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WiFi router sugestions that can use different IP address for Home Internet 5G Gateway

I tried to use the Home Internet 5G Gateway/Router in my home network setup, but unfortunately, the router has it’s base IP address (i.e. 192.168.x.x) hard coded into it’s OS, and CANNOT be changed. I have an existing large (for home) WiFi/hard wire LAN network setup on IP base of 10.0.x.x. I have way too many IOT devices, multiple PC’s, NAS’s, and peripherals to think about changing my base IP. If you yourself have done this, you know that once you change the base IP, you can’t go back to reconfigure those devices that ONLY communicate via hard wire.

With that said, I tried the Home Internet 5G Gateway/Router for a day, and I got decent 50-80MBs data speeds, good enough for home use. However, not being able to change the base IP (which is really unheard of for routers) left this device useless to me.

The question, does anyone know of a WiFi Router that can use the Home Internet 5G Gateway/Router as a “modem”, then allow the new WiFi Router to set it’s own IP configuration?

Where I live, I’m a slave to Sectrum Cable (previously Time Warner/Charter), as we have no other internet providers in our area. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill

17 replies

J

In the land of for what it is worth, disabling SSID does NOT disable the wireless.  It only hides it.  So, you still can have conflict issues.

 

When you plug a router into another router, in this case the one from T-Mobile, most sane routers will switch to a different IP range, generally the 10.x one.   This is ok, but can cause double NAT issues and can also provide problems with IPV6.    

As long as that is not an issue for you, connecting your existing router into a hardwire port on the T-mobile router is the best way to maintain your existing network without making changes and to also maintain any limit controls you have on users.

 

Later,

 

Ralphfur

Winchester, OR

Major issue with this approach that I am experiencing is that my router being on a different subnet, while working for wi-fi connected devices, does not support my devices connected to my switch (which I’m assuming only sees the t-mobile network).

J

Those suggesting to simply plug their router into the LAN port of the T-Mobile gateway obviously don’t any port forwarding to their home devices. Anybody do Remote Desktop to their home computer from outside? Anybody have a NAS at home they’d like to access from outside? Anybody run Pi-Hole ad blocking for their whole home network? Anybody do preassigned IP addresses for DHCP on their home LAN? Anybody VPN into their home? Anybody do SSH into their home machines? These functions are all supported by even the cheapest home routers. None are supported by the T-Mobile home internet gateway. I’m just about ready to return it, even though the speeds are great.

Correct for all the reasons you stated above.  I’m now experiencing apparently two years later and it still hasn’t been addressed.  This is problematic...

R

In the land of for what it is worth, disabling SSID does NOT disable the wireless.  It only hides it.  So, you still can have conflict issues.

 

When you plug a router into another router, in this case the one from T-Mobile, most sane routers will switch to a different IP range, generally the 10.x one.   This is ok, but can cause double NAT issues and can also provide problems with IPV6.    

As long as that is not an issue for you, connecting your existing router into a hardwire port on the T-mobile router is the best way to maintain your existing network without making changes and to also maintain any limit controls you have on users.

 

Later,

 

Ralphfur

Winchester, OR

I

Old post, but I thought I would respond with the easy solution. Just plug the gateway into the internet port of your existing router and it will use all the same settings you use now on your internal network (LAN). You will have internet throughout your network but nothing will change as far as you home network internal setup… it will remain the same. All your computers, printers, security cameras, etc. will stay the same.

If you don’t currently have a router then get one. It doesn’t need to be fancy and they can be had for a very cheap price. As long as the router is configured for DHCP on the WAN ports where the internet plugs in it will just be plug and play. Very easy. Just reboot both devices after plugging in. It’s actually much easier to do than to explain and takes less than 5 minutes.

I also like to use my router to provide WiFi for my devices instead of the Tmobile gateway so even the wireless devices will be on the same internal network.

perfecto

S

For those wanting remote access, just use a free version of TeamViewer. It works fine and is free. To view cameras, if you don’t use a cloud service for viewing since that works already with just an internet connection, just log into a computer at home using TeamViewer (or whatever you want) and view the cameras that way. You can even do that from a phone or tablet is you wish.

Yep, it’s a bit to setup everything, but it works well and I use it all the time. Don’t give up, just do things a bit different and it’s no problem.

S

Yes! If you plug the gateway into the internet port on another router you will have complete control over IP scope, DHCP settings, DNS, reservations, static IP settings, and everything you want for your internal network (LAN). Only the internet will be coming from the gateway and the firewall of the router you have plugged the internet. You will also have control over your internal network firewall rules for the internet.

So, by doing the above, you can have printers and workstations on static IPs if you want and the gateway won’t affect your internal network at all. If you already have a router… just plug the gateway into the internet port of your router and nothing changes in your local network.

Z
Userlevel 2
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no, the new 5g gateway not only has a different IP (192.168.12.1 instead of 192.168.1.1), but also it has no static IP for home devices. and because it kept rebooting itself, it is assigning a different IP each day for my two printers. this of course creates problems for me.

when will Tmobile make a better firmware update with a basic router control we all need? (static ip, DMZ, port forwarding, etc, which are all lacking now).

S

Old post, but I thought I would respond with the easy solution. Just plug the gateway into the internet port of your existing router and it will use all the same settings you use now on your internal network (LAN). You will have internet throughout your network but nothing will change as far as you home network internal setup… it will remain the same. All your computers, printers, security cameras, etc. will stay the same.

If you don’t currently have a router then get one. It doesn’t need to be fancy and they can be had for a very cheap price. As long as the router is configured for DHCP on the WAN ports where the internet plugs in it will just be plug and play. Very easy. Just reboot both devices after plugging in. It’s actually much easier to do than to explain and takes less than 5 minutes.

I also like to use my router to provide WiFi for my devices instead of the Tmobile gateway so even the wireless devices will be on the same internal network.

D
Userlevel 5
Badge +5

Those suggesting to simply plug their router into the LAN port of the T-Mobile gateway obviously don’t any port forwarding to their home devices. Anybody do Remote Desktop to their home computer from outside? Anybody have a NAS at home they’d like to access from outside? Anybody run Pi-Hole ad blocking for their whole home network? Anybody do preassigned IP addresses for DHCP on their home LAN? Anybody VPN into their home? Anybody do SSH into their home machines? These functions are all supported by even the cheapest home routers. None are supported by the T-Mobile home internet gateway. I’m just about ready to return it, even though the speeds are great.

TMO's XLAT464/CGNAT topology breaks unsolicited inbound connections in the upper layers anyway... so all the concerns about double-nat on the private side, as well as whether you have access to configure forwarding/dmz on their modem router are moot at this point.

 

We have full functionality (except for a flat out bridge mode) on the older Askey LTE boxes.  All of that "normal" functionality with traditional wired ISP's that give us a proper dual-stack service fails because of what they are doing upstream from their modem.  Their topology simply doesn't give us a properly functioning public v4 presence for any of it to work.

 

Now... if they ever put in place the proper translation that preserves all the needed v4 features--or better yet, a 1:1 actual public v4 address, that will be a different story.  We will likely all be on newer modems by then.  They are already planning to start shipping out new 5g modems (a boxy looking thing by a different brand) sometime this quarter, but not a lot of details on it beyond a basic manual found online and some specs posted with the FCC.

 

About the only way people have managed to recover most of the typical v4 functionality is via 3rd party services... like a custom VPN that reserves IP and allows custom p2p configs.  I looked at Windscribe's options a while back, as they support router installation and several levels of P2P functionality with their more premium subscriptions.  TMO's $50/mo plus their best annual price options looked pretty close to the discounted rate of Spectrum Basic after you threaten to drop them.  Came out to only like $5 less or something.

Basically... people need to evaluate the level of functionality vs aggravation between TMO and other local options. If all they need is simple internet, TMO may be hard to beat for the price.  But for those that need more advanced functionality, it may not be worth it.

Z
Userlevel 2
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I finally got my new 5g gateway working today after removing the sim card from the old LTE device and put it to this one.

I changed the wifi SSID to my old one and my door bells and thermometers are now all working (hate to reset and connecting all).

Except my printer. the old gateway was 192.168.1.1 and my laser (etherneted) was set to 192.168.1.101.  on the old gateway I can use manual ip assignment. of course right now due to the change to 192.168.12.1, that does not work any more.

In addition, the new gateway wont show me all the IPs/Mac address of devices, wireless or not.

so now I have to print a page from my printer to see what IP it has, and then have to change my port on my computer….I have 2 printers.

Yes, I tried to see if I can change the default ip back to 192.168.1.1. but I could not.

P
Userlevel 1

Those suggesting to simply plug their router into the LAN port of the T-Mobile gateway obviously don’t any port forwarding to their home devices. Anybody do Remote Desktop to their home computer from outside? Anybody have a NAS at home they’d like to access from outside? Anybody run Pi-Hole ad blocking for their whole home network? Anybody do preassigned IP addresses for DHCP on their home LAN? Anybody VPN into their home? Anybody do SSH into their home machines? These functions are all supported by even the cheapest home routers. None are supported by the T-Mobile home internet gateway. I’m just about ready to return it, even though the speeds are great.

G
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I ran into this same problem yesterday setting up mine. Why choose 192.168.12.1 ??? Is this intentional, to break as many private home LAN setups as they possibly can?

Then there’s the forced 12+ character WiFi password. My previous password was shorter, easy to remember, and would definitely not succumb to a dictionary attack and would take a while with brute force methods.

Before the T-Mobile High Speed gateway all I needed to do to swap DSL modems out was set the SSID, WiFi Password, and gateway IP. Then it was literally plug-in-and-play. Smart TV, tablets, laptop, printers, my dd-wrt wireless repeater-bridge would all carry on as though nothing had changed.

But not with T-Mobile. For that I’m required to upend the configurations of every single networked device I have. What should have taken me five minutes to setup instead took half the day and I still have to get out a keyboard, monitor, and mouse just to change a 0 to 12 in my media server config.

The four most commonly used gateway addresses for private networks are 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1.1, 172.16.0.1, or 10.0.0.0

If T-Mobile wants to “simplify” setup they should have those four as choices, if they don’t want users to be able to choose whatever address they want. Nearly all routers and modems I’ve encountered are defaulted to 192.168.1.1.

 

S
Userlevel 1
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Yes, this worked for me also.

I was hoping to use the Wifi on the T-Mobile as a “2nd router” - because I have two already to cover the area I am covering - but that is a no go - because it is a one way street - the T-Mobile Wifi device cannot see the old router Wifi (or hardwired) devices. Double NAT and probably other issues too in the S/W.

so my config is T-Mobile (ethernet cable) Router1 (ethernet cable) Router2.  Router 1 and 2 play nice, T-Mobile just acts like my old modem - and I get the Router1 firewall features too.

I have no idea whether there is any firewall of any kind on the T-Mobile other than NAT.

 

0
Userlevel 5
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I simply unplugged my existing router from the cable modem and plugged it into the TMobile Gateway. My router picked up a 192.168.12.X address and everything worked. I disabled all of the SSIDs on the Gateway so I wouldn’t have that wifi network enabled. As long as your existing router is set for DHCP on the WAN interface it should work. Everything stayed the same on the home network behind the router.

This is the way to go problem solved.

Y
Userlevel 2
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I simply unplugged my existing router from the cable modem and plugged it into the TMobile Gateway. My router picked up a 192.168.12.X address and everything worked. I disabled all of the SSIDs on the Gateway so I wouldn’t have that wifi network enabled. As long as your existing router is set for DHCP on the WAN interface it should work. Everything stayed the same on the home network behind the router.

B
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Thanks for the reply. I understand what you’re saying. It’s just that I have so many IOT devices (almost all on WiFi), I’d hate to be locked out of them because they can’t reconfigure themselves. Like I said, I’d just rather have a separate WiFi/LAN Router connected to the Home Internet box, using it as a “modem”. It would make my life so much easier.

E
Userlevel 1
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I am by no means a networking expert. Just getting that out there…

It sounds as if your “hard wired” devices are using static IP addresses rather than DHCP.  Is this correct?

If not, your devices, when rebooted, should get a new IP from the internal DHCP server in the Gateway,

if so, you can do what I did and put a router in between my local network and the Gateway’s network.

This works great for keeping my network the same as I had it on my previous provider, but has the negative of using a double-NAT, one on the Gateway and the other in my router.  Having said that I do not see any significant differences between connecting to my local network and directly to the Gateway.

 

Hope this helps in some way. :-)

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