How reliable is T-Mobile Home Internet?

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On paper, T-Mobile’s Home Internet seems like a great deal: The service costs between $40 and $60 per month, depending on whether it’s bundled with an eligible T-Mobile plan. On top of that, the company doesn’t charge equipment lease, installation, or overage fees.

T-Mobile Home Internet comes with a wireless modem-router combo that connects to the company’s 5G network and offers WiFi access throughout the home. Customers install T-Mobile Home Internet themselves — no technician needed.

From there, though, things get iffy. T-Mobile’s Home Internet is deprioritized over mobile phone traffic, which can be problematic in areas of extreme congestion.

For example, if you live near a shopping center, school, hospital, airport, or any other place where large groups of people are likely to be present at any given time, you might find your connection isn’t as reliable compared to land-based services like fiber or cable Internet.

There was also an early issue where T-Mobile Home Internet did not play nicely with some streaming TV services — namely, Hulu with Live TV.

The issue involved how T-Mobile Home Internet connected to Hulu’s servers and reported a user’s location—which is necessary to unlock certain local and regional sports channels offered by Hulu with Live TV.

Based on certain Reddit comments, the issue still occurred a few months ago unless a customer contacted Hulu to request a particular workaround.

Signal issues are also a problem for some T-Mobile Home Internet customers.

When The Verge’s Mitchell Clark reviewed T-Mobile Home Internet more than two years ago, he found that the first-generation T-Mobile Home Internet router (affectionately nicknamed the “trash can” by subscribers) “always had a weak cellular signal, and there were so many drop-outs and slowdowns that even my non-techie wife was fed up with it after a few weeks.”

This, despite the fact that T-Mobile told Clark his home address was eligible for T-Mobile Home Internet based on their signal map.

Despite T-Mobile’s habit of sending me a flier every few weeks begging me to sign up for Home Internet or T-Mobile Business Internet, whenever I enter my address in their coverage map website, I’m told the product is unavailable in my location.

To be fair, Verizon does the exact same thing with its wireless Internet service, so I’ve not been able to try either on my own.

As with anything, your specific mileage may vary. In a Facebook group for residents who live one town over from my city, T-Mobile Home Internet is quite popular, and the service is giving the town’s land-based provider — Astound Broadband — a run for its money.

Is T-Mobile Home Internet a Good Deal?

Despite the potential drawbacks, T-Mobile Home Internet could be a viable option for some users. It might be worth trying if you live in a rural area with strong T-Mobile 5G coverage or in a town where T-Mobile Home Internet is popular among your neighbors.

The lack of equipment fees and the flexibility to choose your plan make it an attractive alternative to traditional landline internet providers.

However, you may want to look elsewhere if you live in a densely populated urban area or rely heavily on streaming services. The potential for signal issues and compatibility problems could impact your experience.

As with any new technology, it’s important to do your research and consider your specific needs before pulling the trigger on a purchase.

Have any thoughts on this? Drop us a line below in the comments, or carry the discussion to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• How T-Mobile’s soft data cap stacks up against the competition
• T-Mobile introduces soft data cap for Home internet users
• T-Mobile bringing back free MLB.TV subscription in March
• T-Mobile demotes free “Netflix on Us” perk to the ad-supported tier

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.