Will T-mobile 5G work with SmartLink?

Glenn K9OK

I found out the hard way that T-mobile 5G home internet will not work with smartlink due to the CG-NAT ip address system they use. That is with connecting the radio to smartlink. does anybody know if connecting the phone to smartlink is a problem? What about if I am using the phone as a hot spot for a computer to remote in?

Doug Allen

My experience is like yours, Glenn. I subscribed to T-Mobile Home network in September because my Kinetic DSL download was only 6 Mbps and upload 0.6 Mbps. This was too slow sometimes for my wife and I to both watch videos with computers, smart speakers, and SDR radios also running. It was also too slow for any robust remote SmartLink operation. It seemed a good move until a couple of weeks ago when I suffered a week with T-Mobie downloads mostly under 1 mbps and sometimes no internet connection at all. T-mobile assistance was good with a "T-mobile expert" spending three sessions (more than an hour total) over a week with me, and identifying the problem as "congestion".

It appears to me that T-Mobile is oversubscribing their service. I live in an area with a rapidly increasing population. The 5G tower that provides my internet serice is LOS and two miles away. with 4-bars (of 5) signal strength. I live on a hill, and have other LOS T-Mobile towers, which on several occasions gave satisfactory internet when my local one was down, but the T-Mobile router apparently selects the strongest signal even when that signal comes from a tower so congested that there is no internet.

A week ago, after better T-Mobile speeds returned, I downloaded the upgrade SmartSDR 3.3.33 with the intention of trying to get SmartLink to work, and found it would not - RED test results- due to the CG-NAT IP address system they use. The FLEX Radio Help Desk was great in helping me identify the problem, and with links to possible, but technically difficult work-arounds.

Some research showed that Verizon Home internet doesn't use CG-NAT and might work with SmartLink, so maybe a future change here.

My slow Kinetic-Windstream DSL internet was now tried. The Kinetic technical assistance, like FLEX, was excellent, and they gave me a 60% discounted price, but after 10 years, they still couldn't increase the 6/0.6 speeds. I kept the service as a backup. Setting up SmartLink, I get a GREEN test result with Kinetic, so maybe it will work. Ken Wells at the FLEX Help Desk alerted me, "SOME DSL services that use a "Bonded" DSL configuration require setting up the DSL Modem/router to operate in "Bridge Mode" and then add your own router in order to overcome a TLS issue in their DSL Modem/Router combo before the Port Forwarding."   That's how far I've gotten. Tomorrow I'll try connecting to my Smartlink with my laptop at the local McDonalds and then study "bridge mode" if necessary.

Please post if you have any comments regarding my experience, especially if any experience with Kinetic, with Verizon Home network, and with bridge mode.

Doug K4LY