Back in June, we shared information about two new Home Internet Gateways coming to T-Mobile. In August, the first of the two from Arcadyan, was shown off in FCC documents and images, featuring external antenna connectors and an external antenna, which T-Mobile plans to offer for an extra fee.
The confidentiality agreement for the Sercomm modem has now run out, and images are available from the FCC. You might be surprised to find out, however, that the new model looks nearly identical to the Arcadyan.
Sercomm’s TMO-G4SE Home Internet Gateway is a very familiar standing white rectangle, and features 4 external antenna ports just like the Arcadyan. It has the same dual ethernet ports and SIM slot, the same two USB-C ports, and the same type of stand/bracket.
If you didn’t know any better, you’d think these were photos of the Arcadyan. They’re that similar.
There is one small difference available in the photos, however: the antenna.
The antenna paired with the Sercomm model appears to be a bit smaller than the one paired with the Arcadyan, and features the trademark T-Mobile logo on one side.
The manual for the new device, which is also available via the FCC, lacks any mention of antenna mode switching. This is quite different from the Arcadyan, which features a toggle to select between internal and external antennas.
This could mean that T-Mobile plans to have this modem only work with external antennas, perhaps bundling them with every unit. The more likely outcome, though, is that this is simply an oversight, and T-Mobile will still sell the antenna separately. Either way, you might be better off grabbing an antenna from the awesome folks over at Waveform, who have already created a great guide on using their antennas for the Arcadyan model.
Overall, it seems the plan may be to have two manufacturers making identical modems, similar to some other ISPs and their modems. Hopefully this means T-Mobile will offer all customers who want it a new modem with external antenna ports, but we’ll have to wait and see.
A source previously speculated that this model was set to launch on October 12th, but it is likely it was pushed back a bit. It’s also possible it’s already begun being placed in rotation along with the Arcadyan, and due to the similar looks it might not be obvious to consumers.
We’ll keep an eye on T-Mobile’s Home Internet modem offerings to see what they end up doing with this one, and will update if we learn more.
