T-Mobile Wireless Home Internet Review

We've been using T-Mobile's New Wireless Home Internet for the last 30 days. It's a combination wireless modem and router.

Highs:

• It is what they say it is: There are no data caps and there's little difference between download and upload speeds, topping out at 100 to 200 Mbps.
• The gateway uses both 5G and 4G-LTE channels. Setup is easy with a good signal on the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band and TWO channels on the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band.
• The supplied Nokia Gateway is sophisticated, easy to configure, and it's FREE!
• Some streaming services work flawlessly.

Lows:

• Speeds vary considerably. It may be affected by the number of users on the cell site, so downloads seem to be slower during rush hours.
• If you're an intense gamer, while the connection has both good upload and download speeds, the ping and latency can be worse than wired connections.
• The connection to the internet sometimes just disappears. There are web sites that will not connect right away and your device in the morning may say "no internet".
• The 5G part of the gateway is 'fragile.' There are infrequent periods with no 5G connection which slows your service, but it's not noticeable on streaming services.

Setup:

Everything popped out of the box without problems. There is a battery in the unit, but its only purpose is to help you find the location of the best signal in your home using a bar graph on the top. Plug in the AC adapter and you're online. T-Mobile provides a good unboxing video, so we won't repeat that here.

The gateway is a custom T-Mobile-designed product based on the Nokia Fast Mile. We really like the thought that went into the antenna design for both the cell site access and the in-home Wi-Fi. We wish we could connect an external cellular antenna.

Performance:

Speeds with only a few devices connected gave us 50 to 180 Mbps downloads, and from 30 to 100 Mbps uploads. The connection was good (4 bars out of 5) in a second story window.  A first floor window is closer to a cell site, but was affected by the window screen.

Internet for most devices seemed to work well, including smartphones, computers and even the thermostat. Buffered streaming from the likes of Prime Video work just fine. But with other streaming services, there were some oddities. For example, we use Sling to access "cable" channels and that connection is quite different when compared to wired internet providers. Admittedly, Sling may be to blame for some of these problems, but they are notably worse on the T-Mobile connection. It appears that T-Mobile accesses Sling's online services differently than our DSL or cable connections, yielding the occasional blank screen or dropped stream. Services like ESPN occasionally have quality issues that we don't experience with other internet providers.  T-Mobile recently admitted they have trouble connecting to some streaming services such as Hulu.  We'll assume Sling has a similar problem that may eventually get ironed out.

Occasionally, the internet connection just disappears. On a smartphone you suddenly can't access a site, but multiple tries eventually result in success. On a computer you might need to 'wake up' your internet connection. It's annoying, but not fatal, and could be be caused by factors outside the gateway.

Billing:

T-Mobile claims they will not increase the price. They could eventually raise prices for newer customers, but the price needs to be competitive.

There are no surprise fees or taxes added to the price, but be aware T-Mobile's billing protocol may trip you up. They give you a $5 break if you sign up for Auto-Pay, but you must sign up after you are a customer.  That is not obvious when you establish service. Also, your bill is "created" as much as 2 weeks before your due date, so if you make any changes during that period, they won't show until the next bill.

With the popularity of T-Mobile's new home internet, it may take a week or two to deliver the gateway unit, and we were charged from the day we initiated the order instead of when we actually activated the  service. T-Mobile's customer service was very good about adjusting the charges.

Other Observations:

Our T-Mobile gateway dashboard shows our service is supplied by 5G wireless channels at 2.5 GHz combined with 4G-LTE cellular channels at 1.9 GHz. Your location may use a completely different combination of signals, so your experience could vary widely from ours, and in some locations, there may be no 5G at all. Occasionally, the dashboard showed no connection to 5G and the performance suffered.  Some problems were cured with a re-start (better than a re-boot), others eventually fixed themselves.

When you sign up, you are assigned a number that looks like a phone number, but you won't get a dial tone if you plug a phone in the jack on the gateway. There is a cover over the phone jack that you can remove and this feature may be available in the future.

We were able to jump into this service early because we are located in a low-density suburb away from the city and your location may affect your ability to sign up. Living near a cell site that has fewer users will increase your chances and maybe your performance.  T-Mobile claims to focus on being the first and best alternative in rural areas, but so far we have not heard of anyone being denied due to their location, other than the lack of 5G coverage.

Conclusion:

For now, we will keep our T-Mobile Home Internet and try to improve service by changing the mix of Wi-Fi channels and window locations. While it's not perfect, it has the fastest upload of all our available services, useful for gamers or big files.  While the download speed varies, it's always at least double what our DSL provides. Since the T-Mobile gateway has no limit on data, we don't have the fear of that pesky data cap from our cable internet provider.

We also experimented with different household locations.

This is an ongoing evaluation and we'll update our experience. Considering there is no upfront cost, you would be smart to at least try the T-Mobile Home Internet. We don't think the cable and telco providers are shaking in their boots, but this wireless home internet, and others like it, may be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Update 1

Update 2

Update 3

We did not receive any compensation for this review and we have no other relationship with T-Mobile. Oz.

Verizon's 5G Coverage Maps

For a time, Verizon showed us very detailed 5G coverage maps.  They showed us what streets have coverage and we had 'em on Verizon's 5G Coverage pages. But those maps are gone.  Fear not.  They are now buried in their "Nationwide" Coverage Maps.  All you need to do is click on the circles that show 5G cities and keep zooming, and zooming, and zooming...as many as 8 levels of zooming.

Look closely when you're considering a 5G phone.

Mountain 5G Wireless

If 5G hasn't come to your neighborhood, or if it has, get relevant 5G Wireless information at Mountain 5G.  We've added Reviews, a taste of the various flavors of 5G, and the latest addition: Prepaid 5G Wireless.

Verizon Buys Tracfone

While the Tracfone-related networks have been expanding their domination of prepaid services by acquisition, Verizon has been hovering over Tracfone with the aim to become the new King of Prepaid.  Escaping to one of the TracFone-related services operated by American Movil, was how many of us were able to cut the cost of our wireless below the likes of Verizon Wireless.  Many of us will end up back under the big red check mark now that Verizon has agreed to purchase the US prepaid operations of American Movil.

The first concern is if Verizon plans to raise our prepaid prices, or will they do what they can to continue the current low-price philosophy of the various Tracfone networks.  It's difficult to imagine that Verizon will continue the various agreements each prepaid service has with AT&T and T-Mobile. Also, we should expect some consolidation among those brands. Hopefully, the remaining prepaid carriers to rise up and offer more prepaid products at competitive prices. They won't need to lower prices, just provide us with an alternative to the new prepaid empire.

On the other side of the coin is the possibility that Verizon could actually lower the cost of all those newly-acquired prepaid products and keep the other guys from competing. Yes, that could help the average consumer, but large companies have been careful not to spit in the soup and ruin the taste for everyone.

New Boost Mobile Brings Old Tricks.

Dish Network has completed their acquisition of Boost Mobile as part of the Sprint/T-Mobile

acquisition, and the good news is that life gets better for Boost customers.  Not only do Boost users get to use the expanded T-Mobile network, but they will also enjoy the return of some of popular Boost features.  Dish released the following:

"Boost's new $hrink-It! plan, which starts at $45 for 15GB, reduces customers' monthly rates by $5 after three on-time payments, and by an additional $5 after six total on-time payments. Boost previously offered a popular shrinking payments plan, which was available to new Boost Mobile customers until July 2014. 

"In addition to the revival of the $hrink-It! plan, Boost will offer a $35 10GB plan that includes unlimited talk and text. Consumers may sign up for either plan with their existing compatible device or by purchasing a new device from Boost." Both plans are available now.

Some questions remain such as will Boost change its name.

Cricket Wireless Offers Cheaper Plans

Cricket is offering new ways to help customers during this tough time:

We’re launching a new limited time phone plan:

• A new $15 plan comes with 2GB of data, unlimited talk and text, and will be available for a limited time. The plan is available to new and existing customers with no activation fee.¹

We will begin adding data to capped and unlimited phone plans for a limited time:²

• Automatically adding 10GB of data to capped plans for new and existing customers. That means if you’re on the $30/2GB plan or the $40/5GB plan, you’ll get an additional 10GB of data for mobile hotspot or smartphone use for two bill cycles. After two bill cycles, you will no longer receive the additional data.
• Automatically adding 10GB of data to unlimited plans for new and existing customers. That means if you’re on the $55 unlimited plan without mobile hotspot, you will receive 10GB of data for hotspot use. If you’re on the $60 unlimited plan with 15GB of mobile hotspot, you’ll get an additional 10GB of data for mobile hotspot use. Both plans will receive the additional data for two bill cycles. After two bill cycles, you will no longer receive the additional data.³

The $15 2GB limited time offer is available online at www.cricketwireless.com, or via the MyCricket app. Also, we will begin adding the additional hotspot data to eligible plans. It may take up to one week for existing customers to receive the additional data.

Note: Wireless Noise has an affiliate relationship with Cricket Wireless however, no links are associated on this web page.  More low-cost changes are reviewed at OZWireless.com.

¹Pricing subject to change. One-time fees may apply. See cricketwireless.com/fees for details. Terms & restrictions apply. Avail., terms & data usage & speed & other restr's subject to change w/o notice. Service subject to Cricket network management policies, see cricketwireless.com/mobilebroadband. Coverage not avail. everywhere.

²Excludes Simply Data plans and $15/mo. voice-and-data plan.
³Data speed may be limited to max 3Mbps. Cricket may temporarily slow data speeds if the network is busy.

AT&T Offers Cheaper Plans

AT&T PREPAID is offering three new ways to help wireless users during these difficult times. 

• A limited time offer of $15 for 2GB of data with unlimited talk and text will be available to new and existing customers with no activation fee. To get started on the $15 limited time offer, just visit www.att.com/prepaid or use the MyATT app.
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• An automatic 10GB per month of additional data for 60 days is being added temporarily to existing customers’ capped phone plans and for new customers who activate capped phone plans prior to April 26. New customers activating capped phone plans after April 26 will temporarily receive an extra 10 GB of additional data for 30 days.

• Customers with an Unlimited Plus plan with Mobile Hotspot data and new customers who activate on the Unlimited Plus plan prior to April 26 will temporarily receive 10GB of additional Mobile Hotspot per month for 60 days. New customers who activate after April 26 will temporarily receive an additional 10GB of data for 30 days.

Note: Wireless Noise has an affiliate relationship with AT&T however, no links are asociated on this web page.  More low-cost changes are reviewed at OZWireless.com.

T-Mobile Offers Cheaper Plans

T-Mobile launches T-Mobile Connect, its lowest priced smartphone plan ever, and Metro by T-Mobile is adding lower-cost options, to help ensure everyone has an affordable option to get and stay connected during these challenging times.

T-Mobile is launching its lowest priced smartphone plan now, rather than waiting for the merger with Sprint to finalize, as originally planned. And Metro by T-Mobile is also adding lower-cost options.

T-Mobile Connect was announced in November of 2019 as part of 5G for Good – the first planned moves for the proposed New T-Mobile – but in response to customer needs in these trying times is launching this week. T-Mobile Connect represents a new level of value at $15 per month plus tax – half the price of T-Mobile’s lowest priced plan – for unlimited talk and text plus 2GB high-speed smartphone data, including access to T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G network. For $25 per month plus tax, customers get 5GB of high-speed smartphone data. And T-Mobile Connect also has an Annual Data Upgrade, giving customers an additional 500MB of monthly data, every year, at no additional cost, for the next five years. T-Mobile Connect is available today

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Additionally, Metro by T-Mobile is launching lower-priced plans and offers: For the next two months, Metro is offering a $15 plan – that’s half the price of the current most affordable plan. For 60 days after customers activate, it’s just $15 per month for unlimited talk and text plus 2GB of high-speed smartphone data.

The launch of T-Mobile Connect comes on the heels of additional moves T-Mobile recently made to ensure customers stay connected. T-Mobile is also:

• Giving all current T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile customers as of March 13, 2020 who have legacy plans without unlimited high-speed data, unlimited smartphone data for the next 60 days (excluding roaming).
• Providing eligible T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile customers on smartphone plans with hotspot data an additional 20GB of smartphone mobile hotspot (10GB per bill cycle for the next 60 days) for each voice line.
• Working with our Lifeline partners to provide customers extra free data up to 5GB of data per month through May 13, 2020.
• Increasing the data allowance for free to schools and students using our EmpowerED digital learning programs to ensure each participant has access to at least 20GB of data per month through May 13, 2020.
• And much more.

Learn more about T-Mobile Connect online at http://prepaid.t-mobile.com and learn more about Metro offers at www.metrobytmobile.com.

Note, Wireless Noise has no relationship or affiliation with T-Mobile or Metro by T-Mobile.