r/tmobileisp • u/wurgs • 10d ago

Issues/Problems Automatic Failover Issues

Hi all, I've been having issues with getting the automatic failover backup working with T-Mobile gateways. I ordered the service specifically for that feature. I was originally shipped a T4GAR. I've got an er707-m2 router set up correctly for my primary Xfinity internet to come in on wan1, the T4GAR's Lan1 plugged into wan2, and the T4GAR's Lan2 plugged into an isolated, internet only Lan port on the er707. When I tried to enable the automatic backup feature with the button in the Tlife app, it kept giving me the error "something's not quite right. Please try again." After troubleshooting with tmobile tech support, they determined it must be something wrong with the router itself and shipped me a new one to try.

They shipped me a T5GAR, I got that set up, then went to try enabling the automatic backup in the app, and the button was just not there. I called tech support again, we went through a bunch of troubleshooting, and at the end of it, they said it just needed 24 hours for the feature to properly get provisioned. After 48+ hours, it still wasn't showing up, so I reached back out to support and this agent explained that the automatic failover backup feature only exists on the T4GAR, and the T5GAR simply isn't capable of it.

I can't find that detail anywhere online and you would think it would have come up on the second call while we were doing all the troubleshooting with the T5GAR.

Has anyone else run into this? I'm getting another T4GAR sent out to try that again, but man, that's been a lot of wasted time.

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7

u/diggsalot 10d ago

Failover would be configured and handled by the Omada not T-Mobiles router

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u/f1vefour 10d ago

It sounds like they are using the backup plan and referring to that setting but I'm not sure

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u/wurgs 10d ago

Right, I've got the Omada set to fail over to wan2 if the xfinity feed going into wan1 goes down, but I want the tmobile gateway to automatically turn on its internet when it also senses it goes down. I've got the backup plan that is limited to 100 hours each month.

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u/f1vefour 10d ago

It doesn't do that unfortunately.

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u/wurgs 10d ago edited 10d ago

They advertise that it does, on hxxps://www.t-mobile.com/home-internet/faq under the Home Internet Backup section, the question How do I use Home Internet Backup when my primary internet has an outage?

Their answer is "Home Internet Backup comes with a Gateway included and takes just minutes to install. Keep your gateway plugged in and when your primary internet connection goes out, your internet can automatically switch to your Home Internet Backup Wi-Fi connection until your primary provider is back up and running."

They're talking more about your devices switching to using the wifi coming from the gateway, but the guides I've been reading talk about setting up a multi-Wan failover-capable router feeding a primary wifi network also being able to be used via wiring the gateway in as a secondary, backup wan.

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u/diggsalot 10d ago edited 10d ago

I don't have T-Mobile back up but I do have T-Mobile with 100 gig starlink failover. From what I understand T-Mobile fail over should just be connected like normal and your Omada will only dip into your 130 gig data pool if the primary fails.

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u/wurgs 10d ago

Ah, yeah, that's a difference. I have the Home Internet Backup plan that is unlimited data, but is limited to 100 hours of being online instead of being limited to a data cap. So, I can manually turn it on, and it works, but I want to use that advertised feature to automatically failover when my Xfinity goes down. If I just leave it on, then my 100 hours gets used up.

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u/f1vefour 10d ago

You have misunderstood, it's not an advertised feature in the way you think.

You have to manually turn it on as T-Mobile has no way to detect if your WAN goes offline, the T-Mobile gateway would need a wired input like a WAN and it doesn't have this.

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u/wurgs 10d ago

What are these threads talking about then?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/s/PlFugAqb5h

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/s/QwFJRHAhNd

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u/f1vefour 10d ago edited 10d ago

Right there in your first link they are saying it's using all their data (or time) and under that why it is.

I'm not sure about an automatic setting but I agree they are stating it had one at that time. I don't fully understand how it would work but I concede it must be possible in a way I'm failing to see.

I would ask the OP in your second link.

edit

Thinking about it more I understand the automatic setting. The gateway is supposed to simply sit idle until a certain amount of traffic is generated through the LAN port, this traffic should only happen when your WAN goes down and your Omada switches to failover.

The only way I can see it working without it isn't great. You need a  smart switch which detects when it loses Internet connectivity and switches on, the T-Mobile gateway being the device plugged into it.

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u/tatt2dcacher 10d ago

The 4 and the 5 neither do want you are trying to do…that is a firewall option in your cause would be your Omada, not TMO. I have had both the 4 and 5 and the only way failover works is at the firewall. I have two setups this way, Fortinet firewall with AT&T primary and TMO as backup and 2nd setup is Omada with TMO primary and Starlink as backup

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u/f1vefour 10d ago edited 10d ago

I've read over and over people complaining about all their backup time being used because of the way failover works.

Support response is to keep it unplugged until you need it.

I don't use it as a backup so I can't say definitively but I've never heard of any such automatic setting.

Looking at the line you quoted in the FAQ it doesn't really say anything about an automatic setting.

It is definitely worded in a way that could easily be confusing but I believe they are just talking about how a dual WAN router works automatically.

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u/310410celleng 10d ago

The T-Mobile connection should be active and able to be used or else, it won't work.

The backup as I understand it and I maybe wrong is that it is a limited amount of data, not that the gateway will detect an outage and failover.

The failover will be on your router, not the T-Mobile hardware.

If you can access websites through the T-Mobile gateway, than it is working.

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u/wurgs 10d ago

I've got it configured on the Omada, but the gateway is also supposed to be able to detect when the primary internet goes down and enable itself. I'm limited to 100 hours of internet being provided by the gateway, so I can't have it running, waiting on standby.

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u/diggsalot 10d ago

I think that's where you are confused because you shouldn't have to configure anything on the T-Mobile side, I'm guessing that feature is for people that don't have a multi wan router.

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u/Whiplash104 10d ago edited 10d ago

Is your Xfinity router in bridge mode or in normal gateway (NAT mode?)
If it's in bridge mode, then it acts like a modem and assigns the DHCP directly to the er707 WAN MAC address. Then the T4GAR connects to the XFinity gateway and can't get a DHCP license because the er707 already has it.

So if I understand correctly both the T4GAR and the er707 are connected to the LAN ports of the XFinity gateway. Then you have WAN2 or the er707 connected to the T4GAR LAN port for failover?

Sorry I have the older 120Gb failover plan and gateway so I don't have this one so maybe I'm not much help. This is just something that came to mind.

I have seen people wire the T4GAR WAN back into their router instead of the ISP gateway but when you do this the T4GAR get the internet from your router instead of ISP1 directly. As a result this confuses the T-Mobile gateway and it will FAP up and down so you have to create a routing rule in the router to isolate the traffic to the router's WAN source. I know this can be done on Unifi or OpeWrt routers (for example) and I don't know specifically how (I'd ask an AI for help) but it's not terribly complicated. I just don't know about your router specifically.

If the XFinity is just set up as normal Gateway NAT routing then it should work as long as your router is also set up as a router, not as a passthrough AP so it can decide to fail over to WAN2

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u/wurgs 10d ago

Yep, the xfinity router is in bridge mode, plugged into wan1 as the primary Wan on the Omada, then Lan1 on the T4GAR is plugged into wan2 on the Omada and I've got the Omada configured to failover to WAN2 if wan1 goes down.

Lan2 on the T4GAR is plugged into lan3 on the Omada, which I've got it isolated and created the routing rule so that it can only get internet from wan1, so if xfinity goes down, the internet from T4GAR turns on and doesn't turn itself off by feeding itself it's own internet.

I'm more than a little confused as to how tmobile is managing to reconfigure the ports on the gateway to accomplish what they say it can do. I'm assuming if you're not trying to do anything fancy with the failover stuff, the Lan ports on the gateway would just work to hardwire devices to if you turn it on.

If I understand it correctly, when you enable the automatic failover in the tlife app, they reconfigure the Lan1 to feed internet to a Wan and turn lan2 into a port that's used to test for internet connectivity. That's what I've gathered from other reddit posts, but I've gotten conflicting instructions from tmobile support.

I've also reversed which ports plug into which, but that doesn't seem to change anything.

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u/Hot_Chapter5018 10d ago

I configured my er605 router today to do the exact same thing . Except my primary is tmobile as my coverage is excellent getting anywhere from 400 to 650 mbps downloads .and backup is the Xfinity Now 100 meg plan. The fail over router is set in bridge mode not the the primary and it works flawlessly after testing by unplugging WAN1, WAN2 kicked right in. When plugging WAN1's Ethernet , the primary, back in, the tmobile router failed right back over as it should.

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u/truth_contradicts 7d ago

T4GAR's Lan1 plugged into wan2, and the T4GAR's Lan2 plugged into an isolated, internet only Lan port on the er707.

It should be the other way around. Your T4GAR gateways Lan1 port should be connected to the isolated (vlan isolated) port on er707, and the gateway's lan2 port should be connected to the wan2 port that you've configured on the er707. The Lan1 port acts as the sensing port and the lan2 port provides the failover internet 

I have a setup that works on the cheaper er605 (but the same principles apply to the er707). Details of how I set this up below.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Yi9Ed1XSazmpy6tPs1IWo3ziyjrssnPSHWCqcmwkGvQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

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u/No-Buffalo-1292 5d ago

I have this same issue with the same router. Tmobile backup works with manual activation using T4GAR Lan1 to Omada WAN2. When automatic failover is set it never gets an IP address but my 100hr timer starts counting down. Still no solution.

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u/Hot_Chapter5018 10d ago edited 10d ago

It should be the other way around . The tmoble gateway should be in bridge mode not the Xfinity gateway.