T-Mobile Home Internet vs. AT&T Internet Air vs. Verizon 5G Home Internet

T-Mobile and Verizon both have nationwide coverage. T-Mobile technically has wider availability, but they’re close enough that we’ll call them even. And while nation-wide coverage doesn’t guarantee these plans in your area, you’re much more likely to have them compared to other internet types, like fiber.

AT&T is the outlier here. Although AT&T 5G itself is fairly widespread, the Internet Air home internet service is currently only available in select markets, mainly in major metro areas. Internet Air is a relatively new service, so this coverage will likely continue to expand. However, our understanding is that the long-term plan for the service is to replace AT&T’s older DSL networks, so availability may be limited to those areas. Time will tell.

For maximum availability, T-Mobile has to get the nod, very closely followed by Verizon. AT&T (for now) lags pretty far behind.

Reliability for 5G home internet—regardless of provider—is a bit odd in that it varies from location to location more than for most other internet types. With cable or fiber, while speed might vary from location to location, reliability tends to be pretty consistent.

However, anyone who’s used a cell phone knows that signal strength can be finicky. Now, since home internet stays in one location, the common dips and surges of cell signal don’t happen as often as when you’re traveling around. Even still, you might have some variation in performance based on time of day, how many users are in your area, how much cell traffic there is at that time (mobile users usually get priority on the network), and so on.

T-Mobile has the most consistently reliable 5G in our experience. The wide coverage helps ensure that there’s always a stable connection available.

When it comes to plans, T-Mobile keeps things super simple. You have one plan to choose from, and you don’t have other options, add-ons, additional fees, or anything else to consider. That takes the guesswork out of trying to choose the right plan. While some might like to have at least a little bit of choice, we appreciate the simplicity.

That said, there are three different price points—which price you pay is based on whether you have a T-Mobile cell plan and, if so, which plan. Here’s the breakdown:

• Home Internet only: $60.00 per month
• Home Internet + a Go5G, Magenta, or Essentials phone plan: $50.00 per month
• Home Internet + a Go5G Next, Go5G Plus, or Magenta MAX phone plan: $40.00 per month

Average speeds run up to 245Mbps, although this varies from location to location. Overall, you should have no problem handling everyday online tasks and HD streaming with T-Mobile.

Like T-Mobile, AT&T Internet Air offers just one plan. In fact, AT&T might actually be more focused on simplicity than even T-Mobile. Internet Air only has two pricing tiers:

• Internet Air only: $55.00 per month
• Internet Air + Unlimited Starter, Unlimited Extra, or Unlimited Premium cell plan: $35.00 per month

AT&T is extremely vague on what counts as an “eligible” wireless plan—we couldn’t find this information anywhere on the website. However, a representative informed us that the eligible plans are AT&T Unlimited Starter, Unlimited Extra, and Unlimited Premium. In other words, any of the current Unlimited Your Way plan options.

AT&T Internet Air also has the slowest advertised speeds of these three providers overall, averaging about 140Mbps. However, real-world performance in most areas is likely similar to T-Mobile and Verizon plans, but you won’t know for sure till you’re using it.

Verizon is the outlier here, with two different plans available. Not really a catalog of options, but some choice of speeds and price nonetheless.

In this case, the eligible wireless plans are postpaid unlimited plans that include 5G Ultra Wideband. That last qualification is important—it eliminates the most affordable unlimited plan option. So, your eligible plans are Unlimited Plus or Unlimited Ultimate.

The main difference between the plans is the speed you’ll get, although it comes with the same caveat as the other providers: Speeds can vary a lot from one area to another. Additionally, these speeds, more so than T-Mobile and AT&T, are theoretical maximum speeds. Verizon actually just advertises “high-speed downloads” and “higher-speed downloads” on the plan page, and that’s probably a safer way to look at it.

The performance of Verizon’s 5G home internet should be roughly the same as T-Mobile, unless you’re in an area that can get a 5G Ultra Wideband signal.

You can see Verizon’s estimated typical speeds in the fine print for the plans.

Despite the recent price increase, we still think T-Mobile offers the best balance of price and performance. A possible exception would be if you wanted to stick with the cheaper Verizon 5G Home plan to save some money.

All three providers offer unlimited data on their 5G home internet plans, so there’s no difference here. And yes, the data is actually unlimited. The only exception might be for extremely heavy users, who could see reduced speeds. Most average users won’t need to worry about this—people at risk of being throttled likely know who they are.

There’s only one piece of equipment that you’ll need for each of these services: the wireless gateway. In the case of 5G home internet, this device acts basically like a giant hotspot—it grabs the 5G cell signal and converts it into a Wi-Fi network that your other devices can connect to and use.

Each provider includes the gateway at no additional cost, and they all get the job done just fine. The only major differences here are for aesthetics: T-Mobile likes cylinders, and Verizon’s gateways tend to be cubes or rectangular towers. AT&T actually stands out here, with a clean, modern design that blends into a room pretty well. However, we wouldn’t choose a provider just based on equipment.  

The installation process for 5G home internet stands out as the simplest of any internet type. The vast majority of your setup will be handled in the provider’s app. The basic process is that you’ll plug the gateway into power and open the app,then it’ll activate the service or provide you with additional instructions for how to set it up.

The whole setup process should take between 15 and 30 minutes, with the most “difficult” part being finding the spot in your house that gets the strongest signal. From customer interviews, we’ve found that the manufacturers tend to undersell how long the process takes—most claim closer to that 15-minute mark, but 30 is probably more realistic. That’s still not bad at all, though, all things considered. We’d rather set up our equipment in 30 minutes than wait for a technician during a 4- or even 6-hour window.

Again, there’s no real difference between any of these providers here, so we wouldn’t recommend worrying about which install process won’t give you a headache. They’re more-or-less equally simple.

T-Mobile offers really strong customer service. The biggie for many customers will be 24/7 phone support. This can be huge, especially if you keep odd hours or are using the connection for work.

Apart from the phone support, you’ve got in-app and live chat options, as well as a plethora of online guides and FAQs. Plus, in my personal experience with T-Mobile’s customer support, I’ve had only positive experiences.

• Phone: 1-855-542-1512
• Online support: T-Mobile Home Internet support

AT&T offers phone support, but the hours are more limited. Tech support also has slightly different weekend hours. Here's the breakdown:

• Mon–Fri: 7:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. CT
• Sat: 8:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. CT
• Sun: Closed
• Sat–Sun (tech support): 4:00 a.m.–1:00 a.m. CT

AT&T also offers app-based support, live chat, and online guides.

• Phone: 1-800-288-2020
• Chat: Use the Message Me button on the internet support page.
• Online support: AT&T Internet Air support

Verizon offers phone support with decent hours, along with the usual assortment of app, chat, and online FAQ options. Here are the phone hours:

Phone: 1-800-837-4966 (1-800-VERIZON)

Hours:

• Mon–Sat: 8:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m. ET
• Sun: 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. ET

There’s plenty here to help you through whatever issues you may have. However, I’ve also had experience with Verizon customer support, and it was not good.

Specifically with the phone support, there seems to be a lack of record-keeping and communication between agents and call centers, and you get a different agent (or even call center!) seemingly every time you call. This confusion made for an incredibly frustrating experience.

This experience certainly won’t happen to everyone, but it was frustrating enough to be a concern.

For other ways of support, they offer online chat and troubleshooting resources.

• Chat: Verizon’s contact page gives you a “Chat with us” button. (However, as of publishing this piece, the button was not loading anything when clicked.)
• Online support: Verizon 5G Home Internet support

We’d say T-Mobile and AT&T share the crown here. T-Mobile holds a little more sway with its 24/7 phone option, but the two offer similar resources overall.

Overall, 5G home internet, regardless of provider, gives customers an affordable and widely available internet option—with the major caveat that performance may not always live up to expectations. Providers sometimes advertise lofty speeds that don’t always play out in real life. However, in talking with T-Mobile customers in particular, people really like it as a backup internet option, and it’s a breath of fresh air in rural areas.

Overall, we think T-Mobile Home Internet is the best 5G home internet service of the three, and if we’re recommending one in a vacuum, that’s the one we pick. It’s got solid speeds, it’s affordable and reliable, and the customer service is excellent. Verizon would be our second choice, primarily because it’s still so hard to get AT&T Internet Air.

However, you should get the provider that matches your cell service so that you can take advantage of the big bundle discounts. You can’t really go wrong with any of them, so go with the service you get the most benefit from.

At SatelliteInternet.com, we base our analyses on thorough research, including customer interviews, first-hand testing, results from our speed test tool, and proprietary internet provider data on speeds and pricing. We also dive deep to get all the details on plans, fees, and future developments. We then bring this info together in one place so you can find it easily. Finally, we use our satellite internet industry expertise to help you make the best decisions you can for your household.

5G can be an excellent option for home internet. Whether it’s worth it for your particular use depends on your budget, how much speed you need, and what other options you have in your area. In general, though, 5G tends to be one of the more affordable internet options, so it’s a great way to save some money if you don’t need the absolute fastest speeds.

Probably! For the most part, 5G is nationwide now (as of 2024). Now, whether you have a particular provider or not might be a different story, but most locations have access to one of the big three providers, especially T-Mobile and Verizon.

Yes, 5G should be fine for streaming TV! In fact, you should easily be able to get away with streaming in HD, and possibly even 4K. If we look at Netflix’s recommendations for minimum speed, we see 3Mbps for 720p (HD), 5Mbps for 1080p (Full HD), and 15Mbps for 4K. You should easily be able to hit those speeds with a 5G connection in most areas.