T-Mobile internet for $25 per month

Playground
#1

This price looks very interesting. Im not sure how long the offer will be up but i ran into this today.

I have been watching tmobile internet availability on the sidelines as I currently have a cable isp and my price was only a few dollars more than t mobile. However, the new $25 per month pricing has got my attention to seriously consider a move.

I am interested in feedback from users that have already migrated over to tmobile internet. Im in a pretty good coverage area and my partners speeds on her 5g phone are fantastic, at least for now….

Here are a few questions after migrating over to t mobile internet

1: Can i use my own existing router? Id like to put the tmobile can in pass through mode and keep my existing network environment behind my existing netgear router. I have a hundred million homekit switches on my wifi. Well maybe not that many. But it would be a pain in the ass to have to redo all the setup.

I also want to keep my channels dvr server and apple tv on ethernet for obvious reasons.

2: do i need tailscale to use channels dvr AT HOME, or do i need it only when using a remote client

3: does t mobile restrict the use of vpns and torrenting

4: any other caveats?

#2

I think the thing you might want to watch out for is a datacap. When it first started out this wasn't a thing. But now it seems depending on plan depends on how much the datacap is. It also seems very low. 100gb, 150gb, and 200gb. Comcast gives me 1.2 TB just for comparison. Even with that I go over that so I have to pay extra for unlimited. I hate datacaps. I pay for X speed I should be able to use that max speed for the entire month.

This is what I was referring to.
" For homes that aren't yet eligible for our unlimited T-Mobile Home Internet service, we offer data bucketed plans starting at 100GB. Customers can also choose from higher data buckets: 150 GB, 200 GB, or 300 GB"

1 Like
#3

You can use your existing equipment, but you will find yourself in a double-NAT situation. T-Mobile does not give you a publicly-routable IP address. Instead, they use CGNAT, which is why you can't really use it in bridge mode.

Just when away. The reason is the same mentioned above: it is using CGNAT and the router is not addressable from the internet.

Probably not VPNs, but they may throttle you if you use too much data/bandwidth.

Their service can be hit-or-miss. My sister recently attempted to use them, but couldn't get a reliable signal even though they claimed she'd have full coverage.

Also, there are several reports of their routers getting into a bricked state, with no real means of remedy.

It may be great for you, or it may not. Just do some additional research before you take the plunge.

1 Like
#4

image
image1151×508 124 KB

1 Like
#5

That's for locations that don't qualify for T-Mobile Home Internet.

#6

Can i use my own existing router? Id like to put the tmobile can in pass through mode and keep my existing network environment behind my existing netgear router. I have a hundred million homekit switches on my wifi. Well maybe not that many. But it would be a pain in the ass to have to redo all the setup.

Unfortunately you can't put it in passthrough mode, or do much of anything with the current modem the send out, beyond setting your SSID and password and hiding your SSID. That means you'll have to use your existing router as an access point. I've been working through the VPN issues before messing with that. This thread will help you with the VPN issues--I wish I'd found it earlier.

The device only has two ethernet ports, and if you're using one for your old router . . .

Only remote.

Doesn't seem to on the former, no idea on the latter.

The lack of any settings at all on the device is quite alarming.
Each remote client will need Tailscale setup.
One upside is the upload speeds are over 50 mbps. Despite that I had issues remote viewing on a Windows computer I have not worked through yet. It may be an issue on the server side.

#7

Verizon Has a similar plan with IP Passthrough and DMZ.

1 Like
#8

@racameron
@Edwin_Perez
@Goodspike
@mrgf09
@jxxaxxy

Thanks everyone im digging this so far, but its only been a few days.
im giving it a test run for 15 days, but if all goes well im ready to drop my cable modem provider..

So far:
1: I've set up my router behind the tmobile CGNAT gateway.
2: Im running double nat in my configuration, so Ive set up tailscale on my clients and server for remote access
3: Ive even got my pi-hole blocking ads (only local for now) as of a few hours ago
4: I can get to plex remotely without tailscale (through the plex relay), but frankly its channels that ill be using mostly when im away from home.

On my devices sitting on my wireless network behind my router im getting very similar results to what @mrgf09 was getting.

On my apple tv hardwired with ethernet behind my router with a gigabit switch:

image
image1920×1440 99.2 KB

#9

It seems you cant disable the tmobile wifi. @mrgf09
The best i can do is hide the SSID.

Note: The tmobile internet ios app (to manage their box) is pretty lame, and it often crashes with a spinning wheel, while the box is still operating.
Ive discovered a workaround on ios 16.2

If you get the infinite spinning wheel which others on the app store are reporting:

1: turn off your wifi on your ios 16.2 phone
2: force close the tmobile internet app
3: open the tmobile internet app
4: turn your phones wifi back on. I have hidden the tmobile wifi ports SSID, but you can still log in to the wifi manually and the app should find the tmobile box and let you do your limited configuration.

#10

Looks like it depends on the model they gave you

#11

@mnwxman132 It's not possible in their app. You'll need to find your model and search for a script to do it. I believe there youtuber called nater tater that has scripts for a couple different models.

2 Likes
#13

I used the T-Mobile Unlimited Home Internet for 2 months due to Hurricane Ian ripping up fiber in my area. My IP address was always over 100 miles away and it would often change. All of my apps thought that I was in another market. All of this is probably specific to my situation due to storm clean up efforts, but the changing IP is most likely why Hulu Live is NOT compatible with the service, and Sling isn't supposed to be either. At least in my experience, any reboot of the modem meant a different IP address. No port forwarding but solutions to that were noted above. Speeds were great but check for failed recordings in your Channels DVR, I had many, mostly because T-Mobile had to fix a bunch of towers and internet would go out briefly. Tower maintenance can slow things way down too. The tech team is great if you get to the higher level folks, they always know what's going on with the towers.

1 Like
#14

Got this working using the nate tater scripts. Had to use a windows VM on my mac, and then just ran powershell behind my hardwired router.

Thanks for the info!

1 Like
#15

IP address location is based on where the cellular providers route their traffic. I bounced all over the US when I first got it installed. I've been routed out of Los Angeles (in Arizona) for a few months now. Still get my local stations through TVE. Only issue I ever had was when I was routed out of the eastern America I had to rescan my channels to get the east coast feeds.

#16

I live outside of Washington DC.. My IPv4 location was showing out of Boston. My IPv6 location was always correct. I called and complained about my IPv4 location and they fixed it. It has never been incorrect since. Sling works with TMHI. Hulu will work as well. You just have to contact Hulu support.

#17

The T-mobile 5G internet for $25 is pretty hard to beat for the price. I am testing the Sagemcom unit and so far it is comparable to our Spectrum cable service. I'll put up with the CGNAT workarounds to save $60/mo.