling.   The kids can actually use their tablets and phones when we are on a long trip somewhere, makes the driving barrable.  

 n

[satkepa]

That sounds strange, I was in areas with one light, and the 5G turned off... so I assumed it was in 4LTE mode.  I would see if you can get them to swap the gateway unit, because it sounds like it may be faulty.   LTE is still very fast there is no reason why your page should be not loading or loading so slow.

I still have more testing to do, and I am sure there are some areas where the signal may be non existent or  bad.  There may also be ways to increase the signal by adding some sort of reflecting surface, or keeping away from metalic cages and obstruction points... for instance if you find that you can get the best signal on one corner of your proptery, maybe you should investigate and see if you can run a lan cable and power to that spot and build a box or something for the unit.  I am just pulling stuff out of thin air here trying to help. 

Like I said, I have been using the 4LTE network with Rocket hub for a while and its more than fast enough for the 50/20 - or 25/10  of the Nokia 5G Gateway.... so it should not be so bad if you do have a true connect.

The other thing that I can suggest is to try to sell it or lease it to a friend that needs internet, maybe their area gets better signal and they can put it to better use.   My unit has proven to me that it works on the fly mobile, so there will be more than a few people that will want one in their car or their boat... some may even have bad credit with Rogers and may love to make a deal with you where by they pay the monthly fee or prepay you if trust is an issue and you let them use the device.   If they are being bad tenants sort of speak, you can always call Rogers and say your unit has been stolen or misplaced, and they will cut it off... but of course then you are out the unit.  But I would not be surprised if someone paid you for the nokia 5G Fastmile gateway and paid your monthly.  You just have to find the right person. 

Have you tried going to a different location to see how it works there.   Just to see if the unit is functioning properly?   Like I said, the beauty of this device is that it works everywhere there is a rogers signal!  So you are not tied to one address or location. 

[gdmaclew]

I believe that is the Nokia Fastmile Gateway 3.2.

I just installed the same thing.

I have one green light and one white light. From what I understand, that is classed as a "poor" signal, however I am getting ~90 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up. I am 1 km from the closest tower. I get no 5G light.

How far are you from the closest tower?

Is the Nokia connected to your PC or do you even have one?

[satkepa]

ChrisMurray,

I found the instructions on how to connect an external antenna to the unit.   The instructions are step by step but still require a bit of diligence and commitment.  If you are not the sort to open things up, you may want to solicit a friend who is tech savvy and enjoys doing these sorts of things.

I found these instructions on reddit posted by user walleye819, so all credit for them should go to him.

(1) How to use an external antenna on the TMobile Nokia 5G Gateway : tmobileisp (reddit.com)

****  THIS IS NOT ENDORSED OR RECOMMENDED BY ROGERS ****

(I do not take responsibility for the accuracy of these instructions nor do I recommend a novice or 99% of the users to do this.  This is for the drastic situation that you are stuck in a 24 month contract with this equipment and cant get a signal at your location using conventional placement of the device.   This solution may or may not work.  That said, it is very well known in the industry that external antennas are generally more powerful than internal antennas and that users who add external antennas usually add them for the purpose of improving the ability to capture a weak signal.  This advice is based on technical merit but by no means are there any guarantees or promises made with these methods.  You need to be very cautious before you do this, make sure 

there is no easier way to capture the signal based on placement alone, only consider this if there is no other options, and even then the external antenna may or may not get you that signal. )

How to use an external antenna on the ROGERS Nokia fastmile 5G Gateway

I've found information in varying places (facebook pages, google, this subreddit) and wanted to compile and share the process that worked for me today. My problem is that I have the gateway setup in an all metal building with no windows. Throughput was horrible.

1. Power off and unplug the power cable.

2) Remove the two T10 screws from the bottom cover and remove the SIM card holder (small phillips screw).

3) You might try to take some sort of narrow flat plastic and work around the case and the bottom stand to disengage the tabs. I didn't have anything so I gently pulled on the base and was able to get it to pop out.

4) Remove the battery. 

5) Remove the four T10 screws from the bottom that is holding the outer casing. 

6) You can now remove the outer casing but be mindful of the plug in the phone port and the power button in the off position when sliding it off. 

7) Rotating the gateway you will see a series of cables connected to the board coming from the antennas. (The one with the purple label is for the GPS so don’t mess with that one. I used the two connections to the right of the purple one).

😎Install external antenna cables. First you will want to route the connecting ends through the vent ports on the bottom stand.

9) Reassemble everything in reverse order and remember to make sure your power button is in the off position before reconnecting the battery. 

Speed test using internal antenna inside all metal building:

Speed test using external antenna:

This is the antenna kit I bought, but I had direct line of sight to the tower:

If you don't have direct line of sight, Waveform recommends this antenna:

Regardless of which antenna you choose, make sure to select the "SMA Male" option for the adapter type.

You will also need two cables to connect to the gateway itself, this is the one I bought (2-pack):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P84VLTR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Gihad]

I believe these instructions are incorrect as Rogers uses the Nokia fastmile 5g gateway 3.2. The reddit post you linked is from 3 years ago and it's describing the process on a different device. Is there any evidence that it works on the Nokia fastmile 5g gateway 3.2

?

[RogersCorey]

Good morning @Gihad!

We do not recommend that anyone physically modify our equipment. If you should damage it while doing so, you would be responsible for the cost of replacing it.

Regards,

RogersCorey

[Dspell]

1. Can I connect a smart tv directly to the Nokia 5g gateway.

2. What ethernet cable a cat 5, 6, 7 or 8.

3. Would i get a better speed

4. What port do i use on the Nokia.

[SHEEB]

I believe you are correct Gihad. The base of the Nokia hotspot model used in the previous tutorial is not the same as the current Nokia hotspot model that Rogers is using (3.2)

[Navioh]

Having simular issues, I'm surrounded by towers but signal strength is just one light. Repositioning did not help at all. Will probably be taking it back until they can fix this issue.

[SHEEB]

Running field tests using my S24 and the Nokia Fastmile, I can say that the Fastmile has subpar antennas for reception. Too bad, as external antennas would likely benefit this data device.

[gareth01]

I confirmed with Waveform today that they will have an external antenna installation guide for the FastMile 3.2 on their site soon (within a week or two). The recommended antenna will be the new Waveform QuadMini Duo 8x8 MIMO, which is comprised of 2 x 4x4 QuadMinis. The antennas themselves are cheaper than the older Waveform 4x4 antenna but the cabling is quite expensive, about $90 USD per 20ft section of their new UltraFlex Quad cable. Multiple cables can be used. They also now have new flat window entry mount cables.

My Rogers 5G Home Internet service went from good (last winter) to bad (spring / first half of summer) to terrible within the past few days so I'm about ready to try anything.

[SHEEB]

Keep us updated!

My service is so-so. I typically see consistently 50/10 service but it will hit the 100/10 as advertised during non peak times.

[gdmaclew]

Price?

Link to product?

Thanks

[gareth01]

I did not know if it was allowed / appropriate to provide a link to the product on this forum but you should be able to find it on Waveform's site. The pricing varies depending on the options chosen such as length of cable, window entry cables etc. but a basic QuadMini 4x4 goes for $149 USD on Amazon or $199 USD bundled with a 20ft cable which is the cheapest I've seen (including Waveform's own site). You would still need U.FL pigtail adapters to go to the antenna connectors inside the FastMile which Waveform does offer but you can get from any number of other vendors found on Amazon as well. So you'd probably be looking at north of C$500 depending on the length of cable you need.

Personally I'm considering relocating the FastMile into the attic to reduce the length of antenna cable required and just run a single Cat 6E down to my main router. Each of those quad cables is 0.75" thick so you'd need at least a 1.5" ID (internal diameter) conduit or multiple smaller conduits assuming you are using conduit at all.

[gdmaclew]

Thanks for that.

I have to keep asking myself why Nokia didn't provide an external antenna port on he FastMile 3.2.

[gareth01]

I decided to go ahead and place an order for 2 of the new Waveform QuadPro 4x4 antennas which when both connected will be an 8x8. The folks at Waveform recommended this as the QuadPro is directional instead of omnidirectional and I clearly better signal on the side of my house facing the closest tower and a good mounting position along my roofline. I'm currently using a cellular booster with an omnidirectional antenna at that location which does improve the signal somewhat but I am hoping it will be much better connected directly to the modem. Waveform does have a 90 day return policy so I can always send it back to them for a refund. It's not a cheap solution at nearly $600 USD for the pair but if it works great and still cheaper than a half a year of S*link...

[SHEEB]

Wow, I was just looking at their website and the prices indeed are somewhat tough for me to swallow. In my case, I have manageable signal albeit not consistent but for $600USD I can live with this till I find a cheaper solution for my rural residential internet needs.