Forum Discussion
MLB TV doesnt work through 5g home internet
Trying to watch baseball games and they won't load when I'm connected to the tmobile 5g home internet. Works fine on my other wifi connection (I am testing the home internet device, so I still have both) and on my actual mobile network, but throws an error if I am connected to the 5g home internet network.
I have tried on my phone, laptop, and firetv stick...all act the same. Can anyone help?
peterell wrote:
It absolutely fixed the problem for me on MLB.TV. As long as i sign i through my wirelessly router, which has its own static IP Address, MLB.TV can fix the location. I can’t promise it works for all location-necessary services but it definitely does for MLB.TV.
How are you watching MLB.TV? If it is from your smartphone, there are no issues since those use GPS for geolocation. If you are watching from a streaming device like Roku, that is were people on this thread are having problems since the MLB app tries to use public IP address for geolocation.
It absolutely fixed the problem for me on MLB.TV. As long as i sign i through my wirelessly router, which has its own static IP Address, MLB.TV can fix the location. I can’t promise it works for all location-necessary services but it definitely does for MLB.TV.
peterell wrote:
The fix is to use a wireless router which does have a fixed IP address. I used an old router and now it works fine. I just sign into the router’s wifi signal amd it send the IP address through the T-Moblle modem. Its a good, cheap workaround, but hopefully Tmobile will fix the issue in the next generation of modems.
That does not solve the issue in this thread. The IP on this topic is the public IP address assigned to the Tmobile gateway. This IP cannot be changed by your router. The IP your router assigns is your own network and is hidden from the public. You can verify this by using an website that shows you what your public IP address is. You will also see that the geolocation on your public IP address isn’t accurate. Try this website:
The fix is to use a wireless router which does have a fixed IP address. I used an old router and now it works fine. I just sign into the router’s wifi signal amd it send the IP address through the T-Moblle modem. Its a good, cheap workaround, but hopefully Tmobile will fix the issue in the next generation of modems.
Very disappointed having switched from cox to T-Mobile internet to find that mlb.com won’t work.
T-Mobile doesn’t seem to have a fix or a workaround yet. Which means it isn’t really a full internet service. Its upload speed is also pretty limited which doesnt affect me much yet, but could in the future.
peterell wrote:
I spoke to texh support yesterday and they said they have a “known issue” with some streaming channels due to the inability to furnish an IP Address location, or something like that. I asked them to ha e someone contact me to tell me what the fix or the prognosis is. Im gkad Im in my free month so i can cancel if it doesn’t work.
That appears to be a legit explanation. All major league sports have local broadcasting policies and restrictions so the apps need to know where you are physically watching, at least within a zip code of accuracy. On smartphones that’s not an issue because the apps rely on GPS location. For home internet, apps started using the public IP address of your router to give an approximate location since most laptops and PCs don’t have GPS capability. For TMO gateway device, it’s basically a cellphone and even has GPS built in so that TMO can make sure you don’t use your gateway outside your home.
The way the cell networks work makes public IP geolocation extremely inaccurate and can be 100s of miles away form your physical location. Even as I type this, my public TMO IP says I am 180 miles south of where I am physically located.
There are a couple solutions for this:
- TMO figure out how to assign public IPs that are accurate to your physical location. TMO already knows where you are because the gateways have GPS.
- Browsers and apps abandon public IP for geolocation and use GPS instead. There are apps that do this. For example on YoutubeTV, when you want to set your geolocation from your laptop or streaming device, it will ask you to login to your smartphone app so that it can access GPS location.
If TMO really wants to replace cable based home internet, they absolutely need to find a solution soon.
I spoke to texh support yesterday and they said they have a “known issue” with some streaming channels due to the inability to furnish an IP Address location, or something like that. I asked them to ha e someone contact me to tell me what the fix or the prognosis is. Im gkad Im in my free month so i can cancel if it doesn’t work.
We were trying to watch the Cubs vs cardinals tonight and it wouldn't let us on Tmobile internet. If we turned off wi-fi we could. Plus, the game was a free game. Looking into why this is happening.
MLB.TV seems confused about my location when I’m on home internet. I’m not sure how to fix it. It seems to think it is blacked out in my area.
