T-Mobile makes internet easy and affordable with 5G technology, though it’s not as fast as Cox’s cable internet service.
Cox vs. T-Mobile 5G: Home Internet Comparison Review
7 min read
How does this impact Cox customers?
There are no changes for existing Cox Internet customers. Your account, plan, and prices stay the same.
New customers can sign up for Spectrum Internet plans. You’ll get high-speed internet on Spectrum’s fiber-powered coax network. See our Spectrum Internet Review to learn more.
T-Mobile’s 5G home internet service is a great option for those who want a big bang for their buck. It is cheaper, simpler (no hidden fees in a typical T-Mobile 5G Home Internet bill), and has higher customer service ratings than Cox. However, you can’t get the same speeds with T-Mobile as you can get with Cox’s cable internet service. And its performance can depend a lot on your location. If you’re close to a T-Mobile 5G tower, then you can get faster, more reliable speeds.
With T-Mobile, you get the following benefits:
- 5G internet speeds up to 498Mbps
- Free equipment
- Free installation
- No data caps
- No contracts
- T-Mobile-specific discounts
Cox offers a similar quality of service to T-Mobile throughout its cable network, so you can get superfast speeds that are relatively reliable. However, the company’s prices are high, and customers are often dissatisfied with the service.
Cox Internet service comes with the following features:
- Cable internet speeds up to 2,000Mbps
- Unlimited data
- Equipment included
- No contracts
- Cox internet, mobile, and TV bundles
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Cox vs. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet: Plans, pricing, and deals
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet plans and prices
Provider | Plan | Regular Price | Price with Voice Line | Download speed | Details |
| Rely Internet |
$50/mo. w/ AutoPay, plus taxes & fees.
| $35/month with AutoPay and voice, plus taxes and fees | Up to 354 Mbps Mbps | View Plans | |
| Amplified Internet |
$60/mo. w/ AutoPay, plus taxes & fees.
| $45/month with AutoPay and voice, plus taxes and fees | Up to 498 Mbps Mbps | View Plans | |
| All-In Internet |
$70/mo. w/ AutoPay, plus taxes & fees.
| $55/month with AutoPay and voice, plus taxes and fees | Up to 498 Mbps Mbps | View Plans |
T-Mobile’s 5G home internet service uses 5G technology to give users fast, wireless internet. It’s easy to install and available in many places where other options are limited. There are multiple plans to choose from with up to 498Mbps, which is plenty for streaming, gaming, and browsing on a few devices at once.
Cox’s internet service is mostly powered by cable technology, making it faster than T-Mobile’s service, but not as fast as other wired providers, like GFiber (formerly Google Fiber) or AT&T Fiber. There are no contracts, and many customers report price hikes after the first year. However, many people could also qualify for some of Cox's low-income internet packages with plans starting as low as $9.95 per month.
“Cox hasn't failed to provide me what I pay for.” – Peter Drennan-Hart
Cox vs. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet: Fees for modem and installation
Cox Internet offers a free Cox Mobile line for a year when you sign up.
But for those interested in T-Mobile, there are a few offers to sweeten the pot. You can get $15 off your monthly internet bill if you have a qualifying mobile plan and AutoPay. And if you participate in federal assistance programs or have K-12 students at home, you may be eligible for T-Mobile's low-income discounts.
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet add-ons and perks
Get 5G Home Internet free for 15 days. You get your money back if you decide not to keep it.
Get your last month of service for free if you get a price hike on your bill.
Customers with 5G Home Internet get free trials of the following streaming services:
- ViX Premium for 1 year
- SiriusXM Streaming for 6 mos.
- Pandora Premium for 4 mos.
Download the T-Mobile Tuesdays app to score weekly deals related to food, gas, and entertainment.
What makes this review legit?
Our fact-based research process centers on interviews with internet customers across the country, helping us understand how internet services hold up against diverse needs and challenges.
To put together this review, we looked at results from our speed test, pulled data from customer satisfaction surveys, and pored over the fine print to compare prices and speeds between the two providers. To flesh out our analysis, we also interviewed Cox and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet customers to get their firsthand insights. We let their experiences guide our research and shape our conclusions. We also speak with ISP spokespeople and industry experts to get insights into connection types, speed capabilities, and other technical issues related to internet service.
The matchup: How we rate T-Mobile vs. Cox
For all our internet reviews, we give a rating based on three main criteria—speed and reliability, dollar value, and customer experience—which we then average to make an overall score.
Here, we compare those ratings face to face. We then offer some analysis and context for important factors to keep in mind.
Want to know more? Read our full-length Cox Internet review and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet review.
Speed and reliability
Cox: 3.8/5.0 | T-Mobile: 3.5/5.0
Over the past year Cox delivered an average download speed of 160.347Mbps, according to results from our speed test. If you opt for one of Cox’s pricier plans, you could see speeds significantly faster than that, but even customers on the cheapest 300Mbps Cox plan will have enough bandwidth for streaming HD movies or Zooming into a work meeting.
Reliability with Cox is another question. For our standalone review of Cox internet, we interviewed Aaron LaBounty, a former Cox customer in Tulsa. He says, “The download and upload speeds varied wildly.” That’s not what you want to hear, especially from a wired internet provider like Cox.
T-Mobile’s 5G home internet service uses wireless 5G technology, which allows for speeds up to 498Mbps. That means you’ll never be able to get the gigabit speeds that are possible with Cox. However, most everyday activities, like streaming and browsing on a couple of devices, should be fine with T-Mobile.
“Sometimes [when I’m] streaming NBA games at night, the picture looks a little fuzzy. But that might be due to me living in a slightly more rural part of North Carolina,” says Rick Francis, the T-Mobile customer in North Carolina. His statement reflects one big consideration for T-Mobile customers: Your speed depends a lot on your location.
Dollar value
Cox: 3.3/5.0 | T-Mobile: 3.7/5.0
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet makes it onto our list of the cheapest good internet providers. Cox, on the other hand, does not.
T-Mobile’s plans and perks are designed to appeal to budget-conscious customers who want an alternative to cable and fiber internet. It offers a simple, fixed rate with no extra fees or contract requirements. You can even get a discount off your bill every month if you have an eligible T-Mobile 5G Home Internet plan and sign up for AutoPay.
Cox’s prices are higher than those offered by similar cable internet providers, like Xfinity. Plus, the company often raises its prices after your initial year of service, which is frustrating.
Cox Deals
- You might be able to get a slightly cheaper deal on Cox internet when you bundle the service with mobile, TV, or home phone service.
- Take advantage of eight more tips to lower your Cox internet bill.
Customer experience
Cox: 3.8/5.0 | T-Mobile: 4.2/5.0
According to surveys, Cox is about average when it comes to keeping its customers happy. In our interview, Audrey, a Cox customer in Louisiana, laments. "The customer service representatives are a very mixed bag,” and says that often the company doesn’t always respond correctly to outages.
T-Mobile does much better. Not only is it ranked higher by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, but it also leads in HighSpeedInternet.com’s 2023 customer satisfaction survey.
“It’s always been easy to get to a real person on the phone when I call T-Mobile,” Steve Abbott, a T-Mobile customer who lives in a retirement community, tells us when interviewed for our standalone T-Mobile 5G home internet review. “I had some questions when I first set up my home internet connection, and the agent I talked to had no problem answering them.”
T-Mobile fiber internet
T-Mobile is rolling out its fiber service, so it's still in early stages and limited to eight states, but it's worth checking for T-Mobile Fiber deals if you're in one of those states.
Overall quality: Which internet provider should you pick?
Cox: 3.5/5.0 | T-Mobile: 3.8/5.0
Cox offers fast download speeds for medium to large households with a lot of devices operating at the same time. However, its prices are higher than similar cable internet providers, and the company’s customer service leaves something to be desired.
T-Mobile’s speeds are its biggest downside. Even at the high end of the speed range, T-Mobile customers get up to 498Mbps, which is plenty for small or medium-sized households but not enough for super-users. But the company's low prices and amazing reputation among customers make it perfect for those who want a cheap, easy-to-set-up alternative to wired internet.
Cox vs. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet: What do customers think?
In speaking with Cox customers across the country, we heard mixed reviews. Some customers think the company does a good enough job for the price. “It's pretty easy to set up and doesn't require any weird cabling,” says Isaac Chandler, a customer in Tulsa. He thinks that the prices are too high, but added that he sticks with Cox, “because I get everything I need with a minimum of fuss and bother.”
Another Cox customer, Peter Dennan-Hart, uses the company simply because, “Cox hasn't failed to provide me what I pay for.”
Other customers, like Paul from Oklahoma, are fed up with the company’s lousy ability to respond to their needs. "We still have obvious Cox lines down in our neighborhood,” Paul says, referring to an incident that happened last year when a dust storm hit his city.
“They didn't actually replace the cable so much as [string] new cable, and they left the old cable lines just dangling off poles onto the ground where they dropped." —Paul, a Cox customer in Oklahoma
The feedback we heard when we talked with customers for our T-Mobile 5G Home Internet review was more positive in general, but still mixed.
Dani Ruiz, a former T-Mobile 5G Home Internet customer in Southern California, tells us, “T-Mobile was great as an in-between option” when he was waiting for Google's fiber network, now called GFiber, to become available in his neighborhood. Still, he ended up switching once Google’s faster service was available.
Austin Aguirre, who lives in Tucson, Arizona, says that he has had a positive experience connecting his gaming consoles to the service for online gaming. “I've never experienced latency woes or lag outside of the norm while using T-Mobile as a primary gaming connection,” Aguirre says.
But, unlike Austin, Jordan Rivera, a T-Mobile customer in Las Vegas, has had difficulties with online gaming. “I honestly gave up trying to game on this internet … I would die before knowing anything hit me,” he says about his experience trying to play Apex Legends using T-Mobile internet (to be fair, that’s my experience playing Apex Legends even on superfast fiber internet).
“Took us from low-quality streaming on a single TV to being able to stream two different shows in two different rooms with high definition.” —Steve Abbott
Want Cox or T-Mobile 5G Home Internet? Find it in your area
You can see all of the plans that Cox and T-Mobile offer at your address using this nifty zip code plan finder. Plus, you get to see plans from all the other providers in your area, making it easy to compare.
See all of the internet plans available in your area by putting your zip code in here.
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