My experience with the new T-Mobile Home Internet (NOK5G21)

I have always used my T-Mobile router (ASUS) and T-Link modem with Spectrum service,  Speed has always been a solid 230Mbps down and 12Mbps up.  Very stable and never had any issues.  Works perfect.  Zero complaints.  Port forwarding in the router is perfect.

I haver decided to cut some costs and consolidate bill payees.  I realized that TMO speeds via 4G LTE will be no where as good as spectrum, but OK with me, whereas I don't use heavy bandwidth.  In addition, I know that 5G is on the way, thus performance would get better over time.

Let’s get to the point:

Got the router and was able to easily set it up via the the user interface (laptop connection)- 192.168.12.1.  No need for the mobile app.  BTW:, when you power up for first time, TMO pushes a new firmware update.  I was surprised by the very limited options in the user interface.  Only has wifi settings - nothing else.  I guess it is this way to make it very easy for users to connect.  For advanced users, a big disappointment.  (i.e. no port forward, extra security..etc).

Anyhow, setup my SSID on both 2.4/5Ghz and set new passkeys.  Connection to these SSIDs is somewhat of a problem.  It was a battle getting all my home devices connected to the router.  Was able to add several devices to the 2.4Ghz SSID, then all of a sudden, attempts to add more devices kept failing - unable to connect.  Long story short, i had to reboot the reboot the router each time this happened.  The router seems to get hung up when adding new devices back-back.  In the end, was able to get all devices connected  (i.e. garage door opener, sprinkler controller, lightbulbs..etc).  whew!!!

Next, as far as speeds on the 2.4Ghz wifi, performance was miserable.  Multiple laptops would get between 5Mbps - 20Mbps on down/ and maybe 5Mbps up.  With wifi connections to my other ISP, it was 230 down/12 up.  So, unable to get the Tmobile router to give better performance, I now use the 5Ghz wifi for my laptops.  Much cleaner now.  50Mbps down/20Mbps up.  I have to leave my legacy wifi devices on the 2.4Ghz network.

I don't see any performance issues when I use my Playstation (wifi).  COD MW2 runs fine.

Another problem I see is that on the 5Ghz network, both SSID5 and SSID9 have the same SSID name.  SSID9 should have been labeled SSIS_9.

Next, there may be a bug with hiding the SSIFD from broadcast.  There are two option:  Enable SSID and Enable Broadcast.  I never broadcast my SSIDs with my ASUS router.  On the TMO (nok5g21)router, when I disable the broadcast, all devices lost connections.  I played with this many times between both settings, but still lose connections to all devices.  So, I can't seem to hide it now.  Oh well.

Another problem:  I use my work laptop / GlobalProtect VPN service.  All is OK, but there are several websites within the company that I can not get to.  If I instead connect thru my Spectrum ISP, no issues.  However, I found a workaround for the sites I can't access via Tmobile service though. 

Now, the biggest problem, which I now see from this forum is a problem all are seeing.  Rebooting the router causes all Wifi settings to go back to default.  Can you believe that???  Even with the ""backup battery"" in the router, you are not protected at all.  I do use a UPS at home, but still., a backup battery does not protect the system.  Unbelievable.  I called TMO support about this an das expected, they have never heard of this problem.????.  BTW:  haven't received much help from TMO support, whereas all this network stuff may be a bit technical for them.

So, after two days of battling these issues myself, I am able to get a stable setup.  With only 2 - 3 bars on the 4G LTE meter, I get reasonable speeds.  It may be a month or two before I see 5G upgrade.  I think I will keep the TMO service due to lower monthly cost  (65.00 with Spectrum) and just wait for fixes/upgrades from TMO. If all else fails, I can always go back to Spectrum, whereas they will see you as a newer customer and give you the lower monthly costs for being a "new" customer.

Anyhow, thought I would just pass along this information in case others have same experiences.