Starlink

   / Starlink #1,851  
T-Mobile just rolled out their 5G home internet service in my area and, for me anyway, could be an acceptable alternative to Starlink. They advertise speeds of 100+ down and 10+ up at about half the monthly price with no equipment costs. Their gateway router will connect up to 64 devices which is fine for my needs but their advertised range is only 30 feet. Their tech people tell me there is no way to connect an external router. I would have to use a WiFi range extender but that will have an effect on speeds.

Others in this thread are using T-Mobile 5G. What has been your experience with their equipment & service?
I have Verizon LTE at the moment, so I can't speak to T-mobiles service. The LTE only does 30+ down for speeds and like you commented, the range is only about 30 ft. I added a WiFi extender and it has had no effect on speeds and it covers my entire 2700 sqft house now. My WiFi extender uses a dedicated 5G wifi 'line' to communicate with the LTE box so speeds aren't affected. Then again my speeds are not that high to start with. HTH
 
   / Starlink #1,852  
My neighbor order the TM Home Internet this week I will report back how well it works. But honestly this is gonna be different for everyone based on your location and how far you are from the tower. 30 Meg over LTE is quite acceptable to do about anything you want. Where the problem arises with 30 meg is when you have multiple things going on at the same time. For me, that is never an issue. I'm still using the Mobley Plan $23 a month and it consistently runs over 25 meg down. I can stream with that and never get any buffering. Adding a higher bandwidth router to a slow connection isn't going to help in any way.
 
   / Starlink #1,853  
I have Verizon LTE at the moment, so I can't speak to T-mobiles service. The LTE only does 30+ down for speeds and like you commented, the range is only about 30 ft. I added a WiFi extender and it has had no effect on speeds and it covers my entire 2700 sqft house now. My WiFi extender uses a dedicated 5G wifi 'line' to communicate with the LTE box so speeds aren't affected. Then again my speeds are not that high to start with. HTH
I'm currently using Verizon LTE also. Their gateway router has a jack which allows you to connect an external router or range extender. The T-Mobile gateway does not have this jack. A range extender would have to be a wireless WiFi repeater which will decrease speed a bit.
 
   / Starlink #1,854  
I'm currently using Verizon LTE also. Their gateway router has a jack which allows you to connect an external router or range extender. The T-Mobile gateway does not have this jack. A range extender would have to be a wireless WiFi repeater which will decrease speed a bit.
My Verizon LTE does not have a ethernet port jack on it, my range extender is a wireless WiFi repeater. I am seeing the same speeds if I am connected to the LTE pack or to my repeater/extender.
 
   / Starlink #1,855  
My Verizon LTE does not have a ethernet port jack on it, my range extender is a wireless WiFi repeater. I am seeing the same speeds if I am connected to the LTE pack or to my repeater/extender.
Interesting.

I guess my Verizon 4G LTE Gateway is a different model. Mine has a recessed cavity on the bottom of the white cube with two ethernet jacks.
 
   / Starlink #1,856  
I've had the T Mobile 5G home internet for two months now and so far I'm very pleased with it. Checked the speed early this morning and got 210 mbps, slows down during the day and evening but usually get at least 75 mbps. I'm waiting a while before I cancel Starlink to make sure T Mobile is still working good, Starlink says mid '22 before it's available here. I have a T Mobile tower on my property and I talked to a technician yesterday about internet. He said they're upgrading all the towers and the speeds are going to get much better soon.
 
   / Starlink #1,857  
The T-Mobile Gateway has 2 wired ethernet ports on the back of it that you can connect to any kind of router/mesh system you so desire. As long as the router you are plugging into the TM Gateway is on a different subnet then you shouldn't have to change a thing. Connect an ethernet cable from one of those LAN ports on the TM Gateway and the other end to the WAN Port on your existing router and it will pull a DHCP address off that port just like it would if you plug in a laptop to one of those ports.
 
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   / Starlink #1,858  
The T-Mobile Gateway has 2 wired ethernet ports on the back of it that you can connect to any kind of router/mesh system you so desire. As long as the router you are plugging into the TM Gateway is on a different subnet then you shouldn't have to change a thing. Connect an ethernet cable from one of those LAN ports on the TM Gateway and the other end to the WAN Port on your existing router and it will pull a DHCP address off that port just like it would if you plug in a laptop to one of those ports.
Thanks for that information. The T-Mobile tech I spoke to said there was no eithernet connection on their gateway. I wonder if there are two versions?
 
   / Starlink #1,859  
Thanks for that information. The T-Mobile tech I spoke to said there was no eithernet connection on their gateway. I wonder if there are two versions?
The one on their website shows 2 ethernet ports. My neighbors will be here by the weekend I will report back what they are actually shipping
 
   / Starlink #1,860  
Thanks for that information. The T-Mobile tech I spoke to said there was no eithernet connection on their gateway. I wonder if there are two versions?
Everyone I have talked with has said their Verizon LTE unit has an ethernet port on it and they are surprised mine does not. I got mine in Dec and the only port is the USB-C port for charging it. I am wondering if cell companies are getting cheap like Starlink and pulling the ethernet ports from their routers.
 

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