T-Mobile Home Internet WOW!

[1492]

I cut the Cable TV/Internet cord over a decade ago, and have relied on wireless data connections ever since. My most recent supplier was AT&T 4G wireless broadband w/400G monthly allowance. However, been experience a 4G outage since the beginning of this month.

My inept service provider was for all purposes none existent, offering only chat (2-hr wait) or form mail tech support. Only now indicating they've solved the issues. Thank goodness for Verizon Visible 4G hotspot backup.

I decided to check T-Mobile's Home Internet service and my home address indicated it was available.

Went to my local T-Mobile store and was in/out in 10-minutes with a 'no cost' 4G/5G wireless router kit, resembling something like a mini Apple Mac Pro trash can. They didn't even ask for a credit card.

I did try getting the free T-Mobile router shipped to my home address by phone. But the call center was oversees, and I never give out identifiable/financial info to anyone having to manually input to a computer. At the store, you fill out your info on a touch pad that obscures private info, so no manual input by a representative.

The T-Mobile router has the SIM already installed, and you just power it up. Download a smartphone app which you can use to connect to the router via Bluetooth, and can control or view basic settings such as SSID, passwords, signal quality, and tower stats. You can also view all connected devices, and disconnect any or all if so desired.

The T-Mobile router only has two built-in Ethernet connections. But when I connected one to my aging DELL Vostro desktop, this is what my speed tests are indicating:

I must be connected by 5G wireless though have no idea where the tower is located? WiFi connections speeds were significantly slower due to my outdated MB's built-in wireless card, though my iPhone WiFi is indicating 430 Mbps download.

There are some caveats. The 4G/5G router is only meant for a fixed address, so not viable for traveling purposes. And T-Mobile indicated they are allowing just 10 home internet routers per tower to maintain high speed connections. That's what I was told over the phone, though don't know if it's accurate.

At $60. month for unlimited 4G/5G wireless data, hard to beat in any case. Now I just have to find out how to setup an account to pay for it. :h

[1492]

This thread is not about smartphone mobile service, but T-Mobile's Home Internet 5G router wireless service which looks like this.




I have only 3-bars signal from my T-Mobile router, though still getting these speeds as I write this post.



BTW, I don't use T-Mobile's mobile phone service, but use Verizon Visible 5G/4G instead.

[JJnLilly]

Switched to T-Mobile and am dropping them. Could not get any data signal even though phone showed two bars and 4G coverage. Spent hour on phone with them and they even issued a 'trouble' ticket and said things would be fixed in 3 business days, that was 10 days ago.

[MrWizard]

Thanks for the info
I found my problem and have it working
It was an ID TEN T error ... id10t
I changed the wifi access key/password during setup, without documenting it and in the excitement totally forgot
So this morning After a few hours of head scratching the dim light bulb In my brain finally got bright enough for me to have a glimmer of realization of me chasing my tail

[1492]

For a general idea, my iPhone speed test connected to T-Mobile home internet ($50./month) WiFi:

Connected to Verizon Visible ($25./month) 4G LTE mobile data:

Both offer unlimited monthly data allowance. Visible is running much faster than I realized.

[1492]

I just tried to connect my iPhone to WiFi several times, and it indicated that the password was incorrect? :h

Instead of the smartphone app, I used my PC and typed in its IP address into my browser to get to the T-Mobile router admin page. You need to be connected to the router via Ethernet or WiFi.

If you don't know the IP address, you can use WIN10 search to find and run Powershell. Type ipconfig /all and locate the default gateway IP for your PC - i.e. 192.168.xx.x Type the IP into your browser address bar and press enter.

I checked my WiFi password on the admin page, and it was correct? When I typed the password again in my iPhone, it connected with no problem. Not sure why having the router admin page open made any difference, but not longer having a connection issue.

BTW, accessing the admin page through browser gives more info than the smartphone app. It indicated I've used 102G of data so far this month. It's also one of the cleanest interfaces I've seen for any router admin page, and doesn't overburden the user with too many settings.

[MrWizard]

It arrived, but I'm having problems, plugged it in, and went thru the setup procedure, downloaded the app to my phone, changed the adminm password as directed, but it will not authentic the wifi access two tablets one phone, I spent hours trying to connect my Android devices, checked security settings over and over,very careful putting in the password but getting nowhere
And this one does the initial setup over wifi, does not use BT, all the instructions and prompts are about wifi, very frustrating

[MrWizard]

Three days ago I signed up for & ordered the T-mobile wireless home internet, unlimited data no throttling,
It's on the way, shipped from Louisville Ky and due to arrive next Tuesday the 22nd,
Took advantage of the special

[Gulfcoast]

Looks like it's on sale this month thru the 30th for $50 a month, but it's still not available at my home yet.

5G Home Internet

[Lincoln4]

We've been on T-Mobile Home Internet for several months now. The speed is rather variable, but we've had no problem streaming anything so far (Dish on Demand, Prime, Netflix, Youtube). We are currently on our first trip from home since getting it, and it's working fine on the Washington coast. Now that I'm retired, much more traveling to follow so we'll see how it goes.

[1492]

Tested T-Mobile 4G/5G home internet with a popular VPN service, one recommended by NY Times and a PC Mag Editor's Choice, which is working with no issues.

Current T-Mobile 5G home internet speed:




Speed using USA based VPN:

[dtombaugh]

It was weird. but it was the same type and duration of failures across multiple devices. The only common denominator was the t-mobile internet. When I plugged into my cable company internet, it wouldn't happen. i did notice that my home internet connection had the web security stuff attached. it took several days to finally get that disabled. But it didn't change much.

[1492]

I also work as an IT developer and have had no issues using VPN to access my office PC/MAC/RHEL workstations/servers, which is technically on U.S.Gov network.

[dtombaugh]

@philh

Yeah, I used both wired and wireless. I do Information Security/Computer forensics, so all of my computers are as up-to-date as possible. This was about 10 different devices ranging from Amazon Firestick to a new Microsoft Surface Pro laptop.

[philh]

dtombaugh,

Is your wifi driver up to date? I had an issue when connected via cell based modem, it drove the VPN crazy, constantly disconnecting and reconnecting. After multiple phone calls to India, finally found someone state side that actually worked for our corp. He had the problem fixed in a matter of minutes with a new driver download.