Asus RT-AX58U Merlin & Tmobile Home Internet

[STRUZZIN]

I have had Tmobile Home Internet for 6 months now.
Average Speeds : Down 100 / Up 30
The service has been awesome compared to what we had before (Fixed Wireless).
I play Xbox and Steam games on PC.
I have my sister setup with an AC68U Merlin and the service also.
If anyone has any questions or wants to know anything.

 

[jj22038]

I'll bite.

• Is it a good alternative to cable internet? I have Xfinity 100/10, at $80 a month (for now...)
• Can the WiFi gateway be put in bridge mode and the wifi turned off? I don't want to double-NAT, and I don't want to have secret SSIDs like Xfinity has. I really just want a modem.
• Are you using 5G or LTE to connect to T-Mobile?
• Is the quoted price ($50 where I live) the total price, or are there taxes and fees added?

Thanks.

 

[STRUZZIN]

I like it for what we do but it wont be for some people.
Devices: My gaming desktop - 3 laptops - 5 phones - Galaxy Watch4 - Xbox - Tablet - 2 Smart TV (We only stream a couple hours per day)
Yes its a flat $50 no other fees or taxes. No contract or equipment fees.
Mine is 5G I am kinda far from a tower a friend is much closer he gets 200-350 Down / 30-80 Up.
It is double NAT - yes Wifi can be turned off. I don't see any secret SSID's.
Currently no bridge mode.
Verizon LTE home is here now but they want $40 and its only hitting 25 / 3 at a neighbors. (Not sure if Verizon has Bridge mode)
A friend tried it a month to test vs his Wow 200 cable and did not like it. (They game and stream a ton)
Its closer to a Cable connection than anything else I would say.
If you have Fixed Wireless - Hotspot - DSL - Satellite its a huge upgrade.
Its going to depend really on what you do if its for you or not.

 

[Kingp1n]

I tried tmobile@home internet and had it a few months ago when the Xbox live chat wasn't working. I believe a new fw was released that fixed this issue. But still....

The main thing for my environment is gaming (ME/kids love to game) and with that comes alot of latency, so I prefer comcast (only option where I live) due to consistency.

With tmobile internet my lag spikes would be all over the place & to include the dreadful double-nat (no option to bridge at this time and doubt it will ever be enabled) and at the time, not being able to join a party chat... very frustrating.

Plus, kids would always lag at the most important part of the match lol which made it very frustrating.

I read some ppl never lag using the service but from my experience my comcast ping sits between 8-10 (constant) compared to tmobile's 30-75 ping depending on the time of day. Yes dl/ul speeds average thru out day (for me it was 150/15 normally).

I can honestly say my ping is consistent with comcast and I've never had issues while gaming (specially when it matters).

If you're not into gaming than tmobile@home internet is pretty good. Another issue ive seen has to do with hulu live tv and something about not playing local channels due to location. Maybe this has been fixed with latest fw.

Best of luck.

 

[Micgang]

I just started the service 2 days ago. Really just experimenting with this for fun. So far, I’m impressed. I’m getting 550Mbps download speed pretty consistently and about 30 Mbps up. Ping about 30 ms. I’m about 1 mile from a tower with 5G ultra capacity, so I think I’m in an ideal situation…. Curious if getting an external antenna set up would improve any of those stats…

 

[sfx2000]

I’m about 1 mile from a tower with 5G ultra capacity, so I think I’m in an ideal situation…. Curious if getting an external antenna set up would improve any of those stats…

It is not going to help - the internal antennas for the 5G/LTE are very good as is, and the internal WiFi is as well.

 

[Micgang]

You’re probably right. Played with placement today and found that raising the height 2 feet and slightly Turing the modem yields over 640 Mbps down. I’m still in shock over the speeds. Just want to see the consistency before I drop my current provider…

 

[sfx2000]

You’re probably right. Played with placement today and found that raising the height 2 feet and slightly Turing the modem yields over 640 Mbps down. I’m still in shock over the speeds. Just want to see the consistency before I drop my current provider…

play around with it for a few days...

it's fast now because there isn't much of a load on things - as more 5G handsets hit the market, and more of the Home Internet users come online...

I'm testing it now (on my dime, not theirs) - it's not bad, but the capabilities and limitations of 5G vs. cable vs DSL...

Notice that it is IPv6 only - IPv4 support uses 464XLATE, so no port forwarding on IPv4, and all IPv6 ports are filtered. CLAT does provide an IPv4 addr/subnet to use, in my experience it is 192.168.12.0/24.

Cannot override/change DNS on the unit directly, which can be a concern as T-Mobile has been known for for issues here - ad targeting, location info sales to 3rd party brokers, etc... DNS is a good way for them to get actionable and high quality usage patterns..

ipv6 does not do delegation, but they do support relay for ipv6 device assignments...

 

[STRUZZIN]

On The Nokia latest 1.2104.00.0286
Was tired of the disconnects because of low signal.
It seems on these if you have only 2 bars it disconnects a ton.
Got a Waveform 2x2 panel antenna direct line out a window.
This is my setup has not disconnected at all after this.

 

[STRUZZIN]

Update Dec 2022
So I have the 4X4 Waveform now and it is outside.
I am on a different tower from the 2X2.
It makes a huge difference in signal and speed.
Both Xbox X and PS5 are working great.

 

[L&LD]

Yes, double the hardware is almost always beneficial for edge cases (or long term use of the same equipment).

 

[STRUZZIN]

I am at a year and half of service so far very happy with it.
Still have my original Nokia modem also.
However I would for sure be on Fiber / Cable if it was available.
Install:

 

[STRUZZIN]

Update Jan 2023:
So we switched our phones to TMobile and I got the $25 Home internet deal.
I got the Arcadyan KVD21 and its been running great for about a month.
So far the KVD21 has much higher upload and runs super cool.
The Nokia was running very hot in the same spot.

 

[STRUZZIN]

Side by side testing now going on:
Verizon 5G Home (Not Home Plus) VS TMobile 5G
So far after about a day I can say:
TMobile has way faster upload its like Verizon 20-25 VS TMobile 80-100
Verizon Box is in IP Pass-through mode to router both are using a ASUS RT-AX58U same firmware
TMobile is standard with IPV6 Pass-through on in router.
Verizon is much more snappy and ping is way lower.
Also note the TMobile is decked out with external Waveform 4X4 antenna

 

[lepa71]

I have Verizon 5g home for about 9 months. I'm about a mile from the antenna site. I get 310/21 Mbps . Similar setup ARC-XCI55AX modem/router in pass-through and AX3000 as the main router.
I pay $25 instead of Comcast's $90 for 200/5 Mbps speed.

 

[STRUZZIN]

@lepa71 Oh thanks for telling me I have had TMobile for about 2 years.
There is nothing wrong with it its the lack of control on the TMobile routers.
I am getting the same deal they are $25 which is awesome.
Trying to figure out which to keep but I may just keep both
We have no fiber or cable so these are it.
Wow that cable bill cost that much yikes.

 

[lepa71]

@lepa71 Oh thanks for telling me I have had TMobile for about 2 years.
There is nothing wrong with it its the lack of control on the TMobile routers.
I am getting the same deal they are $25 which is awesome.
Trying to figure out which to keep but I may just keep both
We have no fiber or cable so these are it.
Wow that cable bill cost that much yikes.

I'm on Verizon only so 5g home is the option for me. I believe merlins' fw supports dual wan on AX58. Maybe it would work for you if you are keeping both.

 

[Tech Junky]

I'm coming up no a year with TMHI and it's quirky but, $50/mo is a good selling point for the service.

I did a tear down of the KVD21 and swapped the antennas around to some better options than the PCB ones inside the box. I tested a few different options for the 5G and WIFI and it didn't do much for my signal due to my close proximity of the Cell Site being too close (outside of window on top of the building / 30ft). If I take the box outside though I can get 600/100 out of it. Average though about 200/70 indoors where it stays most of the time. It's convenient though if you want to travel with it as it just needs a USBC 15V connection to power up and you're on your way.

When I first signed up I had been looking at the WF antennas and other things people had tried as options. I tested more local antennas and ones with 6-10ft leads on them for positioning them in windows or higher / lower locations. The cables just slowed things down even with better positioning. I got some pigtails though to extend the MHF1/MHF4 connections on the PCB to make things easier to swap and / or put it back into the casing later.

I didn't bother posting it here though since there didn't seem to be much talk about 5G / FWA around here.

Question - T-Mobile Home Internet (TMHI)

So, I looked into this late last year and never pulled the trigger on it but, now I've changed my mind and decided to go for it. My phone tests at good speeds 600/100 or higher typically on 5G through a variety of TM MVNO's. The rep I spoke with to order service mentioned the location is...

forums.anandtech.com

Now, VZW is spamming my mailbox to sign up for their service for $25/mo and if it's anything like my experience with their phone service that's a no dice situation. I might take the advert though to TMO and see if they'll do a permanent price reduction to match VZW. After being in the cable world for so long it's nice to have other options. FWA isn't a perfect solution as it stands today but, it's great to have an option other than cable / DSL / limited fiber.

ISP options are kind of tricky to find the best speed vs price though no matter the location. At least this FWA option levels the playing field a bit more and pushes the traditional providers to step up their game. Comcast hasn't even bothered with any retention at this point either. ATT only offers DSL but, there's fiber from a couple of providers ~2 blocks away but, they won't extend due to cost.

 

[sfx2000]

When I first signed up I had been looking at the WF antennas and other things people had tried as options. I tested more local antennas and ones with 6-10ft leads on them for positioning them in windows or higher / lower locations. The cables just slowed things down even with better positioning. I got some pigtails though to extend the MHF1/MHF4 connections on the PCB to make things easier to swap and / or put it back into the casing later.

Just remember that with TMHI - it's their device/gateway - any tampering with the hardware, and they will charge full price for the device...

it's not a free gateway.

 

[Tech Junky]

Just remember that with TMHI - it's their device/gateway - any tampering with the hardware, and they will charge full price for the device...

it's not a free gateway.

Well aware. Also, if OP is using waveform....