Cable vs 5G Home Internet

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Apr 28, 2020
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Location
North Dakota
I'm generally satisfied with my cable ISP...currently paying $65/month for 250mbps down which is more than adequate for my needs. Not cheap but it seems reasonable and they've been reliable. I'm always on the lookout to make a change if it makes sense from a monetary stand-point, but my main question is this: do most all of the cellular carrier home networking options potentially throttle speeds at times based on network demand? I've never experienced this from a cable ISP although I'm sure it happens. As far as I can tell T-Mobile is the only one with 5G coverage in my area right now, if that makes a difference.
 
If they don't now, they still might later.

Think of all the RF spectrum available in the airwaves, and how it's doled out and licensed in little chunks.

Now imagine all the RF spectrum available within a cable, and with a better signal-to-noise ratio to boot!

The only good reason to switch, would be to switch back later for a teaser intro rate.
 
I'm always on the lookout to make a change if it makes sense from a monetary stand-point, but my main question is this: do most all of the cellular carrier home networking options potentially throttle speeds at times based on network demand?

Would you happen to know how well TMO's network is around you? I have TMO but I live in a dense suburban town and work in the city so their coverage here is great. Historically I wouldn't have chosen them outside of any big cities but I don't know how they are now; they were definitely better than Sprint (although Sprint doesn't raise the bar high at all.)

The home internet does throttle though so expect lower speeds around congestion/rush hour time.
 
I have the T-Mobile home internet, it works great. More reliable and faster than the cable internet we had previously. I know others who have tried it and have not had the same results, so it really just depends on your location. They offer a 15 day trial at no charge, and all you do it plug the gateway they give you into a wall so you can use your current ISP and the new one while you try it out. You'll know in 2-3 days if it works or not.
 
The main issue is latency my tmob 5g is 3-4x higher latency.. bandwidth at times my 5g is faster than my 400/25 cable.

So if you do anything that is latency sensitive such as completive gaming (CS:GO etc)....
 
If 5G Ultra Wide Band is available to me it is the way to go. This is the speed I was getting on my iPhone while in Gettysburg this past June.

5G ultra wide band.jpg
 
abit slower everywhere now with the much larger amount of 5g phones as people have upgraded.

When I first got 5g here I was getting 1200 down 500 up.
now its more like 300-500 down 50-100 up.

The verizon UW is the tiny cells that are Line of sight?
I dont think those will even penetrate some house walls?

currently getting on tmob 5g 361/20 125 ping
on spectrum 347/12 19 ping

I think they just upgraded my home internet to 500/24
but I have yet to see over 350/12 in last couple weeks. previously I'd get 200-400 down and usually always peg the upload at the full 24mbit.

Edit: apparently they just reset my account to non ultra so those are full speeds. 300/10 which amounts to 350/12 with overprovisioning.
 
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We switched from ATT to Tmobile 5g home internet. Speeds are comparable but Tmobile was less expensive. I was tired of ATT hiking our rate every year.
 
The main issue is latency my tmob 5g is 3-4x higher latency.. bandwidth at times my 5g is faster than my 400/25 cable.

So if you do anything that is latency sensitive such as completive gaming (CS:GO etc)....
Good to know. No gaming, pretty basic web surfing, one 4k video stream at a time, max 2 but rarely. 20+ smart home devices connected but nothing is heavy use.
 
The thing with 5G is that as the add more users the service could deteriorate.
 
6 months ago I had to choose between T-Mobile, AT&T or Spectrum. T-Mobile could not supply modems at that times, Spectrum is a joke here in Kansas City. AT&T had just laid fiber in my neighborhood a year prior. Every few days I recived come-ons from them to switch to fiber. After much consternation I went with 1/2gig from AT&T which when I mentioned Spectrum offer of $45 a month, the supervisor joined the conversation and offered me $45 a month for life. SOLD

The service has only been down twice in 6+months. Both times were power outages. Highly recommended if the fiber laid is new.

Would have liked to try T-Mobile but no product = no sale.
 
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I have 5G TMobile/Sprint for more than 3 years with Sprint now TMobile/Sprint. $53/month with 50GB data. No blackouts or service interruptions I'd ever encountered.
 
I have the T-Mobile home internet, it works great. More reliable and faster than the cable internet we had previously. I know others who have tried it and have not had the same results, so it really just depends on your location. They offer a 15 day trial at no charge, and all you do it plug the gateway they give you into a wall so you can use your current ISP and the new one while you try it out. You'll know in 2-3 days if it works or not.
Your suggestions to the OP are spot on. He has nothing to lose.
As you know I tired it in Jan 2021 didnt work out well but returned the equipment, since then the area is marked as not available yet. Tower near me needs to be upgraded and I check the site all the time.
If I was the OP I would go for it! You are correct again, T-Mobile will limit the number of home internet subscribers to maintain service but there is nothing to lose if they dont, one jsut goes back to their traditional subscriber and guess what? The traditional subscriber will get a big discount for the first year jsut for going back to them, we did! and now after the first year, they still didnt raise us up to full price, they sent a letter, gave us half a raise for the second year. Then full back again the 3rd.

I can vouch for their 5g service in a different way, less than 3 miles from my house, near a tower I got over 700 Mbps on my iPhone, that was impressive.
 
Definitely try out 5G home internet, should you be so inclined. I myself don't use the service, however I'm a strong advocate for any service that cuts a cable provider out of the equation.

Here in MN, specifically the metro area, I've long been locked in to the duopoly that is Century Link and Comcast. A couple years ago I finally left Comcast's 150/50 internet plan for Century Link's gigabit fiber service and I've never been happier. I get a true 940/940 meg connection which has yet to drop regardless of weather.
 
All internet experience would be location specific. Your local cable can be better or worse than your local 5G and until you ask your local neighbors you would never know. The wireless latency over a wired connection is real, but it may not matter if you are not doing FPS game.

In my area I can get $50 50mbps cable internet, the same as 5G from TMO or Verizon, so the incentive is not there for me to switch. My dad hates cable in his area because it is overcrowded, so 5G would have been better for him (he ended up with fiber instead).

Thing about network bandwidth is, if they want to they can always add more capacity by splitting the coax, or add another tower / base station for 5G and reduce the area each covers (to reuse the bandwidth).
 
I happen to know that the fiber optic cable that feeds the TMobile tower in my area ALSO feeds the Comcast node that serves my house.

How do I know this?

Because a vehicle wreck knocked down a pole with that cable on it, and BOTH my TMobile data AND my Comcast service were out for 14 hours.
 
Fiber optic cables contain dozens to hundreds of separate fibers which are leased to different companies to carry their data independently. If a pole falls down of course all the fibers will break at once.
 
All internet experience would be location specific. Your local cable can be better or worse than your local 5G and until you ask your local neighbors you would never know. The wireless latency over a wired connection is real, but it may not matter if you are not doing FPS game.

In my area I can get $50 50mbps cable internet, the same as 5G from TMO or Verizon, so the incentive is not there for me to switch. My dad hates cable in his area because it is overcrowded, so 5G would have been better for him (he ended up with fiber instead).

I strongly concur that it's location specific. Your 5G router option may not be as great as you think when it's raining out or you want to put it in a central area of your house/apartment.

I ordered them for work sites and while it provides internet access, it's never ever consistent. I can at least count on AT&T or Comcast in my area to be consistent - but I'm lucky to live in an area where fiber is widely available. If you had some company like....Hughes or Spectrum then I'd switch.

Like @dishdude pointed out, they do offer a free trial period to see if it's something for you but I don't recall getting good signal with TMO anywhere in ND.
 
Like @dishdude pointed out, they do offer a free trial period to see if it's something for you but I don't recall getting good signal with TMO anywhere in ND.
This has changed mightily in the last year.
I was reluctant to try google fi again because of previous low signal but it is totally different.
I went from 2 bars and no signal in half the buildings to competitive service and 1200/500 up down on 5g. (has slowed down some now)
Even at my cabin in the middle of nowhere its now comparable to verizon.
 
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