T-Mobile Home Internet Review

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Sarah Tew/CNET

T-Mobile must be feeling pretty chuffed about its 5G home internet offering. Earlier this year, it rolled out an aggressive "Internet Freedom" campaign that included the tagline, "Free yourself from internet BS." The company also made a splash with the American Customer Satisfaction Index's 2022 survey results, which placed upstart T-Mobile Home Internet second among all national ISPs. Not too shabby.

T-Mobile Home Internet started rolling out as a pilot program early in 2021 and one of my (now former) CNET colleagues, Rick Broida, was one of the first to give it a test run. By April 2021, T-Mobile announced it had expanded its home broadband service nationwide. A short year later, it proclaimed it had expanded its availability to 40 million households, and another CNET teammate gave it a try.

We've been aware of T-Mobile's desire to use 5G to break into the home internet game for quite some time. But now that the company's home broadband offering is established, what does that mean for you? Does 5G home internet offer something new? Is T-Mobile Home Internet a viable option to replace your current internet service provider? 

First, the price is right: T-Mobile charges $50 a month (and that's reduced to $30 for eligible Magenta MAX mobile customers). On top of that, you don't have to worry about long-term contracts or data caps. Pretty sweet, right?

Definitely, but it's early days yet. Although T-Mobile Home Internet is currently available to approximately 40 million homes across the US, many locations and addresses can't get it. While 5G is the marquee player on this bill, T-Mobile relies on 4G LTE to help expand its home internet service area. This means that of the 5G home internet providers, T-Mobile will offer the slowest speeds on average. But let's dig into the details.

T-Mobile's Wi-Fi Gateway modem-router.
T-Mobile

Where can you get T-Mobile Home Internet?

Whenever we start talking about any ISP, it's always good to begin by answering the fundamental question: Can I get this service? T-Mobile Home Internet is available to over 40 million households across the country. That makes it the most widely available 5G home internet service in the US. By comparison, Verizon's 5G Home Internet service has rolled out in approximately 900 markets but is available to around 30 million homes. In the meantime, T-Mobile is open to signups in over 600 cities, but more households, many within rural areas.

To explore a complete list of the available cities and towns, refer to this T-Mobile Home Internet PDF. 

When will T-Mobile Home Internet get to my area?

As mentioned, T-Mobile is the most widely available 5G home internet service, covering over 40 million households. But when you consider that US Census data puts the total number of households in the country at over 122 million, about 67% of households remain ineligible for T-Mobile Home Internet. 

A T-Mobile spokesperson didn't have specific details on expansion plans but highlighted that more than 10 million households in the current footprint are within rural America. Additionally, there's a focus on expanding access for small towns and communities. For those outside the current availability window, T-Mobile's site mentions that expansion could take six months or more and allows interested parties to put their name on the list for down the road.