It’s been nearly two years since I wrote my three-part story about my experience with T-Mobile Home Internet. First encounter The service was plenty good, with download speeds of 472 Mbps and upload speeds of 71.9 Mbps. The download speeds were comparable to my Spectrum 400/20 cable internet plan, but the upload speeds were about three times faster. Even better, I was only paying $50 per month to join, compared to the $65 I was paying for Spectrum internet.
but, Went south immediately Two weeks after I first activated my T-Mobile Home Internet service, I experienced a connection error and lost my internet connection completely. After two days without internet and no help from T-Mobile customer service, I went back to Spectrum internet and have been using it ever since. However, my brief encounter with T-Mobile Home Internet was… A serious problem was discovered Wireless service, T-Mobile not being able to address capacity issues, and customer service reps who lie to customers about connectivity issues to get them to hang up or put off the issue.
Considering it’s been quite some time since we said goodbye to T-Mobile Home Internet, we decided now would be a good time to revisit the service and see if things have improved.
Back to T-Mobile Home Internet
Before and after using T-Mobile Home Internet for two weeks, I was using Spectrum’s 400/20 internet plan. The service works flawlessly and outages are minimal. I could probably count on one hand how many significant outages I’ve had in the past five years. But deep down, I still wasn’t convinced about paying $65 a month for 20 Mbps upload speeds.
Last month I saw a banner ad for T-Mobile Home Internet offering a $200 prepaid Mastercard promotion if you signed up for their service. Being the stingy guy that I am, the $200 bonus combined with the still low price of $50/month with autopay convinced me to give the service another try… About the ScienceNOTE: The $50 price only applies if you use automatic payments by bank check. Otherwise, you pay $55/month with automatic payments and credit card.
As before, you can sign up for the service by logging in to your existing T-Mobile account. Get 5G coverage I entered my social security number at home (for a credit check) and verified my payment details, ordered the service on a Wednesday afternoon, and the welcome package, including the 5G gateway, arrived on a Friday afternoon.
Setting up T-Mobile Home Internet
The old circular 5G gateway I received in July 2022 is no longer in use. In its place, I received the Sercomm TMO-G4AR that T-Mobile is sending out to new customers. The modem/router is a rectangular tower finished in flat white plastic. It has internal antennas to connect to T-Mobile’s 5G/LTE network. However, Installing an External Antenna If reception is poor.
There are also two USB-C ports (one of which powers the unit), a SIM card slot, and two GbE ports – I would have liked at least four GbE ports, but two is plenty.
Connecting to the T-Mobile network is as simple as installing the T-Mobile Home Internet (or T-Life) app, scanning the QR code on the back of your device, and following the on-screen instructions. Though the app instructs you to place the 5G gateway near a window, I placed it on my desk (where my old Motorola cable modem and Wi-Fi router used to sit) and got four (out of five) signal bars.
To speed up the setup process for a large number of wireless devices (I have over 30 Wi-Fi devices at home), I was able to reuse the SSID of my existing wireless router and get started right away.
The TMO-G4AR worked as a basic Wi-Fi 6 router, providing good coverage in my two-story home and outdoors. But the big downside to using T-Mobile’s router is that you have to use an app to configure it, and there are very few options available. You can change the SSID, network password, and specify the frequency band, but that’s it. It’s geared towards people who want to set up their router and forget it, so the in-depth customization found on the TMO-G4AR is a bit off-putting. Best Wi-Fi Router Does not apply.
T-Mobile Home Internet Performance
I’ve been using T-Mobile Home Internet on TMO-G4AR for over a month now, and during this billing cycle (March 22 – April 21), my signal strength has remained steady at 4 bars, I’ve had no interruptions in service, and I’ve never had to reboot my device for any reason during that time.
T-Mobile touts its service as offering “unlimited” internet, but the company says that the data-prioritizing routine now in place could slow down the service.
New T-Mobile Home Internet customers who use more than 1.2 TB of data in a billing cycle as of January 18, 2024 are also considered heavy data users. Thresholds are evaluated periodically across rate plans and brands to manage network traffic and provide a great experience for all customers while offering a wide range of choices. You can find your rate plan thresholds anytime by asking a representative, reviewing your rate card or T-Mobile.com, or logging in to my.t-mobile.com or the T-Mobile app.
Despite using over 1.5TB of data in my first billing cycle, I didn’t notice any slowdown in my download speeds while using the service. I did notice, however, that my upload speeds varied significantly depending on the time of day. As you can see from these SpeedTest results using the Mac app, my download speeds are in the mid-600 Mbps range, consistent throughout the time of day, while my upload speeds are in the 40-60 Mbps range.
Since switching from Spectrum to T-Mobile Home Internet, my internet usage habits haven’t changed. That means I have multiple personal smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops connected, plus multiple test rigs that are always running, and a TV streaming everything from Sling TV to Disney Plus to Amazon Video. In other words, I just use the service, and it works without a hitch, which was something I couldn’t really say after my first two weeks of use almost two years ago.
Final thoughts
After the nightmare I had trying T-Mobile’s home internet service in 2022, I had no intention of going back to it. On a whim, I decided to give it another try, and I was impressed with the promise of 5G home internet service. It was very stable every day for a full month, and just as reliable as my Spectrum internet service. And the cost savings are certainly significant compared to what I was paying with Spectrum. The $15 savings per month translates into an extra $180 in my bank account. Add in the $200 prepaid Mastercard I’m getting from T-Mobile, and I’d say this is a win so far.
But my recent “wins” with T-Mobile don’t discount the troubles I’ve had in the past, or that others have had (or are still having) with their service. Perhaps T-Mobile has improved its ability to handle an increase in customers. Or perhaps its customer support team has improved how it handles customers who call with problems.
It’s also likely that the current generation of 5G gateways are more reliable, resulting in a better internet experience for customers. Or maybe we just got lucky this time? No one knows for sure, but I’ll stick with this 5G home internet train for as long as I can, and hope that the experience continues to be a delight.
