Albuquerque, New Mexico. Home of inexperienced chiles, 310 days of sunshine, the International Balloon Fiesta and achingly sluggish web. Home internet was a two-horse race in Albuquerque for years: CenturyLink DSL and Xfinity cable. I spent many years on DSL, watching my web pace assessments march slowly as much as a most of 20 megabits per second. Friends with quicker Xfinity bemoaned the cable firm’s customer support, information cap and costs, so I stubbornly caught with CenturyLink. One day in late 2022, a T-Mobile Home Internet gateway arrived at my home. After that, I lastly known as to cancel CenturyLink.
Why I Switched to T-Mobile Home Internet
I went with T-Mobile for a number of causes. DSL was too sluggish. My next-door neighbor acquired T-Mobile Home Internet and raved about it to me. Coincidentally, CenturyLink needed to cost me $200 to exchange my previous router with a newer one. I mentioned, “Nope,” and adjusted to 5G home internet.
My residence web life has improved in my post-DSL world, however it’s not all roses and pleased dances. If you’re in search of a TL;DR, right here you go: I’m nonetheless on T-Mobile Home Internet and can in all probability keep it up till I can provide Verizon 5G Home Internet a strive or till fiber lastly exhibits up on my block. My expertise with 5G residence web is particular to my circumstances, so your journey with the identical service could differ. Here are issues I like about my 5G residence web and the weather that will drive me to switch to another internet service provider sometime.
The great things
I will sing the praises of T-Mobile Home Internet earlier than I air my grievances. The service’s greatest options are its simplicity and ease of use and it represents an improve over outdated DSL.
The value is true
With CenturyLink, I was paying $45 per thirty days for downloads as much as 20Mbps. With T-Mobile, my month-to-month invoice is a straight $50. That’s a candy spot for me concerning residence web pricing. I was keen to pay a little greater than CenturyLink for a increased commonplace of service, however my bargain-hunting mindset would balk at something increased. I would think about Verizon 5G Home Internet for a similar value, however the rival service is unavailable at my deal with.
I anticipate fiber to reach sometime, however I’ll scrutinize the pricing earlier than I make a change. The two suppliers probably to service my deal with are Ezee Fiber ($69 per thirty days for a gig) and Vexus Fiber ($40 per thirty days for 500Mbps or $50 per thirty days for a gig). Vexus raises charges after the primary yr. I’ll weigh my ingrained frugality in opposition to fiber efficiency when the time comes.
It’s quicker than DSL
That would possibly appear to be faint reward, however T-Mobile offers me vastly higher speeds than I was getting from DSL. My greatest pace take a look at outcomes internet high obtain speeds of 200Mbps, 10 occasions what I acquired on a good day with DSL. Speeds might be variable due to community congestion and placement of the gateway system. I have some pace complaints, however we’ll speak about that later.
Terms are easy
I don’t like complexity in the case of broadband plans. I don’t need to calculate tools rental charges or work out overage penalties for exceeding a data cap. I particularly don’t need to be tied into a contract. I simply need residence web and to be free to strive one other ISP. T-Mobile ticks the simplicity field. There aren’t any gear charges, information caps or contracts.
It’s mom-approved
My mom lives six blocks away from me. She additionally had CenturyLink DSL. I ran a pace take a look at on her desktop pc and the very best she might get was about 12Mbps. That’s not a typo. That’s the truth for some DSL prospects. She was paying over $60 per thirty days and was annoyed each time she tried to name to debate her invoice. No downside, Mom. We canceled her DSL and acquired her signed up with T-Mobile. She discovered a good perch for the gateway in a entrance window close to her pc. With a robust sign, she will recurrently pull down speeds from 100-200Mbps, which is loads good for her low-key looking and streaming wants. The solely draw back is she will get textual content messages about faculty closings to her gateway, a leftover from whoever used her gateway’s telephone quantity earlier than her. It’s a minor annoyance, and I don’t have the identical downside.
Gateways are straightforward
T-Mobile offers a free gateway system that melds the options of a modem and a router. I have a silver Nokia gateway that’s semi-affectionately known as the “trash can.” The top-mounted show is a gentle annoyance on account of its awkward location, and it will get sizzling however works. T-Mobile now has newer fashions. My mom has a Sagemcom system with a front-mounted show resembling a extra refined trash can. The latest gateway is sleeker and appears like an Apple product. I had no points establishing my Nokia gateway and my mom’s Sagemcom. We had been on-line inside minutes and located the gateways to be secure, with no crashes or different hiccups to report. The Wi-Fi works nicely, reaching the corners of our classic houses with respectable speeds.
The not-so-good stuff
T-Mobile Home Internet has a lot going for it, however it’s not my dream broadband service. Here are a few areas the place it stumbles.
It’s not quicker than cable or fiber
Xfinity presents cable speeds as much as 1,200Mbps at my residence. Fiber from Vexus Fiber, Quantum Fiber and Ezee Fiber is slowly spreading throughout Albuquerque, however it’s not in my historic neighborhood but. Fiber prospects can entry symmetrical gig speeds, of which I’m extraordinarily envious. T-Mobile Home Internet presents typical speeds of 72-245Mbps, vastly under choices from the native cable and fiber ISPs. The excellent news is I’m not a gamer (let’s ignore my Nintendo Wii obsession), so I simply want sufficient oomph to surf and stream. I wouldn’t thoughts zippier downloads and uploads for when I’m transferring large music, video and picture recordsdata round.
Strong alerts could also be elusive
Two lights are higher than none?
T-Mobile’s 5G web service is topic to the identical pitfalls you encounter with telephone service. Sometimes, you’re in a place with a weak sign. Sometimes, that place is your personal residence. My neighbor, the primary particular person I knew who acquired on board with 5G residence web, will get a robust sign on the west facet of her home. Next door, the very best I can get is a honest sign, which works out to 2 bars out of 5 on the gateway’s scale. That means I’m lacking out on the highest speeds the service is able to.
Speeds can range wildly
My T-Mobile Home Internet pace is just like the Albuquerque climate. Wait 5 minutes and it’ll change. I simply ran an web pace take a look at and acquired 16.7Mbps. That’s sluggish sufficient to present me unwelcome flashbacks to my DSL days. A couple of minutes later, I’m at 94.6Mbps. Sometimes, I recover from 100Mbps. Usually, I’m sitting round 80Mbps. My pace assessments are everywhere in the map. Some of this can be as a result of 1939 building supplies of my residence and my incapacity to dial in a good placement for the gateway to get a higher sign. My CNET colleague Eli Blumenthal also encountered speed issues when testing the service in 2022.
Window placement is awkward
Sometimes getting a robust sign can require a balancing act.
T-Mobile recommends inserting your gateway “near a window or excessive up on an higher ground or bookshelf.” When I had DSL, my router sat in my residence workplace on a nifty little customized shelf. It was unobtrusive and out of the way in which. My T-Mobile gateway has visited each single window in my home in my seek for a robust sign. It’s now in my lounge with the silver “trash can” perched on a windowsill. I nonetheless get strong Wi-Fi protection round my residence, however a piece of web tools sitting in my window isn’t my superb residence decor.
My remaining ideas on my T-Mobile Home Internet expertise
Thinking about dipping your toes into T-Mobile Home Internet? Consider if it’s an improve over your present service. If you’re crawling together with DSL, it may very well be a good transfer. If you want constant and super-fast speeds, particularly for gaming, then look to cable or fiber. I’m not a T-Mobile telephone buyer, however cellular customers can bundle with eligible telephone plans to get further financial savings on residence web. That may very well be sufficient to tip price-conscious buyers over to the 5G web service.
There’s a component of experimentation with 5G residence web. You don’t understand how nicely it should be just right for you till you strive it, so make the most of T-Mobile’s 15-day money-back trial. I’m not in love with my residence web, however no less than I prefer it, and that’s a higher relationship than I had with DSL.
