Internet Acess?

[Rhartman911]

Why can I not hook up to the Internet when out and about every time I go to maps or an app it says I need to be connected to the Internet. I have 3 and up of bars while attempting this (so strong signal). It's so frustrating my wife has Verizon sitting right next to me and she has No problems connecting. I do not remmenber having issues when I was with Verizon so is T-Mobile rely better as their commercial's say it is. I have a Galaxy S8

 

[puppykickr]

You have T-Mobile?
I do, too.

Their internet service is basically unuseable the vast majority of the time.

I had Sprint, and my network and internet was great.
Then came the merger between Sprint and T-Mobile, and I was forced to switch to T-Mobile.

I have hated to use cellular ever since.
Most times, I cannot even make a call, and as for internet service- it may as well not even exist.

I feel like I have gone back in cellular time, back when their was very limited coverage and I could find a payphone faster than I could get to a location where my phone would work.

Right now, T-Mobile is like the phone service for Green Acres.

Climb up the phone pole, hold your device up in the air, and pray for a signal before you fall.

 

[ocnbrze]

So on my note 10+ 5g, the bars represents my cellular reception. And I get an up and down arrow on 4G. So I think you might be looking at your cell reception rather than internet.

 

[svim]

Well it's rarely a good idea to rely phone company commercials as dependable sources of information, that's pretty much a given here in the U.S.
Commercials are considered to just be marketing tools, so that oddly allows them to actively deceive consumers and make false claims. All without any penalties.
As for T-Mobile actually 'being better' than Verizon that's going to be a very conditional matter. Mostly depends on your location and how well saturated (or how sparsely) that area is with T-Mobile and Verizon's cellular towers/access points. In densely populated areas it's more likely you see both carriers have a strong presence, but in less populated areas one or the other may be a better choice. Or both may be bad. It's all dependent on where you live.
So take into consideration which carrier has better coverage where you reside, not someone else in a different state hundreds of miles away.
Try installing this Opensignal app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.staircase3.opensignal&hl=en_US&gl=US
It's supposedly more focused on speed testing, but in your case it might be more useful to use its coverage map feature. (be sure to enable Location). The stats it presents is based on crowd-sourced data, so it is very dependent on actual user contributions -- the issue again being where you reside. In a populated region there are more users, out in more remote areas not many if any. But in a typical setting the maps it shows will show coverage saturation for the major carriers, and the cellular towers that are closest to you.

 

[puppykickr]

So on my note 10+ 5g, the bars represents my cellular reception. And I get an up and down arrow on 4G. So I think you might be looking at your cell reception rather than internet.

You realize, of course, that you must have cellular signal to have working mobile data (internet).

So, the stronger the cellular signal, the faster and more functional the internet should be.
At least in theory.

As OP mentions, the cellular signal is adequate, yet the internet is still inaccessible.

This is the exact problem that I have as well.

Not only that, my cellular signal is generally (much) worse than with other carriers as well.

T-Mobile ought to have an advertising scheme centered around 'Roaming At Home', as my device is almost always roaming.
Of course, whenever it is roaming, it is even more difficult to get internet service.

I really wish T-Mobile would just go out of business- their service has brought their customers back to the dark ages of cellular.

Maybe they will bring out a 'brick' phone next?
Of course, it wouldn't work as good as the original ones...

 

[ocnbrze]

@puppykickr on my note 10+, I can have 3-4 bars but no internet here in LA. It does not happen all the time but in certain spots this happens. So though I do agree with having strong cellular ties in with strong internet, it's not always so.

 

[puppykickr]

See, it was never this way for me before.

3G was great, because the signals traveled further and through more obstacles.

If you had service, you had service.
Service is service.
If you connected to a tower, you could make calls, send texts, and connect to the internet.

The quakity of service depended on signal strength.

Now, you can have a strong signal, yet get partial or even no service.

T-Mobile has done nothing but degrade service for Sprint customers.

 

[ocnbrze]

T-Mobile has done nothing but degrade service for Sprint customers.

i agree, it was why i switched to verizon right before the merger. but for me 4g has been way faster then 3g and i do not want to look back to that era. i just hope 5g when it is fully implemented will be as promised.

 

[puppykickr]

i agree, it was why i switched to verizon right before the merger. but for me 4g has been way faster then 3g and i do not want to look back to that era. i just hope 5g when it is fully implemented will be as promised.

Come on.
Physics don't lie.
5G will never live up to the hype unless you are completely surrounded by antennas that are in your range of vision.