My T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Experience: 5 Things I Love and a Few I Don't
Why I switched to T-Mobile 5G Home Internet
I went with T-Mobile for several reasons. DSL was too slow. My next-door neighbor got T-Mobile 5G Home Internet and raved about it. Coincidentally, CenturyLink wanted to charge me $200 to replace my old router with a newer one. I said, "Nope," and changed to 5G home internet.
My home internet life has improved in my post-DSL world, but it's not all roses and happy dances. If you're looking for a TL;DR, here you go: I'm still on T-Mobile 5G Home Internet and will probably stick with it until I can give Verizon 5G Home Internet a try or until fiber finally shows up on my block. My experience with 5G home internet is specific to my circumstances, so your journey with the same service may differ. Here are things I like about my 5G home internet and the elements that may drive me to switch to another internet service provider someday.
What I love about T-Mobile 5G Home Internet
I will sing the praises of T-Mobile 5G Home Internet before I air my grievances. The service's best features are its simplicity and ease of use and it represents an upgrade over outdated DSL.
T-Mobile/CNET
The price is right
With CenturyLink, I was paying $45 per month for downloads up to 20Mbps. With T-Mobile, my monthly bill is a straight $50. That's a sweet spot for me regarding home internet pricing. I was willing to pay a little more than CenturyLink for a higher standard of service, but my bargain-hunting mindset would balk at anything higher. I would consider Verizon 5G Home Internet for the same price, but the rival service is unavailable at my address.
Locating local internet providers
I expect fiber to arrive someday, but I'll scrutinize the pricing before I make a change. The two providers most likely to service my address are Ezee Fiber ($69 per month for a gig) and Vexus Fiber ($40 per month for 500Mbps or $50 per month for a gig). Vexus raises rates after the first year. I'll weigh my ingrained frugality against fiber performance when the time comes.
It's faster than DSL
That might seem like faint praise, but T-Mobile provides me vastly better speeds than I was getting from DSL. My best speed test results net top download speeds of 200Mbps, 10 times what I got on a good day with DSL. Speeds can be variable thanks to network congestion and placement of the gateway device. I have some speed complaints, but we'll talk about that later.
Terms are simple
I don't like complexity when it comes to broadband plans. I don't want to calculate equipment rental fees or figure out overage penalties for exceeding a data cap. I especially don't want to be tied into a contract. I just want home internet and to be free to try another ISP. T-Mobile ticks the simplicity box. There are no gear fees, data caps or contracts.
It's mom-approved
My mother lives six blocks away from me. She also had CenturyLink DSL. I ran a speed test on her desktop computer and the best she could get was about 12Mbps. That's not a typo. That's the reality for some DSL customers. She was paying over $60 per month and was frustrated every time she tried to call to discuss her bill. No problem, Mom. We canceled her DSL and got her signed up with T-Mobile. She found a nice perch for the gateway in a front window near her computer. With a strong signal, she can regularly pull down speeds from 100-200Mbps, which is plenty good for her low-key browsing and streaming needs. The only downside is she gets text messages about school closings to her gateway, a leftover from whoever used her gateway's phone number before her. It's a minor annoyance, and I don't have the same problem.
Gateways are easy
T-Mobile provides a free gateway device that melds the features of a modem and a router. I have a silver Nokia gateway that's semi-affectionately referred to as the "trash can." The top-mounted display is a mild annoyance due to its awkward location, and it gets hot but works. T-Mobile now has newer models. My mother has a Sagemcom device with a front-mounted display resembling a more refined trash can. The latest gateway is sleeker and looks like an Apple product. I had no issues setting up my Nokia gateway and my mother's Sagemcom. We were online within minutes and found the gateways stable, with no crashes or other hiccups to report. The Wi-Fi works well, reaching the corners of our vintage homes with respectable speeds.
The not-so-great stuff with T-Mobile 5G Home Internet
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet has a lot going for it, but it's not my dream broadband service. Here are a few areas where it stumbles.
It's not faster than cable or fiber
Xfinity offers cable speeds up to 1,300Mbps in my area. Fiber from Vexus Fiber, Quantum Fiber and Ezee Fiber is slowly spreading across Albuquerque, but it's not in my historic neighborhood yet. Fiber customers can access symmetrical gig speeds, of which I'm incredibly envious. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet offers typical speeds of 87-415Mbps, vastly below offerings from the local cable and fiber ISPs. The good news is I'm not a gamer (let's ignore my Nintendo Wii obsession), so I just need enough oomph to surf and stream. I wouldn't mind zippier downloads and uploads for when I'm moving big music, video and image files around.
Strong signals may be elusive
Two lights are better than none, I suppose.
Amanda Kooser
T-Mobile's 5G internet service is subject to the same pitfalls you encounter with phone service. Sometimes, you're in a place with a weak signal. Sometimes, that place is your own home. My neighbor, the first person I knew who got on board with 5G home internet, gets a strong signal on the west side of her house. Next door, the best I can get is a fair signal, which works out to two bars out of five on the gateway's scale. That means I'm missing out on the top speeds the service is capable of.
Speeds can vary wildly
My T-Mobile 5G Home Internet speed is like the Albuquerque weather. Wait five minutes, and it'll change. When I started writing, I ran an internet speed test and got 16.7Mbps. That's slow enough to give me unwelcome flashbacks to my DSL days. A few minutes later, I'm at 94.6Mbps. Sometimes, I get over 100Mbps. Usually, I'm sitting around 80Mbps. My speed tests are all over the map. Some of this may be due to the 1939 construction materials of my home and my inability to dial in a good placement for the gateway to get a better signal. Former CNET colleague Eli Blumenthal also encountered speed issues when testing the service. When CNET's Joe Supan tried AT&T Internet Air, he also struggled with maintaining decent speeds, so the problem may be more endemic to fixed wireless service than specific to T-Mobile 5G Home Internet.
Window placement is awkward
Sometimes getting a strong signal requires a balancing act.
Amanda Kooser
T-Mobile recommends placing your gateway "close to a window or high up on an upper floor or bookshelf." When I had DSL, my router sat on a nifty little custom shelf in my home office. It was unobtrusive and out of the way. My T-Mobile gateway has visited every single window in my house in my search for a strong signal. It's now in my living room with the silver "trash can" perched on a windowsill. I still get solid Wi-Fi coverage around my home, but a piece of internet equipment sitting in my window isn't my ideal home decor.
My final thoughts on T-Mobile 5G Home Internet
Are you thinking about trying T-Mobile 5G Home Internet? Consider whether it's an upgrade over your current service. It could be a smart move if you're crawling along with DSL. Look to cable or fiber if you need consistent and superfast speeds, especially for gaming. I'm not a T-Mobile phone customer, but mobile subscribers can bundle with eligible phone plans to get extra savings on home internet. That could be enough to tip price-conscious shoppers over to the 5G internet service.
There's an element of experimentation with 5G home internet. You don't know how well it will work for you until you try it, so take advantage of T-Mobile's 15-day money-back trial. I'm not entirely in love with my home internet, but at least I like it, and that's a better relationship than I had with DSL.
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I love that the dual cameras let me keep an eye on my pets (and everything else) while away. At $60, this is a great deal for a super nice pet cam. — Molly Higgins Folks with a Ring doorbell seeking security inside the home can keep everything in one app with this camera. The Ring Indoor Cam (2nd Gen) records crisp 1080p footage at 24 frames per second, boasts color night vision, and has a privacy shutter you can swivel around. You get motion alerts and two-way audio, the pre-roll captures a few seconds before each event, and there's even a built-in siren. It's two for the price of one with this deal! — Simon Hill Offering everything you want, including crisp 2K video at 24 frames per second, two-way audio, and a compact design that includes a privacy shutter, this is the upgrade pick in our best indoor security cameras guide and it's no wonder. The Arlo app is swift to load, offers excellent notifications, and supports two-factor authentication, so you can log in with your fingerprint or face, phone permitting. We've seen discounts before but never this low. The only catch is the pricey subscription. —Simon Hill Compact and affordable, with an IP66 rating, this security camera can be used indoors or out, though it does have to be plugged in. The starlight sensor enables color night vision. It also offers smart detection (people, pets, and vehicles), up to 2K resolution, and slightly laggy two-way audio. You can record locally on a microSD card or subscribe for cloud storage. This versatile device also has a magnetic mount and tiny dual spotlights. —Simon Hill AirTags can be a bit divisive, but they're the best way to keep tabs on your stuff if you have an iPhone. Set up with the Find My app, and you'll always know where everything is. This is the best sleep mask overall. It's affordable and stylish, with many different colors to choose from. It's also soft, lightweight, and breathable thanks to its mulberry silk construction. The elastic band isn't too tight, and the mask does a solid job at blocking out most light. And I like that it comes with a drawstring case, so I don't misplace it easily. — Louryn Strampe Photograph: Louryn Strampe This is the best diffuser for curly hair. I reach for it all the time. The hourglass design makes it easy to hold and maneuver around your noggin, and it's easy to store, too, thanks to its compact design. It doesn't dry your hair super-fast compared to other dryers—it added about 10 minutes to my normal drying time—but the sleek, frizz-free curls are worth it. — Louryn Strampe This awesome sleep mask has an outer flap that lets you peer into the outside world. It still does a good job of blocking out light, but when you need to check the time or want to figure out what that weird airplane noise was, you don't have to completely remove the eye mask to do it. It also comes with earplugs and a carrying case, and the mask has a silky, cooling exterior that puts me right to sleep. — Louryn Strampe GHD has something of a cult following due to its reliability and unique features like a single temperature setting (365 degrees Fahrenheit) and fun little chime to let you know it's heated up. We tout it as a more affordable alternative to the popular GHD Chronos (7/10, WIRED Review) in our guide to the Best Hair Straighteners, and at $73 off, it's about as good a deal as you're going to find on a GHD. —Kat Merck $100 $85 (15% off) Amazon This cordless powerhouse is compact, waterproof (yes, you can use it in the shower), and charges fast in four hours. It offers three pressure settings, four tips, and a 360-degree rotating handle that gets into every nook of your mouth. The water reservoir runs for about 45 seconds per fill, just enough for a thorough clean. It also comes with a microfiber travel bag, tip case, water plug, and universal voltage. It's ideal for neat freaks or frequent travelers. — Boutayna Chokrane There are countless Philips Sonicare electric toothbrushes to choose from, but I keep coming back to the trusty 4100. Its gentle vibrations are easier on gums than the more aggressive oscillating brushes. You get a two-minute timer, two intensity settings, and a pressure sensor to protect your enamel. Battery life is excellent, lasting about two weeks per charge, and the built-in BrushSync tech lets you know when it's time to replace the head. It's simple, smart, and under $50. — Boutayna Chokrane We've loved the Revlon One-Step Volumizer Plus (8/10, WIRED Recommends) for a while. It dries and styles in one go with a 2-inch oval barrel and four heat modes (including a cool setting). The detachable head makes it easy to pack or stash in a drawer, and the ceramic titanium tech reduces heat exposure by 50 percent. It's a smarter (and safer) upgrade from the original version—which had recall issues overseas—and a cheaper alternative to Drybar tools. — Boutayna Chokrane
