Unable to use T-Mobile Home Internet with work VPN, any suggestions?
I’ve recently been told by work Information Services that I cannot use my work laptop with T-Mobile Home Internet. Here is there response to my support request.
T-Mobile's primary service called "5G Broadband" is not true wire-to-site broadband. While Cisco AnyConnect can work over 5G and other wireless connections, MTS does not recommend its usage unless absolutely necessary, and if you utilize a phone line such as Cisco Jabber call quality cannot be guaranteed.
The issue is that while 5G can provide broadband level speeds and bandwidth wireless solutions, such as 5G, have a higher tolerance for "packet loss." Packet loss is when individual pieces of data are dropped/lost during transmission. For most applications this is a minimal issue that 5G speeds may render unnoticeable, but a live connection, such as the AnyConnect VPN or Voice Over IP phone services, will experience connection degradation or be completely disconnected forcing you to reconnect.
This is not an issue MTS can mitigate. For this reason the only recommended Internet service types are fully wired based connections including DSL, Broadband, Cable, and Fiber Optic services.
Does anyone have a suggestion on a way to work around this issue? It does not need to be perfect, but being able to work from home is essential, and if I can’t use TMHI to do that… it would be a deal-breaker for me.
Page 2 / 6
Same here... T-Mobile for sure did something on the back end of their network 3 days ago that has rendered my Cisco Anyconnect unusable for internal Networked applications. I did some testing of my own this evening and what worked for me was disabling IPV6 on my external router. I had IPV6 pass through enabled for the last 2 years and had zero issues. Once disabled, It made my overall connection seem more snappier as well. Also I would highly recommend changing the DNS to Cloudflare.
My guess is with announcing this 1.2TB throttle a few days ago, they are doing everything in their power to crack down on individuals that abuse their Network. It’s unfortunate that people like ourselves have to suffer at the expense of those individuals. Hope this helps….
If their intention is to crack down on individuals that abuse their network, blanket banning VPNs isn’t the solution. Example; My work VPN uses about 18gb a month. I, on the other hand with streaming services, downloading games on steam, 4k youtube; I use WAY more data than my work allotment does. I think I hit 900gb one month because a gaming hard drive failed and I had to redownload everything. But if my VPN doesn’t handshake properly, its slapped in the face and denied.
IMO, this was a bad business choice to eliminate VPNS, to avoid IPv4 support and provide even more of a worse tech support. I work tier 2 tech support. Every time I call tmobile, they seem like nice people, but the tech part of the interview was waved.
I agree 100%. Their CS is not geared towards individuals in the “know”. But that’s with just about any company these days. Did disabling IPv6 work for you?
We are starting experiencing with ridiculous slow speed with one of our work Cisco VPN too. it just started last week and it was fine for like 2-3 months.
I posted this on another thread but am repeating here in case it helps anyone. Here was my situation and how it was eventually fixed.
We’ve had Spectrum Internet for a few years and everything worked great but they kept increasing the price on us. No problems at all with anyone's access. We switched to TMobile Internet right after Thanksgiving (Black Friday deal) and the modem wouldn't work right out of the gate. Took almost a month for them ( and 2 SIM card changes + 1 modem change) to figure out that it was a configuration issue on their end. So had the system up and running right before Christmas and it worked great for everyone. But then, right after the holidays were over, my wife fired up her work computer for the first time on TMobile Internet service and right away had the “connection lost” issue every one describes above. She would start up and connect but then, after some time, Outlook, Teams and Edge would all show as disconnected. She could switch to another router or even ethernet and this would temporarily fix her connection but it would always come back. I had been working in the meantime on my work computer without any issues on both the Spectrum and TMobile networks. I tried all of the fixes mentioned above but none of them worked for her. Finally got another modem, plugged in the old SIM card and voila it worked immediately. There were 2 other symptoms of this that also went away - my Ooma VOIP system reconnected (it had been flashing red for weeks) and my Ring cameras stopped acting flaky when trying to view video.
Here are the OLD (non-working) and NEW (working internet) modems. So looks like its a modem issue
I posted this on another thread but am repeating here in case it helps anyone. Here was my situation and how it was eventually fixed.
We’ve had Spectrum Internet for a few years and everything worked great but they kept increasing the price on us. No problems at all with anyone's access. We switched to TMobile Internet right after Thanksgiving (Black Friday deal) and the modem wouldn't work right out of the gate. Took almost a month for them ( and 2 SIM card changes + 1 modem change) to figure out that it was a configuration issue on their end. So had the system up and running right before Christmas and it worked great for everyone. But then, right after the holidays were over, my wife fired up her work computer for the first time on TMobile Internet service and right away had the “connection lost” issue every one describes above. She would start up and connect but then, after some time, Outlook, Teams and Edge would all show as disconnected. She could switch to another router or even ethernet and this would temporarily fix her connection but it would always come back. I had been working in the meantime on my work computer without any issues on both the Spectrum and TMobile networks. I tried all of the fixes mentioned above but none of them worked for her. Finally got another modem, plugged in the old SIM card and voila it worked immediately. There were 2 other symptoms of this that also went away - my Ooma VOIP system reconnected (it had been flashing red for weeks) and my Ring cameras stopped acting flaky when trying to view video.
Here are the OLD (non-working) and NEW (working internet) modems. So looks like its a modem issue
thanks for sharing. how did you manage to get them to give you the new (white) modem? Is the new gateway name T-Mobile 5G Gateway (G4AR & G4SE)?
Edit: I called T-mobile customer service and asking for modem exchange. The rep says I can’t change to a different model and can only switch a different same modem. He put in a ticket for the VPN issue for me to see if they can resolve it.
Thanks in advance.
My company uses Cisco AnyConnect VPN. I’ve been having all the same issues mentioned in this thread and gone down the IT rabbit hole trying to remedy this issue. Finally found a knowledgeable T-Mobile technician that explained if personal or work VPN or systems are operating on IPv4 then you need to go into your T-Mobile home internet app > select network > click “+” to add network > name network > create password > select 2.4 GHz band > select WPA/WPA2 > WPA “TKIP & AES” > then save the new network and connect. Worked out my VPN issues and my security cameras are working now.
This appears to have worked for me as well. Note: The T-Mobile Internet app on my iPhone kept hanging when I was setting up the 2.4 GHz network. What I did was set up the new network with all the defaults (recommended settings). After it was created successfully, I went back to that new network and changed the settings to match what was posted. I also connected with T-Mobile and they said this solution should be good.
I think this issue is now resolved. I can use Cisco AnyConnect now.
I think this issue is now resolved. I can use Cisco AnyConnect now.
Glad to hear it and thanks for posting. I’ve been monitoring this thread all day. I was still NG until I restarted the Home Gateway (Sagemcom).
I posted this on another thread but am repeating here in case it helps anyone. Here was my situation and how it was eventually fixed.
We’ve had Spectrum Internet for a few years and everything worked great but they kept increasing the price on us. No problems at all with anyone's access. We switched to TMobile Internet right after Thanksgiving (Black Friday deal) and the modem wouldn't work right out of the gate. Took almost a month for them ( and 2 SIM card changes + 1 modem change) to figure out that it was a configuration issue on their end. So had the system up and running right before Christmas and it worked great for everyone. But then, right after the holidays were over, my wife fired up her work computer for the first time on TMobile Internet service and right away had the “connection lost” issue every one describes above. She would start up and connect but then, after some time, Outlook, Teams and Edge would all show as disconnected. She could switch to another router or even ethernet and this would temporarily fix her connection but it would always come back. I had been working in the meantime on my work computer without any issues on both the Spectrum and TMobile networks. I tried all of the fixes mentioned above but none of them worked for her. Finally got another modem, plugged in the old SIM card and voila it worked immediately. There were 2 other symptoms of this that also went away - my Ooma VOIP system reconnected (it had been flashing red for weeks) and my Ring cameras stopped acting flaky when trying to view video.
Here are the OLD (non-working) and NEW (working internet) modems. So looks like its a modem issue
Old black modem model = FAST 5688W
New white modem Model = TMO-G4AR
thanks for sharing. how did you manage to get them to give you the new (white) modem? Is the new gateway name T-Mobile 5G Gateway (G4AR & G4SE)?
Edit: I called T-mobile customer service and asking for modem exchange. The rep says I can’t change to a different model and can only switch a different same modem. He put in a ticket for the VPN issue for me to see if they can resolve it.
Thanks in advance.
Old black modem model = FAST 5688W
New white modem Model = TMO-G4AR
Same issue, unable to use my work VPN. My wife’s VPN works with no problem using AnyConnect I called t-mobile customer service twice.
First rep told me that VPN doesn’t work with T-mobile -- THAT’S THE BASIS OF YOUR BUSINESS!!! Also, why does my wife’s VPN work?
Second rep -- much more knowledgeable, says that Cisco VPN is a known issue, my work uses Cisco Meraki.
I’m going to reach out to a VP of customer service, because this is stupid. Why tell a customer t-mobile internet doesn’t work with VPN?
Since last Friday 1/26 our work laptops are infrequently worked. Tried this morning at 6am, no issues. Today at 9am, cant connect.
Called support again and was told the issue was my company's security. I asked if their were any fixes. Was told to contact my helpdesk again and thats all he could offer. Told him my company isnt going to change our security based on one ISP, and that I would have to switch. His response "you do what you have to do".
Ridiculous.
my wife work uses Cisco Meraki too and it is not working on her end. However, it works perfectly fine for my work VPN WMare Horization.
For those that may still be having an issue - “When in doubt - reboot”. Yesterday, after it was announced above that people were now working, I was still NG until I restarted the Home Gateway (Sagemcom). Since then I have been OK. I’ve been on our corporate VPN (Cisco AnyConnect) for the entire day today and have had no issues.
Good luck.
I use Mullvad VPN, and was having issue while connected, but their customer service is awesome and helped get me sorted.
Setting MTU to 1280 and enabling IPv6 in their app resolved my issues.
Edit: I was able to disable IPv6 and still have no issues. Seems that MTU 1280 was enough for me.
I use Mullvad VPN, and was having issue while connected, but their customer service is awesome and helped get me sorted.
Setting MTU to 1280 and enabling IPv6 in their app resolved my issues.
Did they do something with the MUT and enabling IPV6 on their end or it something that was done on your router? I don’t see the option to do this on their T-Mobile Internet App or Modem.
I use Mullvad VPN, and was having issue while connected, but their customer service is awesome and helped get me sorted.
Setting MTU to 1280 and enabling IPv6 in their app resolved my issues.
Did they do something with the MUT and enabling IPV6 on their end or it something that was done on your router? I don’t see the option to do this on their T-Mobile Internet App or Modem.
It’s a setting within my VPN client app.
Sixteen, you’re very lucky to have received that new modem!
T-Mobile is refusing to give these out. They also do not have any way to know which stores have them. Per one of the bazillion reps I’ve spoken to it (new modem) is the ONLY CURRENTLY available fix for this problem. Otherwise you get to hear “the engineers at Citrix and T-Mobile are currently collaborating to try and fix the problem. That ticket was made exactly a week ago today. I feel incredibly sorry for the rural folks who have no choice. Fortunately I dwell in a large city and have a multitude of options but I am royally PO’d that I have to go through the hassle of changing two phone lines, plan and internet provider because T-Mobile cannot get their s together. For those of you being told it’s your company- it’s not! Call back and get a rep who knows what they’re talking about. It is specifically an issue between T-mobile’s old (black) modem having plunked out on those of us who use Citrix Anytime VPN, plus a few other VPN’s here I haven’t heard of. The only glimmer of hope for those of you w/ no choice is to try connecting via your phones hotspot. That’s the only thing that has kept me from going utterly mad. It works but can get spotty if it’s disconnected so just know that. I’m shocked in 2024 that we have companies w/ this bad of tech! Totally shocked and disgraced. I do not use X (Twitter) but those of you who do send messages to T-Mobile’s CEO. That kind of thing works. Name easily found on the internet. For those who intend to stay and try to struggle it out you’re going to have send these messages on the regular. Best to you all!
CEO is Mike Sievert
My company uses Cisco AnyConnect VPN. I’ve been having all the same issues mentioned in this thread and gone down the IT rabbit hole trying to remedy this issue. Finally found a knowledgeable T-Mobile technician that explained if personal or work VPN or systems are operating on IPv4 then you need to go into your T-Mobile home internet app > select network > click “+” to add network > name network > create password > select 2.4 GHz band > select WPA/WPA2 > WPA “TKIP & AES” > then save the new network and connect. Worked out my VPN issues and my security cameras are working now.
this is definitely a fix for me right now so far. Will update if any future issues. 01/31/24
BoldKPI- just created. We’ll see in the morning if it works. Praying it does! Thanks for the tip!
My company uses Paloalto Networks (Globalprotect) i have been with T-Mobile 5G home internet now for well over 6 months, until about 2-3 weeks ago it was working fine, since then i wont allow my to connect to some of our online work programs, email works, but nothing else. MY IT dept said they have not changed anything with our VPN, its the ISP issue. I called T-mobile like others multiple times & get different ansers, one said it doesnt work with VPN’s??? in this day & Age doesnt ISP providers like T-mobile realize many people work from home & have to connect to VPN’s? has anyone had any success getting their VPN to work on Globalprotect recently? Is the solution a new modem like the one in the photo’s? If this doesnt work, I will have to switch ISP’s, cant continue to use a mobile hot spot like I have been for the past 2-3 weeks since this issue started.
I switched to the Nokia (gray color) modem and my wife VPN is working now. it is getting 60-70mbps on the VPN.
This appears to be a firmware update for the Sagemcom internet routers (black tower) that messed up VPN. Other devices work fine. They refused to send me a different device but did offer to sell me one (nope). In my line of work if you jack something up you have to “un-jack” it. Very poor customer service on this and they will undoubtedly lose customers over it.
My company uses Cisco AnyConnect VPN. I’ve been having all the same issues mentioned in this thread and gone down the IT rabbit hole trying to remedy this issue. Finally found a knowledgeable T-Mobile technician that explained if personal or work VPN or systems are operating on IPv4 then you need to go into your T-Mobile home internet app > select network > click “+” to add network > name network > create password > select 2.4 GHz band > select WPA/WPA2 > WPA “TKIP & AES” > then save the new network and connect. Worked out my VPN issues and my security cameras are working now.
My wife’s company uses Cisco AnyConnect as well. I tried your solution, and it is currently working. Thank you. For the record, I also work from home and am using SonicWall NetExtender without any previous nor current issues. We have the old black tower modem, and I’m going to try to replace it with the new white square one per another user’s recommendations in case this solution turns out to be temporary. This has been a very thorough and interesting thread to read. God bless you all.
My company uses Cisco AnyConnect VPN. I’ve been having all the same issues mentioned in this thread and gone down the IT rabbit hole trying to remedy this issue. Finally found a knowledgeable T-Mobile technician that explained if personal or work VPN or systems are operating on IPv4 then you need to go into your T-Mobile home internet app > select network > click “+” to add network > name network > create password > select 2.4 GHz band > select WPA/WPA2 > WPA “TKIP & AES” > then save the new network and connect. Worked out my VPN issues and my security cameras are working now.
My wife’s company uses Cisco AnyConnect as well. I tried your solution, and it is currently working. Thank you. For the record, I also work from home and am using SonicWall NetExtender without any previous nor current issues. We have the old black tower modem, and I’m going to try to replace it with the new white square one per another user’s recommendations in case this solution turns out to be temporary. This has been a very thorough and interesting thread to read. God bless you all.
Cue the South Park bank teller “Aaaaaaand it’s gone!” Solution stopped working after a half hour. Ordered another modem (representative said he could not specifically choose which type of modem would come. He says all of the hardware is identical inside of the different models, and people have been reporting issues with all of the models, apparently. If this new one doesn’t work, I’ll be getting internet elsewhere, unfortunately.