I just signed up for T-Mobile's 5G Home Internet and got my gateway today, it's a Nokia Fastmile with custom T-Mobile firmware. I live in BCS and get pretty good 5G coverage in my house consistently pulling 25-50 mbps which I feel is serviceable for most of my needs. Main reason I'm doing this is my 1 year "promotion" is running out with Suddenlink so it's about to be haggle time and I'd rather just take a break from them until I'm a "new" customer again and this is only $50 a month with T-Mobile.

The router performs about as expected, the same speeds as I get on my phone without WiFi on. I'm only a few hours in, but so far so good.

My main issue is that the software side of this router is awful. I already have a strong home network in place so I really don't care to use the built in router (even though it is WiFi 6), but this router doesn't even have a bridge mode. So I've settled with making my router an AP and turning off the SSID broadcasts on the gateway, but now I'm limited to the functionality of the T-Mobile router. This means no port forwarding, QOS, DDNS, etc. I don't think this is going to be a deal breaker for our home usage, but I don't like knowing I can't use them if I want to.

Does anybody know of a stand-alone 5G gateway that is simply a gateway and I could drop normal T-Mobile sim in? I've looked but haven't found much in this space. Maybe that's on purpose. This nokia seems special made for T-Mobile and not available for purchase and I think Verizon is doing the same with their rollout.

If I could get internet by adding a 3rd unlimited cell line (free on my plan) I could pay for even an expensive device in only few months worth of Suddenlink bills. If I have to add the line as a hotspot line it should still be cheap.

Sorry for a long rambling post

Chrundle the Great said:

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Does anybody know of a stand-alone 5G gateway that is simply a gateway and I could drop normal T-Mobile sim in? I've looked but haven't found much in this space. Maybe that's on purpose. This nokia seems special made for T-Mobile and not available for purchase and I think Verizon is doing the same with their rollout.

If I could get internet by adding a 3rd unlimited cell line (free on my plan) I could pay for even an expensive device in only few months worth of Suddenlink bills. If I have to add the line as a hotspot line it should still be cheap.

Sorry for a long rambling post

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T-Mobile does offer a 5G hotspot, but i don't believe any other hardware is allowed for the Home Internet plans besides the Nokia device.

Right, but those don't have a lan port much less bridge mode. The only traditional hotspot (intended to be portable) I know of that did was the nighthawk and I can't remember if it had a true bridge mode or if the lan port was just meant for a fail safe connection.

I'd cancel T-Mobile's home gateway program and get a normal sim or data only sim if I could find a gateway that was stand alone.

NETGEAR 4G LTE Broadband Modem (LM1200) Use LTE as a Primary Internet Connection https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R813HLW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_F1ECZSKC64NF3E23AMCR

Netgear just released this last month, but it's cat 4 lte. Maybe it could get 30-40 down, but I kind of doubt it in the real world. Pretty sure cat 4 is sans mimo tech (edit, I looked it up cat 4 is 2x2 mimo.)

I'd buy that if it had a snapdragon 5G chip in a heartbeat.

My backup internet is the TMobile Magenta Max on a Cradlepoint (4G) router with IP passthrough on to my EdgeRouter. The EdgeRouter is setup to make all traffic look like it is from TTL 65 (mobile device) so it doesn't take from my hotspot data. It wasn't the easiest thing to figure out, and I'd try to find another workaround if I were you.

Is there a DMZ mode on the Nokia Fastmile? Might be a good crutch if there's no bridge mode.

tfunk02 said:

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My backup internet is the TMobile Magenta Max on a Cradlepoint (4G) router with IP passthrough on to my EdgeRouter. The EdgeRouter is setup to make all traffic look like it is from TTL 65 (mobile device) so it doesn't take from my hotspot data. It wasn't the easiest thing to figure out, and I'd try to find another workaround if I were you.

Is there a DMZ mode on the Nokia Fastmile? Might be a good crutch if there's no bridge mode.

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No, advance settings are limited to statistics on data usage/cell bands and WiFi settings like SSID, Channel, transmission strength etc. No advanced routing settings.

https://static.elisa.com/v2/image/2tqybbhjs47b/ZDYUNSRk1P7lWBQ7WysDy/Nokia-FastMile-5G_user_guide.pdf?w=800

Maybe TMobile is restricting the interface more than this, but it has DMZ mode under Security in the user guide I found.

Also, if things are grayed out this post talks about getting around that.

https://yescrowd.optus.com.au/t5/Broadband-Telephony/How-to-change-LAN-ip-range-Nokia-Fastmile/m-p/624176#M65022

I'm going to check that out, what a weird way to hide system settings if that's the way they did it.

The screenshots from the manual look like nothing like the T-Mobile settings pages.

I've attached a screenshot looking from my phone, but you can tell there is no menu ribbon across the top and the side menu is limited.

Is that the app or using the ip address https://192.168.1.254/ ? Strange that they would change it up and limit it so much.

Using the IP address, it's actually 192.168.12.1. App has even fewer settings to adjust somehow.

And I tried using the developer tools to enable more buttons and I couldn't find any disabled ones and running the script from the Optus site under console did nothing. Granted I have no idea what I'm doing with web tools.

That's really frustrating and may make me think twice about it, if it becomes an option for me.

I didn't know this was available yet. I inquired about it and the rep said that it was possible to set up a DMZ and use your own firewall/router. Went ahead and ordered as I was not real happy with Spectrum and I hate the slow U-Verse in my neighborhood.

I'll update if I am able to come across a solution. Worst case, it doesn't work as promised and I am out $50.

Let me know if you do, I think their old LTE one let you do that but I can't find anything online about doing it on the Nokia and most flat out saying you can't.