Question

Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System

  • 14 April 2021
  • 59 replies
  • 33726 views
D
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On the new grey 5G home internet box, when you connect to its web page (typically http://192.168.12.1/), on the Overview screen, under the Devices panel, one of the items listed is “Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System”, just above “Wireless” and “Ethenet”. This implies a third way of networking devices (it currently says 0 connected). I have a Deco Wi-Fi 6 mesh router and was wondering if they could be interconnected by something other than an ethnet cable. Is this something that is currently implemented or is it just a planned feature for a future expansion?

On their product page (https://www.t-mobile.com/isp/gateway) where it lists device features, it also says “Mesh expandable    Yes”, but I haven’t found any details about this in the documentation.

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So on phone with them now they say there is a bug in 0178 that VPN’s don't work.

 

0
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Bad news. First I was told a new firmware is rollingling out to fix the issues with 0178 but she says they cannot push it that I have to wait about a week for it to come.

She was nice and helped me actually find a good line of site to the tower that I am connected to.

So I of course had to unplug the unit to move it and now I am stuck in an endless boot. I see the T then dot dot dot then dot dot dot then reboot over and over. I have tried reseting it with the button holding it nothing works same issue. Removed the SIM reseated noting same issue.

Called support spent a while finally they tell me I need an exchange they cant help I have to be transferred then I got disconnected. Now again waiting for someone to call me so I can get a replacement unit setup.

I guess it’s a good thing I have not ditched Comcast yet or I would be totally stuck.

 

 

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Ok finally got someone that could help me and did not have to transfer me. They are shipping me a new gateway asap.

But I have determined that it is a heat issue. If I let it sit off for say 20 min it boots up normally but has stopped after several min doing the reboot. Yes I have the USB fan under it but seems this unit has developed some heat issue fan or no fan.

Maybe it did not like the new location I have not had it long enough to really know.

 

 

B

I feel like if I hadn’t said anything you’d be doing just fine! Sorry about that. Hard to believe these trashcans are really that delicate!

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I feel like if I hadn’t said anything you’d be doing just fine! Sorry about that. Hard to believe these trashcans are really that delicate!

Na seems it was going to fail at some point best now and get another one that hopefully works.

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So last night I got it to boot before I went to bed and I left it on. By the am it was rebooting and I got to log into it for a sec and I thing it got a firmware update as it did not have the same numbers but I lost connection. Now today I have kept it off cooled it on the AC vent and it just will not boot all the way makes it like 15 sec and reboots over and over. I see the replacement on my account hope it ships first of next week I need to cancel Comcast by the end of the month.

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Unreal replacement gateway showed up you just swap the SIM to the new unit. Booted up says Celular HW failure does not get any bars. I called tech they we did everything now they think it is a tower issue really how would that be. They don't want to ship me another unit they are asking me to wait for an engineer to check the tower. I think it’s obvious I have another bad gateway and need a replacement.

 

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Well, if you’re having issues with double nat (actually, even if you aren’t), I’d put a call into tech support and get your firmware updated. The number they gave me to bypass all those irritating menus is 844-275-9310.

Good luck!

BTW what issues were you having slow?

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Got 

1.2101.00.1609 last nite.

M

Just an FYI anyone searching this. It’s coming. But it’s probably going through checks and getting ready. But a device wouldn’t have gone through the FCC if such a device doesn’t ext.
Mesh Beacon Passes FCC

F

1.2003.03.0168

 

How do you update firmware on the T-Mobile gateway?

F

1.2003.03.0168

 

How do you update firmware on the T-Mobile gateway?

Checked my App. The current firmware version is 1-2003.03-0178. I guess it is auto updated to the latest version?

T

I used to have Spectrum (uggg, horrible customer service) & switched to T-Mobile internet & so far love it.  I have Google mesh (older not nest mesh).  I have 4 pucks & connected one to gateway by Ethernet & distributed the rest throughout the house.  I have the gateway behind my tv & live in a house made in the 1920's with lath & plaster walls.  I get great speeds.  I haven't even tried to locate anywhere else because I have such good speed.  The best recorded speeds I have are 493 down & 56 up.  That's with a connection on app that says "very good".  Don't have any idea what I'd get with "excellent" connection..  A whole lot better than I was getting with Spectrum & for a lot less money.  The only problem I've had was speed test dropped in half & called tech support & they rebooted something on their end & I rebooted gateway.  Problem solved.  I will say that I get much better speeds if I reboot gateway weekly.  I'm a pretty heavy internet user, got a whole smart house with a LOT of devices connected & get consistent internet.  Haven't encountered any buffering or stuttering yet.  So far, so good.  Hope it stays that way.

C

What does double NAT mean. Does it mean having two WIFI networks? Do they not make wireless nodes that will hookup to the gateway? I see Nokia has a WIFI Beacon 6 but it is not available yet.

mattgyver.it
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To those if you with the deco mesh systems, what happens when you throw the main puck into bridge/ap mode? Just curious if it hops onto the gateways wifi or not. 

A

What does double NAT mean. Does it mean having two WIFI networks? Do they not make wireless nodes that will hookup to the gateway? I see Nokia has a WIFI Beacon 6 but it is not available yet.

So with networking, think of each router as a network (including the T-Mobile home gateway, because it’s also a router). If you link a router behind another router, you’re essentially putting a network behind another network. Each Network has their own address scheme and mapping (NAT), and each need settings on how they communicate between each other and the internet. This brings about different pros and cons.

I’m running a double NAT now, because i have an Asus Mesh (no other mesh is compatible, let alone T-mobile’s “iffy” mesh, not sure about bridge-moding the main router and how it could affect the other nodes). So far, i don’t have any loss of speed/performance, but sometimes my router connection does go down (over dhcp conflicts? my only big issue). IPv6 works fine once i set it through passthrough. In terms of port-forwarding, does the T-mo gateway NOT have a firewall? I get that most of the traffic they block is on their end, but so far nothing is blocked (i only need to forward on my Asus router, and everything goes through). Any tips or advice on settings/config to keep stability/security would be appreciated.

magenta9856549
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What does double NAT mean. Does it mean having two WIFI networks? Do they not make wireless nodes that will hookup to the gateway? I see Nokia has a WIFI Beacon 6 but it is not available yet.

So with networking, think of each router as a network (including the T-Mobile home gateway, because it’s also a router). If you link a router behind another router, you’re essentially putting a network behind another network. Each Network has their own address scheme and mapping (NAT), and each need settings on how they communicate between each other and the internet. This brings about different pros and cons.

I’m running a double NAT now, because i have an Asus Mesh (no other mesh is compatible, let alone T-mobile’s “iffy” mesh, not sure about bridge-moding the main router and how it could affect the other nodes). So far, i don’t have any loss of speed/performance, but sometimes my router connection does go down (over dhcp conflicts? my only big issue). IPv6 works fine once i set it through passthrough. In terms of port-forwarding, does the T-mo gateway NOT have a firewall? I get that most of the traffic they block is on their end, but so far nothing is blocked (i only need to forward on my Asus router, and everything goes through). Any tips or advice on settings/config to keep stability/security would be appreciated.

Is there a way to disable DHCP / routing on the mesh network and use the TMO HI device as the sole/only router ?

That way, the TMO HI would give out IP addresses from it’s internal router instead of creating an interference with 2 different IP ranges being broadcast (Double NAT).

I want a seamless, hand off network that switches automatically to the strongest signal.

So I just picked up a Black Friday deal from Best Buy - 3 unit mesh Eero Dual Band AX Wifi 6 w/ wired backhaul that would be perfect for my tri level house and all the Apple devices we use….

 

A

Is there a way to disable DHCP / routing on the mesh network and use the TMO HI device as the sole/only router ?

That way, the TMO HI would give out IP addresses from it’s internal router instead of creating an interference with 2 different IP ranges being broadcast (Double NAT).

I want a seamless, hand off network that switches automatically to the strongest signal.

So I just picked up a Black Friday deal from Best Buy - 3 unit mesh Eero Dual Band AX Wifi 6 w/ wired backhaul that would be perfect for my tri level house and all the Apple devices we use….

 

So i’ve read that you’re basically set your router to the same network as your Tmo gateway, but i haven’t practiced and have no clue of any “ah ha” moments. Basically, you’d set your router as a switch (this can be done via connecting your tmo gatway to the switchports instead of the WAN port, as for the mesh setups i think you’d configure that but since i haven’t played with those i don’t know the details). I would also imagine you’d have to disable DHCP on your mesh router (since the tmo gateway would also be a dhcp server, and having two devices being a dhcp server may cause problems). This would essentially break the double-NAT. I would imagine you’d still have two Wi-Fi signals, because the tmo wifi can’t (i don’t think) mesh with your wifi. Ultimately, i don’t know how this would affect a mesh, as i haven’t tried it.

A

to clarify, my asus mesh is made up of 4 Asus routers, and i haven’t played with the all-in-one mesh setups like the eero mentioned. The eero nodes look to have two Ethernet ports, whereas my mesh setup has routers with a WAN port. I’m guessing you can specify,the ports, or maybe the newer mesh setups can figure it out for you (i know newer stuff now a days are much less manual effort, much smarter in terms of consumer support). As for the fuzzy thing i’ve mentioned, that’s not seemless at all.

J
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I have the Eero mesh devices, and also would like to know if can connect without an ethernet cable, making the TMo HI device the primary and my Eeros as secondary for the mesh.

 

Were you able to setup your eero mesh system with no issues? 

R

I have the Eero mesh devices, and also would like to know if can connect without an ethernet cable, making the TMo HI device the primary and my Eeros as secondary for the mesh.

 

Were you able to setup your eero mesh system with no issues? 

 

Also wondering if anyone was able to get a mesh system set up successfully.

A
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To make an Amplifi HD mesh system and T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway play nice:  I set the main Amplifi HD on bridge mode.  Refer to this article for reference -https://help.amplifi.com/hc/en-us/articles/220979347-Enabling-Bridge-Mode.  

When I had first connected the T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway to the my Amplifi HD mesh system using the DHCP mode, the main Amplifi HD worked and the mesh nodes did not work. 

So I contacted Amplifi tech support (via email)  and they said when there are 2 routers to use bridge mode on one of them, since 2 routers cause double NAT which may affect some services.  When I called T-Mobile, they said that T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway does not have bridge mode.   Therefore, I had to set the Amplifi HD to bridge mode.  Now, it all works fine and I get the same speed throughout the house and on all the mesh nodes.   By the way, my speed is usually around 60-70 Mbps down (or less sometimes), 9 up, a ping of 50-60 ms, and two bars showing on the gateway.

B

Bad news. First I was told a new firmware is rollingling out to fix the issues with 0178 but she says they cannot push it that I have to wait about a week for it to come.

She was nice and helped me actually find a good line of site to the tower that I am connected to.

So I of course had to unplug the unit to move it and now I am stuck in an endless boot. I see the T then dot dot dot then dot dot dot then reboot over and over. I have tried reseting it with the button holding it nothing works same issue. Removed the SIM reseated noting same issue.

Called support spent a while finally they tell me I need an exchange they cant help I have to be transferred then I got disconnected. Now again waiting for someone to call me so I can get a replacement unit setup.

I guess it’s a good thing I have not ditched Comcast yet or I would be totally stuck.

 

 

DId you ever gotten your issued fixed

B

To make an Amplifi HD mesh system and T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway play nice:  I set the main Amplifi HD on bridge mode.  Refer to this article for reference -https://help.amplifi.com/hc/en-us/articles/220979347-Enabling-Bridge-Mode.  

When I had first connected the T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway to the my Amplifi HD mesh system using the DHCP mode, the main Amplifi HD worked and the mesh nodes did not work. 

So I contacted Amplifi tech support (via email)  and they said when there are 2 routers to use bridge mode on one of them, since 2 routers cause double NAT which may affect some services.  When I called T-Mobile, they said that T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway does not have bridge mode.   Therefore, I had to set the Amplifi HD to bridge mode.  Now, it all works fine and I get the same speed throughout the house and on all the mesh nodes.   By the way, my speed is usually around 60-70 Mbps down (or less sometimes), 9 up, a ping of 50-60 ms, and two bars showing on the gateway.

You should disable your nat on one that's would help it play nice better 

R
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...Therefore, I had to set the Amplifi HD to bridge mode.  

You should disable your nat on one that's would help it play nice better 

When the Amplify HD was set to bridge mode, that turned off its NAT. That’s why it started working fine; the two routers were no longer playing “dueling NATs.” I sure wish that the Nokia gateway had a bridge mode, though, as my Netgear router has way more features and customizability than the Nokia.  Just a shame to give some of its features up because the Nokia is so locked down by the T-Mobile firmware.

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