5G Home Internet & VOIP: Do any work?

[MrCreosote]

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet + MagicJack VOIP = Problem,  Solution?

 

From what I have gathered, the "5G" internets are nothing more than "hot spots" that have the same IP address for all people using them.

 

In particular NO port forwarding.

 

It's claimed that T uses CGnat which is problematic for SIP.  (Now I claim NO knowledge of what I just said, but this always seems to be at the crux when people are discussing "one-way calling" and other problems experienced with VOIP over 5G.

 

T uses the Nokia "Trash Can" and there is a newer model they've introduced, but I've heard a few mentions that the Nokia has more user setable parameters - so the Original/older Nokie may be the preferred gateway.

HOWEVER, T-Mobile Business, also for $50 a month, uses the 5G Insego FX2000 which has Port Forwarding (!) ????   Specs are virtually non-existent as well as whether CGnat is used.  But if IP addresses shared, how do you do Port Forwarding?  So HOW do they PF?

ALSO, Some people said they have "solved" their 5G "problems" connecting to a router connected to the gateway.  I just don't know anything about telephony so I don't see how that would change the CGnat problem

 

ALSO, VPN seems to solve the problem, but there may be VPN's that are notl VOIP friendly.

 

MY PROBLEM.  My MagicJack used to suffer from one-way calling (OWC) on specific phone numbers I called where they could not hear me but I could hear them.  This went away for a month, and then it returned.  Yet it worked perfectly for incoming calls.  Now, incoming calls they hear mean heavily "garbled" and I hear them perfectly.  
 

It is also possible my MJ unit has gone bad, but the thought of calling cust serv for T-M and MJ vomitous and easily a waste of an entire day.

If there was a known combo 5G + VOIP that worked, I'd throw in the towel and go that route.

However, I am a cheapskate.  Yes Infinity is light speed fast but $100/month for internet for a non-gamer is too much.

 

What to do...

[Donut417]

31 minutes ago, MrCreosote said:

Specs are virtually non-existent as well as whether CGnat is used.

Pretty much all cellular providers use CGNAT on IPv4. T Mobile business might offer a public IP, possibly for extra monthly fee, but I cant say for sure. The fact is there are not enough IPV4 addresses. Nothing T Mobile can do. 

 

33 minutes ago, MrCreosote said:

But if IP addresses shared, how do you do Port Forwarding?  So HOW do they PF?

On CGNAT basically the ISP would have to port forward on their end and you would port forward on your end. The issue is, each port can only forward for ONE device. Most companies who use CGNAT wont support port forwarding. 

[MrCreosote]

4 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Pretty much all cellular providers use CGNAT on IPv4. T Mobile business might offer a public IP, possibly for extra monthly fee, but I cant say for sure. The fact is there are not enough IPV4 addresses. Nothing T Mobile can do. 

 

On CGNAT basically the ISP would have to port forward on their end and you would port forward on your end. The issue is, each port can only forward for ONE device. Most companies who use CGNAT wont support port forwarding. 

Thanks for the info.  A couple questions:

 

Since T-Mobile is offering Port Forwarding on their Small Business 5G (still $50 a month), not knowing if they are using CGnat (do all 5G gateways have to use CGnat?), might that service work better with VOIP? 

 

In fact T-Mobile has a deal with ooma, get a free unit if you get the better subscription.  So how in the world are they making that work?

 

Some people say they are getting their VOIP to work w/CGnat but that's beyond my current knowledge and I simply don't have the time to research all the possibilities.  It would be nice to hear from someone who solved the problem with T-Mobile.

 

Thanks again,

Tom

[Donut417]

5 hours ago, MrCreosote said:

(do all 5G gateways have to use CGnat?

Its not the gateway that determines this. Its their network. We have exhausted all IPv4 addresses. Meaning there are no more to be handed out. Some are being recovered here and there but they are pretty much bought as soon as they hit the market. There are 4.3 Billion IPV4 addresses, which not all can be used on the internet and there are 8 Billion people on the planet with multiple devices, as you see the math doesnt really work. 

 

 

I found this on the T Mobile forums 

 

he requirements for magicJack are:

•   Latency/Ping should be less than 25ms
•   Download speed should be greater than 5mbps
•   Upload speed should be greater than 3mpbs
•   Packet Loss should be 0%

The part about Ping is the biggie here. Cellular connections are known to have higher pings and pings have more of an ability to fluctuate due to it being wireless. But it sounds like Magic Jack might not work on T Mobile. OOMA might work differently, Im not an expert on VOIP solution as we are a cellular only household when it comes to phone service. 

 

Have you tried contacting T Mobile support? Maybe they have a solution or maybe they can tell you what VOIP providers work well on their service. 

[MrCreosote]

3 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Its not the gateway that determines this. Its their network. We have exhausted all IPv4 addresses. Meaning there are no more to be handed out. Some are being recovered here and there but they are pretty much bought as soon as they hit the market. There are 4.3 Billion IPV4 addresses, which not all can be used on the internet and there are 8 Billion people on the planet with multiple devices, as you see the math doesnt really work. 

 

 

I found this on the T Mobile forums 

 

he requirements for magicJack are:

•   Latency/Ping should be less than 25ms
•   Download speed should be greater than 5mbps
•   Upload speed should be greater than 3mpbs
•   Packet Loss should be 0%

The part about Ping is the biggie here. Cellular connections are known to have higher pings and pings have more of an ability to fluctuate due to it being wireless. But it sounds like Magic Jack might not work on T Mobile. OOMA might work differently, Im not an expert on VOIP solution as we are a cellular only household when it comes to phone service. 

 

Have you tried contacting T Mobile support? Maybe they have a solution or maybe they can tell you what VOIP providers work well on their service. 

 

I will call T-M and get their recommendations for a compatible VOIP.  

 

• NOTE:  In a thread I found, user said VOIP.ms worked with T-M by changing port numbers.  I called VOIP.ms and they said their service works with ANY internet connection.  I mentioned 5G and CGnat and they stuck to their claim - NO mention of latency.  (interesting, they do not sell VOIP hardware, ??? I'm confused)

 

I don't understand why the problem with using IPv6 - shouldn't that solve all the problems?  Shouldn't IPv4 be discontinued at some point (or are there legacy problems?)

 

What I don't understand is that the MagicJack worked flawlessly for periods of time when ping was terrible, far above the 25ms (over 50ms).   My lay thoughts on ping:

• I suspect they require <25ms instead of requiring No CGnat - easier for the lay person also because it is difficult to get the ISP to admit to CGnat. 
• I've never found a technical discussion why ping is the problem.
• Ping sounds like it should be related to delay which is not One Way Calling or Garbled One Way Calling.  

I am so burned out from multi hour customer service troubleshooting calls on the phone.  I recently spent at least a man month hours with over 24 calls to Safelink trying to get a new phone purchased from TracFone to work on their system.  Had to give up. file claim with credit card company and moved on to MetroPCS $30 plan w/ACP. 

 

• NOTE:  I think they decided to "not" have customer support by having their phone system disconnect callers when the agent transfers the call to the next department.  This occurred over months and also when I called from different telephone numbers.  Great service as long as you never have to contact them.

[Donut417]

1 minute ago, MrCreosote said:

don't understand why the problem with using IPv6 - shouldn't that solve all the problems?  Shouldn't IPv4 be discontinued at some point (or are there legacy problems?)

Legacy software needs IPv4. Thats why IPv6 has taken so long to get support. That and I heard some issues with equipment and IPv6 support on the ISP side.

[MrCreosote]

12 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Legacy software needs IPv4. Thats why IPv6 has taken so long to get support. That and I heard some issues with equipment and IPv6 support on the ISP side.

You'd think with this 5G fanfare, they'd have their act in order with IPv6 given all the 5G gateways are "new."

 

Wonder if any IPS w/5G Gateway connection is running IPv6?

[Donut417]

8 hours ago, MrCreosote said:

You'd think with this 5G fanfare, they'd have their act in order with IPv6 given all the 5G gateways are "new."

 

Wonder if any IPS w/5G Gateway connection is running IPv6?

I know for a fact T Mobile does have IPv6 deployed. Many ISP's dual stack. The issue is not all software or service support it. This is not fault of the ISP, its fault of the software and services.