If I use an ethernet cable, do I need to configure my wi-fi network or just leave it alone with the ethernet cable as a “back up” such as bad weather situations?
Best answer by iTinkeralot
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The Ethernet connection is (primarily) to connect your existing network of a router & switches and provide internet access. When you do that the gateway replaces the cable or DSL modem & your network addresses remain the same.
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It really does not matter if you use the wireless adapter or an Ethernet cable to connect your client(s) to the gateway. The “network” component is the same connection in effect. The ports on the gateway are copper gigabit Ethernet ports so a CAT5e or CAT6 cable should work fine. You can use a lesser category of cable but it will not be as good for the communication.
With respect to the WIFI you should at least make sure it is secure if you use it or not. If you live in a rural area where the neighbors are too far away to connect then it is not as critical but having the wireless radios secure so only you know how to connect is best. The gateway uses the cellular connection to communicate to the cell tower so if the weather is bad the impact could be to the cell signal not the local WIFI radio signals. If you have an issue with your PC on the wireless and it has an Ethernet cable you can use that to determine if the problem is with the local wireless.
If you see the bars on the LED on the gateway diminished or not showing then that is a pretty clear indication that the cellular signal is degraded. To know if the local wireless is working well look at the client and see if it is connected and how well it is connected. If it seems really slow try the cable connection to the client. A direct physical connection is the most simple solution.
I guess what I am getting at is, the wi-fi would try to connect automatically even if I have the ethernet cable. I know how to go in and change network settings to change it to DSL/ethernet and a new network setting. What I was trying to ask is, do I need to change that or leave the wi-fi alone? It seems to me that the wi-fi would try to turn on automatically if I didn’t change it. I mean I am not a total idiot, but I am new with this t-mobile one and I do know about ethernet, that was the “old school” way of connecting. I guess I might just have to connect the cable and see what happens. Trial and error until I figure it out.
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I am not trying to infer that you were an idiot. That did NOT come to my mind. The initial statement is not 100% clear on your objectives. If you want to leverage your existing wireless router and connect its WAN port to to the T-Mobile gateway with an Ethernet cable you can go that route. The prior wireless router with its existing configuration should work for your existing clients as they are. There are many users that have lots of clients and they do not want to change their IP addressing nor deal with the transition to a different wireless LAN. If you have a wireless router you prefer, and like the feature set, and controls, using the WAN port of the old router to connect it to the Ethernet port on the T-Mobile gateway and using the prior wireless is fine.
The statement, “If I use an ethernet cable, do I need to configure my wi-fi network or just leave it alone with the ethernet cable as a “back up” such as bad weather situations?”
Sorry I cannot tell if you are referring to a client OR your prior wireless router nor which wi-fi network you are referring to in that statement. I assumed you were talking about a client.
Using an Ethernet cable is really not that “old school”. Sure wired Ethernet predates WIFI but I would take a 1G or 10G wired Ethernet connection over a wireless connection in many situations. The farther you are from a wireless source the signal speed is going to drop off. Sure a wired solution has its distance limitation but 330 feet is still going to handle the gigabit connections and not have problems with the walls and external RF influences like wireless. I cut my teeth on old tech. Fun days my friend.
If your computer is connected to the gateway with Ethernet, make sure to "forget" WiFi connections to the gateway. Having both creates confusion for the devices and it might use a slow wifi connection even when you have a fast Ethernet or vs versa
Userlevel 7
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With some of the new T-Mobile gateways some users have reported poor performance from the physical Ethernet ports vs wireless. It is hard to know for sure why but it may be related to the onboard Ethernet adapter or cables used. I suspect some have faulty Ethernet modules which do not negotiate the speed and duplex operations properly. Really the only way you know is to try both wired and wireless and test to confirm results for performance. It is best to only keep one or the other network connection type active at the same time. It is possible to influence the preference for one interface over the other with metrics but it is not a practice most people use. To have one as a backup for the other setting the preference so the metrics for say wireless are higher than for the wired Ethernet adapter interface then the interface with the lowest metric cost would be preferred. Examples for how to do this can be found searching on the internet.
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