[TriLUG] Wanted to share my experience with TMobile 5G Home Internet

[David Burton via TriLUG]

Brian, thank you for that information! It is surprising to me, and
encouraging.

It's timely, too, because I, too, am fed up with Spectrum, and considering
alternatives.

A few questions:

*1.* Do you know about how close you are to a T-Mobile antenna tower?

Unfortunately, their coverage map doesn't show where the towers are, but I
assume you're deep within a "dark red" (6G coverage) area:
https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map

Here's a discussion about finding tower locations via the cellmapper site:
https://community.t-mobile.com/troubleshooting-38/finding-tmobile-cell-tower-locations-42433

*2.* Do you know what band(s) you're using?
It appears from the Cellmapper site that T-Mobile uses bands 71, 41, and
perhaps 25 for 5G.
PhoneScoop says <https://www.phonescoop.com/carriers/carrier.php?c=5>, "For
5G, T-Mobile is using band 71
<https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=582> (600 MHz) for
low-band, band 41 <https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=557>
(2,500 Mhz) for mid-band, as well as faster mmWave
<https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=591> in select downtown
areas."
Do you think you're in a "select downtown area?"
Here's an article
<https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/blog/finding-cell-tower-locations-the-complete-guide/#:~:text=CellMapper%20is%20a%20crowd%2Dsourced,to%2Ddate%20cell%20tower%20information.>
about finding where your towers are.

*3.* Do you know how long your device tends to keep the same IPv4 address?
It matters when hosting a webserver. (Good=Long [months/years], Bad=short
[days/weeks])

*4.* Have you had any glitches or service degradation during storms?

Thanks,
Dave


On Tue, Sep 26, 2023 at 10:11 AM brian mullan via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
wrote:

> I thought I'd share a bit about my switch from Spectrum Cable Internet
> to TMobile 5G Internet for my Home Internet.
>
> *Background*
> I'd been paying for and using a Spectrum Cable Internet for perhaps 7
> years.
> My Spectrum Internet acct was paying Monthly for 200Mbps Down link and
> 20Mbps Up link.
>
> Over those years I've usually had 3-5 Outages/Yr lasting from 1Hr to
> perhaps 8Hrs
>
> I finally got turned-off from Spectrum not just because of the outages each
> year which
> although irritating I usually just dealt with those.
>
> My last straw came over the past couple months where using Ookla
> Speedtest.net
> my actual speeds had been reduced to around 170Mbps Down link and 15Mbps Up
> link
> which is not close to what I was paying for.   Their tech support tried to
> tell me that  it
> was common for that reduction to happen.   Unfortunately for the Tech
> Support I let them
> know that I had been Cisco System Broadband (cable/wireless) Manager for
> Advanced
> consulting services for 15 yrs and supported all of the US Cable MSO's,
> Telstra in Australia
> and a large MSO in Spain/Europe and that I knew what they were telling was
> BS.
>
> So I decided to try out TMobiles 5G Home Internet.   They offer a 15 Trial
> so if its not
> what you expected you just return their 5G Modem/Gateway.
>
> I was blown away by how fast the 5G Home Internet has been.
>
> My 5G Internet speeds (using Ookla Speedtest) over a 10 days of my 15 day
> Trial period was consistently *350-430Mbps Down link and 65-85Mbps Up link*
> !
>
> And *the 5G Internet was 1/2 the cost* of the Monthly cost of Spectrum'*s
> Cable 200Mbps Internet.*
>
> *I cancelled my Spectrum account the next day* and have been using the
> TMoblile
> 5G Home Internet ever since.
>
> Couple pieces of info you should know:
>
> Verizon also offers 5G Home Internet.  Its about $20 more per month than
> TMobiles 5G
> Home Internet but I read reports that Verizon provides a bit faster
> transmissions Down/Up.
>
> Both TMobile and Verizon's 5G Home Internet offerings include:
>
>    - No Contract
>    - Locked in Price for as long as  you keep the Service.
>    - Provide the 5G Gateway/Modem at no cost.
>    - and the 5G Gateway/Modem's have built-in WiFi 6 routers.
>
> *Just for reference my TMobile 5G Home Internet is only $40/Month (keep in
> mind thats for ~400Mbps Down link speeds and ~75Mbps Up link speeds!*
>
> *I hope this was okay to send to the Trilug Mailing List but I imagine many
> people*
> *will find the information useful.*
>
> *Brian Mullan*
>
> *Raleigh*
> --
> This message was sent to: Dave Burton <ncdave4life at gmail.com>
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