Setting up guest network on t-mobile highspeed home internet

lruiz wrote:

Hi - I'm new to Tmobile Internet, and found this string - my SSID configurations (6 - 12) include an option for Guest Mode, but it seems to be disabled.  Is this something in the works that will provide a true guest network? 

Also looking for an answer to this. The attached pic is from the web user interface. "Guest Mode" is an option for all SSIDs except for SSID1. The toggle switch is deactivated for all SSIDs. No other setting changes I've tried appear to make it selectable. 
 

thanks—
 

I've been meaning to post an update with how we sorted everything out. We bought a router (Linksys AX1500 Smart Mesh Wi-Fi 6 Router). (Our previous, non-mesh router wouldn't work. I'm not sure if other non-mesh ones will or not.) We set that up by using the guest network for our laptops and phones) and then putting our smart gadgets on the "main" router. We're using an Arlo hub for cameras, attached to the main router and not directly to the t-mobile device. Everything seems to be working great. We love the t-mobile -- our Cox internet service was terrible!

Hi - I'm new to Tmobile Internet, and found this string - my SSID configurations (6 - 12) include an option for Guest Mode, but it seems to be disabled.  Is this something in the works that will provide a true guest network? 

Thanks, Mez. Very helpful!

Synbad wrote:

007BondMI6 wrote:

Sure you can, sort of. There are 10 available SSIDs. Pick one of them not used and name it Guest (or whatever) and gave it a unique password.

 

Hey 007, sorry to interrupt with an off-topic question, but where is this screenshot from? I downloaded the TMO Home internet app but there are almost no gateway settings I can see that are accessible. I see from an earlier post that you "borrowed' the screenshot from another user, but what I am asking is- how do I access any TMO Home Internet settings at all? 

Hi Synbad -- This is from the web browser login, from when you login from your laptop or desktop instead of the app. This should help: https://www.t-mobile.com/support/devices/web-gateway-user-interface-gui-high-speed-internet-gateway. ¡Buena suerte!

007BondMI6 wrote:

Sure you can, sort of. There are 10 available SSIDs. Pick one of them not used and name it Guest (or whatever) and gave it a unique password.

 

Hey 007, sorry to interrupt with an off-topic question, but where is this screenshot from? I downloaded the TMO Home internet app but there are almost no gateway settings I can see that are accessible. I see from an earlier post that you "borrowed' the screenshot from another user, but what I am asking is- how do I access any TMO Home Internet settings at all? 

An update: Seems like Reolink and Arlo cameras aren't compatible with t-mobile high speed internet. We've tried connecting directly to the t-mobile device, as well as going through the mesh router. Everything else works great -- b-hyve irrigation timer, sensi emerson thermostat, brother printer, TCL roku TV, and light bulbs. We even have one camera, that appears to be discontinued, that works. (listing brands in case it helps someone else). Any suggestions for wireless cameras that work? We could take this opportunity to consolidate everything. Tried googling and no luck.

mez wrote:

An update: We bought a Linksys AX1500 and it seems to be working great. Regular routers didn't seem to work -- we tried both our old one and a new one without success. The mesh seems to somehow make the difference. We set up a guest network, and so far so good on getting all the IoT gadgets on it. As always a key thing is to have the gadget on the same network as the phone used to set them up. Follow-up questions: Can we/should we delete the SSIDs/2 networks on the T-mobile high-speed device, leaving it to function just as a modem? Are there pros/cons to doing that? And is there a way to change the user name of the t-mobile admin page? I see where I can change the password but can't see where to change the "admin" user name to something else. Thanks again for all the help!

Great that things are moving in the right direction.

I think you are stuck with admin just change the PW.

Up to you on the Tmobile SSID's if it's far enough away (several feet) from your Linksys you can leave just make sure you have a good PW. The move wifi you have the more noise but again if you are not having issues sometimes better off to leave things alone.

An update: We bought a Linksys AX1500 and it seems to be working great. Regular routers didn't seem to work -- we tried both our old one and a new one without success. The mesh seems to somehow make the difference. We set up a guest network, and so far so good on getting all the IoT gadgets on it. As always a key thing is to have the gadget on the same network as the phone used to set them up. Follow-up questions: Can we/should we delete the SSIDs/2 networks on the T-mobile high-speed device, leaving it to function just as a modem? Are there pros/cons to doing that? And is there a way to change the user name of the t-mobile admin page? I see where I can change the password but can't see where to change the "admin" user name to something else. Thanks again for all the help!

mez wrote:

007BondMI6 wrote:

mez wrote:

Thank you for the explanations. So when we created two networks on our combined modem/router device previously, they weren't really separate then either because they were still on the same device? We had one network set up on 2.4GHz and one on 5GHz. And it doesn't appear as though our Linksys AC1900 combined modem/router wants to function just as a router. It seemed to work fine connected to the T-mobile home internet to create an internet signal for our computers but our smart devices didn't seem to recognize that there was an internet connection with it (and so didn't work). That was why I was wondering if a standalone, ordinary router would work. Basically, our goal is not to leave our network vulnerable because of our smart light bulbs :). And we also aren't keen on giving random guests our password.

 

Note if your old router is like most the guest network is probably a real guest network.

Some routers have a setting to allow or not communications.

 

So same device can have separate networks depends on the model.

 

So you don't say what your smart devices are but some don't play nice with the Tmobile gateway.

 

Sort of the reason that Live TV like from Hulu does not work. These services require a fixed IP so they know where you are. Example some live programs are restricted to a specific geographical area. So there needs to be a fixed IP that ID's you so they know you are in this authorized area. The way Tmobile assigned the gateway an IP this is not really possible. As far as I know they are working on this…

 

Then there is DDNS where devices like IP cameras when you are accessing from outside your home need a fixed IP for your specific home. This would be so that when you make the request to view your homes camera it knows where to send the request. Again this is not the case here so this tends to be problematic.

 

So Smart Bulbs should work on your local network but you may see issues from the app if accessing from outside the network.

The other issue with your Smartbulbs is the double NAT created by your router behind the Tmobile gateway. There is no port fwd on the Tmobile gateway so there is no way to route traffic from the T Mobile gateway to your Linksys.

This would not be an issue for your computers just devices or programs that need specific ports.

You may have to put the smart devices on the Tmobile hub to avoid the double NAT issue.

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much - this was all very helpful. We have a whole array of gadgets -- cameras, irrigation, smart bulbs. We're going to try using the router with the access point setting on -- is that a way around the double nat problem? Will getting a mesh system help/change anything? Do they function differently with how they work with IP addresses? Or should we just give up and put the IoT devices directly on the T-mobile system and then use the router for our phones and laptops? From what you said it sounds like T-mobile is working on some of these issues and we can be patient. I've tried googling all of this but can't seem to find clear answers. Or maybe I just don't know enough about how all of this works behind the scenes to understand what I'm reading! Anyway, thank you for your help!

You can try the access point setting see if that improves things it may.

I think if you have a home size that the T Mobile gateway has enough wifi range you should try to use just that to keep things simple and get things up and running.

I would wait on the mesh unless you need the range as eventually there will be mess units that can be added in the future. But again if you need it today then yea you may have to or just locate your old router in good spot to help cover the rest of the house.

I think you should do some testing of one device at a time. Example I think you said you have issues with the smart devices on the original old router now. So can you try moving one to the T Mobile gateway and see if that's better.

I think the idea is to keep it as simple as needed to get the operation you need.

So trying one device type at a time to find the best placement should work best.