Just a heads up and a query on this subject…
Last week my T-Mobile@Home service dropped 3 times in a matter of 4 days. Each day that it happened it happened sometime in the morning. As previously discussed, to fix it I had to cycle power to the router.
Well, last week after the last time it happened I was convinced that the problem was the router not being able to handle my ISP (Comcast Cable) changing my IP address periodically (like most home users with cable or DSL, the IP address is dynamically assigned and often changed by the ISP to ensure we won’t run a home server or P2P service from our basements/bedrooms : ).
So I recorded my IP address after the last service drop and have been monitoring it since. Also, the other day, as you probably know, Linksys released a firmware upgrade for the @Home router.
Well….it seems to have worked for me so far. I checked my IP address today and it has been changed by my ISP. And my service has not gone down. So, either my theory about the IP address being the problem was wrong, or I just got lucky this one time, or the firmware update fixed the problem.
How about you? Have you had any issues/service drops since upgrading the firmware?
17 Comments
Worked great for me as far as the T-Mobile@Home phone goes as I haven’t seen any dropped calls since the firmware upgrade and the Blue light never goes off now.
However, I have lost the capability of connecting to VPN at my work place when trying to connect via this Linksys router. Internet works just fine, but just the VPN is missing. I did check the VPN Pass-through options on the router config and all of them are enabled, can you help?
Thanks!
- Me
I have not had the blue light go out since applying the firmware either. However, probably more disturbing – a week ago I picked up the phone and there was no service/dial-tone. I checked the router and the blue light was on. I had to power cycle the router (just the router, not the cable modem…I never have to cycle the cable modem). Service was restored. Incidentally, I tried resetting the router via the web admin, but still no luck. Had to power cycle to get the service back.
Other than that, I have had no blue light issues or problems since I posted this post on the 23rd of September. I do believe the firmware upgrade has something to do with that, though oddly my IP address is not changing anymore from my cable provider (comcast). I’ve power-cycled the PC, router, cable modem, etc a number of times but the IP address has stayed the same for more than 2 weeks now. Not sure why as there’s no way T-Mobile/LinkSys has so much clout that they got comcast to keep the same IP!
mark
P.S. Me – I have been using my VPN for work and it’s been working fine pre and post-firmware upgrade.
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Actually while I still lose the blue light telephone connection since doing the firmware upgrade the router will automatically restore the telephone connection without the need to power cycle it. Early after the firmware upgrade I was not allowing enough time to see if it could reconnect or not.
That being said, Mark would you please remove my first comment here as not to mislead any future reader.
Thanks,
Hi Mark,
I haven’t had any issues so far in making/receiving calls and the service seems to be up all the time. Since the past 2 weeks after the firmware upgrade I did not recycle power and have no complaints on the phone side of the service.
What VPN client do you use? I use the Cisco VPN client that is installed on my work laptop which I use only to connect for work. All help on the Linksys website ask to enable the Security passthrough options, which I always had enabled. I not being a networking guru, don’t know how to get it to work for me.
Thanks!
- Me
Hi Me,
I use the Checkpoint VPN client that is supplied by my employer. No issues with it and the @home service.
mark
Marks last blog post..T-Mobile@Home Monthly Bill – How Much It Really Costs (Me)
We started having so many audio issues with our @Home service that the line has been unusable. Did the firmware update with no luck. According to T-Mobile there is a “known issue” in our area (Twin Cities) that is “being actively worked on”.
Been down for 6 days now……and the issue started right after the 14 day mark so it looks like it will be a fight trying to cancel the service (cannot make any calls whatsoever, it either buzzes or it’s so garbled you can’t make any words out)
Not quite all roses here.
I signed up for T-Mobile@Home and it was going on 3 weeks w/ no blue light, no dial tone and no home phone service when I started to prowl the internet looking for any info on getting a blue light. Yes, I was on multiple calls w/ Cust Svc, Tech Support 1, Tech Support 2 w/ an unanswered ticket in to TS3… (Pray that you never need T-Mobile’s @Home Tech Support– the call routing tree and Cust Svc rep / Tech Support rep training could be used as a GitMo torture method.)
After doing some surfing/reading, I started to turn off all of the features that I had turned on, one by one, power-cycling the router each time. Turns out, if you enable a DMZ IP Address w/ the Linksys WRTU54G-TM (f/w 1.00.09), the SIM card will *NEVER* register w/ T-Mobile– at least that is what it did for me.
Simply put, deactivate the DMZ feature of the router (”Applications and Gaming” -> “DMZ” -> “Disable”), power cycle and you should be rewarded w/ a blue light. If this does not do it for you, power cycle again w/ all wired and wireless computers disconnected from the WRTU54G-TM.
I also have an answering machine built into the cordless phone. The answering machine picks up, but when the caller hangs up, the answering machine continues to hold the line open until some type of timeout (15 seconds? 30 seconds?) kicks in.
I brought up both issues w/ T-Mobile Tech Support 1, and the poor kid on the other end of the line could not follow w/ me… Therer was no place in his call center script for the info that I was giving him.
My opinion is the 1.00.09 is not the final f/w– and that is putting it gently.
T-Mobile is still trying to figure out how to run a VoIP phone service from both a business and a technical standpoint. If you can put up w/ a 1/2 baked product in exchange for a dirt cheap price, it might be worth a gamble… However, I am starting to regret my decision.
Flundy,
No offense, but you should have never fiddled with the settings of router in the first place, until you had your service up and running. That’s basic troubleshooting.
Again – I’m no T-Mobile fanboy, but 99% of the problems people are having is due to them trying to do out-of-the-ordinary things. I’ve never needed the DMZ feature. Why do you need it? I’ve always just port-forwarded any apps that needed it. And as I stated in my other posts – I don’t recommend this service to anyone who doesn’t use a DECT6 phone along with t-mobile’s voicemail system. It’s just asking for trouble.
mark
Marks last blog post..T-Mobile@Home Monthly Bill – How Much It Really Costs (Me)
DMZ- Lots of people put a webserver in a DMZ for their kids (or themselves) t0 learn, play, experiment or have a cheap web presence. I have had a DMZ host for years.
Gonna have to agree to disagree on whether or not one should “use” T-Mobile’s router or just plumb it into the network as a black box.
One would assume that TMobile had a *USER ACCEPTANCE TEST* and *INTEGRATION TEST* of the new firmware. However, that assumption appears to be wrong. The dhcp log is completely broken and assigning a DMZ ip causes the sim to not register. Basically, T-Mobile accepted Cisco’s work w/o any validation or QA on their part. A beginner test script would have found these issues, and in very short order at that. Again, this points to my assertion that T-Mobile is “still trying to figure out how to be a VoIP phone company”.
Considering that all functions related to VoIP are locked down, it should be reasonable to expect all the vanilla networking features of the router to work as advertised– dhcp, firewall, WPA, MAC filtering, MAC Cloning– this is all std stuff in just about any home router on the mkt today. It is reasonable that people will change them, because they are options provided to the user via a simple and easy to use web interface (as opposed to, say, a PIX or ASA), and again, the sensitive VoIP-specific are locked down, and therefore not options provided to the user.
If T-Mobile was providing a black box that goes between the cable modem and the user’s router (and they most probably should of), I would agree w/ your point of view– but they did not– they provided a mostly up-to-date (no wireless a or n) home internet router w/ some company-specific tuning for their VoIP svc. Basic QA would have caught the above issues if T-Mobile had decided to do any QA at all on this product.
Maybe I am spoiled by AT&T’s dead-reliable dial tone, but methinks T-Mobile@Home is currently best fer “hackers” like you and me at the moment. I do not believe it has been “fully productized” for the avg joe yet.
No doubt T-Mobile should have tested this stuff out. I realize that setting things for the DMZ is fairly common among the tech crowd, but in fact it’s the non-techies who are having the least problems with the service. The folks having the problems seem to always be either the techies who play around with the router settings, or insist on putting the T-Mobile/Linksys router behind another network device/router, or, on the other end of the spectrum, the old-timers who insist on using old phones, answering machines, or fax machines.
I think the service is plug and play. But if you try to do any more with it you run into problems.
mark
Marks last blog post..T-Mobile@Home Monthly Bill – How Much It Really Costs (Me)
Mark,
I have been searching T-mobile’s website for answers to my questions when I found your blog. I was already leaning towards ordering it but your blog has given me more confidence and I just ordered it. The first time I researched Vonage I found many disappointed ppl and withing ten minutes decided against it. I have had cell phone service thru T-mobile for 5 years now and have enjoyed their service. So thank you so much for creating this blog. I took your advice and read all the other comments as well. Apparently there aren’t too many unsatisfied customers. So, my question…
I am not tech. savvy but I can connect and d/l stuff…hehe. When I receive my router, will I need to get the firmware upgrade? Where do I find this and what do I do?
Thanks again,
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca,
As I’ve mentioned a number of times to folks over time – the only problems people are running into now, post-firmware update, are due to their need for things that 99% of folks wouldn’t need/do, like specific router customizations, or using old phones, or needing an old-school/real fax machine. If you have DECT6 phones, don’t need DMZ settings/etc on your router, don’t need a fax machine, and you keep things technically at a minimum and not add routers in front of the LinkSys/T-Mobile router, then you shouldn’t have any problems.
I get 2 or 3 emails a day from folks inquiring about the service, and of course you’ve read the blog posts/comments from others, so I think I have a pretty good pulse on what’s going on with the service. That said, there could be region/area-specific problems that I or none of the blog readers/subscribers have run into. This service IS still very much a new service and there will be kinks. But I’m pretty impressed that the two issues I had with the product (blue light outages and the voicemail indicator coming on too slow after a voicemail message is left) were fixed with the first firmware upgrade.
In regards to your question about whether to upgrade the firmware and how – yes, I would definitely upgrade the firmware right away (if it needs it…there’s a chance it won’t need it). I will write up a post soon on how to do this, with pictures of the screens, but basically you just go to the T-Mobile site and look for the firmware update file to download. Then, follow their instructions. You’ll have to navigate to your router’s administrative portal (a website served up by your router) to do it. If you get stuck, let me know.
Good luck!
mark
Marks last blog post..T-Mobile@Home Monthly Bill – How Much It Really Costs (Me)
Who knows what is in the new Linksys firmware release? Since everything is working fine for me, and I’ve not been able to find out what is in the firmware release, I’m not budging.
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Great blog.
I just finished reading all the posts and the comments, and this is by far the most information out on the web about the TMobile@Home service.
I’ve been thinking about taking the plunge, but have a question about the VOIP (with TMobile@Home in particular).
I’ve got the basic DSL from Qwest (1.5 advertised), and I CAN switch to the “dry DSL” – no local phone internet only. I know that this will jack my DSL rate, but the total cost would be less.
Question is – is 1.5 Mbps enough? It works fine for the internet usage around my house, but in the big picture, I know that a bigger pipeline is better in the long run. Will 1.5Mbps be enough to quell my fears of quality issues on the TMobile@Home?
Thanks!
Hi Tracy.
I don’t know that anyone really knows for sure the answer to ‘what is the minimum bandwidth’. That said, I do recall reading somewhere (perhaps in the router documentation) that the Linksys router will automatically throttle back the internet bandwidth usage if necessary to keep the voice transmission working. But, words in a doc are not necessarily always true, so perhaps someone else with dry loop DSL will chime in with their experiences.
I can tell you that I had 1.5mbit download speed when I had Verizon DSL (prior to switching to Comcast cable) and I would have been confident that it would work.
mark
Marks last blog post..T-Mobile@Home Monthly Bill – How Much It Really Costs (Me)
Tracy,
I have Dry DSL and I have a d/l speed of only 768kbps and my service works fine.But like previously noted,when on the call,the surfing speed may be reduced to keep a phone conversation healthy.
Mark,
My problem is with my DSL service as I have found out by virtue of a line man coming out and testing the line to tell me that the line needs to be fixed and that it could cost me anywhere from $200 and up,so I have ordered Cox cable to see if hooking up the phone to cable internet has any difference.My phone works fine when it does,but when the DSL line starts acting up,nothing works,not even the internet for a good few hours,or I have a working internet connection with no “Blue Light”,and also a working wireless connection! Oh, and this is my second T-Mobile Router.
Will update again once I get my cable internet set up.
Thanks
And Great Blog!
Sean,
I would definitely look into ditching the DSL and going with cable broadband (or better yet, FIOS if it’s available in your area…it wasn’t in mine when I switched).
mark
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