NIGHTHAWK M5 5G MR5200 Nintendo Switch Online Not Working With AT&T Wireless

Since Netgear, AT&T, and Nintendo has been of no help, I created my own solution. I'm finally getting NAT type B with low ping allowing me to play Nintendo Switch Online again. This solution requires a VPN service along with a additional router that is compatible with the VPN service you choose. Because AT&T is so strict when it come to NAT, the VPN will hide what you're doing allowing you to get NAT type B needed for Nintendo Online. You could plug this VPN compatible router directly into the MR5200 so that you have a normal wifi signal and a VPN wifi signal. For me, I used the ethernet of the MR5200 to connect to my mesh wifi system (TP-Link Deco X60 AX3000), and plugged my router running the VPN into another mesh node.

The VPN service I chose was IPVanish, which I paid $45 for the first year. I disabled auto renew so I can get the lower first year rate next year with a different email. I had a Nighthawk R7000 laying around, and it was compatible with IPVanish. Many other routers are compatible with IPvanish which you can check here:

https://www.ipvanish.com/vpn-setup/routers/

Just scroll down to "Manually set up a VPN on your existing router" and see what is compatible. If your router is compatible, they will give you instructions on how to install their VPN service on the router. For me I used the "DD-WRT for IPVanish (FlashRouter Privacy App)" method since you can easily change the VPN server with a drop down box. These are the instructions I used for my R7000 router:

https://support.ipvanish.com/hc/en-us/articles/360026042833-DD-WRT-for-IPVanish-FlashRouter-Privacy-App-?_ga=2.132583054.1402224716.1634920114-906712208.1634277511&_gac=1.158950984.1634516592.CjwKCAjwk6-LBhBZEiwAOUUDp-nSO303kkMLkGtd334yyz5dePHAuBRKNS_JRK2mCBbBMQTZ9rKzDBoCkFoQAvD_BwE

This method required installing custom DD-WRT firmware r40189 or later. I used the latest firmware from 2021 and it didn't work with the FlashRouter Privacy App, so I ended up using the 2019 r40189 build for my Netgear R7000 found here:

https://dd-wrt.com/support/other-downloads/?path=betas%2F2019%2F07-04-2019-r40189%2F

Follow the beginning of this video if you don't know how to install DD-WRT on your router:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XfAFRhijTw&t=1512s

In the video above, I stopped watching after he showed me how to install the custom DD-WRT firmware since using the FlashRouter Privacy App is so much more convenient than his method.

After I got DD-WRT and FlashRouter installed, I signed into Flash Router using my IPVanish credentials. When signing in you have to chose a server. I highly recommend choosing servers close to you and running speed tests here:

https://www.speedtest.net/

Try testing the speed in the closest city servers to you. In America, I'm closest to Miami, but Atlanta had the fastest speeds with the lowest ping. You're looking for low ping (under 100 ms) if you want a great experience with Nintendo Switch Online. Because Nintendo limits internet speed on the Switch, and the games are pretty basic, you don't need ridiculous download and upload speeds. Nintendo says you need a min 3 Mbps download speed, and a min 1 Mbps upload speed. I was getting 21 Mbps download, 19 Mbps upload, and a 59 ms ping. This is plenty for Nintendo Swith Online. Your speed may change with the VPN server load, but my experience has been pretty consistent. Because you're running a VPN, I don't believe you're able to port forward to get NAT type A. But for Nintendo Switch Online, NAT type B works perfectly well.

With this solution, I was destroying the ridiculously good Japanese players in Mario Kart 8. This proves that even through you're running a VPN, you can still play super competitively. I'm sharing this to help others in my situation. Hopefully they can now bypass their carriers block and play Nintendo Switch Online.