Cool Ideas Fixed 5G/4G Feedback Thread

CoolEscalator said:
This helps thanks, would you mind doing a trace to something like 1.1.1.1 when It happens again,to see where its failing. Then sharing that on the ticket as well? Along with some snapshots of your 4G/5G cell info, and RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc
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Will do. Will also report it tomorrow (even if it doesn't happen tomorrow morning again).
 
Chris_Auc said:
Long story short, it seems MTN sent a batch of SIM cards to Cool Ideas that are giving issues (including the SIM I received). Cool Ideas managed to find a SIM from an old batch that still works fine, and they are couriering it to me.

Will report back once I receive the new SIM. :)
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Received my new MTN SIM yesterday, up and working. It seems like I get better speeds with Vodacom where I'm located. I also get better ping with Vodacom.

Screenshot 2026-04-23 110959.png
 
Chris_Auc said:
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Yeah so the SINR doesn't look too great there, and would be whats impacting your speeds. Otherwise your RSRP and RSRQ looks decent
You can try repositioning the router a few times to see if this improves at all
To have it at the same level as your other readdings, needs to be closer to the double digits (like 10-20dB)
 
Chris_Auc said:
View attachment 1902969
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Doesn't look like you're getting CA (carrier aggregation) on MTN.
Be that as it may, if this proves to be a stable 142/33 Mbs connection, for the price you pay I would not complain.

P.S. I've found where I am with signal on the little iffy side, by selecting one-by-one each LTE band under developer options, I can get better speeds than the Auto/All bands selected. Just search for the supported bands for MTN. Note the router can take up to a minute to be fully stable with signal and connection after each change.
 
@CoolEscalator I just noticed something strange is happening with international traffic on Vodacom 5G, but fine from my fibre.
Some international traffic doesn't seem to be routing correctly, was wondering if you see the same on your side.

Some examples:

queen.cisp.co.za

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Blizzard IP:

1776950428145.png
 
Might have just been delayed with the changes and de-peering were doing Related to the recent issues, seems fine from my 5G now
 

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CoolEscalator said:
This helps thanks, would you mind doing a trace to something like 1.1.1.1 when It happens again,to see where its failing. Then sharing that on the ticket as well? Along with some snapshots of your 4G/5G cell info, and RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc
Click to expand...

Hi, I've submitted a ticket regarding the morning internet issue. I didn't have the problem this morning:

1777019663863.png​

 
Hi there, the morning internet issue happened again for the first time since the 23/04/2026. Had to restart the router 3 times before I could connect to the internet. Took some screenshots and replied on the same ticket above (seems like it was closed yesterday).

From the screenshot, my connection was live for 34mins and I took these screenshots at 8:32am (when I had no internet). So I suspect something happened at just before 8am this morning where my connection was reset and caused the problem.

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This is what my signal strength looks like now when everything seems to be fine:

1777619452102.png


and a speed test:

1777619576410.png
 
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@ForumReader: Have you tried locking your router to only the 4G B1 and B3 bands and the 5G N41 band from the Developer Options menu ? From recent experience I appear to get fewer dropouts and I rarely need to reset the router after a dropout. My router appears to switch over to the B8 band which causes it to lose the connection if I don't lock it to B1, B3 and N41.
 
Jake45 said:
@ForumReader: Have you tried locking your router to only the 4G B1 and B3 bands and the 5G N41 band from the Developer Options menu ? From recent experience I appear to get fewer dropouts and I rarely need to reset the router after a dropout. My router appears to switch over to the B8 band which causes it to lose the connection if I don't lock it to B1, B3 and N41.
Click to expand...

No I haven't changed anything yet. Settings are all default. Lets see what support says first. I don't have any problems at all during the day/evening. It's just this morning issue that randomly happens. Thought it was fixed/gone as it didn't happen for 7 days in a row till today.
 
This morning got the connected but no internet problem. Router shows a little upload but no download.
NOTE: This is on a ZTE MC801A router.
1777784801659.png
Tracert fails.
Tracing route to 1.1.1.1 over a maximum of 30 hops
1 <1 ms 1 ms 2 ms 192.168.0.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 * * * Request timed out.
Some signal info (located in Stellenbosch)
1777784927310.png

I tried to disconnect the internet and reconnect the internet connection, but this did not change anything.
I then disconnected again, changed to 3G only (router was on 5G/4G/3G mode), and this connected successfully.
I then changed back to 5G/4G/3G mode which also then connected successfully using a combo of 4G and 5G towers.
 
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I spoke to support during the weekend. They are going to send me a MTN sim to test. Was told that the morning internet "switch off" is likely caused by the Vodacom tower nearby.

Hopefully the MTN connection is great. I've had no issues with the Vodacom sim, except for these intermittent mornings where I have to restart the router a few times.
 
Forum Reader said:
I spoke to support during the weekend. They are going to send me a MTN sim to test. Was told that the morning internet "switch off" is likely caused by the Vodacom tower nearby.

Hopefully the MTN connection is great. I've had no issues with the Vodacom sim, except for these intermittent mornings where I have to restart the router a few times.
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Yeah its odd, the trace shows it dies after the router, which would be vodacom
As it would be your router, then normally 2 or 3 hops with 10.60.254.x (vodacom) then coolideas with on hop 4 or 5 (100.127.1.161)
Whats strange is, your session also doesn't appear to drop, so definitely seems tower related somehow
 
Might be worth a shot to try this as well

Jake45 said:
@ForumReader: Have you tried locking your router to only the 4G B1 and B3 bands and the 5G N41 band from the Developer Options menu ? From recent experience I appear to get fewer dropouts and I rarely need to reset the router after a dropout. My router appears to switch over to the B8 band which causes it to lose the connection if I don't lock it to B1, B3 and N41.
Click to expand...
 
CoolEscalator said:
Might be worth a shot to try this as well
Click to expand...


Will do when I get home. I would prefer to stay with Vodacom if the morning issue can be fixed, since I know the connection works great otherwise. There might be other problems if I switch to MTN.

It is kind of strange that other people elsewhere in the country are experiencing the same morning issue (connected but no internet) with Vodacom. I'm in Morningside near Sandton, and Ajax above is in Stellenbosch with the same problem.
 
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