Home Internet and wifi extender

I was very interested in this discussion as I have an “old” (2015) Netgear AC1200 (EX6150) WIFI Range Extender which I had been using with my AT&T “Internet 24” (24 MBPS) service.  For quite awhile now I’ve wanted (a) faster internet and (b) to get away from AT&T’s email service due to the large amount of spam and junk mail I receive on a daily basis.  Of course, I’m in no way obligated to use AT&T’s email but, for me the two are inexplicably linked. 

Anyways, my search led me to find T-Mobile’s Home Internet service.  Thus far, my speed tests show the T-Mobile service is running between 5 and 10 times faster than AT&T’s advertised rate but, the real test, for me at least, was whether I could connect all my devices.  AT&T’s router had 4 Ethernet connections, three of which I used, one for my Tablo TV setup, one for the DVR that my home security cameras are connected to and, the third, my shop.  The Netgear extender is located in my shop about 50 yards (more or less) away from the router and, has always provided reliable Internet service to the shop.  The Extender is connected to the router via an Ethernet cord and using the Extender “Access Point” feature.  So, I wanted to be able to do the same thing with the T-Mobile Gateway.

But, we only have 2 Ethernet ports rather than 3.  Ah, but, we also have a USB-C port beneath the two Ethernet ports.  So, I purchased a Belkin USB-C to Network adapter  https://www.bestbuy.com/site/belkin-usb-c-network-adapter-black/6409320.p?skuId=6409320 and there we go, a 3rd Ethernet port.  Initially, I did have some problems getting the Extender to connect to the T-Mobile Gateway.  I also can no longer longer log-in to the Extender itself for some reason.  So, I brought the Extender into the same room as the Gateway got it to connect and then took it back to the shop, plugged it in and sure enough, Success!!!  Reliable Internet service has been restored.  I don’t have the cameras working yet so I can’t be absolutely sure the Belkin adapter works but, I can confirm that a WIFI Extender will indeed work with the T-Mobile Gateway if it’s connected with an Ethernet cable.

Did the ethernet cable go from the gateway to the airport?

Please, please, please tell me how you did this. I have been trying to connect my two Apple Airport Extremes to Tmobile internet for two Days!!!

MisterK wrote:

I’ve tested with success using my two Apple AirPort Extreme routers. First test was a short ethernet cable to the first AIrPort and wireless to the second AriPort. That worked fine. Then I set it up connecting one AirPort to the Gateway with a long Ethernet cable (in the walls in my house already). That works fine too. No noticeable signal loss. I don’t see anyway to connect any router or extender to the Gateway without an ethernet cable.

Please, please, please tell me how you did this. I have been trying to connect my two Apple Airport Extremes to Tmobile internet for two Days!!!

I tried 3 different high-end extenders, including a wifi 6.  I got all 3 to work easily with the 2.4G range, but none of them would see the 5G range and that is because of the fixed channels that the new Arcadyan KVD21 Gateway uses are not seen by any of the wifi extenders I tried and very unfortunately the Arcadyan KVD21 Gateway has very limited admin functions available within the UI page.  I would like to see an official response from T-Mobile on this and would actually like to see more control given to us in the Admin config UI.  The range on the 5G from the Gateway is extremely short and poor, even for 5G, which I know is much shorter than 2.4G.

Thank you.

I have been trying for 6 weeks to set up my Netgear AC1750/6250 mesh extender with my T-Mobile gateway and finally found the way to do it since the T-Mobile gateway doesn’t have a WPS button. I connected the extender to my PC with an ethernet cable, used 192.168.1.250  to locate the Netgear account, logged in, then went through the steps to set up extender.  It is now working!! I’m sure that all of the other manufacturers have a similar login to set up extenders.  

Hope this helps :-)

Greetings all,

I just wanted to share what I did to get the hub to work with other devices, and why I had to do it this way in the first place. I recently switched internet providers, and went full on T-Mobile, as I have been with them for almost 20 years.

What happened to me was that when I switched providers and gave up my old provider equipment, my MyQ Smart Garage hub stopped working with my security system. I searched around to see if anyone else had this problem(which it seems no one does), but I could not find an answer. But, what I see is many others having similar issues with other devices. When I attempted to connect the MyQ Smart Hub to T-Mobile’s Internet Hub, I see a device compatibility issue. 

So the work around I used, which I imagine most people here with legacy devices could use is this:

1.) Get a router with 2.4/5Ghz capabilities

2.) Take one of the ethernet ports on the back of T-Mobile Hub, and plug directly into the router

3.) Go into the admin portion of the router and select “Bridge mode”, and leave the settings as default. What this does, is allows the T-mobile hub to act as a gateway, and pass internet traffic through the router to legacy devices. It turns the router into a “Core router”, and the hub acts as a “WAN Edge”, which is the gateway to the internet.

4.) Create a wifi SSID inside the router, with passphrase and security. This is for all of your legacy devices to connect to.

5.) Once the connection is established between the hub and the router, reboot both. 
 

6.) Connect to router SSID and test internet. If it works, then you are good. This also helps you avoid the 10 device limit on your T-Mobile hub. If you have guests over, or excessive devices exceeding 10, then connect through the router and it ignores that limit.

Sorry its a little lengthy, but I hope this helps some

of you. 

Hmmmmm….I would like to have one too. But it would need to be explained how to install it step by step…for dummies!

PabloG wrote:

WilliamF wrote:

I use a separate EAP1250 access point nowhere near the router and it works fine. I just hooked it up to an ethernet connection via a switch on the same LAN as the router. I configured it with a static IP address which works with the router’s fixed subnet and basically ignore the Wifi that came with it. This seems to work well and has a much better signal in my home and garage (for the wifi enabled sprinkler control). It isn’t mounted to the roof, just next to the switch.

EAP1250 - Wi-Fi 5 Wave 2 AC1300 Compact Indoor Wireless AP

I expect this will work with any standalone access point which doesn’t just retransmit another signal.

I don’t know what you just said but I want it if it works. I have no clue about networking,subnets,static IP’s etc, will this work for dummies? Lol I’ve gotten a Linksys, TP Link and net gear extenders and none work. 

Can you provide details on how you set it up and any settings you changed on the gateway?

Thanks!

I have a AirPort Extreme hooked to my T-Mobile Gateway and I’m using it to extend my network to my bedroom which struggles to cover all of my upstairs. It works for all my normal browsing on all devices but for some reason it causes my SONOS speakers to drop connections pretty frequently and also when I am using Microsoft Remote Desktop to connect to my work Cloud Server it drops that connection all the time which is super frustrating. I have to unplug the Airport during my work hours so I don’t have the drops. I wish I could figure this out. I don’t recall this being an issue with the previous t-mobile gateway. When I set the Airport up I just told it to create a new network and told gave it the same SSID as my T-Mobile gateway with same passcode so all devices could just hop to both devices with out having to connect to a different SSID. If anyone is having my issues I’d love to hear if you have a solution.