Forum Discussion
Asus AX86U and T-mobile 5G Gateway
Hello. I recently signed up for T-Mobile home internet with the 5G Gateway (made by Nokia). I am using my ASUS AX86U router in conjunction with the Gateway (in Wireless Router mode). The router connects to the gateway no problem and obtains an IP address. My devices are connecting fine to the router via both wired and wireless connection. The main issue is with the wireless on the router. It is very slow. When I try to stream Netflix or Amazon Prime video, it buffers forever and sometimes errors out. I don't have any issues using my devices which are wired to the router. If I connect my wireless devices directly to the WiFi on the T-Mobile gateway, everything works fine. When I had Comcast internet, I had no problems with the WiFi on the AX86U. I've tried manually assigning the 2.4 and 5GHz channels on both devices to make sure they are not using similar channels. I've also tried disabling the WiFi on the gateway all together, but I'm still having the same issues with WiFi through my router. Any thoughts or ideas to correct the issue? Any router settings I could try changing (I am not much of a networking guru, so I don't know much about setting beyond the channels). Thanks in advance!!
I thought I would report back since I was able to find a solution on another forum. Since I am not a network guy, I don't even really know what this means, but I thought I would post it in case someone else runs into this issue. I lowered the MTU WAN setting on my router from 1500 to 1420 (the T-Mobile Gateway maxes out at 1420, per my other sources). My stock router firmware did not have this setting, so I flashed the Merlin firmware to access it on my WAN settings page. ¡Gracias!
I thought I would report back since I was able to find a solution on another forum. Since I am not a network guy, I don't even really know what this means, but I thought I would post it in case someone else runs into this issue. I lowered the MTU WAN setting on my router from 1500 to 1420 (the T-Mobile Gateway maxes out at 1420, per my other sources). My stock router firmware did not have this setting, so I flashed the Merlin firmware to access it on my WAN settings page. ¡Gracias!
It's the way the modem handles other traffic from things like WiFi from other routers. If the RT-AX86U is connected to the modem via ethernet. Set the router in AP Mode. That way, it just hands everything off to the modem and it should solve the issue.
syaoran wrote:
It's the way the modem handles other traffic from things like WiFi from other routers. If the RT-AX86U is connected to the modem via ethernet. Set the router in AP Mode. That way, it just hands everything off to the modem and it should solve the issue.
Yeah - the AX86U is connected via ethernet to the modem/gateway. I really don't want to use AP Mode because I am also using a PiHole on my LAN, and there is no way to set a manual DNS on the modem/gateway (although I guess I could set the DNS on the router). I also tried AP mode, and I couldn't seem to connect to my Plex server from my other LAN devices.
My PC, which is wired directly to the router, works fine - so the hand-off from the router to the modem/gateway is working. Does it really handle the hand-off differently between WiFi and wired?
Okay. It sounds like you know way more about networking than most that come here to ask questions. That makes it easier to suggest a couple of things to try. I have two RT-AX86U's, so I am very familiar with them.
First thing to try is to keep your router setup the way you like it. However, the modem has no Bridge Mode. Try to disable the routing functions of the gateway manually so the T-Mobile modem acts solely as a modem. If that doesn't work out for you, you will have to reset the modem more than likely be able to access the configuration for the modem.
Second thing to try is to manually disable some of the routing functions to achieve a half way point of the router being more of an access point but still preserving the functions you need. Hopefully one of these two things gets everything working the way you need it to me.
syaoran wrote:
Okay. It sounds like you know way more about networking than most that come here to ask questions. That makes it easier to suggest a couple of things to try. I have two RT-AX86U's, so I am very familiar with them.
First thing to try is to keep your router setup the way you like it. However, the modem has no Bridge Mode. Try to disable the routing functions of the gateway manually so the T-Mobile modem acts solely as a modem. If that doesn't work out for you, you will have to reset the modem more than likely be able to access the configuration for the modem.
Second thing to try is to manually disable some of the routing functions to achieve a half way point of the router being more of an access point but still preserving the functions you need. Hopefully one of these two things gets everything working the way you need it to me.
Is there a way to disable the routing functions of the gateway so it only acts like a modem? The settings in the gateway are pathetically limited, and there are certainly no built in settings to do this. Is there some sort of workaround outside of the built in settings that you know of?
I don't have the modem but the manual says it should allow you to disable DHCP. I have had people tell me they couldn't find that option though.
brucipher wrote:
I thought I would report back since I was able to find a solution on another forum. Since I am not a network guy, I don't even really know what this means, but I thought I would post it in case someone else runs into this issue. I lowered the MTU WAN setting on my router from 1500 to 1420 (the T-Mobile Gateway maxes out at 1420, per my other sources). My stock router firmware did not have this setting, so I flashed the Merlin firmware to access it on my WAN settings page. ¡Gracias!
The Merlin firmware is great! I used to run it on my RT-AC66U's and RT-AC68W after those went EOL. Reliable more options than the stock firmware, and Asus actually takes bug fixes from the person's commits that they post.
brucipher wrote:
syaoran wrote:
Okay. It sounds like you know way more about networking than most that come here to ask questions. That makes it easier to suggest a couple of things to try. I have two RT-AX86U's, so I am very familiar with them.
First thing to try is to keep your router setup the way you like it. However, the modem has no Bridge Mode. Try to disable the routing functions of the gateway manually so the T-Mobile modem acts solely as a modem. If that doesn't work out for you, you will have to reset the modem more than likely be able to access the configuration for the modem.
Second thing to try is to manually disable some of the routing functions to achieve a half way point of the router being more of an access point but still preserving the functions you need. Hopefully one of these two things gets everything working the way you need it to me.
Is there a way to disable the routing functions of the gateway so it only acts like a modem? The settings in the gateway are pathetically limited, and there are certainly no built in settings to do this. Is there some sort of workaround outside of the built in settings that you know of?
You can go under Wifi Networks and disable SSID for both the 2.4 and the 5 GHz networks.
