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Internet Service

churchilllafemme

churchilllafemme

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Currently my wife and I have internet service via Comcast Xfinity, which is costing us $98/month. T-Mobile is now offering 5G service at $ 50/month with a month free bonus and no contract. Reviews note that the T-Mobile download speeds are not guaranteed (just saying 'most' will get at least 100Mb/s downloads), and they seem to fluctuate a lot, sometimes as low as 15Mb/s, while Xfinity speeds are more stable. I checked our download speed, and we're getting a fast 440Mb/s.

My wife works from home around 6 hours a day 6 days a week and surfs (including streaming TikTok and YouTube, etc.) another couple hours a day, and I surf the web 6-8 hours a day or more, with a little streaming and occasional downloads of videos. We don't do much TV streaming.

So my questions are: have any of you switched from cable to T-Mobile internet? If so, what has been your experience? Have you had any issues with your download speeds (especially those of you working from home)?

Thanks.
 
We're on a 30Mbps peak download speed package for ~$35US/mth ($50 CAD); it's not T-mobile, I'm in Canada. It currently services:
- wife working from home
- me working from home (not for the past year, but for many years before)
- 2 x cells on wifi
- internet TV (my wife streams a LOT in the evening)
- (pre-Covid times) any number of guests

No issues at all. The hype on more an better bandwidth is just that IMO, hype.
 
I switched to T-Mobile. I like the fact that there's no data cap. I was on AT&T that was $65 a month but I hit my data cap with all the movies we stream and my bills ended up being $90. $50 a month is a nice change.

I'm pretty rural, and I'm only getting 2 bars on my modem. My download speeds are usually 50Mb/s or less. But it has never affected us watching anything or doing anything online.
 
Thanks for the notes. I received a suggestion that we try the T-Mobile service for a month without cancelling the Xfinity. Then if we don't like it, we can just cancel it and return the hardware, since there is no contract. So we're thinking about doing that.
 
For home internet I use fiber. $50 a month for 1gig upload and 1gig download.

For cell phone I use Google Fi. I have referral codes if anyone interested. Been with them for 5 years now.
 
So this area is in my bailiwick (I was a wireless engineer once upon a time)…..I do think it’s sage advice to have both and give it a try to see if it meets your needs but there are a couple of things to consider:

(1) What type of area do you live in? Is it rural or more populated.
(2) What type of structure is your house? Is it new construction or 20-30 years old?

The reason I ask is that 5G runs on shorter wavelengths that other light/radio waves. This means that they need more antennas, repeaters, etc throughout a population area. If you live in a more rural area - chances are that they don’t have the infrastructure in place- so that will impact your signal strength, coverage, and performance.
If you have an older home - mostly likely more solid walls - and shorter wavelengths have more of a challenge going through - so performance is impacted.

(3) What type of work does your wife do? If it requires collaboration tools, telephony, video teleconferencing (Microsoft TEAMS, Zoom, WebEx) - these are sensitive to bandwidth drops and call quality. However, if most of her work requires non-time sensitive emails, word processing - then not so much a factor.

But again, try it for a month - only cost you‘re out is what you are paying now anyway.
 
We have had the T-Mobile service activated for a week now, and it seems to be working well. Initially I was concerned because its tower showed 'weak' connection wherever I walked it around our apartment, but then I read online that someone else had that experience but then actually got good internet connection anyway. So I hooked it up, with the tower near a window, and we have been able to do our usual activities, including my wife doing her work and streaming, without any glitches or apparent slowness. I have used online speed tests, and the download speed is variably 100-170 Mbps, while the upload speed is 2.5-3 Mbps. These are less than what Comcast provided but seem to be adequate for our needs, so I think we'll probably keep the T-Mobile service.
 
Good to hear its wlrking out for you.

I use a service that is connected to T-Mobile towers for a low price. I now found another carrier that can save me a little bit more and it also uses T-Mobile towers.
Questions is, will I still get the same signal strength and coverage?
 
Gasman said:
Good to hear its wlrking out for you.

I use a service that is connected to T-Mobile towers for a low price. I now found another carrier that can save me a little bit more and it also uses T-Mobile towers.
Questions is, will I still get the same signal strength and coverage?
Click to expand...
Yes, it is difficult to know how well it will work without physically trying it. I was only willing to give T-Mobile a chance because they did not require a contract.
 
Gasman said:
Good to hear its wlrking out for you.

I use a service that is connected to T-Mobile towers for a low price. I now found another carrier that can save me a little bit more and it also uses T-Mobile towers.
Questions is, will I still get the same signal strength and coverage?
Click to expand...
Worth calling out that most MVNOs will be deprioritized over main carrier users, which can be particularly irksome if you find yourself in congested groups frequently (train stations, airports, sporting events, etc.) I used to use a cheap AT&T MVNO but the data became essentially useless when in those types of situations which I was definitely not willing to tolerate.

Edit - assuming you're referencing an MVNO operating on T-Mobile towers for your cell phone, not the T-Mobile internet service John is writing about.
 
OK, another addendum, in which I have to admit to marked carelessness, if not outright stupidity: after cancelling the Comcast/Xfinity internet service, we took the equipment yesterday to their local store and came home. Then last evening, when we got ready to watch a DVD movie from the library, I picked up the remote and stared blankly at where the Blu-ray player was supposed to be. No Blu-ray player. Nothing. And the realization struck that when I had been bundling up the Xfinity gear I had accidentally also unplugged and packed the Blu-ray player and its power cord and HDMI cable into the same paper grocery bag.

First thing this morning we went back to the store and explained the mistake. The young lady there looked around for no more than 30 seconds on a racked cart full of electronic parts, found one paper sack, and said, 'This is all there is.' The sack obviously was not the one I had left. I asked if I could look through the parts, and she shrugged and said, 'Sure.' I looked through the large bins full of gear but did not find my stuff. I asked her if it might have been put somewhere else, and she first said no, but then said reluctantly that she would look in a back room. She went back into another room but came back in another 30 seconds to say it wasn't there. At that point, very frustrated, I searched again through the big cart without finding the player. I was about to give up and ask to talk to a manager when a young man came out of the back room holding my player. He gave it to me and said he hadn't seen the power cord or cable. When he saw my irritated facial expression, he went back and looked again, coming back almost immediately with both the power plug-in and the cable.

I guess the morals of the story are:
1. When you're getting old and your little gray cells are failing, BE CAREFUL. Double check.
2. Always be persistent when asking for service or assistance at a store where some of the employees clearly don't give a damn about actually helping.
 
MVNO... I had to look up. And yes, I do use one of these and was thinking of going to another one of these.

After some more thought, I think we are going to stick with Consumer Cellular as it hasn't caused us any issues and the price is hard to beat. The wife and I share 10GB a month and have only gone over once. and the cost of around 60 bucks total is had to beat. Thinking I wanted unlimited data is what was making me think about changing. But the other company is pre-paid and wants funds for months in advance. Not that I can't do that, I'd just rather not have a contract.

John, The best to you and your old brain cells. I can see doing the same thing so that is another reason not to switch for me. LOL. Glad you got your stuff back and sorry to hijack your thread for a bit.
 
d’oh! Close call on the equipment. Glad you got it back. Sounds like someone was hoping no one would ask for it so they could keep it……
 
CVargo said:
No. City paid for infrastructure though if you consider that a subsidy
Click to expand...

I consider that a partial public utility subsidy assuming the city is not the administrator. Where do you send your bill? That’s a lotta speed for a great price. You are fortunate.
 
August West said:
I consider that a partial public utility subsidy assuming the city is not the administrator. Where do you send your bill? That’s a lotta speed for a great price. You are fortunate.
Click to expand...
I am billed by a completely separate company. It's called Beehive. They are a local Utah company that does internet, TV, and phone
 
CVargo said:
I am billed by a completely separate company. It's called Beehive. They are a local Utah company that does internet, TV, and phone
Click to expand...
Well, they sure are doing it right out your way. Excellent use of public funds for infrastructure. I would be looking at 200 bucks or more here for that service.
 
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