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DIY Modem

Hello,

This is my first post.  Glad to meet everyone.  I didn’t even know T-Mobile had a forum until I got the home internet and found how limited the gateways are and began searching for tips and tricks.

I wanted to see if anyone had tried building their own modem.  I have been running a IPFire firewall and router box for a while now since I had DSL.  So why not use it for T-Mobile too?  I don’t even know if it will work, but in theory I think it should.  IPFire has a decent amount of options for connecting to a service.

  1. I would be using my computer that is currently running the firewall and router
  2. Adding a PCI-E M.2 adapter
  3. Attaching a 5g module to that adapter
  4. SIM card into the adapter
  5. Plug the Waveform antenna to the module
  6. Configure the “Red” adapter in IPFire

If this works, I should have no double NAT and many other features like DHCP address control, VPN, and Intrusion Prevention in one unit.

It would be about $100 in parts I need to get so less than one of the pre-built 5G routers.

Or has someone already attempted it?

5 replies

E

This is interesting to me-  I hadn’t considered the possibility.  Please LMK if it works.  Might be too hard for me but I’d still love to know that there might be a way to get full internet functionality back while staying with tmobile. 

H
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Well, I’m a bit bummed out.  I found out that the home internet service does not allow BYOD so it has IMEI lock.  The business internet service allows BYOD, but I do not have a business.  So, I guess the project is dead before it even started.  I will just keep researching it for now.

B

Raspberry Pi345 - running OpenWRT with QMI support.

External USB3.0 M.2 Enclosure with SIM card slot.  Either panel antennas or hook up the Waveform 4x4MIMO.  works amazingly!

Quectel RM521F m.2 modem (this one supports T-mobile carrier aggregation 3CA)

T-Mobile BYOD SIM connected to Magenta Max or Go plan.  If you are already a T-mobile customer, then you can get 2 additional SIM cards for only $30/month, making each additional SIM is only $15/month.

With this implementation, the data is truly unlimited and does not come out of tethering quotas.  

192.0.0.2 FTW 

H
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Nice!  I thought about revisting this.  Did you have to implement MAC cloning or any other special settings?

B

Nope.  It really was super easy to setup.  sixfab makes a pi hat that makes the raspberry pi method more integrated, but it’s frankly way too over priced.  The external usb3.0 enclosures off of aliexpress are pretty cool and cheap and couple great with that Waveform 4x4MIMO panel antenna.  if you decide to revisit this path, I tried a number of m.2 modems - including Quectel, Telit, Sierra Wireless and Simcom.  The most supported chipset with T-mobile’s consumer service was the Quectel RM521F -not to be confused with the RM520N.  Both work, but the 520 only connects at 2CA and not 3CA.  This is a difference of 300-400Mbps down, vs. 700-900Mbps down.  

The DIY method is always fun and sometimes leads to a cheaper/flexible design.  However, I have also enjoyed some of Peplink’s equipment.  They have a new 5G Dome device that I can confirm works with the same T-Mobile consumer SIM.  However, the cost on that one is around $2500.  

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