Does my ZTE279T Rocket Hub need Replacing?

[suew3026]

After several years of good performance I am now getting very slow download (0.5 MBPS) . Rogers tell me there are no problems in my area and are suggesting the ZTE is gradually failing and needs to be replaced. They claim this is a common problem. I thought electronics worked or they didn't, they don't usually get tired.

Does this make sense?

Is there any way of me checking the information on theinterface to confirm this?

I hate to just buy another unit to find just the same problem

Thanks

Tony 

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[RogersTony]

Hello, @suew3026

We appreciate you posting your concerns to the community.

I can understand how disappointing it is to get these type of slow speeds from your rocket hub. 

• How long have you had that specific unit?
• Do you notice the slow speeds everywhere? Have you tried moving the unit outside to see if there are better speeds?
• Do you have any devices you can connect to the Rocket Hub using Ethernet to see if there is any difference in speeds?
• Is the slow speeds happening on all devices or a specific device?

Once we have more details we'll be better equipped to assist you.

RogersTony

[suew3026]

Thank you for your response.

My Rocket hub is about 6 tears old and I used to get up to 20 MBPS.

It makes no difference where I place the unit.

The Hub always shows two bars signal.

I am typically getting 0.5 MBPS down and up to 5 MBPS up, Isn’t this the wrong way round?

I have a router wired to the unit. It makes no difference whether I connect wirelessly to the router or wirelessly to the Rocket Hub. Both the Hub and Router are equally slow.

However sometimes if I connect my computer to the Hub via an Ethernet cable it seems better (up to 3 MBPS) for a few minutes but then drops back to 0.5 MBPS. The signal is always a bit better at night. Usually during the day it is so slow that, although I am connected, the internet is unusable.

Rogers tech support claim to have “fixed my problem” at their end but it made no difference

Is it true that these hubs can gradually deteriorate?

Is there something I can check by looking at the hub interface on my computer that tells me what is going on? I don’t really understand what the interface is telling me.

Thanks

Tony

[RogersCorey]

Good morning @suew3026!

Have you attempted to remove your router, then factory reset the hub and directly connect via Ethernet to see if that makes any difference?

If a factory reset and direct connection makes no difference, we should take a closer look into what's 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

[suew3026]

Yes, I have tried doing a factory reset then connected the hub to my computer via an ethernet cable but it makes no difference.

I would still like to know whether these hubs have been known to  slow down before they stop working or is this just a rumour.

If I send a private messgae do I have to start again and repeat everything I have said in this thread?

Tony

[GBOK]

Im using the ZTE 279T as well. I own 3. 
This third one was second hand, the other 2 were new. The first 2 work excellent up in cottage country. 4 bars, brilliant consistent speed. 

At my house (Toronto) the ZTE 279T was displaying 2-3 bars of LTE, and my speeds were very inconsistent, and at best were pumping out;

10-12 Mbps down

0.5 - 2 Mbps up.

I ran these tests on 5G wifi, 2G wifi, and even directly with LAN.  It did not make much of a difference.

I was about to give up on this device and deem it a lemon, but I decided to run some more tests.

I went into my phones settings and told it to not use the 5G Rogers network. It only used LTE (Not LTE+)

My Phone showed that it had similar reception. It bounced between 2-3 bars of LTE. 
I ran the same speed test (Speedtest.net) and yielded very similar speed results as the ZTE.

This lead me to conclude that this was a reception issue in my home.  Tried it outside in the front yard, back yard, side yard. No difference. My house must be in a bit of a dead zone. 

I hopped in my car with my ZTE, and a laptop.
I drove until my ZTE registered 3 and 4 Bars. I ran the exact same tests. 

Wired via LAN : 300+ Mbps  Down - 90+ Mbps up
5G Wifi : 170+ Mbps Down, 45+ Mbps up

2G Wifi : 20+ Mbps Down, 22+Mbps up. 

What I've concluded is that;

1 Bar of LTE is basically unusable 

2 Bars of LTE is good for slow basic internet browsing (emailing, reading news)

3 Bars of LTE is good for video conferencing and streaming video on netflix/youtube.

4 Bars  of LTE is good for doing the same things you can do on 3 bars but with multiple devices. 

I hope this helps. 

[Pvfarnden]

They blame all sorts of problems on failing equipment.