Forum Discussion
Is the TM-AC1900 ROUTER still supported?????
A year or so ago, T-mobile provided me with a TM-AC1900 ROUTER ... (ASUS rebranded to T-Mobile). They also provided a Personal Cell Spot 4G LTE which I refer to as an Extender or perhaps Booster.
Started having trouble with the router. Called T-mobile and was told I can exchange it for (even) an updated ROUTER at my local store. Went to store with old one and exchanged it for a 'newer' one. Got it home after closing time and discovered it was a (updated) Extender. At that point, I am ROUTERless. The store is now closed for the night.
Called T-mobile. Explained the situation and was told the right device would be shipped promptly to the house. Got a confirming email ... indicated what was coming was ANOTHER Extender. Called TMO again. The shipment was cancelled and 'the right device' would ship out promptly. Next confirming email ... ANOTHER Extender.
I even emailed the President of T-Mobile. I am not lying. By the time his assistant contacted me, I had yet ANOTHER device (PROMISING IT WAS THE RIGHT THING) en route. His assistant asked if everything was OK now ... I told her 'Presumably .. yes .. but I was not sure exactly WHAT was coming". She said she would check with me NEXT THURSDAY (from today ... FRIDAY). I then got ANOTHER confirming email .... an EXTENDER is on the way ... AGAIN.
I grabbed the box the original (and only) ROUTER first came in. I grabbed the box the NEW EXTENDER came in and headed for the store. After a LONG explanation, they started researching. Here is what I was just told an hour or so ago:
The ROUTER is discontinued by T-mobile. They no longer provide one. If one has one, it will stop working correctly. They are expected to procure their OWN router. FIRST I EVER HEARD of this.
The EXTENDER is still provided but there is an updated one that I needed ... so I can keep the NEW EXTENDER .. BUT NEED TO RETURN THE OLD ONE.
Sooo, I asked the store MANAGER what new router do I need (to work with the new Extender)?. She did not have a firm answer. Soooo, I ordered one on Amazon .. another Asus AC1900 which, I believe is NOT rebranded and is a updated router from the old one, and should work fine with the new Extender. The manager at the T-mobile store agreed with me.
Does anyone KNOW for certain this NEW router will work with the new extender. I am worried for some stupid reason it won't.
Strange to me that I was never notified of this T-mobile change in the first place. NO one at T-Mobile phone-in knew of this (a router provision being discontinued). The only person who seemed to be informed of what the problem is/was is a VERY YOUNG waif of a girl at the T-mobile store who knows more than I do about routers etc. I swear she did not look over 14 .. but seemed to know what she was talking about. Not even the President's assistant ever mentioned any of this. I will let her know on Thursday.
A T-MOBILE provided ROUTER is not even in their inventory anymore.
We do have some troubleshooting steps we can offer for the router we sent. I don't see that it's available anymore for ordering though. To answer your question, I've heard of folks using routers they purchased themselves from 3rd party vendors and they work just fine. If you do need some help with that model, you could reference our Problemas con el enrutador Wi-Fi CellSpot page and use it as a guide for common issues.
If the router isn't a big upgrade from the one you have. You can save your settings locally through the Admin tab and then restore that on your new router. Some routers do differ in their settings though. Anything that doesn't match up would be left at the default.
I don't know a way to clone the settings....but really all you'd need to do is assign the new router the same SSID's and passwords as the old one. Your devices should just connect automatically once they see them. Unless you've got some complicated access set up for each device. If so, you might want to contact Asus to see if there's a way.
It's been so long now, they may not know what to do with it. If you're worried about being sure your account is credited, I'd send it back...contact support for an address. Or, if you're continuing as a customer, just put it aside until someone asks for it back. I took mine to my second home in AZ and use it there. It's really a great router.
If I decide to upgrade to a newer Asus router, will my settings juat transfer (cloned)? Or it there is a simple way to do so? My home network is getting complicated with smart features and all that, so I don't want to have to do it all again, if possible. Gracias.
I still have this router and have recently stopped using it. Can I just drop it off at a T-mobile store?
I completely agree with the comments provided above. I was one of the people who got the free Tmobile router almost as soon as it came out. It has worked well. But as far as I know it has NEVER gotten an update. Recently I reviewed consumer reports articles on routers. The ASUS retail twin of the Tmobile router is still highly ranked.
BUT the ASUS non Tmobile retail router has had many updates including for security that the Tmobile router has never had.
It is possible to wipe out the Tmobile software and replace it with ASUS retail software but it is also easy to brick the router in trying to do it.
I may try this when I am otherwise ready to buy a new router but will be prepared to accept the bricking and move on...
Anyway, I just had a long text conversation with tmobile support in which they acknowledged tmobile no longer supports the router.
I asked if there was some way to switch over the software without the bricking risk. No useful response.
I observed that I never got an update that I was aware of and never had any communication from Tmobile telling me they were cutting off support.
By the way, despite the now nominal FMV of the Tmobile router- tmobile support confirmed to me, that you MUST still return the router to Tmobile it if you close your account or they will charge you for it!
The router isn't available anymore butnit is still an excellent router. Rhe T-Mobile firmware does lock out a lot of the settings though. It can be successfully flashed to the default Asus firmware for the RT-AC68U. It won't change how it works outside of thenprioritization for WiFi Calling, which still will work perfectly.
I liked the router enough to buy the RT-AC68W, same thing, just in white. Inhave had the T-Mobile firmware on it as well as the current firmware. The Asus firmware is a lot newer and contqins a heck of a lot more security fixes and such.
These were provided when TMO was still upgrading their coverage, and WIFI calling provided a quick fix for customers in poor coverage areas. With their coverage now improved in many places, I'm betting they just felt the return on investment wasn't there...and that the boosters were a better alternative for those still in marginal areas. Plus, with home Internet speeds now commonly in excess of 50-100 mbps, a router with firmware that prioritizes WIFI Calling isn't necessary anymore. Any router will provide adequate bandwidth. That said, I'm still using mine, with the 3199 Firmware and it works wonderfully. When/if it dies, I'll send it back and buy a new router. I understand that if you try to flash the router with ASUS RT-AC68u firmware now, it will eventually revert back to the TMO stock firmware. The last update (3199) I think came back in February or March 2018.
I do understand what device you're looking for @magenta5715056 My apologies, but that device is no longer available. I wish I had another option I could recommend other than the Cellspot mini tower, but I don't. We can only send coverage device we still have available.
