T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Review

Internet providers used to operate as monopolies in American cities—there would be one cable provider in town that everyone had to stick with. If you didn’t like the speeds or prices, you could take a walk. That situation has shifted a bit in recent years, and now T-Mobile 5G Home Internet stands as a sparkly alternative to the looming grasp of Big Internet.

Steve Abbott, a T-Mobile 5G Home Internet customer in Mission Viejo, California, tells Reviews.org in an interview that he and his wife were previously stuck with a DSL plan before their son set them up with T-Mobile Home Internet. DSL is an outdated connection type that runs over landline telephone cabling. Its bandwidth hits a max of 100Mbps, and users’ speeds are often much slower.

“We could barely stream Lakers and Dodger games, let alone shows on Netflix,” Abbott recalls. He calls 5G Home Internet a “get out of jail free card” because it vaulted his home Wi-Fi out of the DSL dungeon. “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,” he says.

Austin Aguirre, a staff writer at HighSpeedInternet.com, subscribes to T-Mobile 5G Home Internet while also maintaining a cable internet connection at his home in Tucson, Arizona. He and his partner both work from home, so they mostly rely on T-Mobile as a backup plan in case their main connection goes out.

But his 5G connection has worked so well that he ended up connecting his XBox and PlayStation 5 permanently to his home T-Mobile network. “I've never experienced latency woes or lag outside of the norm while using T-Mobile as a primary gaming connection,” Aguirre says.

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet isn’t a cakewalk for everybody. The service relies on a cellular connection that broadcasts over 5G transmitters, and the wireless setup means speeds can fluctuate unpredictably, especially in areas where a user’s cell service isn’t as strong.

“I honestly gave up trying to game on this internet,” says Jordan Rivera, a T-Mobile 5G Home Internet customer in Las Vegas, Nevada. He lives close to a 5G tower, but he consistently gets high ping spikes in Apex Legends. “I would die before knowing anything hit me. I mostly play single player games now, ha.”

“Overall it’s pretty solid, especially if you don’t have other options,” Rivera adds. “But online gaming is rough.” 

Dani Ruiz, a former T-Mobile Home Internet customer in Southern California, used the service briefly while she and her partner were waiting for fiber lines to be installed on their block. They got great performance out of the 5G setup, but they recently switched to a Google Fiber plan, which delivers significantly faster speeds and a more reliable connection for just $10 more a month.

“T-Mobile was great as an in-between option,” Ruiz says, “but once we got fiber lines installed, it made more sense to go with Google Fiber.”

T-Mobile broke into the internet game in March 2019 when it released an invitation-only pilot program using 4G LTE. In December, T-Mobile officially announced the availability of T-Mobile 5G Home Internet for the public.

By leveraging its cellular towers to establish fixed wireless connections, T-Mobile takes a unique approach to home internet compared to cable and fiber internet providers. The service is a bit nimbler than older, better-established providers—5G internet doesn’t require a massive buildup of underground infrastructure. And setup is easy for customers as well because all you need to get it working is a Wi-Fi gateway that you plug into the wall.

That nimbleness and simplicity has been a big selling point since its original launch. As part of its marketing strategy, T-Mobile has in particular sought to pull customers away from cable internet providers like Xfinity and Spectrum by offering competitive prices and doing away with cumbersome terms like installation fees and data caps. The service is also helpful for users in rural areas, who may have limited access to traditional internet connections.

“We launched T-Mobile 5G Home Internet to bring a reliable, affordable alternative to traditional broadband—and largely, to give people choice,” Katie Brinton, a T-Mobile spokesperson, tells Reviews.org. “Internet is relied on for so much, yet many people have limited choices for internet providers, or even no choice at all.”

But what is 5G? It’s the fifth generation of wireless technology, first launched in 2018. It initially received a ton of hype. Industry experts and media outlets claimed that it would be able to offer speeds 100 times faster than 4G and latency of 5ms or lower—enabling a futuristic level of worldwide connectivity.

Once launched, however, many mobile 5G users were unimpressed, reporting stagnant speeds and underperformance. Indeed, 5G has yet to power self-driving cars and automated factories as was originally promised. But 5G internet has been a hit, with T-Mobile and Verizon both getting rave reviews for their 5G internet services. The rise of 5G has clearly shaken its cable competitors too, prompting a PR battle that culminated in this year’s Spectrum Super Bowl ad, which mocked 5G for its comparatively slower speeds and technical limitations.

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is available in all 50 states, including Alaska and Hawaii. Currently, T-Mobile offers the service on a city-by-city basis, but you can enter your zip code below to see if your city qualifies.

The big question you want to ask with T-Mobile is whether it can top any of the better-established internet brands available where you live. Simply put, the 5G home internet service can’t hold a candle to fiber internet. AT&T, Verizon, Google Fiber, and the like are capable of delivering much more bandwidth (including gigabit and even multi-gig speeds), while the prices are equal or even lesser than what you pay for T-Mobile 5G Home Internet. Fiber internet providers also tend to offer similar perks to T-Mobile, such as unlimited data and no fees for installation or equipment.

T-Mobile fares better against cable internet providers. Although prices for Xfinity or Spectrum may look cheaper up front, you also have to factor in extra fees for equipment and installation and price hikes that pop up like an angry Jack in the Box after a year or two when your promotional rates expire. You can get much simpler service from T-Mobile, with quicker setup and easier pricing terms.

As for rural services like DSL and satellite internet, well, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is obviously the better pick. It’s also a better option than many rural fixed wireless providers, which essentially use the same technology but may have higher prices and stricter data limitations. 5G is mostly available in cities and metropolitan areas, but if you can get T-Mobile 5G Home Internet in a small town or rural region, it’s well worth trying. 

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is available all over the country. Enter your zip code below to make sure that you can get T-Mobile 5G in your area.