Forum Discussion
Ethernet configuration
If I use an ethernet cable, do I need to configure my wi-fi network or just leave it alone with the ethernet cable as a “back up” such as bad weather situations?
It really does not matter if you use the wireless adapter or an Ethernet cable to connect your client(s) to the gateway. The "network" component is the same connection in effect. The ports on the gateway are copper gigabit Ethernet ports so a CAT5e or CAT6 cable should work fine. You can use a lesser category of cable but it will not be as good for the communication.
With respect to the WIFI you should at least make sure it is secure if you use it or not. If you live in a rural area where the neighbors are too far away to connect then it is not as critical but having the wireless radios secure so only you know how to connect is best. The gateway uses the cellular connection to communicate to the cell tower so if the weather is bad the impact could be to the cell signal not the local WIFI radio signals. If you have an issue with your PC on the wireless and it has an Ethernet cable you can use that to determine if the problem is with the local wireless.
If you see the bars on the LED on the gateway diminished or not showing then that is a pretty clear indication that the cellular signal is degraded. To know if the local wireless is working well look at the client and see if it is connected and how well it is connected. If it seems really slow try the cable connection to the client. A direct physical connection is the most simple solution.
With some of the new T-Mobile gateways some users have reported poor performance from the physical Ethernet ports vs wireless. It is hard to know for sure why but it may be related to the onboard Ethernet adapter or cables used. I suspect some have faulty Ethernet modules which do not negotiate the speed and duplex operations properly. Really the only way you know is to try both wired and wireless and test to confirm results for performance. It is best to only keep one or the other network connection type active al mismo tiempo. It is possible to influence the preference for one interface over the other with metrics but it is not a practice most people use. To have one as a backup for the other setting the preference so the metrics for say wireless are higher than for the wired Ethernet adapter interface then the interface with the lowest metric cost would be preferred. Examples for how to do this can be found searching on the internet.
