T-Mobile Home Internet Misleading

April 27, 2022

T-Mobile is offering what they call “T-Mobile Home Internet“.

A better, more honest, name for the service would be “T-Mobile Home Hotspot.”

Here’s why, based on first-hand testing.

A static IP is not available, which is often used with port forwarding. There is no way to do port forwarding, so if you have devices in the house that need port forwarding, such as a VPN (virtual private network) server, a NAS (network attached storage), or surveillance cameras, you are out of luck. There is no port forwarding option in the administration screens.

Even if there was, reaching the device remotely as a method to connect to your VPN server or NAS will not work. This is because T-Mobile is using CGNAT — Carrier Grade Network Address Translation. This means a public IP# that the T-Mobile device shows is probably being shared among a whole bunch of other T-Mobile Home Internet customers. Even a Dynamic DNS service will not solve the problem.

The download speed is impressive, but the upload speed is similar to cable Internet. With two bars of signal strength I was able to get 300Mpbs down, about 11Mpbs up. If you want to upload a bunch of videos to Youtube, plan on a lengthy connect time.

The only difference between a portable hotspot from T-Mobile and the “Home Internet” device are these three items:

Instead of using a battery, the device uses AC power.

The speed is faster.

Two LAN ports.

On the third day of service, April 27, 20922, while streaming video, the service failed.

T-Mobile’s support for the device is lacking. When calling the T-Mobile support number you are connected to young people in the Philippines who do not know the product and do not know networking. On the first call I made I asked how to do port forwarding (because the sales person said it could be done). The “expert” in the Philippines asked if I had ported my (phone) number into T-Mobile.

For folks who will NEVER need to port forward, this might be a good option. For anyone with even slightly advanced needs, the misnamed T-Mobile Home Internet is not the right choice.