Watch out, Starlink — T-Mobile just launched 5G home internet

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T-Mobile is launching a new habitation net service that piggybacks off its existing 5G infrastructure. Titled T-Mobile Home Cyberspace, the service aims to bring unlimited data for $60 a month with speeds topping 100 Mbps.

The movement means that T-Mobile is aiming to bring its Uncarrier smack talk to the likes of Comcast, Spectrum and Time Warner Cable. That $sixty monthly price includes taxes, fees and equipment costs. (As function of your service, T-Mobile supplies yous with a wireless router.) Those interested in T-Mobile Domicile Internet can caput to T-Mobile'south site to see if the service is available in their area.

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Chances are, it will be. T-Mobile says at launch that its internet service can reach more than 30 million homes. More significantly, a third of those are in what T-Mobile describes as rural areas or modest towns.

"Since the beginning of the digital age, connectivity for rural America has been an afterthought," said T-Mobile Senior Vice President Edwige Robinson in a printing release detailing T-Mobile Dwelling house Internet. "One of our most important goals is to ensure that modest town America is non left behind during the transition to 5G. This is why 5G for All volition span across the country — small-scale towns every bit well equally big cities, rural communities every bit well as the suburbs."

Hither's what you demand to know about T-Mobile's domicile internet service.

T-Mobile Home Internet coverage

Considering T-Mobile's new home internet service does not crave the laying of fiber optic cable, like with Verizon Fios, it'south all based on the company'southward existing wireless infrastructure. An interactive coverage map of T-Mobile's network tin be found hither.

Fifty-fifty then, but because you accept T-Mobile coverage in your expanse, you lot may not be eligible for T-Mobile Dwelling Internet. The company says its service reaches one in five U.South. homes, including coverage in areas often shut out of high-speed service. Information technology's the same strategy beingness pushed by Elon Musk's Starlink satellite cyberspace service.

You can run into if yous're home qualifies on T-Mobile's Internet service provider website. For what it'south worth, a Tom's Guide editor living in the San Francisco Bay Area checked his eligibility and learned that T-Mobile Home Internet isn't available at his home, though T-Mobile says it volition provide notifications every bit the service expands.

T-Mobile Dwelling internet speed

T-Mobile 5G speeds can vary widely when you're connecting with a smartphone, with speeds in some areas actually slower than LTE, despite the promise of better performance with 5G. T-Mobile'southward working on improving that by incorporating more than of Dart's 5G spectrum into its existing network. Consistency of operation is likely why T-Mobile is limiting its Home Net service reach for now.

To that cease, T-Mobile is promising average download speeds that top 100 Mbps for most new T-Mobile Home Internet customers; at a minimum, all eligible households should see an average of fifty Mbps, T-Mobile says. Those speeds can vary based on time of day and how much traffic is on the network, though.

T-Mobile Habitation Internet cost

The almost appealing thing about T-Mobile's new dwelling internet service is the toll. For a flat $sixty with Autopay enabled, which includes taxes and fees, customers will get unlimited internet. That includes T-Mobile's High-Speed Cyberspace Gateway, a device that will convert 5G bespeak into Wi-Fi. There'due south besides no contract and no almanac fees.

Yous don't have to be a customer for T-Mobile's wireless service to qualify for Home Cyberspace Service. (Contrast that with Xfinity Mobile, where y'all need to use Comcast'south Xfinity internet service in order to sign up for cellular coverage.)

T-Mobile Dwelling house Internet restrictions

T-Mobile says that at that place are no data caps on usage — a welcome policy given that some ISPs are beginning to enforce data caps while we're still stuck at abode due to to the coronavirus pandemic.

But while T-Mobile boasts that customers tin can stream equally much video as they want, there are restrictions with what can exist done on the network. Per the T-Mobile Abode Internet FAQ, "Domicile Internet is not intended for unattended use, automated information feeds, automated automobile-to-auto connections, or uses that automatically swallow unreasonable amounts of available network capacity."

So as long as you're using T-Mobile Domicile Internet for domicile net activities, you should be fine.

T-Mobile Dwelling house Net vs. Starlink

How does T-Mobile Home Cyberspace stack up confronting Elon Musk's Starlink? T-Mobile is positioning its home net to ride off its existing cellular cyberspace infrastructure. That means connectivity stems from T-Mobile towers, which then ping your High-Speed Internet Gateway.

Starlink, on the other paw, uses a dish that direct communicates with low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Right at present Starlink is still in beta, just already users are seeing anywhere between 80 Mbps of download speed to more than 200 Mbps. But Starlink is still immature. And when its megaconstellation is complete onetime next year, it will offer speeds globally in backlog of 300 Mbps.

T-Mobile, by comparing, won't become much across 100 Mbps, at least for now. And latency is surely going to exist higher than that of Starlink. Only T-Mobile's service is also much cheaper. At $60 flat, it's a much more affordable option than the $500 Starlink equipment cost plus the $100 a calendar month on top of that for coverage.

Starlink all the same isn't bachelor in all areas. And then, if you are eligible for T-Mobile Home Cyberspace, it would be best to attempt that out rather than waiting for Starlink to become available in your area. And think, T-Mobile Home Internet has no contracts, meaning cancelling the service and switching should be hassle-free.

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Imad Khan is news editor at Tom's Guide, helping direct the day's breaking coverage. Prior to working at the site, Imad was a total-fourth dimension freelancer, with bylines at the New York Times, the Washington Mail service and ESPN. Outside of work, yous can find him sitting blankly in front of a Word certificate trying desperately to write the get-go pages of a new book.