[TriLUG] Wanted to share my experience with TMobile 5G Home Internet

[brian mullan via TriLUG]

Hi Dave
I'll try to answer your questions but I am not all that familiar with the
Verizon 5G Home  Internet

*#1*
Regarding Distance from a TMobile 5G tower.
My house is perhaps 3-4 miles away from the nearest TMO 5G Tower shown on
their coverage map.
You can look up TMobile's 5G Coverage Map: *
https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map
<https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map>*
Just enter  your Zip code and the map will show all TMobile Towers nearby
(5G Ultra, 5G extended range & 4G)

Both TMO and Verizon just announced last week that Nationwide they both are
going to be adding a lot more 5G coverage.

*#2 *
TMO and I assume Verizon publish what Bands they are using.

However, I* think TMobile is the first and only 5G that is already rolling
out Carrier Aggregation via Channel Bonding. *

*TMO's 5G combines up to 4 Different Carriers*.
<https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/t-mobile-deploys-4-carrier-aggregation-live-network>


*The four 5G spectrum channels are: *

   - *two channels of 2.5 GHz, *
   - *one channel of 1900 MHz *
   - *and one channel of 600 MHz. *

*This creates an effective 225 MHz 5G channel with peak theoretical speeds
of up to 3.3 Gbps.*


*#3*
Well, both the Verizon and TMO 5G Home Internet "Gateways" also are (or can
be) your Home's WiFi 6 Router.

So the WiFI 6 router's local connection to devices is configured with a
static IP (which you can change).
But the Public side IP I'm not sure about as I've never looked.

In TMO's 5G Home Internet there is a really easy to use Android or iPhone
App which you download/intsall
from their respective "stores".

The apps let you manage or monitor your 5G Home Internet Gateway
performance, connection quality and
change various Config parameters.

For TMO's 5G Home Internet Gateway *there is also a 3rd party App
<https://tmo.report/2023/05/new-app-gives-easy-access-to-t-mobile-home-internet-gateway-stats/>**
which lets you turn ON/OFF the *
<https://tmo.report/2023/05/new-app-gives-easy-access-to-t-mobile-home-internet-gateway-stats/>
*Gateway's WiFi 6 router if you'd rather just connect an existing WiFi
router to the Gateway instead.  Also*
<https://tmo.report/2023/05/new-app-gives-easy-access-to-t-mobile-home-internet-gateway-stats/>
* alot more config settings the TMO App does not let you see/change.*
<https://tmo.report/2023/05/new-app-gives-easy-access-to-t-mobile-home-internet-gateway-stats/>

*#4*
Actually that was another reason why I switched to the 5G Home Internet
service.   Why?

Unlike my old Cable Internet *when the Power goes out its usually highly
unlikely the Mobile Communications*
*system goes out!   ** Mobile systems because they are also critical
communications systems are engineered to be*

*much more resilient.*

*Think about your own Cell Phone service.. when was the last time you
experienced an Outage?*

So my solution was simple for the 5G Home Gateway.
I* bought an inexpensive ($45) Ryobi Portable Power unit
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8MHVD6H?ref_=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_RHZ4BMSWNP1X2AE9S7WW>*which
also has USB A, USB C charging ports and 2 A/C plugs.

I bought a Ryobi *only because all my power tools use Ryobi Batteries* so I
did not have to buy any new batteries.

But there are dozens of other brands/models to choose from.

So If power goes out in the future I only have to unplug the TMobile 5G
Home Gateway
from my Home's AC and plug it into one of that Ryobi's A/C sockets.

Then, Plug my Laptopinto the other Ryobi A/C Plug to keep it charged during
any extended outage.

I can keep my Mobile Phones charged using the USB A or USB C ports on that
Ryobi.

Once the 5G Gateway boots up I can connect my laptop to it via Wifi and
have all the Internet, TV, etc
I want during the outage.

Anyway that's what I did.   Cheap but effective enough for me.

I've learned alot about 5G Home Internet since I started down this path.

Hope all the above helps.

Lastly, I should have said a bit more about what else I've learned about
Verizon's 5G Home Internet.
I*'ve seen Verizon reports of Verizon users that get 1Gbps Down Link.*
Don't know how common that
is but for some people the extra $25-$30/Mo for Verizon's service might be
worth it.

For me... the TMO ~400Mbps speed is more than enough.

Brian


On Tue, Sep 26, 2023 at 11:25 AM David Burton <ncdave4life at gmail.com> wrote:

> Brian, thank you for that information! It is surprising to me, and
> encouraging.
>
> It's timely, too, because I, too, am fed up with Spectrum, and considering
> alternatives.
>
> A few questions:
>
> *1.* Do you know about how close you are to a T-Mobile antenna tower?
>
> Unfortunately, their coverage map doesn't show where the towers are, but I
> assume you're deep within a "dark red" (6G coverage) area:
> https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/coverage-map
>
> Here's a discussion about finding tower locations via the cellmapper site:
>
> https://community.t-mobile.com/troubleshooting-38/finding-tmobile-cell-tower-locations-42433
>
> *2.* Do you know what band(s) you're using?
> It appears from the Cellmapper site that T-Mobile uses bands 71, 41, and
> perhaps 25 for 5G.
> PhoneScoop says <https://www.phonescoop.com/carriers/carrier.php?c=5>,
> "For 5G, T-Mobile is using band 71
> <https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=582> (600 MHz) for
> low-band, band 41 <https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=557>
> (2,500 Mhz) for mid-band, as well as faster mmWave
> <https://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=591> in select downtown
> areas."
> Do you think you're in a "select downtown area?"
> Here's an article
> <https://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/blog/finding-cell-tower-locations-the-complete-guide/#:~:text=CellMapper%20is%20a%20crowd%2Dsourced,to%2Ddate%20cell%20tower%20information.>
> about finding where your towers are.
>
> *3.* Do you know how long your device tends to keep the same IPv4
> address? It matters when hosting a webserver. (Good=Long [months/years],
> Bad=short [days/weeks])
>
> *4.* Have you had any glitches or service degradation during storms?
>
> Thanks,
> Dave
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 26, 2023 at 10:11 AM brian mullan via TriLUG <
> trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
>
>> I thought I'd share a bit about my switch from Spectrum Cable Internet
>> to TMobile 5G Internet for my Home Internet.
>>
>> *Background*
>> I'd been paying for and using a Spectrum Cable Internet for perhaps 7
>> years.
>> My Spectrum Internet acct was paying Monthly for 200Mbps Down link and
>> 20Mbps Up link.
>>
>> Over those years I've usually had 3-5 Outages/Yr lasting from 1Hr to
>> perhaps 8Hrs
>>
>> I finally got turned-off from Spectrum not just because of the outages
>> each
>> year which
>> although irritating I usually just dealt with those.
>>
>> My last straw came over the past couple months where using Ookla
>> Speedtest.net
>> my actual speeds had been reduced to around 170Mbps Down link and 15Mbps
>> Up
>> link
>> which is not close to what I was paying for.   Their tech support tried to
>> tell me that  it
>> was common for that reduction to happen.   Unfortunately for the Tech
>> Support I let them
>> know that I had been Cisco System Broadband (cable/wireless) Manager for
>> Advanced
>> consulting services for 15 yrs and supported all of the US Cable MSO's,
>> Telstra in Australia
>> and a large MSO in Spain/Europe and that I knew what they were telling was
>> BS.
>>
>> So I decided to try out TMobiles 5G Home Internet.   They offer a 15 Trial
>> so if its not
>> what you expected you just return their 5G Modem/Gateway.
>>
>> I was blown away by how fast the 5G Home Internet has been.
>>
>> My 5G Internet speeds (using Ookla Speedtest) over a 10 days of my 15 day
>> Trial period was consistently *350-430Mbps Down link and 65-85Mbps Up
>> link*
>> !
>>
>> And *the 5G Internet was 1/2 the cost* of the Monthly cost of Spectrum'*s
>> Cable 200Mbps Internet.*
>>
>> *I cancelled my Spectrum account the next day* and have been using the
>> TMoblile
>> 5G Home Internet ever since.
>>
>> Couple pieces of info you should know:
>>
>> Verizon also offers 5G Home Internet.  Its about $20 more per month than
>> TMobiles 5G
>> Home Internet but I read reports that Verizon provides a bit faster
>> transmissions Down/Up.
>>
>> Both TMobile and Verizon's 5G Home Internet offerings include:
>>
>>    - No Contract
>>    - Locked in Price for as long as  you keep the Service.
>>    - Provide the 5G Gateway/Modem at no cost.
>>    - and the 5G Gateway/Modem's have built-in WiFi 6 routers.
>>
>> *Just for reference my TMobile 5G Home Internet is only $40/Month (keep in
>> mind thats for ~400Mbps Down link speeds and ~75Mbps Up link speeds!*
>>
>> *I hope this was okay to send to the Trilug Mailing List but I imagine
>> many
>> people*
>> *will find the information useful.*
>>
>> *Brian Mullan*
>>
>> *Raleigh*
>> --
>> This message was sent to: Dave Burton <ncdave4life at gmail.com>
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>
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