Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System

What does double NAT mean. Does it mean having two WIFI networks? Do they not make wireless nodes that will hookup to the gateway? I see Nokia has a WIFI Beacon 6 but it is not available yet.

To those if you with the deco mesh systems, what happens when you throw the main puck into bridge/ap mode? Just curious if it hops onto the gateways wifi or not. 

cseder wrote:

What does double NAT mean. Does it mean having two WIFI networks? Do they not make wireless nodes that will hookup to the gateway? I see Nokia has a WIFI Beacon 6 but it is not available yet.

So with networking, think of each router as a network (including the T-Mobile home gateway, because it's also a router). If you link a router behind another router, you're essentially putting a network behind another network. Each Network has their own address scheme and mapping (NAT), and each need settings on how they communicate between each other and the internet. This brings about different pros and cons.

I'm running a double NAT now, because i have an Asus Mesh (no other mesh is compatible, let alone T-mobile's "iffy" mesh, not sure about bridge-moding the main router and how it could affect the other nodes). So far, i don't have any loss of speed/performance, but sometimes my router connection does go down (over dhcp conflicts? my only big issue). IPv6 works fine once i set it through passthrough. In terms of port-forwarding, does the T-mo gateway NOT have a firewall? I get that most of the traffic they block is on their end, but so far nothing is blocked (i only need to forward on my Asus router, and everything goes through). Any tips or advice on settings/config to keep stability/security would be appreciated.

magenta9856549 wrote:

Is there a way to disable DHCP / routing on the mesh network and use the TMO HI device as the sole/only router ?

That way, the TMO HI would give out IP addresses from it’s internal router instead of creating an interference with 2 different IP ranges being broadcast (Double NAT).

I want a seamless, hand off network that switches automatically to the strongest signal.

So I just picked up a Black Friday deal from Best Buy - 3 unit mesh Eero Dual Band AX Wifi 6 w/ wired backhaul that would be perfect for my tri level house and all the Apple devices we use….

 

So i've read that you're basically set your router to the same network as your Tmo gateway, but i haven't practiced and have no clue of any "ah ha" moments. Basically, you'd set your router as a switch (this can be done via connecting your tmo gatway to the switchports instead of the WAN port, as for the mesh setups i think you'd configure that but since i haven't played with those i don't know the details). I would also imagine you'd have to disable DHCP on your mesh router (since the tmo gateway would also be a dhcp server, and having two devices being a dhcp server may cause problems). This would essentially break the double-NAT. I would imagine you'd still have two Wi-Fi signals, because the tmo wifi can't (i don't think) mesh with your wifi. Ultimately, i don't know how this would affect a mesh, as i haven't tried it.

to clarify, my asus mesh is made up of 4 Asus routers, and i haven't played with the all-in-one mesh setups like the eero mentioned. The eero nodes look to have two Ethernet ports, whereas my mesh setup has routers with a WAN port. I'm guessing you can specify,the ports, or maybe the newer mesh setups can figure it out for you (i know newer stuff now a days are much less manual effort, much smarter in terms of consumer support). As for the fuzzy thing i've mentioned, that's not seemless at all.

dnastrain wrote:

I have the Eero mesh devices, and also would like to know if can connect without an ethernet cable, making the TMo HI device the primary and my Eeros as secondary for the mesh.

Were you able to setup your eero mesh system with no issues? 

jetsetterlou wrote:

dnastrain wrote:

I have the Eero mesh devices, and also would like to know if can connect without an ethernet cable, making the TMo HI device the primary and my Eeros as secondary for the mesh.

 

Were you able to setup your eero mesh system with no issues? 

Also wondering if anyone was able to get a mesh system set up successfully.

To make an Amplifi HD mesh system and T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway play nice:  I set the main Amplifi HD on bridge mode.  Refer to this article for reference -https://help.amplifi.com/hc/en-us/articles/220979347-Enabling-Bridge-Mode.  

When I had first connected the T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway to the my Amplifi HD mesh system using the DHCP mode, the main Amplifi HD worked and the mesh nodes did not work. 

So I contacted Amplifi tech support (via email)  and they said when there are 2 routers to use bridge mode on one of them, since 2 routers cause double NAT which may affect some services.  When I called T-Mobile, they said that T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway does not have bridge mode.   Therefore, I had to set the Amplifi HD to bridge mode.  Now, it all works fine and I get the same speed throughout the house and on all the mesh nodes.   By the way, my speed is usually around 60-70 Mbps down (or less sometimes), 9 up, a ping of 50-60 ms, and two bars showing on the gateway.

007BondMI6 wrote:

Bad news. First I was told a new firmware is rollingling out to fix the issues with 0178 but she says they cannot push it that I have to wait about a week for it to come.

She was nice and helped me actually find a good line of site to the tower that I am connected to.

So I of course had to unplug the unit to move it and now I am stuck in an endless boot. I see the T then dot dot dot then dot dot dot then reboot over and over. I have tried reseting it with the button holding it nothing works same issue. Removed the SIM reseated noting same issue.

Called support spent a while finally they tell me I need an exchange they cant help I have to be transferred then I got disconnected. Now again waiting for someone to call me so I can get a replacement unit setup.

I guess it’s a good thing I have not ditched Comcast yet or I would be totally stuck.

 

 

DId you ever gotten your issued fixed

almost_fixed wrote:

To make an Amplifi HD mesh system and T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway play nice:  I set the main Amplifi HD on bridge mode.  Refer to this article for reference -https://help.amplifi.com/hc/en-us/articles/220979347-Enabling-Bridge-Mode.  

When I had first connected the T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway to the my Amplifi HD mesh system using the DHCP mode, the main Amplifi HD worked and the mesh nodes did not work. 

So I contacted Amplifi tech support (via email)  and they said when there are 2 routers to use bridge mode on one of them, since 2 routers cause double NAT which may affect some services.  When I called T-Mobile, they said that T-Mobile Home Internet Gateway does not have bridge mode.   Therefore, I had to set the Amplifi HD to bridge mode.  Now, it all works fine and I get the same speed throughout the house and on all the mesh nodes.   By the way, my speed is usually around 60-70 Mbps down (or less sometimes), 9 up, a ping of 50-60 ms, and two bars showing on the gateway.

You should disable your nat on one that's would help it play nice better