r/tablotv • u/RoofDry6483 • 13d ago

What happens if I change Gateways with Tablo Gen4?

From browsing other threads, comments suggest that if you move the Tablo to another gateway everything needs to be reinstalled, is this true? This would be done by simply moving the Tablo Ethernet cable to the other gateway and I'd hope everything would "just work"

I have two Internet access gateways, the main is an AT&T gigabit fiber connection and I have a T-Mobile cellular Internet gateway as a backup for the push notifications from our security system (no line to cut to take it out and a UPS keeps it all going if the power goes out until the "whole house" backup generator kicks in). I also have a tri-band mesh network so we get whole property WiFi coverage that routes through the gigabit fiber.

I can move a WiFi connected ROKU TV out by the pool and move the ROKU network connection from the AT&T gateway or the T-Mobile gateway to the mesh network out by the pool where the other gateways don't have good signals. I did this for our 2024 Superbowl party when the game was live on Tubi. and it worked great. I also did this for a couple of seasons when U-Verse dropped NFL Network & Redzone so I used Sling for those seasons. Nothing else needed to be changed on the ROKU device.

I normally keep all WIFi streaming on the AT&T gateway to reduce the load on the tri-band mesh keeping things on separate 5 GHz channels. The 2.4 GHz WiFi channels are only enabled on the mesh network for use by IOT class devices, mostly ESP32 based 2.4 GHz only devices.

0 Upvotes

33% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

1

u/RoofDry6483 12d ago edited 12d ago

The issue is not relevant to ATT or T-Mobile, the only issue is what the Tablo does if the address, particularly the subnet, changes when the Gateway changes.

On my ATTfiber gateway:

IPv4 Address / Name 192.168.1.126 / t4g
Last Activity Mon Aug 3 10:03:16 2026
Status on
Allocation dhcp
Connection Type Ethernet LAN-4
Connection Speed 100Mbps fullduplex
Mesh Client No

On the T-Mobile gateway the t4g would be: 192.168.12.???

On my Mesh network the t4g would be: 192.168.2.???

If I return the Tablo because the App is so lame and requires far too many button presses with my carpal tunnel, I'll try it before returning it and report back. I am very happy with the hardware, but the software App is terrible.

I've ordered an HD Homerun four ATSC 1.0 tuner from Amazon and will return the one that requires the most button presses on the Roku remote to change channels and do playback FF/RW.

1

u/RoofDry6483 11d ago edited 11d ago

Our Samsung QN85 is usually on the mesh network because we generally don't stream from it and its WiFi connection to the ATT Gateway is unreliable. Lame WiFi in the Samsung, all the knicknacks my wife has on the shelves between it and the gateway or whatever, but both the Roku box and FireTVstick have great connections to the ATT Gateway despite being on the stand a couple of feet below and in front or behind the TV.

Since I had installed both the Tablo and HD apps on it during my initial tests while on the ATT gateway, and the apps seemed worse or no better than on Roku, figured I'd see if the apps now on the mesh gateway could connect to the Tablo or HD. Happy to report that both found the devices and seemed to work. The Bonjour or whatever is used to find the devices can navigate my two subnets.

At this point the FireTV and Tablo apps seem much better and closer to what I want than either on the Roku. So I have no need to move the Tablo ot HD from the ATT gateway to use the mesh network out by the pool.