T-Mobile - The force to be reckoned with

[alarmguy]

I assume you know that neither the topic you posted nor the article you referenced are about home internet service only. You started talking about home internet service in Post #20.

Historically in my area, T-mobil has worked well when you are nearer populated areas. Currently, they still seem to have more holes in their network and have not expanded into areas I either work or play in. ATT is the king in those places, thus has my business.

That's why I take any article touting how great some service is with a grain of salt... They can cherry pick the metrics they want and they all look great...

Oh, my, You are correct 3 weeks ago is a long time in BITOG for me. Your assumption was wrong, I forget about the post I made that started this thread! SO you are right, if that makes sense. Im confused myself because I am rushing.

BTW - I am an ATT cell phone user since 2002 and still to this day through RedPocket now, before that, Cricket, before that, Straight Talk, before that Sprint and before that true ATT in NY. There was a period when I moved from NY to SC that I became a Sprint customer because I am able to get the area code exchange that I wanted before the move.
ATT cell coverage is and was always as good and in some cases better than Verizon. Sprint and TMobile back then were in the toilet.
I have traveled every back woods road and county in the State of SC, every rural place imaginable. My work provided phone was Verizon and my personal phone ATT. Given the area they both worked equally well.
As far as cherry picking stats on availability of 5g to their customers, T-Mobile has the other 2 smoked. This isn't just coming from T-Mobile, its 3rd party facts. Granted in the large populations areas.
Wall Street knows their potential , they now own massive amounts of prime spectrum for the up and coming 5g driving the stock price to sell many, many times great multiple then Verizon and ATT.

Ok, that's out of the way. This is what I thought everyone knew I was talking about (except maybe me)
Now with T-Mobile home internet, they are light years ahead of the competition. Verizon has plan to catch up this year, T-Mobile is adding the capability for 2 million households a week to 5g home internet, for the entire last year Verizon added only 2 million. This is Wall Street news.
With all this said, the bottom line, in regards to Home Internet service, its not cherry picking stats. T-Mobile blew everyone away last year and continues this year. AS far as comments that it may not work here or there is meaningless because Home Internet is stationary, just like cable internet.
It either works great or doesn't and it stays in your home or business. The customer either keeps it or returns it. It doesn't travel around so if it works, it will keep working.
Also if they know it won't work, they will tel you its not available in your location.

 

[Addicted2jeepz]

Oh... forgot to make one other thing clear, a prediction if you will.
TMobile is going gangbusters with home internet service. I am dying to get it at my house, still waiting and waiting for tower upgrade here after an unsuccessful attempt one year ago. The towers are here but they cant upgrade the whole system at one time and Im not exactly in a big city.

I think this is the next disrupter and I cant wait to get it. $50 a month, no other cost, no fee's no taxes, nothing = $50 a month. I think, maybe one day in the future, having a cable to your home for the internet will be as common as a home landline. )

I fill out the form online every week to sign up for TMobile home internet , can't wait to dump Spectrum. I hate them with a passion for their disgusting prices.

I made the switch to T-Mobile home internet and couldn't be happier for $50!

 

[alarmguy]

I made the switch to T-Mobile home internet and couldn't be happier for $50!
View attachment 89438

OMG, this is all great news!!! Not for us YET but it will happen sooner or later... what drives us, both my wife and I are normally at the cutting edge before other people know about stuff, like when we tried it last Jan 2021 they couldn't get it working in our area, we are unable still to be able to get it but it shouldn't be long.

 

[SHOZ]

I have T Mobile for my hotspot and home internet. I use a couple of outside antennas to get the best signal. They are just the carrier though as the plan is from Consumer Cellular. Only one around who will actually give you unlimited data and not slow down the speeds. I use up to 80Gbs a month.

 

[cardsrok]

I made the switch to T-Mobile home internet and couldn't be happier for $50!
View attachment 89438

I agree. You are faster than me, but I can't complain. It's better than what I had with U-verse.

 

[alarmguy]

You guys are driving me crazy! All I want is a min of 100 Mbps T-Mobile or even Verizon. I check every week still N.G.
I would like to avoid Verizon, typically it is much more expensive but right now to compete with TMobile they drastically reduced the price for two years only. I would prefer TMobile because they do not play those games but Im at the point for now, whoever can get me the service first, I could always switch later, though TMobile will go up in price too but they grandfather in prices, Verizon traditionally does not.

 

[53' Stude]

Around my area T Mobile isn’t that good of a network from I’m hearing from actual users. I’ll keep Cricket; reliable and not too expensive

 

[Skippy722]

Finding more and more UC in my area, but still no go at my house… patiently waiting. I could live with 25mbps if they’d let me sign up!

 

[SubLGT]

Who would have ever imagined TMobile being at the forefront of the next generation of communications...

They also seem to be at the forefront of customer data breaches.

Another T-Mobile cyberattack reportedly exposed customer info and SIMs

Potentially exposed info includes account and line numbers

www.theverge.com

[Dec 28, 2021] T-Mobile has suffered another cyberattack after being rocked by a massive data breach in August. This time around, attackers accessed “a small number of” customers’ accounts, according to documents posted by The T-Mo Report.

According to the report, customers either fell victim to a SIM swapping attack (which could allow someone to bypass SMS-powered two-factor authentication), had personal plan information exposed, or both. The document shows that the customer proprietary network information that was viewed could’ve included customers’ billing account name, phone and account number, and info about their plan, including how many lines were attached to their account.

This summer, the carrier confirmed that a data breach exposed almost 50 million customers’ data, with the attacker accessing social security numbers, names, and dates of birth. (A person who claimed to be the hacker went on to call the company’s security practices “awful.”) The information reportedly exposed in December’s breach is less sensitive (and the documents say the customers who had their SIMs swapped have regained access), and is likely not as large in scope. We weren’t able to find widespread reports from customers that said they’d received notification letters.

 

[alarmguy]

They also seem to be at the forefront of customer data breaches.

Another T-Mobile cyberattack reportedly exposed customer info and SIMs

Potentially exposed info includes account and line numbers

www.theverge.com

Yeah, T Mobile is in a race to see who can leak more, Verizon, ATT, your local doctors office, your college, your state government or the Federal Government.
The Federal Government wins hands down and with much more information of tens of millions, if not more. Locally, my state wins as well
Anyway you can do a search on any of the above and hundreds more by a google search _________ data leaks (fill in the blank) and you will see leaks for them all.
True, Tmobile the latest of the ones that were discovered and it was a whopper for sure, lets not forget all the undiscovered ones too.

Not sure if it matters anymore, at this point, we are just fish in a bowl. The good hackers will go after the most wealthy much like a fisherman will go after the most desirable fish and most times for the common people.

 

[Srt20]

But SRT20 said ATT is awesome where he is but the Home Internet plan sucks, well if so, I was making him aware of the cost for Starlink, It might make the ATT service look good to him after seeing the price of the Starlink

Yeah. I have had a deposit on Starlink for about 1 year. Supposed to get it in March this year. We will see.
I want no data caps, or at least a cap that I will never hit. I have a family of 4 and stream all TV. 100GB wouldnt last a week.

I currently have a local Fixed Point wireless provider. 20/10 speeds for $85 a month. Its not fast enough anymore.
I also have the old Mobley unlimited plan. Put the sim in a hotspot 4-5 years ago. Its great, but I dont abuse it. I only use it for traveling and outages at home. I wish I would have bought a couple more at $20 a month.

 

[alarmguy]

Yeah. I have had a deposit on Starlink for about 1 year. Supposed to get it in March this year. We will see.
I want no data caps, or at least a cap that I will never hit. I have a family of 4 and stream all TV. 100GB wouldnt last a week.

I currently have a local Fixed Point wireless provider. 20/10 speeds for $85 a month. Its not fast enough anymore.
I also have the old Mobley unlimited plan. Put the sim in a hotspot 4-5 years ago. Its great, but I dont abuse it. I only use it for traveling and outages at home. I wish I would have bought a couple more at $20 a month.

Data Caps, ridiculous . Though I guess 1tb would be ok, have no idea... never had one.
I know some people have no choice.
Starlink is expensive for what you get = 100 to 200 Mbps @ $100 a month plus $600 for hardware, shipping and tax.
But if you dont have a choice ... you dont have a choice.

Then again, one should first check Tmobile home internet and Verizon home internet, faster speeds in many cases, no cost for equipment and $50 a month total cost and you lose nothing if you dont like it and will not be affected by storms like Starlink will.

 

[Srt20]

Data Caps, ridiculous . Though I guess 1tb would be ok, have no idea... never had one.
I know some people have no choice.
Starlink is expensive for what you get = 100 to 200 Mbps @ $100 a month plus $600 for hardware, shipping and tax.
But if you dont have a choice ... you dont have a choice.

Then again, one should first check Tmobile home internet and Verizon home internet, faster speeds in many cases, no cost for equipment and $50 a month total cost and you lose nothing if you dont like it and will not be affected by storms like Starlink will.

Thats why I tried T mobile.

I haven't heard of anyone having issues during storms with Starlink. Actually the opposite. Ive seen some Starlink speeds over 500mbps. Many of 300mbps. Actually Id be happy over 100mbps.

Funny thing is, I dont live in the sticks. Yeah Im not in a town, but Im within 30 miles of 2 biggest cities in WI. 2 miles out of a 25K town. But I cannot get any wired internet. DSL or cable.

I "may" try Verizon yet. The site says wireless home is not in my area, but going to the store is always different than the site. Though I used to have verizon cell phones, and the internet just kept getting slower and slower for the last 5 years. Dumped them for ATT last year.

 

[alarmguy]

Thats why I tried T mobile.

I haven't heard of anyone having issues during storms with Starlink. Actually the opposite. Ive seen some Starlink speeds over 500mbps. Many of 300mbps. Actually Id be happy over 100mbps.

Funny thing is, I dont live in the sticks. Yeah Im not in a town, but Im within 30 miles of 2 biggest cities in WI. 2 miles out of a 25K town. But I cannot get any wired internet. DSL or cable.

I "may" try Verizon yet. The site says wireless home is not in my area, but going to the store is always different than the site. Though I used to have verizon cell phones, and the internet just kept getting slower and slower for the last 5 years. Dumped them for ATT last year.

Well, since Starlink advertises 100 to 200 Mbps I dont see any reason that you would get less than 100 so you would be good.
BTW- that 100 is the magic number for me too, I currently have 200 with Spectrum but doesn't matter much when the upload is only 12 on a good day.
I much rather have 100/100 service than 200/12 service or 500/20 service.

AS far as storms,, well you wouldnt know until you have one. Starlink mentions the possibility. I remember having Sat TV decades ago, the picture would get funky during T-Storms.
IF, IF Starlink can get funky that could be disaster in the middle of a download or something, again, I am sure they are just covering themselves for the worst of the worst storms (or solar storms)

 

[14Accent]

As a current/legacy Sprint customer for the last 12 years, I have to say that the TMO merger has been mostly beneficial to all those involved. I still remember the days of WiMAX, "premuim" data charges, and consistent 4th place performance by Sprint yet I stuck it out. I had this odd hunch that some day my loyalty would pay off, and this merger proved me right.

If there's one thing Sprint got right, it was hoarding spectrum. Granted, they had absolutely no capital to actually DEPLOY said spectrum, but they knew that owning it was worth more than anything in the sector given it's limited availability. The takeover by TMO was brilliant in my opinion: instead of spending hundreds of millions (if not billions) at auction, they made a two-fold play: acquire not only spectrum but also a massive customer base. Not just any old spectrum, mind you, but coveted mid-band spectrum that Sprint had been holding for years. Verizon and AT&T are stuck focusing on small cell tech and micro cells while TMO is using their new found mid-band spectrum to expand their 5G coverage exponentially.

On top of that, I made the shrewd call of investing in Sprint stock a couple months ahead of the official merger approval. Again, it was just a hunch, but picking up S at $4ish a share was one of the best decisions I've made in the admittedly short history of my portfolio's existence.

 

[PandaBear]

T-Mobile seems to have poor coverage in the area of NY and Delaware I have lived in. My solution is to have a work cell and a home cell. One on T-Mobile and one on Verizon.

I believe there is more than one flavor of 5G. Rural areas will not get the same flavor as cities.

There's only 1 flavor, but different "band" and every company invest their upgrade differently.

The guy who negotiated the breakup fee and roaming agreement with AT&T on behave of T-Mo during the merger was a genius. It was a win win situation (win twice by T-Mo) and could use that to solve their biggest problem in rural reception and the cash to buy up the new band they need for LTE, as well as the 5G upgrade.

Regarding to Home 5G vs Starlink, the coverage per satellite in Starlink is going to be a much bigger area (which means the same bandwidth cannot be re-used by as big an area), the rocket launch cost way more than building a cell tower, and the latency of going to space then back to earth is going to be way more than between your hotspot and the nearby tower.

The main concern for 5G home network deployment is what if cable drop their prices to match? and what about the new home (community) with fiber already laid out? Can 5G compete with them?

 

[Donald]

There's only 1 flavor, but different "band" and every company invest their upgrade differently.

The guy who negotiated the breakup fee and roaming agreement with AT&T on behave of T-Mo during the merger was a genius. It was a win win situation (win twice by T-Mo) and could use that to solve their biggest problem in rural reception and the cash to buy up the new band they need for LTE, as well as the 5G upgrade.

Regarding to Home 5G vs Starlink, the coverage per satellite in Starlink is going to be a much bigger area (which means the same bandwidth cannot be re-used by as big an area), the rocket launch cost way more than building a cell tower, and the latency of going to space then back to earth is going to be way more than between your hotspot and the nearby tower.

The main concern for 5G home network deployment is what if cable drop their prices to match? and what about the new home (community) with fiber already laid out? Can 5G compete with them?

Fiber is getting cheap. I bought 425 feet of MM fiber to go between two buildings and it was $250 and pre-terminated.

 

[PandaBear]

Fiber is getting cheap. I bought 425 feet of MM fiber to go between two buildings and it was $250 and pre-terminated.

The trenches and digging is the expensive one.

 

[alarmguy]

T-Mobile seems to have poor coverage in the area of NY and Delaware I have lived in. My solution is to have a work cell and a home cell. One on T-Mobile and one on Verizon.

I believe there is more than one flavor of 5G. Rural areas will not get the same flavor as cities.

Yes they will if you have good cell coverage. Cell coverage is no different than fiber cable coverage. Its ether there or its not there.
5G cell coverage will far and away exceed the coverage areas in the USA then traditional fiber and cable. Though at present time I dont thing 5G cell can handle the volume of customers in populated areas.

In rural areas where there is no cable/fiber is where 5g home internet service is the holy grail for many and the real purpose of Verizon and TMobile offering 5g home internet service was to service customers without access to high speed internet.
I doubt their networks can handle all the data in more populated areas and I already know its first come first serve in some more rural areas. Meaning they limit how many people can sign up at the present time until networks are updated.

I do think wireless internet to homes will be VERY normal in the next 10 years or sooner.

 

[PandaBear]

The problem with T-Mo coverage in large cities is they don't have the real estate to put in more antennas / boxes. The only alternative they have now is to either rent from American Tower or roam to another provider, this is especially important in the higher bands as they don't penetrate buildings as well as the older spectrum. The more antennas you have spread out the smaller your cell can be, and the more you can reuse the spectrum you auctioned.

As a result I think 5G won't be the major source of internet at home, they would likely be a monopoly breaker but not actively promote it.