T Mobile home internet?

[flatbutt]

Any users here? My current provider just sucks and I'm tired of it. So. I'm looking to switch but not many alternatives here in ex-urban NJ.

[RANDY P]

We got it. MEH. Devices - TV streaming, two laptops for work (MSFT Teams). Not too many devices going at once.

Pros: CHEAP, modem reboots very fast when it screws up. OK reliability (see cons), when it crashes, recovers fairly quickly. No wires. Firewall handled at Tmobile's end.

Cons: Mediocre speeds compared to cable (Cox), doesn't seem to handle too much load. Stream two devices and you may have glitches. Can't turn off WiFi on their modem and no static IP. No personal firewall.

I would not trust this thing with say a family of 4. Two people and casual use it's OK. At least it recovers quickly. Streaming is OK, few clocks and interruptions.

I use a seperate wifi router so I can have dedicated static IP address for printer.

rjp

[RANDY P]

[masraum]

I've got it.

Since Mar 2021, I've been using T-mobile cell for Internet using a SIM in a commercial router. Since Aug, I've been using the T-mobile Home Internet device. The T-mobile device has been working great for me, no issues. I work from home, so I connect via the Internet to a corporate website in the northeast and then have a virtual computer that I use. We also stream TV/movies over the Home Internet service. I have occasionally (very occasionally, once every 2-4 months occasionally) had my work access feel a little sluggish (but still usable). And every once in a while, something streaming will drop down in resolution for a short period and then the high res will pop back. It's usually a few seconds.

We are VERY rural. The only other options for me would be satellite (Hughes [bad] or Starlink [probably good]) or dial-up (no way no how!). I'm also almost exactly half way in between the 2 nearest towers so probably the weakest signal possible (the T-mobile gateway shows it as "good").

Do you have T-mobile cell service? If you do, or you know someone that does, various times of day and various days of the week, run "speedtest" tests and keep track of the results for about a week. My guess is that early morning on the weekends you'll see great results. In the afternoons during the week, the results won't be quite as good, and evenings, especially on Fridays you'll probably see the worst results. I think this is because of the shared access of the network.

When my speedtest results are the worst I'm probably seeing 20-30mb down and 1.5-3mb up (which is still going to allow a device to stream). I think the best that I've ever seen is ~150mb down and 40mb up. My test a few mins ago was 54/18. My ping times are usually around 40ms.

It is just me and the missus.

This is really going to be a "YMMV" sort of situation. It's going to depend upon the signal that you get (affect your service), how well the local T-mobile network is built out (total capacity in the area, affect all T-mobile service), and how many T-mobile folks are in your area (when everyone is active, you may all see slow downs). IE, does your car run right, how many lanes on the highway that you're driving on, and how much traffic is on the highway that you're driving on. If your car is running on 2 of 4 cylinders (bad signal) it doesn't matter how good everything else is. If you get a great signal, but it's a one lane road it could be OK, but any traffic will hamper your progress. If there are times when there are 1000 other cars on the road, even if it's the autobahn, it's still going to suck.

[ninelevenick]

My household uses T Moblie home internet and we love it. We are a family of four with typical devices that use internet both 5g and 2.4g. My two sons are constantly online gaming. No hiccups; no internet outages. I just checked my internet speed. 134 mbps download and 73 mbps upload. We live close to a hill that has a cell tower, so I'm sure that helps our signal. You want to set the router close to a window where it will receive the optimum signal. T Mobile gave use a two week trial period with the option of sending it back free of charge.

[RANDY P]

We switched from Cox since the outages (probably install related, IDK) were killing us for Teams meetings. Outages for hours on end. Can't have it.

Gonna rip out co-ax cable from the outside of the house soon. Good riddance.

rjp

[masraum]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

We switched from Cox since the outages (probably install related, IDK) were killing us for Teams meetings. Outages for hours on end. Can't have it.

Gonna rip out co-ax cable from the outside of the house soon. Good riddance.

rjp

I've been using T-mobile for home internet via a data only plan for ~2 years at this location. In Aug we changed to the T-mobile gateway. I'd have stayed with my old gateway, but T-mobile upgraded the local tower and my service got wonky, probably needed some sort of upgrade to my old device, but there was none, and I couldn't wait. I've had excellent service (maybe 2 outages in 2 years, and probably <1hr or if more, then not during the day).

I've also had T-mobile cell service for ~20 years (I think it goes back longer via another services that was bought and merged, but T-mobile always thanks me for being such a loyal customer when I call them).

[RANDY P]

It's said the service issues began after the Sprint merger.

Overall, I'd rather have slower consistent service VS. something that requires a truck to roll and being out for hours on end. Oh and ya, T-Mo people are pretty nice.

rjp

[masraum]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

It's said the service issues began after the Sprint merger.

Overall, I'd rather have slower consistent service VS. something that requires a truck to roll and being out for hours on end. Oh and ya, T-Mo people are pretty nice.

rjp

Our T-mobile service has been very reliable.

10 years ago, you'd almost always get someone in a foreign country when you called. They were nice, but often ineffective (I think mostly a language barrier, they sound fluent, but don't REALLY understand what you're telling them, but that may be skewed because my issues are usually complex and/or technical). If you had an issue that they didn't fix, you'd call, say you wanted to cancel, and then you'd get transferred to someone in the US that always fixed the issue.

It's not like that now. Now when I call, I almost always (85-95%) get someone in the US, and they are always helpful. Occasionally, I'll get someone in a foreign country, and it's about 50/50 whether they get the issue fixed or not.