If you’re looking for an affordable internet plan, you may have seen the ads for T-Mobile Home Internet and wondered if it’s worth the savings.
At first glance, the service sounds almost too good to be true:
- $50 a month
- No annual contract
- No data caps
- Equipment included
T-Mobile Home Internet Review
I’ve tested T-Mobile’s 5G home internet service two times since it first launched. This article covers what you need to know before you sign up.
1. Try T-Mobile Home Internet Before You Commit
T-Mobile is offering customers a 15-day risk-free trial to test out its 5G home internet service.
This is a significant development. When I first tested the service in early 2021, it didn’t work well at my location. I canceled almost immediately, but I was charged for a full month of service.
T-Mobile eventually refunded me after a series of calls to customer service.
Now, T-Mobile customers won’t have to go through that hassle. If the service doesn’t work out, cancel by phone within 15 days and return the gateway promptly to avoid a $370 equipment charge.
During the test period, I recommend that you keep your existing internet service as a backup.
And if you decide to continue with T-Mobile and drop your existing internet service, T-Mobile says it will pay up to $750 in early termination fees. Learn more here.
2. Pricing, Deals & Perks
T-Mobile Home Internet’s unlimited data plan costs $50 per month when you set up AutoPay. Otherwise, it’s $55 per month. Taxes are included in that price.
There are no contracts with the service. You can cancel at any time.
When you sign up for T-Mobile Home Internet, the company will run a credit check.
New customers must pay a one-time $35 activation fee as of November 2022. In the fine print, T-Mobile refers to this as an “assisted support or device connection charge.”
However, some customers have told me that T-Mobile waived this charge for them.
The $50 a month price for T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is available whether you have a T-Mobile phone plan or not.
But there are additional savings for T-Mobile wireless customers:
- Get home internet for $30 per month if you have at least one Magenta MAX or equivalent voice line
- Get home internet for $40 per month with other T-Mobile postpaid wireless plans
T-Mobile has special perks for new customers. At the time of this update in March 2023, T-Mobile is offering a $200 prepaid card when you sign up for home internet.
These offers change frequently. Check T-Mobile’s website to verify the latest offers.
UPDATE: In addition to the unlimited data option, T-Mobile introduced Home Internet Lite in August 2022. This version of the service does have a data cap. It starts at $50 per month for 100GB of data. T-Mobile Home Internet Lite is available in areas where T-Mobile doesn’t have the capacity to offer the unlimited plan. Learn more about T-Mobile Home Internet Lite here.
3. T-Mobile Home Internet Data Speeds and Reliability
T-Mobile Home Internet relies on T-Mobile’s 5G and 4G LTE networks to provide service.
If you already have reliable high-speed internet service from a cable or phone company, T-Mobile’s data speeds may be slower than your current provider.
Here are the data speeds T-Mobile says you can expect with its home internet service:
- Download speeds between 33 Mbps and 182 Mbps
- Upload speeds between 6 Mbps and 23 Mbps
During my test of T-Mobile’s service in 2021, I never got a strong signal — only one or two bars.
But my experience improved when I began testing T-Mobile 5G Home Internet from a new location in late 2022. I regularly record download speeds of more than 250 Mbps.
With those speeds, I’m able to reliably stream video, music and use all of my apps.
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Speed Test Results
| Download Speed | Upload Speed |
| 246 Mbps | 18.7 Mbps |
| 351 Mbps | 19.5 Mbps |
| 224 Mbps | 17.7 Mbps |
| 317 Mbps | 21.8 Mbps |
| 250 Mbps | 28.5 Mbps |
Bottom line: If you get the advertised download speeds, T-Mobile Home Internet is fast enough to stream video and surf the web.
Although there are no data caps with the unlimited plan, home internet customers are deprioritized during times of congestion and may notice slower speeds than T-Mobile wireless customers.
Since the service uses T-Mobile’s network, it performs best where T-Mobile has strong 5G coverage.
The placement of your T-Mobile gateway (router-modem combo) greatly affects your data speeds. T-Mobile recommends positioning the gateway by a window and on an upper floor.
I walk you through the entire setup process and share my tips in this separate article.
I’ve experienced deprioritization with T-Mobile Home Internet at times, but the service has been mostly reliable.
I’ve also tested Verizon 5G Home Internet and prefer it. See my comparison here.
Since there’s no way to predict when your speeds will be slowed due to network congestion, this service may not be a good fit if you do a lot of online gaming or video conferencing.
In addition, some live TV streaming services will not work with T-Mobile’s internet plan.
That’s because T-Mobile Home Internet uses dynamic IP addressing, not static. T-Mobile says Hulu + Live TV and Sling TV are two live TV services that are not compatible with the service.
YouTube TV, my favorite live TV service, does work with T-Mobile Home Internet. I use it every day without problems.
4. Home Internet Service Availability
T-Mobile Home Internet says its unlimited plan is open to more than 40 million homes, while the Lite version is available wherever T-Mobile has wireless coverage.
You can enter your phone number and address on T-Mobile’s website to check eligibility.
If you’re not able to sign up for T-Mobile Home Internet’s unlimited plan, you may be offered the Lite plan. However, I generally don’t recommend the Lite version due to the low data cap.
If you’re not eligible for the unlimited plan, check back regularly as the service expands.
Final Thought
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet’s unlimited plan is a great deal at $50 a month, particularly for households with limited internet options.
For those with fast internet service from a cable or phone company, T-Mobile’s service is likely cheaper. But depending on your current plan, T-Mobile’s service may have slower speeds.
Still, the low monthly price and signup perks may make T-Mobile Home Internet worth trying out.
they do data caps. throttled mine. works way spotty. won’t connect for an hour then wow, it works again.
I wouldn’t recommend if you work from home and rely on you home internet being up reliably.
I would love to say that t-mobile internet is a great service. I cannot. At first it was great. I was getting speeds of 120mbps download. after a few weeks that speed dropped to about 1.60 mbps down and 52 Mbps upload. I spoke with customer service several times about this problem and they sent me a new internet gateway. It worked for another 2 weeks and then stopped again. I am waiting on another gateway. if the service does not work this time I will be cancelling the service. In my opinion, the service is not worth the money.
I having the same problem worked for a few weeks, then speed slow down 54 .7 down load speed 47.6 upload .it will not connect to my home computer or my hp printer that only 2 years old . Contact tech support on the phone for 2 hours still unable to help my live tv stream worked but now will not work will be canceling
I got the T-Mobile Internet as a separate set up for my theater room. Ethernet directly into my streaming box. I was in the store for an hour talking through everything with them before pulling the trigger. Not one time did they call out the difference between Home Internet and Home Internet Lite. I had no idea there was a 100gb limit until I got a text message saying I’d used up my plan data in less than one week of usage. Download speeds were 200 Mbps and worked great.
Returned it during the trial period.
If you use Hulu Live TV, T-Mobile Internet is not an option. It does not work with HULU. I talked to a T-Mobile Rep and he confirmed.
Yes, T-Mobile says this on its website. Also Sling TV. I will add to my article.
Sling TV works on mine and I average 100-175 down and 10-25 up.
Thank you
Be aware that if you plan to connect Genie, Aladdin, or Chamberlain garage door openers you will be sorry out of luck unless you set up a second router as a data access point. I spent hours and hours with with nice but technically unskilled T-Mobile help until I figured out that port 8883 is blocked on the current 5g gateways.
Be aware that certain AnyConnect VPNs are also incompatible with the 5G gateway!
I have had T-Mobile 5G Home Internet about a month. I’m truly on the fringe of their service area, but I’m paying $50 a month rather than $129 for a third-party 4G plan. And, it’s much faster, even with my “LOW” signal (one or two bars).
Speedcheck.org has me with an average of 71.41 down and 16.19 up. But, I frequently clock 100+ for download.
I’m EXTREMELY PLEASED with this service.
Another issue with the T-Mobile 5g is they force you to pay monthly for their modem, yes it is included in the price. But if you own your 5g modem, they will not give you a credit for using equipment you already own. It is a take or leave it situation, I left it.
As you noted, the equipment is included in the price.
No issues with hulu or netflix – running thru a roku box
I’ve had T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet service for a couple of months and have seen a dramatic increase in speed during that time. Evidently, they are expanding their service. When I first signed up, I was getting 40-50 Mbps download and about 5-7 upload. Now I get 150 down and 20-25 up. And, all this for only $50 per month. I live “in the sticks” and previously was paying about $120 per month for 4G service with much slower speeds.
I highly recommend this service if they offer it in your area. It has been consistently available, speeds certainly vary and slow down a bit during late afternoon and evening but are still fully capable of streaming.
Nice!
How many concurrent YouTubeTV streams did you test? We consistently have 3 YTV streams plus Ooma phone and various mobile phones/tablets. T-Mobile 5G Ultra is available at my address.
I have tested 3 streams at once.
Thanks for this very helpful article. Comcast just raised my rate after a 1 or 2 year promo deal and I’m looking for alternatives. Not many where I live in Alexandria, VA.
Have you checked availability for Verizon Home Internet? I have an article on that as well. (I’m testing both T-Mobile and Verizon’s services.)
Got through the 14 day trial fine. Worked like they said it would. Started about midway through December of 2022.
The subsequent time after the trial has been unusable. They are going to replace the “Gateway” but I don’t believe that will fix anything. I’ll have to wait to find out as the replacement will by here by Jan 18, 2023. Some of the service techs alluded to severe congestion in my area. Strange I did not see that during the 14 day trial. My internet now goes “down” after approx. 5:00 PM and remains down until about 2:00 AM in the morning. At times other than in that window I have usable internet. The special idiot I spoke with last is the one that ordered the replacement Gateway.
I must say that over 1/2 of the techs taking my calls were “special idiots”, more akin to parrots and don’t listen. The other techs were quite fine.
I’m thoroughly displeased at the moment. I feel swindled with this. This internet is right next to useless. Even just “surfing” at low throughput sites (not much bandwidth) is next to impossible.
I’ve got the unlimited plan, which they said my address qualified for. No data or speed caps.
Story recap and finale.
After being through many techs, and to be fair some were downright excellent, there were none that could actually resolve the internet speed issues where at the slowest I got nothing to about 300Kbps. I was told by a few that the particular cell tower I was linked to had high congestion and traffice. I finally called T-Mobile back and simply asked for my money back after explaining the full scenario to the patient woman at the other end of the line. She credited my account, and two gateways are being shipped back to T-Mobile (they are providing the shipping tags).
I really wanted this to work. I am now back with Optimum, the company I was with at the outset and was passionately hating. They have me at a VERY much lower rate than before at the moment and I now have internet that is full speed ahead.
I’m keeping the T-Mobile cell service. It isn’t a super fabulous deal but it does cover the bases I need covered and they seem to have broad coverage where I need it in my travels. So far I am pleased with the cell service.
T-Mobile states that their home internet runs at the lowest priority. Almost sounds like they might give it higher priority during the trail period.
I don’t believe that to be the case. The internet service is deprioritized and speeds are slowed when towers are busy, even during the trial.
would a better modem inprove the service
If you are struggling with the service, I would contact support. People who get slow speeds on T-Mobile Home Internet are likely in places where there cell towers are congested.
FYI, I talked to T-Mobile yesterday, in regard to the free 15 day trial on their 5G home internet. They told me the $35 activation fee is not refunded, so, IMO, it is not really a “free” trail, since you will be out $35,even if you cancel during the first 15 days. They said that applied to both purchases in store and online. The rep searched to see if there were any specials where the activation fee was waived, and he couldn’t find any.
I live out in the sticks, so figured I would try it due to the “free” trial. Decided not to after talking to the rep. I use my phone for a hotspot hooked to my laptop, but the Verizon tower is so congested, that the laptop is useless from about 4PM for the rest of the night. Can barely get on Yahoo using my phone data at those times, even though it is higher priority than the laptop on hotspot.
Yes, the $35 is a new charge. It was a truly free trial until they added that.