T-Mobile has significantly upgraded its 5G service in my San Diego neighborhood. 5G will continue to get faster as time goes by. Cellular services are going to give the landline Internet companies headaches. My Internet connection has always been via cellular.

A recent “Speedtest” report:
Download: 435 Mbps
Upload: 39.5 Mbps
Packet loss: 0%

A typical “Speedtest” report from a month ago:
Download: 149 Mbps
Upload: 34.1 Mbps
Packet loss: 0%

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pipe Smoker,

TMO is going to 10GB fiber in most if not all of their heavily used sites as well as the ability to dynamically allocate bandwidth. This process is taking some time as it is dependent on the CLECs who are running quite slow due to many factors...including the supply shortages.

I am sure the other carriers are doing the same.

I'm a dinosaur with a flip phone I can barely operate. Are those speeds just for a phone or could you piggyback a computer and have that as your only internet provider? My wired broadband is consistent 200mbps down 10 up and cost 82$ month including phone and modem and it is extremely reliable.

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:
I'm a dinosaur with a flip phone I can barely operate. Are those speeds just for a phone or could you piggyback a computer and have that as your only internet provider? My wired broadband is consistent 200mbps down 10 up and cost 82$ month including phone and modem and it is extremely reliable.

You can piggyback a computer and have it as your internet provider.

Most cell phones these days have the capability to serve as a small wireless network to other devices nearby. It creates its own Wi-Fi network, called a Hot Spot, and your laptop and tablets can connect to it and use the phone's cellular internet connection.

Some phones also provide the ability to connect directly to a computer via a cable to share the internet connection. Some home internet routers also have the ability to use your phone's internet connection and distribute that over the home network.

In addition to using your cell phone and its internet connection, the cellular providers all provide various data-only devices. Some are portable, called mobile hotspots or mi-fi's, and others are designed for home or office use called wireless internet gateways.

Question for Pipe Smoker:

This increase in speed, from "already pretty fast" to "much faster" -- have you noticed any increase in performance in the real world?

I ask, because our cable connection at home is 34 MB down and 3.7 up (we're paying for 30 / 3). This supports two or three computers and a TV that sometimes uses cable channels, sometimes streams Netflix, and a Ring doorbell that doesn't get much action. I rarely see any delays, and when I do, it's usually a server out there in internet land that's slow. So, I'm wondering what benefit, if any, we would see if I upgraded the speed.

We have 200 MB service at the hangar, but that's because it's a business account and 200 is the slowest / cheapest that is offered for business customers. I do not notice any performance improvement there, compared to the 30 MB service at home.

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:
Are those speeds just for a phone or could you piggyback a computer and have that as your only internet provider?

I've a Netgear LTE modem on T-Mobile on a data-only plan. I use it for an automatic failover Internet connection. If our Comcast circuit goes down, the router automatically switches our Internet connection over to the LTE modem.

It's actually faster than our Comcast circuit. Even better: It's free

I'd been thinking about setting up an LTE failover connection when TMO ran a weekend special for existing, qualifying customers: A free third line. We qualified.

It was originally on a 6GB plan, but it may be unlimited now. Our other two lines are.

Been seeing improvements especially when they first went 5G. Better than when it was just Sprint, at least for us.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Question for Pipe Smoker:

This increase in speed, from "already pretty fast" to "much faster" -- have you noticed any increase in performance in the real world?
<snip>

Good question. I don’t see much benefit from the T-Mobile speed increase when I’m browsing the web on my iPhone. But I do see a significant benefit when I connect my MacBook to the Internet via my iPhone’s Hotspot feature. At least for many services. Email downloads seem to be server-limited (but I don’t receive very much email).

As I mentioned in my OP, cellular is the only Internet connection that I’ve ever had. It was pretty slow years ago.

Just tested mine, wow, pretty impressive.

I just received a pleasant surprise from T-Mobile.

Most Fridays I have lunch at Shake Shack. The little Shack Burger is tasty, and not too calorific. My T-Mobile store is adjacent so I went there after lunch to discuss a small issue with Kelvin, my favorite man there (I call ‘im Lord Kelvin )

Kelvin fixed my issue, and, incidentally, I learned that my plan has been, without notice, greatly enhanced.

I have the “Magenta” plan. For a moderate price it gave me unlimited damn near everything. Except that my Hotspot data was severely throttled after 3 GBytes in my monthly payment period. Today Kelvin told me that now throttling doesn’t begin until 100 GBytes. Jesus – I seldom used even 3 GBytes.

I’ve said it before: 5G is going to give the smarmy wire line Internet providers a big headache.

This 5G shit so fast, I've seen the whole innerwebs before I click on it...

The rain here in the Seattle area has slowed it to 2G (AND WE LIKE IT!).

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Just tested mine, wow, pretty impressive.

Wow it has gotten faster.

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:
Are those speeds just for a phone or could you piggyback a computer and have that as your only internet provider?

It depends. While you can use your phone as a mobile hotspot for your computer, the speeds between the phone and computer are going to be limited to their wifi interfaces. You would probably get close to the cellular speeds by tethering your phone to your computer with a cord. Also, most cellular data plans have a limited on hotspot or tethered data. My unlimited data plan is limited to 15gb for tethering or hotspot.

Verizon at the airport in Detroit:



I'm fairly certain if I had used my phone as a hotspot, there'd be no way I would have seen 1,460mbps on my computer. That's faster than most computer's 1Gbps wired ethernet connection can handle. Some computers are coming with 2.5Gbps ethernet connections.

T mobile gives you a free hot spot if you sign up for a magenta plan which I think is up to 100gb per month. If you live in the right area you can go wireless only. I'm just guessing here, but they probably give a discount for people who already have their phone service?

One of my T-mobile lines is a data only line for my tablet. I bought a laptop that has a 5G modem in it and put the sim card in that laptop. Going between WIFI and Cellular data, the speed difference is indistinguishable.

With my 1Gig AT&T fiber;

Desktop hardwired to modem - 848 down & 897 up
T-Mobile Samsung S21 Cellphone using AT&T wireless 3ft from modem - 463 down & 418 up
T-Mobile Samsung S21 Cellphone using T-Mobile - 188 down & 4.3 up

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
T mobile gives you a free hot spot if you sign up for a magenta plan which I think is up to 100gb per month.
<snip>

Read my June 10 post, a few above yours.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
T mobile gives you a free hot spot if you sign up for a magenta plan which I think is up to 100gb per month.
<snip>

Read my June 10 post, a few above yours.

I saw that, I assume you already had a home hot spot. For those that are considering going mobile it's a incentive. The article I read says they are normally $200 but if you get a new line at that level they give you the hardware. After now looking it up myself to see if it might make sense for me.

I pay $165 for 400 up/down with FiOS and $70 to T-Mobile. Looks like I can replace that $165 for $50 but lose my cable in the process so I'd have to add in streaming services for local channels And the few things I do watch like discovery/history channels. I don't watch anything except a handful of shows and sports. I'm sure I could add in Amazon, Netflix, and whatever for less than the difference. The problem is they don't let you know the speed you will get. They asked for my address, they should be able to give a peak and average speed one could hope for.

They are offering like the hot spot a gateway for free, which I assume I would have to purchase a router to go with? It may make sense for me to switch. They provided a phone number, maybe I'll call and get more details. Due to recent developments I need to cut my expenses.