4G TP Link modem Issue

[p310don]

This isn't a puppy problem. It's kinda off topic, but will ask here anyway.

I have a 4G modem, TP Link TL-MR100. It provides internet in my shed for my computer there.

Interestingly / annoyingly, it also connects to my phone, which tells me that it's connected, but there is no internet connection. My phone has no internet via this modem. My friend's phone is the same. The wifi security camera no longer connects to the internet via this modem.
My computer (fatdog) does.

Any ideas why / how this is happening?

[Flash]

So the 4G modem provides Internet to the computer in the shed, but won't provide it to anything else? Is the computer in the shed connected to the 4G modem via Ethernet cable or wifi?

[p310don]

Sorry @Flash, I should know to provide more detail.

Yes, it provides internet to the computer via wireless. Everything is wireless.

Only the computer has internet, everything else reports "no internet connection", even though it's the same connection.

Two weeks ago, everything had been happily getting internet via this modem.

[Wiz57]

What cellular service does the 4G modem connect to? It could be something amiss with them. OR, it could be the modem has
gone haywire, and needs to be replaced? Is there a "setup page" like they have with regular broadband modems? Maybe some
setting was changed, firmware flashed, etc.

[bigpup]

Do you have it set to work in:

Wireless Router Mode
The router support two operation modes, 3G/4G Router Mode and Wireless Router
mode. If you already have a modem or your internet comes via an Ethernet cable from
the wall, you can set up the router as a regular wireless router to share the internet.

Connect your router's LAN2/WAN port to the modem or the network port.

Visit http://tplinkmodem.net, and log in with password you set for the router.

Go to
Advanced ->Operation Mode page.

Select the Wireless Router Mode

Wireless router mode is the default setting for a router, allowing it to connect to the internet and share that connection with multiple devices over a wireless network. In this mode, the router manages network functions like assigning IP addresses, providing firewall protection, and enabling features like DHCP and NAT.

[p310don]

@Wiz57 it's with TPG / Vodafone. I'm sure it's not them. If it was a cellular issue, it'd say it wouldn't work at all.

@bigpup it's in the correct mode, otherwise it wouldn't be serving the computer at all.

I will try resetting the modem and see if that solves the problem.

Paul

[greengeek]

If it was a cellular issue, it'd say it wouldn't work at all.

6 months ago I would have agreed. But recently I have noticed increasing problems with 4G connections.
My experience relates to NZ cellular providers (not Aussie) - so is probably irrelevant - but I do believe that there is some similarity between Oz and NZ so will mention my experience anyway:

My wife has a Huawei phone, and I have a variety of Android smartphones and old button phones.
These phones are a mix of 3g and 4g (no 5g yet)
The smartphones get used as hotspots quite often - so in that sense are used as "wifi / cellular modems"

We recently received texts from our cell provider (2 degrees) that they will be switching off the 3g network in a few months. We thought that should not be an issue - it means my button phones will become obsolete but we should still be fine with our 4G phones.

Not so.

Turns out that the switching off of 3g also involves changes to the 4g network - such that only VoLTE capable phones will work. Not only that - but only VoLTE phones that are APPROVED by the cell provider.

In the meantime we are now experiencing the following issues:
- Calls will often not connect on our 4g smartphones (even though my one VoLTE capable phone works perfectly on the same network)
- Hotspotting is only possible SOMETIMES on the 4g phones and ALWAYS via the 4gVoLTE phone (ie seems like VoLTE does not only impact voice transmission - it also impacts data connection)
- My 3G button phone is still perfectly reliable (until they kill 3g completely in a few months...)
- My wife's Huawei phone is apparently not going to be acceptable to 2Degrees. There seems to be no Huawei device that will be compatible with the new 4gVoLTE rollout. A friend who works on the Southern Cross internet cable told me that the NZSIS and other "5 eyes" security groups have decided that Huawei is "persona non grata" on kiwi and aussie networks. Is the hardware of your modem somehow on a list of unacceptable devices I wonder?

This instability of the 4g voice / data connection is very variable and often coincides with times and locations where 2Degrees has advertised that there will be pre-planned maintenance on their network. I suspect that there is much more maintenance going on than what they state publicly.

Anyway - my point is that the data connection used by a 4g phone is DIFFERENT to the data connection used by a 4g VoLTE phone.

And it seems to be the cellular provider that has the ability to allow or disallow connections.

I also read on a reddit forum that once 3g is gone - the 4g data connections will disappear too - not just the 4g voice capability. Only 4gVoLTE phones will allow connection. (I assume this will apply to cellular modems too)
Maybe this info only relates to 2Degrees. We shall see...

- And just one other thing to mention - the number of connections permitted to the internet is something that can be limited by the cell provider. Looks like your modem is happy for multiple wifi connections, and may be happy to support multiple internet connections - but your ISP may be blocking more than one internet connection.

[Flash]

- And just one other thing to mention - the number of connections permitted to the internet is something that can be limited by the cell provider. Looks like your modem is happy for multiple wifi connections, and may be happy to support multiple internet connections - but your ISP may be blocking more than one internet connection.

I'll put my money on that explanation, p310don. Maybe you can somehow get one of the other devices to spoof the computer, to see for sure.

[p310don]

@greengeek

We had the 3g shutdown end of last year. I had some of the same experiences as you and your wife. My wife's phone, which was newer than mine stopped working because of the VoLTE thing.

I purchased the modem in question not long before the shutdown, and was worried that it might have been shutdown last October with the 3g shutdown. It wasn't.
It worked perfectly fine up until 1 month ago.

We had a cyclone come through on 8 March. I did turn off the modem just in case things got bad to avoid any power spikes / surges etc. It was only after that event that it stopped working properly. I suspect that that is mostly coincidental information, not technically relevant.

BUT...

And just one other thing to mention - the number of connections permitted to the internet is something that can be limited by the cell provider. Looks like your modem is happy for multiple wifi connections, and may be happy to support multiple internet connections - but your ISP may be blocking more than one internet connection.

This may be relevant. Not sure. After the cyclone, the cellular network was buggy for a long time. The local mayor was even calling out the telcos for unfairly treating this area. I wonder if they've throttled things in a way that limits the connections.

Now, to potentially throw a spanner in that idea, the computer is usually off. So probably not connected to the wifi. If above is correct, and only 1 device can connect at a time, the security camera should connect when the computer is turned off. This would probably suit me anyway. But that doesn't happen.

I wonder if perchance the wifi stays connected when the computer is off? I don't think so, but you never know. I haven't tried unplugging the PC from the wall and seeing what happens. That'll be my next experiment I guess.

[Tahrbaby]

Make sure that Data Roaming and or Mobile Data are switched on in the router settings.
These can be inadvertently switched off.

[p310don]

SOLVED - kinda

I finally found a page with relevant information, which I have used to get a solution of sorts. It allows for a flaky connection for my security camera. If my phone connects to the modem, then the camera disconnects. It's all a bit weird.

https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/f ... pic/611980

I made a duplicate of the APN profile as mentioned in the link. Except, IPV4 only didn't work, so I used both IPV4 & IPV6, so exactly the same as the original profile, and that worked. Go figure.

Part of me would like to know why the PC connects to the router and gets internet, but the android phone doesn't, and the camera doesn't. Iphones apparently don't suffer this issue, nor windows devices. I don't have any iphones or windows devices to check.
What's different between some devices wireless and others? Isn't it all a standard? On one hand I'd like to know the difference, but on the other hand, I probably wouldn't understand anyway!

[greengeek]

You may possibly have to investigate a different brand alternative in the end. These days I think that ISPs can make things difficult if they want to.

https://www.wired.com/story/tp-link-rou ... 0officials.

[p310don]

You may possibly have to investigate a different brand alternative in the end

Whilst I understand the potential risk of being spied on by my modem, I know for certain that my android phone is spying on me. Ergo, the modem not allowing my android phone to connect is an anti-spy feature, not a bug....!