Join the Thread Network

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After externally commissioning a device using the OT Commissioner CLI, a Joiner is ready to join the Thread network.

Join the network

On the Joiner device, start the Thread protocol to automatically join the network.

thread start
Done

Check the state after a few moments to confirm. It may initially start as a child, but within two minutes it should upgrade to a router.

state
router
Done

Also check the device's IPv6 addresses. It should have a Global address using the On-Mesh Prefix specified during formation of the Thread network through the OTBR Web GUI.

ipaddr
fdde:ad11:11de:0:0:ff:fe00:9400
fd11:22:0:0:3a15:3211:2723:dbe1 #Global address with on-mesh prefix
fe80:0:0:0:6006:41ca:c822:c337
fdde:ad11:11de:0:ed8c:1681:24c4:3562

Ping the external internet

Test the connectivity between the Joiner device in the Thread network and the external internet by pinging a public IPv4 address.

ping 8.8.8.8
Pinging synthesized IPv6 address: fd4c:9574:3720:2:0:0:808:808
16 bytes from fd4c:9574:3720:2:0:0:808:808: icmp_seq=15 hlim=119 time=48ms
1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received. Packet loss = 0.0%. Round-trip min/avg/max = 48/48.0/48 ms.
Done
aside negative

**Note:**  NAT64 needs to be functional in order to be able to ping IPv4 addresses. For more information on NAT64, see the related codelab [Thread Border Router - Provide Internet access via NAT64](/codelabs/openthread-border-router-nat64).