T‑Mobile Home Internet

[wco81]

Try it upstairs on both sides of the house, higher elevation is likely to be a stronger spot for n41 to penetrate.

I leave it in the window in the living room and get ~500/100 from it, if I put it where the app says to in the back (it's not accounting for train tracks and high rises), I can only get ~250/30 out of it (still good, but 500/100 is much better)

Just as a note...if you know 'where' the tower is, you're at a bit of advantage.
These are a bit sensitive for items blocking signal. Windows are better for passing signal than a wall is. Even more importantly, these are directional. in my personal experience, point the face (display) towards the tower, then turn 30 degrees counter clockwise.
From open window and pointed, signal goes from 'very good' to window and pointed differently, it shows 'weak'

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Tried different sides and upstairs. One problem is that the windows upstairs don't have wide enough sills to set the gateway down securely.

But the speeds were worse and as high as 96% packet loss.

However, I think the other issue is that speeds were changing during the day, very high late at night and early in the morning (even with some packet loss) and then middle of the day it was slower.

Both UL and DL had a large variance. Probably because it was picking up the tower near a major intersection with several large office buildings.

I used to work in one of those office buildings and I remember at the time, AT&T had gotten poor with LTE performance while T-Mobile, which didn't have as much coverage, was better, probably because there weren't as many subscribers.

5G may have flipped that now.

In any event, I canceled the service, going to give Verizon a go, because I believe those towers and 5G repeaters are like right across the street so might as well trial it.

[Jane B.]

Just as a note...if you know 'where' the tower is, you're at a bit of advantage.
These are a bit sensitive for items blocking signal. Windows are better for passing signal than a wall is. Even more importantly, these are directional. in my personal experience, point the face (display) towards the tower, then turn 30 degrees counter clockwise.
From open window and pointed, signal goes from 'very good' to window and pointed differently, it shows 'weak'

Sent from my SM-G991U using HoFo mobile app

Where are you that you are going to have a window open in the winter time?

[Jane B.]

Tried different sides and upstairs. One problem is that the windows upstairs don't have wide enough sills to set the gateway down securely.

But the speeds were worse and as high as 96% packet loss.

However, I think the other issue is that speeds were changing during the day, very high late at night and early in the morning (even with some packet loss) and then middle of the day it was slower.

Both UL and DL had a large variance. Probably because it was picking up the tower near a major intersection with several large office buildings.

I used to work in one of those office buildings and I remember at the time, AT&T had gotten poor with LTE performance while T-Mobile, which didn't have as much coverage, was better, probably because there weren't as many subscribers.

5G may have flipped that now.

In any event, I canceled the service, going to give Verizon a go, because I believe those towers and 5G repeaters are like right across the street so might as well trial it.

Have you given any thought to a table beside the sill that it at least as high as the sill?

Can you actually get this type of service from Verizon? I am under the impression that they do not cover near as much of the country as T-Mobile does.

[wco81]

Yes everything I've heard is that Verizon has less coverage and less midband licenses than T Mobile.

However, my father used to have Verizon and for LTE, performance was MUCH much better in my house than T-Mobile.

And I know for a fact that Verizon built up a big tower across the street so I might as well at least try their service.

My main preference would be AT&T Fiber but my HOA won't approve them trenching on the property. THey're dragging their feet.


So I may only have Comcast or wireless to choose from.

[Jane B.]

Yes everything I've heard is that Verizon has less coverage and less midband licenses than T Mobile.

However, my father used to have Verizon and for LTE, performance was MUCH much better in my house than T-Mobile.

And I know for a fact that Verizon built up a big tower across the street so I might as well at least try their service.

My main preference would be AT&T Fiber but my HOA won't approve them trenching on the property. THey're dragging their feet.


So I may only have Comcast or wireless to choose from.

But does Verizon offer home internet off of that tower? And even if they do can you signup for it or is it already full? Why not check out things like that before cancelling T-Mobile that you are at least getting service from?

[wco81]

I don’t know but they do offer home 5G at my address.

They have a free trial just like T Mobile Home.

[brad15]

I don’t know but they do offer home 5G at my address.

They have a free trial just like T Mobile Home.

5G Home on Verizon is actually preferable in my experience as it gets a "real" routable IP.

It is capped at ~320/20 though, but for me has been consistently this 24-7 and i've had it almost a year now.

[formercanuck]

Where are you that you are going to have a window open in the winter time?

You are correct .. this was just for 'testing' to find the best position. For what Spectrum gives me for $80 (300/10), I have slightly better at the worst for $25 with +350/25.
If I were to place this in the 'ideal outdoor location', best I received was +500/90. Having a little more upload is good, but if I 'really' needed it, an external antenna would be preferrable, or Spectrum 500/10 or 1000/20.

[wco81]

5G Home on Verizon is actually preferable in my experience as it gets a "real" routable IP.

It is capped at ~320/20 though, but for me has been consistently this 24-7 and i've had it almost a year now.

Are you seeing any packet loss?

Because T-Mobile had packet loss even when speeds were very good.

[formercanuck]

I know that I don't see packet loss


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[wco81]

Yeah if you're getting steady performance, you shouldn't see too much packet loss or jitter. It will never be as solid as a wired connection but steady connection is good.

Where did you hear that VZW limited the speeds? I chatted with a VZ rep at their site and she claimed their 5G Home Plus definitely got faster speeds than the lower-priced 5G Home, though I saw somewhere that it's 320 Mbps for both.

[brad15]

Are you seeing any packet loss?

Because T-Mobile had packet loss even when speeds were very good.

Nope. The Verizon setup is much more reliable. The gateway is of higher quality, and a "real" IP address.

I have it in passthrough mode using my own router, and it's been rock solid here for nearly a year.

Yeah if you're getting steady performance, you shouldn't see too much packet loss or jitter. It will never be as solid as a wired connection but steady connection is good.

Where did you hear that VZW limited the speeds? I chatted with a VZ rep at their site and she claimed their 5G Home Plus definitely got faster speeds than the lower-priced 5G Home, though I saw somewhere that it's 320 Mbps for both.

They have two plans. 5G home, and 5G Home plus.

5G Home is "up to" 300Mbps regardless if it's C-Band or mmWave.

5G Home Plus is uncapped - but only if you can get the mmWave variant. C-Band is still 300/20.

If you can get 1+Gbps on your phone in your yard outside via mmWave, then you should order the 5G Home Plus, otherwise the regular 5G Home is fine.

[wco81]

I don't have VZ for my phone.

I guess I could order Home and then upgrade the service if the speed isn't enough.

DL 300 Mbps and up is fine for me. But wish the UL was higher than 20 Mbps.

[formercanuck]

I'm not sure about mmWave, although capacity is crazy high, but I'd definitely recommend something with a clear line of site. Even 2.5GHz takes a larger hit on upload. As I mentioned before, Weak gives >20Mbps upload, Good is more of 20-30ish, Very Good is in the 50Mbps range , and excellent is pushing +90. For me, this is the range of 20' of difference, where 'Very Good' is outdoors, and Excellent is outdoors with a clear line of site.


Sent from my SM-G991U using HoFo mobile app

[brad15]

I don't have VZ for my phone.

I guess I could order Home and then upgrade the service if the speed isn't enough.

DL 300 Mbps and up is fine for me. But wish the UL was higher than 20 Mbps.

You cannot just "upgrade" if the speed is not enough. It's going to depend on what tech is servicing your house. Here, I only have C-Band, my old place had mmWave just right outside so I could get either flavor.

Verizon only has ~50% of their C-Band spectrum deployed right now as they're waiting on satellite companies to stop using what's left, so the speed is limited to 300Mbps on mid-band right now and i'm sure once they get all 140-160MHz online, they'll raise the speedcap.

When ordering, if the Home+ says 300-1000Mbps then you know you have mmWave, if it only shows 85-300Mbps like 5G Home, then you are only using C-Band.



You'll want to look for the 300-1000Mbps to see if Home+ is even worth it.