Question

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet & TP-Link Deco Mesh WiFi System (Deco S4)

  • 19 August 2022
  • 6 replies
  • 2877 views

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Hi,

 

I am considering switching over to T-Mobile 5G Home Internet, but wanted to make sure that my WiFi extender TP-Link Deco Mesh WiFi System (Deco S4) will still work with T-Mobile 5G Home Internet? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B084GTH5LL?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

Any experience with this?

 

Thank you!

 


6 replies

I just purchased the T Mobile 5 g home internet.  Tried to connect to decco with no success. I'm ready to return the device.

 

 

Userlevel 7
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T-Mobile does have the trial period. If there is good coverage in your location and it is not too congested for traffic on the cells it might be good. It is hard to be sure as every location is different. Some gateways are better than others. I would not give up what I have as a known entity until I have given the solution a trial. The TP link solution should connect via an Ethernet cable to the gateway but without testing it one cannot say it will work. It might or might not work well. Testing would be the only way to be sure. You might get the T-Mobile gateway in house and then find you don’t like that part or the bandwidth delivery is not what you expected. Maybe you have neighbors that have T-Mobile service. I would try to find out about the experience others in the area have had. 

I am in the process of setting this up, except with Deco m9.

The way I have things set up with Spectrum: The cable modem functions as a modem only (I turned off NAT/routing functions) and is connected via Ethernet directly to one of the Deco base stations. The Deco does all the router functionality. I like this setup because the Deco app is quite nice.

I got an Arcadyan KVD21Gateway from T-Mobile. I tested it and download speeds are ok, upload speeds are very mediocre. From everything I can see so far, I cannot turn the T-Mobile Wi-Fi Gateway into a simple modem and use the Deco as router which is unfortunate. I’ll have to use my Deco as dumb access points in order to avoid double NAT.

I’ll still finish set up and try it out. I’ll report back.

I just installed a deco s4 3 units. Typically I have 4 bars on the gateway. The first unit installed at the gateway solidified reception on a tv 20 ft away and increased download speed slightly. The second unit installed in my lower level tripled my download speed and increased connection to full bars and “excellent” rating. The tv I have outside in the man cave adjacent to the lower level went from fair reception to very good and doubled down load speed. The third deco is in a back bedroom and increased coverage from 2 bars to full bars.
It’s early on but I am impressed so far

Yes—works perfectly!  I just switched from Cox Internet to the T-Mobile gateway. I had my cox set up with the deco S4 working perfectly. I needed to have the Deco mesh router coverage with the T-Mobile gateway. At first I was disappointed because I thought gateway wasnt  connecting to Deco. However, T-Mobile support hooked me up directly with the TP Link tech support who walked me through the process of setting up a new network since the previous one would only function with Cox. In short, you have to reset each router and use the TP link application on your phone to establish a new network. 

I worked with Hans, who was an excellent support. He gave me TP links direct number. If I ever needed future support. here it is: 

866-225-8139

TP Link Customer Service

 

 

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I have the white 5GAR Gateway and TPL AXE5300 and X60 mesh and it works.  There were challenges getting the switch issues resolved.  Evidently, DLink switches are no good with wired backhauls.  I had to reboot my semi-smart Netgear switch, but the dumb switches were fine.

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