Aside from your home address, the field doesn't validate data input for practical correctness. This is important because t-mobile forces you to consent to marketing in order to find out availability, but you can still check for rough availability with garbage information (incl. an e.g. 1-nnn-555-nnnn number and a mailinator or equally disposable email address) and an address near you, ideally an address that's an empty lot or nonexistent/halfway between homes.
It's also why I flagged the post -- t-mobile is seeking marketing opt-ins with this effort, and that's about it. A genuine lookup service wouldn't force opt-in consent in this manner.
> By checking this box you agree that T-Mobile can contact you about purchasing T-Mobile Home Internet, including future Home Internet offers, via autodialed call, email, or text to the number provided above. Consent is not a condition of purchase; you may also call 1-844-839-5057 to get started. (required)
"Check Availability" does nothing useful. The landing page is an opt-in lead generation tool.
Long-term T-mo data subscriber here, on "unlimited data" plan. The catch being that any amount going out over the hotspot beyond a plan-specific limit, and NOT qualifying for T-mo's Binge-On tier is throttled to 2G speeds i.e. unusable. Access to current month remaining data of the critical service slice -- high-speed hotspot -- remains difficult: many taps/clicks required
Other "issues":
Payment website this month stopped supporting Firefox. Responds with cryptic complaint about "client ID" upon entering account phone number.
Website loops in third-party trackers, Facebook ...
Just as an anecdote / FYI, since I had an LLC registered, I signed up for Teltik which uses T-Mobile and got a 5MB/month hotspot plan through them. Got my dad a nice LTE hotspot (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5ASNTE/) and that's what he uses for his home internet. Obviously his usage is modest - no streaming media (Netflix, etc.), but some YouTube. However, it is so much better than the previous FreedomPop / DataJack stuff we used before, although those were dirt, dirt cheap.
I ran a quick Speed Test check on his connection, and got 29 Mb/s down and 15 Mb/s up. https://www.speedtest.net/result/7621011424 (about 14 months ago.) Obviously this will vary by location!
When I had Comcast, I believe it showed me monthly usage, and I think it was something like 20 GB per month. That's with heavy Netflix/Hulu usage every evening. This wireless internet would probably work for us speedwise... but because I live somewhere that offers both Comcast and Verizon FIOS, I'm able to get 100/100 Mbps service for $40/month. And that's a wire into my home and no concern over hidden data caps (at my usage levels). I wouldn't choose wireless over that unless there was significant savings.
> This wireless internet would probably work for us speedwise... but because I live somewhere that offers both Comcast and Verizon FIOS, I'm able to get 100/100 Mbps service for $40/month.
This service isn't made for you then. If you watch the video on the site the customer is clear: rural area residents without a hope or prayer of getting high speed internet. Where neither cable, or fiber, or potentially even DSL is available. There are large swaths or rural America who still can't get real internet access, and there isn't money in it for telecoms to build the infrastructure to serve them. And those telecoms have squandered the funds that were specifically earmarked to give those people service.
You luckily have two options for high speed internet. Many Americans only have one. Some other Americans currently have 0. Wireless internet like this might be their best option, even if it's not your best option.
I'm very interested in knowing more, but even as a current subscriber I am really uncomfortable with the pressure this form is putting on me to sign up, just to see if it's available!
> Is it me or they try real hard not to disclose the connection speed?
It's not possible to disclose precise information without knowing spectrum holdings/configuration, installed tower equipment, distance from tower, and the current network conditions. The only thing they could disclose are things like throttling video, and give an approximation of what a market might expect typical speeds to be around.
I'm a T-Mobile customer, at home I get about 75ish Mbps on my phone. If I go to the nearby city (about 15 miles away), there's one commercial spot that that I go to where it jumps higher.
This home internet thing is basically a hotspot for your home. As such, I would guess the answer is "it depends."
I would also not pay for this as I already have T-Mobile One w/ International Plus option (+$25/month) that gives unlimited hotspot. It actually was my home internet for almost a year, until Spectrum setup in the neighborhood (previous provider was trash. Capping at 10 Mbps, "peak hours" of 3pm-2am, etc.). But if I didn't have the previously mentioned option and Spectrum hadn't come in yet? Oh, for sure, would be all over it.
On the "Why we do it" page it says "Offered exclusively where we expect speeds of around 50 Mbps."
The terms also list the usual stuff that makes me shy away from using it. "During congestion, Home Internet customers may notice speeds lower than other customers due to data prioritization."
This is made for people living in rural areas where satellite is the biggest competitor.
These speeds seem in line with my experience. I use both Sprint and T-Mobile for my home internet already.
T-Mobile when locked to band 4 (which in my market is a full 20mhz x 20mhz) does around 35mbit down, 10mbit up typically. This is from a distance of around 3 miles from a tower in a fairly rural area. I can maybe pull around 50mbit with 3 carrier aggregation (10mhz of band 2 and 5mhz of band 12 added on)
Sprint is ~5mbit/0.5mbit INDOORS on band 25 (10mhz) and 26 (5mhz). If I put phone in a window I can get band 41 and aggregate 3 carriers of 20mhz LTE-TDD. This gets me around 75mbit down and 1mbit up.
I was tempted to ask, "sure, but what's the data cap?" One issue I've had w/ T-Mobile in the past is they say "unlimited mobile broadband" and if you poke around in the fine print you find that "unlimited" means 2G per month or something.
So I wonder... what is the data cap on their "no data cap" plans?
> Hope they can Sprint's mid-band spectrum deployed quickly to deal with this influx of data
They would need to complete the merger for that. As it stands in my region Sprint can roam on T-Mobile's mid-band spectrum (2/4), but not vice-versa (and low band 12/71 is disallowed).
Millimeter wave isn't going to help suburban/rural areas. Already Band 41 (2500mhz) sprint LTE-TDD doesn't go through walls well, for home internet you're basically looking to have an external antenna.
>Millimeter wave isn't going to help suburban/rural areas. Already Band 41 (2500mhz) sprint LTE-TDD doesn't go through walls well, for home internet you're basically looking to have an external antenna.
Correct - I didn't say it would. What I said is it isn't viable to do in urban areas until they have millimeter wave.
I was a T-Mobile subscriber twice, first in the mid aughts and then again about 6 years ago. Both times their network had a fatal flaw: I couldn't get a good signal indoors.
Could any current T-Mobile subscribers tell me if this is still a thing?
Check out https://www.cellmapper.net If you zoom in enough, it will tell you what bands each tower supports.
As others have mentioned, band 12 and 71 are T-mobile's sub-1GHz bands, which are best at getting into buildings. Many phones support band 12, but 71 is a little less common (flagship smartphones from the past couple years tend to support it, midrange and low end phones less commonly). But, at least where I live, I generally have no issue with band 4/66 signals indoors, due to density of infrastructure. Pretty much every phone will support band 4 (and band 66 is a superset of that).
Bands 12 and 71 have been added since then, so in theory it would improve. But I've always found indoor reception to be highly YMMV. Best to test first. Also, wifi calling largely solves this.
Band 12 alone dramatically improved indoor coverage. Prior to this they were the only national carrier without low-band (under 1000mhz) spectrum holdings, with the exception of Myrtle Beach's band 5 license (weird company acquisition history there).
I had that same problem years ago (US customer here), but as of....2015 or so? it seems to have improved quite a bit. Now I rarely lose signal entirely when in buildings.
It's also why I flagged the post -- t-mobile is seeking marketing opt-ins with this effort, and that's about it. A genuine lookup service wouldn't force opt-in consent in this manner.