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Why does Tmobile force customers to use phone app rather than browser?

S
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So apparently the team of imbeciles and as likely as not, chinese communists at tmobile are forcing users to install a phone app in order to perform simple configuration of a wireless internet router.

 

This as opposed to simply connecting via browser from a closed network, as has been possible for 20+ years on most standard routers.

The reason?  Think about it.  Any time you install an app on your phone you potentially allow any of the following:

Access to your identity.  Your contacts.  Your messages, photos and other files.  your camera and microphone.  Your device id, call information, any accounts configured on your phone, log files, internet traffic, the list goes on and on.  Anything you can imagine your phone is capable of, and more importantly, things that even you CANNOT IMAGINE your phone is capable of.  Because the people who are CREATING the technology are 25 steps ahead of you.
Ask yourself what hidden permissions the app has on your phone...and if you are honest with yourself, the answer will be...YOU DON'T KNOW.  Because you can't review the app code, and even if you could, you couldn't understand it.
But then here's the big one, and this is the kicker (keep this in mind when some $3-an-hour, script-reading, call center hack at Tmobile attempts to gaslight you by saying there's absolutely no concern or risks for you to install their app):  Once installed, you've given the app access to the ANY FUTURE CONTROLS tmobile (or whoever they might eventually sell out to) might wish to add.  Because going forward you will be constantly forced to do an ‘upgrade’, which enables who knows what.
And keep in mind that many (most?) major companies have been infiltrated at some level by implants from places like the chinese communist party, the WEF, and other nefarious organizations that intend you harm.

Think about that when Tmobile (or any organization) forces you to install their app in order to perform basic functions that can traditionally be done (and often more easily) without an app.

 

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Best answer by iTinkeralot 10 November 2022, 13:53

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10 replies

gramps28
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Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Maybe @iTinkeralot can help you if there's a work around.

C
Userlevel 5
Badge +5

So apparently the team of imbeciles and as likely as not, chinese communists at tmobile are forcing users to install a phone app in order to perform simple configuration of a wireless internet router.

 

This as opposed to simply connecting via browser from a closed network, as has been possible for 20+ years on most standard routers.

The reason?  Think about it.  Any time you install an app on your phone you potentially allow any of the following:

Access to your identity.  Your contacts.  Your messages, photos and other files.  your camera and microphone.  Your device id, call information, any accounts configured on your phone, log files, internet traffic, the list goes on and on.  Anything you can imagine your phone is capable of, and more importantly, things that even you CANNOT IMAGINE your phone is capable of.  Because the people who are CREATING the technology are 25 steps ahead of you.
Ask yourself what hidden permissions the app has on your phone...and if you are honest with yourself, the answer will be...YOU DON'T KNOW.  Because you can't review the app code, and even if you could, you couldn't understand it.
But then here's the big one, and this is the kicker (keep this in mind when some $3-an-hour, script-reading, call center hack at Tmobile attempts to gaslight you by saying there's absolutely no concern or risks for you to install their app):  Once installed, you've given the app access to the ANY FUTURE CONTROLS tmobile (or whoever they might eventually sell out to) might wish to add.  Because going forward you will be constantly forced to do an ‘upgrade’, which enables who knows what.
And keep in mind that many (most?) major companies have been infiltrated at some level by implants from places like the chinese communist party, the WEF, and other nefarious organizations that intend you harm.

Think about that when Tmobile (or any organization) forces you to install their app in order to perform basic functions that can traditionally be done (and often more easily) without an app.

 

So you don’t use any apps on your phone? What makes TMO app more likely to have malicious code/intent? 

syaoran
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Userlevel 7
Badge +15

Not everyone is using the Home Internet Service with PC’s and trying to run a browser window setup for the modem in that case would be a lot less user friendly.  The app is one platform for support instead of having to deal with people’s browsers, extensions, operating systems, etc.  Only having the app simplifies support and troubleshooting.  

Syaoran - I am not a T-Mobile Employee but I could use a new job!
iTinkeralot
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Userlevel 7
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There are the users that are phone centric and willing to accept a compromise with a tiny screen and the inconvenience of having to constantly scroll about and fidget on a small device. It is an inferior experience which has the single goal from a corporate mindset. Lowest development cost at the lowest cost to maximize returns. It is all about the mindset of accounting. Support one single interface and force that experience upon the subscribers. A program manager is given limited funding and has to meet budget guidelines. That my friends is what it is all about.

It would be great if the gateways had an open source code base and T-Mobile would innovate by allowing a community based solution be developed. I think it is fair to say, Not everyone is using the Home Internet Service with just a phone and it is highly unlikely to even be necessary. Most users have 6-24 devices of various types on the local LAN. I know I do. Management of a router/modem with just a flakey mobile application is a very inferior experience. The mobile application barely functions on my iPhone 12 Pro with all its capabilities. Maybe if the mobile application was much more functional and did not force me to repeat 6-8 times attempting to authenticate just to use it I might, might mind you, give it a little more consideration. When the mobile application just freezes and hangs and I have to reboot my phone to recover, it just is annoying.  With the Nokia gateway and the browser I can get in and navigate about easily and have great visibility to the available options. 

BOTH avenues for access/support have their place somewhere. Forced adoption of one way makes me want to go another way. If you enjoy the mobile application great for you. Thanks but no thanks. 

C
Userlevel 5
Badge +5

There are the users that are phone centric and willing to accept a compromise with a tiny screen and the inconvenience of having to constantly scroll about and fidget on a small device. It is an inferior experience which has the single goal from a corporate mindset. Lowest development cost at the lowest cost to maximize returns. It is all about the mindset of accounting. Support one single interface and force that experience upon the subscribers. A program manager is given limited funding and has to meet budget guidelines. That my friends is what it is all about.

It would be great if the gateways had an open source code base and T-Mobile would innovate by allowing a community based solution be developed. I think it is fair to say, Not everyone is using the Home Internet Service with just a phone and it is highly unlikely to even be necessary. Most users have 6-24 devices of various types on the local LAN. I know I do. Management of a router/modem with just a flakey mobile application is a very inferior experience. The mobile application barely functions on my iPhone 12 Pro with all its capabilities. Maybe if the mobile application was much more functional and did not force me to repeat 6-8 times attempting to authenticate just to use it I might, might mind you, give it a little more consideration. When the mobile application just freezes and hangs and I have to reboot my phone to recover, it just is annoying.  With the Nokia gateway and the browser I can get in and navigate about easily and have great visibility to the available options. 

BOTH avenues for access/support have their place somewhere. Forced adoption of one way makes me want to go another way. If you enjoy the mobile application great for you. Thanks but no thanks. 

IMHO, the router management features are the bare minimum across all TMO routers. I could care less if the configuration options are app versus web if the options don’t exist at all. I would gladly just take bridge mode so I never have to touch any options in the TMO routers so I can use my own mesh system which is optimized for my house and personal use cases.

I realize there are customers who don’t feel it’s justified to purchase another router when TMO is providing one, but I personally have zero expectations that TMO will ever add more options to their router configuration options versus what is available today. Hence, my opinion is the interface for these less-than-basic options be it app or website is a completely irrelevant debate until there are configuration options worth having this debate.

T

There are the users that are phone centric and willing to accept a compromise with a tiny screen and the inconvenience of having to constantly scroll about and fidget on a small device. It is an inferior experience which has the single goal from a corporate mindset. Lowest development cost at the lowest cost to maximize returns. It is all about the mindset of accounting. Support one single interface and force that experience upon the subscribers. A program manager is given limited funding and has to meet budget guidelines. That my friends is what it is all about.

It would be great if the gateways had an open source code base and T-Mobile would innovate by allowing a community based solution be developed. I think it is fair to say, Not everyone is using the Home Internet Service with just a phone and it is highly unlikely to even be necessary. Most users have 6-24 devices of various types on the local LAN. I know I do. Management of a router/modem with just a flakey mobile application is a very inferior experience. The mobile application barely functions on my iPhone 12 Pro with all its capabilities. Maybe if the mobile application was much more functional and did not force me to repeat 6-8 times attempting to authenticate just to use it I might, might mind you, give it a little more consideration. When the mobile application just freezes and hangs and I have to reboot my phone to recover, it just is annoying.  With the Nokia gateway and the browser I can get in and navigate about easily and have great visibility to the available options. 

BOTH avenues for access/support have their place somewhere. Forced adoption of one way makes me want to go another way. If you enjoy the mobile application great for you. Thanks but no thanks. 

I absolutely agree 100 percent with the problems and more importantly...thank you for suggesting a workable solution!  Most people just complain, that makes me feel so aggravated when they don't even ask for a viable solution.  I was always taught by all those "thems" B4 me,  don't waste your time just complaining,  find the solution to your problem. Or find the person who does. "Knowledge is power".

I appreciate so much your post. I hope They follow your advice!

 

 

iTinkeralot
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Userlevel 7
Badge +8

A forced solution is about control as much as economics. For those users that received some of the first Arcadyan gateways some users might remember they did HAVE browser access. Then came the firmware upgrade and T-Mobile broke it and removed administrative access from the Arcadyan gateway.  For a time it was common to see users posting questions about why does the browser interface on the Arcadyan gateway not work. Remember when! With the Sagemcon gateway they were more careful about it and crippled the web feature before releasing the gateways. Americans need to stay AWAKE as if you quietly allow choice to be taken away in a quiet manner before you know it… it is gone. It is just a cancer too many people are allowing to grow and spread. I believe it is very important to stay aware and not quietly allow the forced path to become the norm. 

C

TLDR - It’s about signal quality info!! 

 

I have the Nokia Cylinder but have been thinking about signing up for TMo home internet at a second location. As I understand it, I will get the square unit if I sign up right now. I recently tried to access signal quality info on one of these units (at a friend’s property) and was very frustrated that there was no info available at the web server address. 

The “router” built into these units is very limited and I don’t really need to access configuration stuff often. But what I really want to access easily is the RSRQ, SN and RSSI as well as the band that each signal is using (B66, N41 etc). This information is absolutely vital when troubleshooting a problem or trying to improve performance. The Nokia tube offers this info (albeit in a bit of a clumsy interface) from the built-in web server. 99% of the time that I’m looking for this info it’s from a computer screen, not a phone. 

To the argument that supporting one interface is easier than multiple devices, I have to suggest that basic web server functionality like this is now mature and should not be difficult to support, especially since there is still currently a web server functioning at the IP of the router. I have to speculate that the real reason this info has been removed from the web server is because TMo wants to have metrics about what customers are doing. They want to know how often customers mess with settings and when and what info they are looking for. The app offers a way to keep track of this info. There is also some value to the fact that the phone offers a secondary connection to the internet (and to TMo’s servers). I recognize the value of this but I’m frustrated with the side affects.

We should have access to the radio info. 

 

 

T

agree, would rather be able to access through my pc than on my phone.

O

I’d just like to be able to turn the built in WiFi off. I just plugged the modem into my current network so I didn’t have to deal with TCP/IP configuration again. Now it would be nice to turn off the WiFi in it.

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