✅ I Took It Apart! - T-Mobile 5G Home Internet - Sagemcom Fast 5688W Disassembly + External Antenna
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2022
- Here's how to take apart the Sagemcom Fast 5688W to install external antennas for improved signal strength and speed! T-Mobile has released a 3rd 5G Home Internet gateway, its call the Sagemcom Fast 5688W and it has a similar appearance to the Arcadyan KVD21. I will have many videos on this unit including external antenna install and testing, stock speed comparison to the Nokia 5G21 and the Arcadyan KVD21 gateways. Consider subscribing to the channel or looking below for more content!
See all my T-Mobile Home Internet videos: • T-Mobile Home Internet...
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Sagemcom Fast 5688W User Guide: www.t-mobile.com/support/publ...
T-Mobile Firmware page: www.t-mobile.com/support/devi...
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#sagemcom #5G #tmobile #tmobilehomeinternet #arcadyan #kvd21 #ruralinternet #fixedwireless #nokia 
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Nater Tater is the 'Bob Villa' of these gateways. Knows a lot of stuff. Figures stuff out. And is gracious enough to share that knowledge. "Let's get started, shall we?"
Oh man, I took mine apart last week, it was brutal, no guides. The nice thing is I could route the antenna connectors into the top plate by drilling a hole in each corner.
Love the disassembly videos. Thanks for posting!
🤙👍
Thanks man this was "Awesome" you saved most of us from going blindly into the T-Mobile Abyss!
I so look forward to the day when they release one that includes a connection for an external antenna.
Thanks for making this video. I received this gateway when I switched to T-mobile. Now I can order the 4x4 mimo antenna!
Yes, it will work!
Looking forward to seeing your results with both waveform antenna configurations. Keep up the great work you're doing.
Thanks!
Thanks! Looking forward to your test results
Great video and great channel. Very well done. Any idea when the 2nd video of this project will be out? I will be trying this exact project based on your recommendations.
Keep up the great work!
Great information. Cant wait for your next video!!
Always solid content. You would think tmo would wise up and have externally avail antenna ports so we can stop dissecting these things.
Seriously!
Verizon is now offering their “outdoor antenna” so I bet T-Mobile will follow in the next year or so .
@@marlboromatt5656 I dont think so. Verizon's outdoor receiver is for their mmWave service which travels indoor very poorly.
Thank you for your videos. I tried TMO Home Internet to use as a backup for my cable company. Reception was very poor, so I returned the package. Of course that was before I found your channel. I now have 2 cable providers with a failover router. When the 1 year promo period on my 2nd cable provider ends, I might try TMO again following your recomendations.
Good stuff! Also look at the verizon home internet if its an option.
Thanks for this video. I just had to return my Arcadia under a warranty swap and this is what they gave me.......... although I was hoping for the newest model with the external antenna ports.......... anyway I was able to get this apart pretty much the same way you did. The one good thing about this model is that the antenna ports are more accessible than on the Arcadia. Once back together , in place and powered up, it did take several reboots to finally get a stable connection. I will say that when I did a speed test with Nvidia Shield, this was the first time I got over 200 mbs. With the internal antennas I was getting between 50-60 mbs which is enough for streaming TV, but since I went through the trouble and expense of purchasing an external antenna, I wanted to use it. But over 200 mbs download?? I never had that with Comcast cable!!!
Glad to hear of the success!
Excellent 👍
I will say it appears way better assembled than the other device.
Thanks!
You bet!
legend
Good afternoon, do have a video showing how to hook up the waveform 4 wire antenna to this particular unit?
Just another great video, many thanks for your efforts. PayPal donation on the way.
Thanks Howard! Glad you're enjoying the content.
Thank you for the tutorials! I just found your channel & it has been a tremendous help so far! Curious if you could tell me the best starting configuration for a 4x4 Mimo with Sagemcom? In the video, you say to hook them all up, but the Sagemcom is not labeled M, M1, M2, D. Sorry for my ignorance, but I am new to external antennas.
Welcome aboard! I'll do a video on the best arrangement for the Sagemcom with Waveform 4x4 MIMO soon. I don't have the answer for you yet.
Waveform released the antenna guide for this gateway yesterday. Now, we need someone to start printing the warranty stickers........
🤣
Looking forward to what you get on the antenna, I’m using the cheap $80 from amazon and getting blazing speeds, like 4x improvement. Also using the 5g and I think Mimo ports. I put some paddle type antennas on the LTE ports, but they don’t seem to affect the speed.
Here's the results ruclips.net/video/lA0W1XRU4J8/видео.html
Warranty sticker? What sticker? Mine didn't come with one! 😏
Thanks to your video, I just got mine opened and sma connections installed. I'm about ready to test and will be interested to compare your results with mine.
Good to hear!
@natertater what antenna is good to install it on my car to do this setup ?
Hi Nater. I have a cabin, no cell single at it. Bought a booster, still no signal, however i get signal with the booster when antenna is 150 ft from home. Is there a way to make it work in my cabin.
I wish someone would do a video on the Wavemaker FX2000 v3 that's the one the sent me for my business internet. I took mine apart but I couldn't find a way to connect to the 4/5g antenna ports but it works almost as well as my Nokia with external antennas (inside the house) I haven't mounted the antennas outside yet
Hi Nater, Thanks for the awesome videos. In your opinion which out of the 3 Tmobile units is the easiest to disassemble and add pigtails? Thanks
Nokia
@@NaterTater will you be showing how to disable the wifi on this new gateway?
@@carrottop08 maybe
Waiting on your results
When putting the case back together, note that the power button is not attached to anything, and will likely fall out when disassembling the unit.
I'm about to do this mod, and that is very good information to know. Thanks for sharing.
Nate, Did you figure out which internal ports are best to hook up a MIMO 2x2 Log Periodic External Antenna from Waveform?
He said the red and green for 2x2
Video didn’t show it, but are there places to fix cables to the inner unit, so they don’t rip off the nipple when connected to the sma cable?
Yes, there are many ways to do strain relief on the cables. Tape, ziptie or custom 3D printed/metal base to secure the SMA connector. Definitely recommended to do something for that issue.
Help! I got the gateway open (thanks to your video!) but I can't get the external antenna wires (that came with the mimo antenna) to clip into where the internal antennas were clipped.
They are fragile and sensitive to being lined up correctly (ie centered and level).
Used this video to take it apart w/o breaking it. Drilled 4 holes in the top and mounted the SMA jacks. Using cheap antennas for now. There is marked improvement but the main reason for me converting is for a 4x4 on our RV to be purchased and installed later. I plan on making a video on this. Is it OK to link to this video in mine?
Yes of course. Good luck
@@NaterTater Thank you!
I am already getting an Excellent Signal B66 and N41 with my stock T-Mobile Sagemon. My question is how long runs of added Thin Coax Pigtails are better, even with the added array? Thin coaxes and thin pigtails are Extremely lossy at GHz Frequencies. Cellular Companies use Rigid Coax, Hard Line, and Wave Guides for long runs up Cellular Towers. 😳
certainly a loss in any cable or connection but if you keep it reasonably short (less than 30-50ft) you can easily still have significant net gains. See ruclips.net/video/lA0W1XRU4J8/видео.html
If you hookup an external antenna to the 4 terminals does it disable the unit's internal antennas? I assume so. I wanted to try it WITH an antenna in a remote location but WITHOUT an antenna at home. Thanks!
Correct
Question: does the external antenna you use determine the connections? In other words, 2x2, 4x4, etc.? I'd like use to connect an external antenna to my T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Gateway (Sagemcom 5688W).
Yes. A 2x2 has two cables. 4x4 has 4 cables. Tune in tmrw for the Sagemcom external antenna (2x2 and 4x4) speed test!
Did you try testing with your booster before trying the antenna's? I have the same gateway and would rather use a booster. Thanks for any information.
Yes I did. if you watch this video I show it on the booster vs 1st floor vs 3rd floor. ruclips.net/video/7b76GBJtzr0/видео.html
@@NaterTater Thank you sir
Was the antenna connections behind the back removable panel or was it behind the display side? Curious if a full tear down is required or if could one just remove the back panel as you did to gain access to the panel?
nevermind, I rewatched the video, the outer shell has to come out to gain access to the antenna ports.
Correct
Great videos. I've only had my SAG FAST 5688w for two days and it's already got a problem. It intermittently does a power cycle. I notice I have lost my signal, look up at the device, and see the "Powering Up" message displayed. Hear of this issue and any ideas? Thanks!
It could be trying to do firmware updates. Leave it plugged in and on.
@@NaterTater Thanks! T-mobile tech advisor persuaded me it was defective (sounds like he was wrong!) and to replace it with the only one a local store had in stock, which was the Arcadyan. Hope that wasn't a bad move. Seems to be OK several days into use now.
I have a parabolic antenna. Can I attach it for 5g or does it need to be mimo?
Non MIMO will work but nearly as well.
I have watched several of your videos. I know you use your own wifi router but I have not seen anything about the quality of the built in wifi service. Did I miss that? Thanks
In general the t-mobile 5g gateways have good wifi speed and coverage for a single unit. It severely lacks settings and "quality of service" to manage multiple devices throughput at once. Here's a video on coverage ruclips.net/video/BEA61OK6hmc/видео.html
@@NaterTater Thanks for the reply. I have the Nokia unit myself in my 1100 sq foot condo. I get great speeds 300mbts and good coverage here just north of Cincinnati. I am interested in helping a friend in rural Florida who is stuck with Hughes net. He has a larger house and would not want or know how to deal with extra routers. I could help him with an outside antenna. I enjoy your videos.
Does anyone know where I. An order the four wire that goes to the board and gives me the sma connection fittings for the antennas
yes links are in the video description
do you have a firmware for sagemcom f@st 5688T? do we have any option for us to bandlock?
Can't band lock with the stock gateways but can with 3rd party ones ruclips.net/video/svwZQEuJiss/видео.html
so do you have to solder anything?
No
hi can you recommend a good antenna for RV's for this same 5g unit?
amzn.to/3SytGX3
@@NaterTater will this antenna also work with the latest model from tmobile? i assume yes
@@derrickterry7 yes
Would it work to purchase a gateway on ebay and place my sim card in this gateway so I would not be tampering with the one owned by T mobile? Would this work? Also do the mimo jumpers to install the external antenna come from waveform? Thank you
You have to be careful with the units from ebay, they might be black listed. Otherwise they would work. Waveform includes the u.fl to sma jumpers.
@NaterTater thank you! Love your video information.
Not sure if this really happened, but I think it did. Looking to see if anyone else is experiencing this. Subscribed in an area with 5x5 coverage, speeds pushing 200MB with no external antennas. Took it down to my campsite in an area that is covered by their limited plan, but not the regular plan. Working fine, although slow. Put a waveform 4x4 up, which wasn't doing much better, and couldn't get 5G for anything although a phone could, until I discovered that I had mis-labeled the pigtails. Straightened that out, and took it back to camp. Lo and behold 5G with some pretty good numbers. 4 out of 5 bars, app telling me it's all great, excellent wifi connectivity, BUT, no internet and no indication of why.
I'll take it back down in a couple of weeks and try again, but something is telling me that they are either blocking Home Internet gateways on their 5G, or they are blocking my gateway specifically. any logs or something I can test to see where the disconnect is? Can I force it back to 4G LTE?
They do throttle T-Mobile home internet I do know that. I get 100mb down at 2am but .02 mb prime time. It's absolutely junk
do those MIMO connectors go inside the U.Fl
connector or outside?
I'm not sure what you are asking. The u.fl connectors are on the circuit board inside the gateway.
@@NaterTater yes i found them but does the cables off antenna plug to the inside or like a cap go on outside
and thank you for your reply
@teddybear8545 see ruclips.net/video/lA0W1XRU4J8/видео.html the SMA connectors on the pigtails stick out of the gateway so you can hook them up to the antenna
@@NaterTaterthank you for your response. I had to stop i could not manipulate the wires using my one good hand and a prosthetic. yea i damaged the connector inside the gateway. So i gotta back up and regroup.
your tutorials , are worth more than 21.5K subs , come on you tube ...... anyways thank you sir .....
Thanks J R!
Where are the wi-fi antennas? The antennas can't all be for cellular, right?
Correct. There are wifi and a gps antenna too.
Disassembly tips:
Buy a "Spudger tool" kit from Amazon et al. An assortment of plastic pry bars.
Since they are also plastic, they will not mar and nick the the plastic shell like metal tools will.
Use extra spudgers to hold the gap on the other side of the case (above each clip) while you work on each side.
I didn't have to much problem with the backplate, but the case was difficult even with the spudger tools for me.
What I found actually real easy to do is just sort of pull on the back sides from the base one at the time for the left and the right and they popped right off with no prying.
Then just the center/front clip left which I just had to nudge a bit with a spudger for it to pop off.
Also like someone else mentioned, look out for the power switch part, it will probably pop off on you.
If you wanted you could probably put a tiny drop of super glue on the switch where the push button part fits and glue it in place.
I just put mine aside for later like you'd do with the rubber feet.
Also before you touch any of internal antenna leads I suggest you use a ground ESD wrist strap. I use a full setup with ESD desk and floor mat too. Reduces the chance of zapping the electronics inside. The worst thing about ESD damage if you don't fry something outright with static, might just damage some component(s) that will reduce the life of them.
Is this better than the last on bluffer-bloat
Not sure. Will be tested.
@@NaterTater thank you
I just got this one and it looks like you can fit a noctua fan in the top space the only thing is how do we power the fan hmmmm
www.etsy.com/shop/DC3Dprojects
I had to send my original Sagemcom back due to rebooting issues. The warranty sticker is damaged. Has anyone been charged due to a missing/damaged warranty sticker? If so, can you give me some details?
How was your experience returning it with a damaged warranty sticker?
Can I use the Sagemcom Fast 5688W for manscaping?
Nice video, thanks for posting
Where are the internal antenna's located in the device itself ?
The 4 corners
@@NaterTater it looked like the arcadyan had the LTE on the right and M on the left backsides when facing the display of unit... the only reason I ask is I notice sometimes how I tilt the unit by the window can change things ...
@@NaterTater... can you let us know which antenna is on which corner on the Sagemcom Fast 5688W when looking at the front panel (left front, left back, right front, right back)? I have the Sagemcom Fast 5688W and am having a difficult time with placement for optimum connection.
I have the Arcadyan at another location and when looking at the front panel, I have to have the left side of the unit aimed at the tower to get optimum connection.
Thank you, Sir...!!
Great video, but I guess I’m not real keen on spending hundreds of dollars, drilling holes and running cables to add an external antenna that may or may not actually improve my signal.
Buy the antenna and test it with gateway BEFORE drilling holes. If it doesn’t work. Return all items. Cost close to zero. 😁
@@205rider8 still need to disassemble a product I don’t own with my somewhat limited electronics expertise. Just saying, seems a little intimidating.
I have been trying for 6 months to get a t-mobile internet they keep saying no? I have 5 g at my house 5 bars... any help ?????
Get it at a different address and then t-mobile allows you to "travel" with it.
I think the 5 bars might represent your 4G LTE signal strength. Your 5G signal might be much weaker. T-Mobile's app might let you look at the signal strengths of your 4G and 5G signals separately, just like their home internet app does for people with the home gateway.
Also, there IS an LTE version of both the T-Mobile and Verizon home internet services you could ask about.
I got the service a month ago and have this device. I get great speeds and it is always showing excellent signal with full bars. However about every two weeks it loses connection and has required a reboot. Anyone else see this?
Same here. First 2 weeks it was blazing fast. So we decided to stay with it. Now It's so slow that it's not usable. 100mb download at 2am. 0.02 mb prime time
You might have competition for the bandwidth now. Take photos of the bands being used when it's slow. Then reset and reboot and see which bands are used at high speed times.
@@kevinj8258 I ended up using an aftermarket router/modem. I'm locked on 5g bands now
Sagemcom Fast 5688W: How do I turn WiFi off?
ruclips.net/video/7NJ7TJ_1VZk/видео.html
It’s already been done and documented on Reditt over a month ago. It’s also been done by several in the T-Mobile internet group but they didn’t make videos .
Hence why I said I dont think anyone has made a video yet. 🙂
I got fed up with Tmobile. Speed was only 0.08 Mbps. Firewall kept blocking me from uploading files to my website. When I called support, all I got was someone from the Taliban who didn't know anything. Went back to AT&T.. Cost more but at least it works.
TMobile is junk. After the trial period they throttle you to basically zero download
Pffft, sticker.
Thanks!!!
You're welcome!
Hey Nate, does this new Sagecom has a fan on it ? Ive got the Nokia trashcan right now (Ive only had the Home Internet for the three months) and it gets very very hot. I have it on a cooler master router cooling pad with a fan, but it still gets hot. I was just wanting to ask before I call TMobile and ask for this one so I dont burn my fingers.
No fan
@@NaterTater thank you!