Nokia Fastmile 5G Gateway 3.2 and 3rd Party Mesh Routers

[Meo034]

Good afternoon,

I recently upgraded to the Nokia Fastmile 5G Gateway 3.2 Home Internet system (in April of this year) and was initially very happy with it as I was getting roughly 100 Mbps download speed and 10 Mbps upload speed via the WIFI as well as the two ethernet ports at the back. However, the range of the WIFI signal from the Nokia isn't the greatest and I could not get WIFI reception in my front porch, front and back yards.

Therefore, I installed a 3rd Party WIFI system (Netgear Nighthawk Mesh WIFI 6) to resolve the signal range and was very happy until early July 2024 when out of sudden, my speed from the Netgear got reduced from 100 Mbps down to less than 30 Mbps. Tried various resets, reboots, power ON then OFF, then I decided to totally wipe out the Netgear router (default reset) and re-install it from scratch just to find out that the speed is still limited to approx 26-28 Mbps when I was getting much closer to 100 Mbps prior to early July 2024.

I bought three new Mesh network systems from Amazon (DECO 75 PRO, DECO AX200 and ASUS ET12 Pro) and all three have roughly the same download outputs (26-28 Mbps) once connected to the Nokia Fastmile modem. All three systems greatly enhanced my WIFI range where I have signal on my front porch, front and backyard as well as my workshop which is approx. 60 feet from the main router. BUT for some unknown reasons, I can only get 26-28 Mbps with any of those three 3rd party Mesh routers. I also tried changing ethernet cable (CAT 5, CAT 6, CAT 7 and CAT 😎 between the Nokia Fastmile modem and my Mesh router without any luck (same 26-28 Mbps download and roughly 10 Mbps upload). I am simply trying to get the speed that I used to have (April to end of June) which was always around 98 - 100 Mbps download speed and roughly 10 Mbps upload speed using a 3rd party mesh router. 

Can someone please help me? I am running out of patience and the amount of time spent trying to configure a 3rd party router with the Nokia Fastmile 5 G is crazy!!  

**Labels Updated**

[RogersZia]

Hi @Meo034, I recall @RogersMoin recommended that we create a ticket to have the speed issues investigated for you. Did you have a chance to do so through tech support or PM @CommunityHelps? 

@-G- @Datalink would you have any input about the mesh network set up?

RogersZia

[Meo034]

I have been dealing hours on the phone with Rogers Techn Reps and they say there is nothing wrong with their systems. I just received a new Nokia modem yesterday and still same outputs from any of the two ethernet ports. If I plug in a laptop to any of the two ethernet ports, I get the approx 100 Mbps download but if I plug in any of the 4 Mesh routers that I purchased, they all get the same which is approx 25 Mbps speed outputs. Everything was working fine for  months until early July and then the speed got reduced by 66% without doing anything at my end. Hence that is why some people are saying that ISP and Nokia have updated their firmware and it is decreasing their output speeds if customers are plugging in their own Mesh Routers in hope that customers would purchase Rogers' equipment (WiFi extenders) rather than ASUS or DECO or TP-Link.

I am not a network specialist and most devices will configured itself when plugged in to the Nokia Modem. My Netgear Nighthawk certainly did configured itself without issues and worked without issues until early July 2024. Hence why I purchased the other Mesh systems to see if mine was defective or perhaps if Rogers/Nokia were adjusting their network in the back end without advising / informing their customers of the changes and provide them with instructions to resolve their problems!!

[-G-]

@Meo034  How do you currently have things configured?  Did you disable the internal Wi-Fi networks on the on  the Fastmile 5G Gateway?  If not, you should.  Also, do you have your external Wi-Fi mesh running in "router mode" or did you enable Bridge / AP mode on the mesh network?  The mesh should be running in AP (Access Point) mode.

To be honest, I have no idea why Wi-Fi would have suddenly slowed down.  As much as I love a good conspiracy theory, I really cannot see the folks at Rogers or Nokia deliberately rate-limiting your external Wi-Fi mesh just because you have one.

I have never used the Nokia Fastmile 5G Gateway or the Rogers 5G Internet service, so I am totally unfamiliar with the quirks of the hardware and the quirks of the service.  I know it is not a "standard" Internet service.  (I believe the network is based on an IPv6 core and employs 464XLAT for IPv4 connectivity.). I know that Rogers also rate-limits certain types of traffic, such as video streaming.

If you have your Wi-Fi mesh in "router/gateway" mode, the Nokia gateway will see all your Wi-Fi clients appearing as a single device and a single IP address.  In this situation, if any of the Wi-Fi devices that connect through your Wi-Fi mesh generate any traffic that triggers Rogers' rate-limiting or traffic shaping, it would likely get applied to all devices that connect through the mesh.

All that I can suggest at this point is that you configure things such that the internal Wi-Fi on the Nokia gateway is disabled and your external Wi-Fi mesh is in Bridge/AP mode.

If that does not fix the problem, we can then dig deeper into other aspects of your installation.

[Duffer]

Same issue here.  I had an external antenna 25/5 plan and it worked fantastic.  Due to the required placement of the new Nokia 5G Gateway by a window on one end of the house, the signal is severely degraded on the other side of the house.  At the router, it routinely gets 100mbps+.  When I run it through my Orbi RBR20 mesh system, I get 20-25mbps at best.  That's making it slightly slower than what I had as the mesh ran 25mbps on the old system.  

After a number of resets and reboots, I agree that it appears Nokia has throttled down 3rd party mesh systems.  The irony, you can't get the Nokia Beacons (their mesh system) anywhere.  It's really made the new 5G system pointless.

[Meo034]

Hello!

It does not seem to matter how I have my external Wi-Fi mesh network running in "router mode" or in "Bridge / AP mode" as they all get the same speed (25 Mbps). All Mesh systems that I used (DECO AXE-75, AX-200, ASUS ET12) or my original Netgear Nighthawk all get around 25 Mbps.

The funny thing is that I requested a new Nokia modem from Rogers since my laptop which was connected directly to the Nokia Modem (via ethernet cable using a CAT-5e, CAT-6, CAT-7 or even CAT-8) was also getting 25 Mbps for speed regardless of the ethernet cable used. The Rogers Technical Rep suggested that I had a faulty cable and needed to replace it which I bought all new cables listed above without any increase of speeds.

Now here is the interesting thing!!! When I received my new Nokia FastMile modem from Rogesr, I connected my 3rd Party Mesh system to it using the ethernet cable (CAT-6) and when the Nokia modem came on and gave me the Green light with 3 bars for 5G+, I quickly ran a Speed Test from my 3rd Party Mesh system (Netgear Nighthawk) before the Nokia rebooted and updated its firmware. I got 92 Mbps download and 9 Mbps upload before the NEW Nokia FastMile rebooted and updated its firmware within 1 minute of being plugged in. a=After it rebooted and updated its firmware, I now get the same results (25 Mbps dnload) for any of the 3rd Party Mesh routers. 

So you tell me that Rogers or Nokia are not messing around with their firmware and intentionally restricting the speed of any 3rd Party Mesh Router devices being connected to their 5G Nokia modem? All we are trying to do is improve our signal range within our house (backyards) so that we can finally have decent Internet speed which Rogers finally came up with 100 Mbps!  I am paying for 100 Mbps but I certainly DO NOT get that speed (25 Mbps MAX) when using a 3rd Party Mesh router (WiFi 6E or WiFi 7) which provide a lot better range and security features when compared to the Nokia FastMile WiFi 6 features!! 

Rogers /  Nokia = Its time that you fix your Firmware and stop limiting the speed to anything being plugged in into your Nokia FastMile modem!!

[Duffer]

Been doing a lot of experimenting and I agree with your observations, I also find it funny that the Rogers go to is always "it must be your cable".  I can't tell you how many times I've heard that.  I guess the only true tell would be someone running a Nokia Beacon with the Fastmile.  As I mentioned before, the won't be happening anytime soon as the Nokia Beacon is not available anywhere.  

And speaking of throttling and slowing things down, what they are doing to the upload speeds is brutal.  5G phone easily runs at 10mbps, the router runs around 3mbps.  When I run a speed test, I can actually see where the sever reduction in upload speed kicks in about half way through.

So much potential for this new system, but so much disappointment.

[-G-]

---

@Meo034 wrote:

The funny thing is that I requested a new Nokia modem from Rogers since my laptop which was connected directly to the Nokia Modem (via ethernet cable using a CAT-5e, CAT-6, CAT-7 or even CAT-8) was also getting 25 Mbps for speed regardless of the ethernet cable used. The Rogers Technical Rep suggested that I had a faulty cable and needed to replace it which I bought all new cables listed above without any increase of speeds.

---

Okay, THAT makes sense.  I must have misunderstood your previous posts; it sounded like your laptop was attaining 100 Mbps but if you used that same cable to connect your wireless mesh, speeds dropped to 25 Mbps... and then jumped back up to 100 Mbps with your computer directly connected by Ethernet.

By the way, Cat 5e cable supports 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet at distances up to 100m.  (Likewise, Cat 6A cable, which can support 10 Gigabit Ethernet at distances up to 100m, can also cause problems if cheaply-built and not terminated as specified by standards.). Pretty much any good cable can support Gigabit Ethernet at short distances.

[Meo034]

I now get 100Mbps while connecting my laptop directly to the Nokia FastMile modem using a CAT-6 Ethernet cable approx 15 feet long. Then I take the same Ethernet cable and connect it to my 3rd Party Mesh router (Netgear Nighthawk) and the speed is reduced to 25 Mbps after the Nokia firmware was updated.

The techns constantly blame the cables or our 3rd party Mesh Routers instead of their own equipment. I bought over $2000 between the 3 systems I tested and waisted hours (40+) troubleshooting my network when all along it is Rogers / Nokia that have reduced the speed of the ports when connecting to an external Mesh Router (WiFi 6E or WiFi 7) which greatly improves the range and network security. Not ONCE did Rogers Services offered a rebate to my monthly bill for faulty devices or not delivering what I am paying for which is 100 Mbps!! The Nokia FastMile is a WiFi 6 modem with very few settings and/or protections and most people are wanting WiFi 6E as a minimum if not WiFi 7! I know I do!!

[-G-]

@Meo034 That's insane.

How many Wi-Fi devices do you have attached to your mesh?  Just wondering if the Nokia Fastmile 5G Gateway (with this particular firmware build) gets its knickers in a twist if there are more than a certain number of MAC addresses connected to an Ethernet port.

[Meo034]

The Nokia FastMile only sees one MAC address connected to the Ethernet port which is my 3rd Party Mesh Router (Netgear Nighthawk). My 3rd Party router handles all of my devices and I probably have 30+ devices connected to it 

[-G-]

---

@Meo034 wrote:

The Nokia FastMile only sees one MAC address connected to the Ethernet port which is my 3rd Party Mesh Router (Netgear Nighthawk). My 3rd Party router handles all of my devices and I probably have 30+ devices connected to it 

---

So you don't have your Wi-Fi mesh in Bridge Mode or AP Mode?

[Meo034]

As explained before, it does not matter if my 3rd party mesh router is setup in bridge or AP modes. I only get 25 Mbps download when connected via Ethernet to the Nokia FastMile modem

[-G-]

---

@Meo034 wrote:
As explained before, it does not matter if my 3rd party mesh router is setup in bridge or AP modes. I only get 25 Mbps download when connected via Ethernet to the Nokia FastMile modem

---

Okay, so here's the problem:  First, with your mesh in "router" mode, you may (or may not) experience problems due to Double-NAT.  Also, if you trigger Rogers' rate-limiting, I don't know whether this will apply to a single IP flow or to all connections going to a specific device or IP address.  If it is the latter, it will impact ALL of the devices that are connected to your mesh, not just one.

[Meo034]

I shouldn’t reach the Rogers’ rate-limiting as it is set for 500 GB and I hardly use 1/3 of it. I have proven that it was the Rogers’ recent firmware that is causing all of the issues with the 3rd party routers (in my case a Mesh Router)

[-G-]

---

@Meo034 wrote:
I shouldn’t reach the Rogers’ rate-limiting as it is set for 500 GB and I hardly use 1/3 of it. I have proven that it was the Rogers’ recent firmware that is causing all of the issues with the 3rd party routers (in my case a Mesh Router)

---

Do you ever stream any video?

At this point, I would recommend sending a private message to @CommunityHelps and ask them to consult their support teams to get an authoritative answer as to why your traffic is being throttled, and to ask how they would propose connecting a 3rd-party Wi-Fi mesh in lieu of using the Nokia gateway's internal Wi-Fi.

[Datalink]

Food for thought:  On the Netgear router, clone a MAC address from one of your LAN devices, such as a pc that you know will work when its connected directly to the Nokia Gateway.

1. Turn off the Nokia Gateway.

2.  On the Netgear router, clone a LAN device MAC address, so that the router uses that address as its WAN MAC address. 

3.  Reboot the router just to make sure that its using the cloned MAC address as the WAN MAC address

4.  Start the Nokia

5. Run a speedtest thru the router, or use whatever speedtest you have been using to see if the cloned MAC address makes a difference.  

That speedtest will rule out or prove that the Nokia Gateway is throttling a connected router.  If so, the same results might be seen with any other router, where the Gateway can use the MAC address to identify routers from various companies based on the MAC address ranges assigned to manufacturing companies. 

If it turns out that there is no difference, return the Netgear router to its own MAC address. 

[Meo034]

Hello!

Yes I stream videos and movies from my Roku Streaming device which is connected via WiFi to my Netgear Nighthawk Mesh Router.  I have sent a private message to the CommunityHelps last week explaining my situation and I have yet to receive a response. When I call in the Techn Help at Rogers, they are puzzled and keeps blaming the cabling (CAT-5, CAT-6) or my 3rd Party Mesh Router. I explained to them that I tried 3 other Mesh Routers and they all do the same but yet it is my 3rd Party Mesh Router that is at fault. Rogers also does not provide you assistance with devices that are not their own so maybe that is why I am getting nowhere until someone comes up with a solution and post it on the Forum. That is my hope anyway!

[Meo034]

Hello,

I had to google Double-NAT to understand what you meant and ran the Tracert 8.8.8.8. command (which is Google DNS) and based on the results, I am not sure if the Double-Nat is the issue. Maybe because I do not understand what the results should look like?   I got the followings for the first two hops

line 1: 2ms 3ms 1ms with an IP address of 192.168.1.1

Line 2: 44ms, 47ms, 43ms with an IP address of 10.195.XXX.X

Reading on the Internet, it says: If the first two hops show private and Public IP addresses, you are using a single NAT. But if the first two hops show Private IP addresses, such as 192.168.1.10 or 172.16.0.1, it means there's a Double-NAT. 

So based on the above results, am I in a double-Nat situation or not? 

Thanks for your help! 

[Meo034]

Good morning,

I have very limited networking knowledge so I will certainly have to Google and research how to mess around with cloning my Netgear Mesh Router.

Based on what you said, it would make sense that the recent Firmware update might recognize the MAC addresses assigned to various Mesh Routers and hence throttling back the speeds as I tried 3 other Mesh Routers with all the same results as my original Mesh Router.  

[Dnfeist1]

I am also experiencing this same issue.  Have been running a TP link router in router mode almost since the first week I received the Nokia, as the Nokia has very limited functionality.  Always had the 100 Mbs down until a couple weeks ago.  Now only have 30 down.  Nothing has changed with the TP router and no new devices added.  If I connect my pc directly to the Nokia, Ethernet port or wifi, I’m back up to 100.