Switching to T-mobile home internet - hopefully it doesn't suck

[BehindBlueI's]

Well, it sucks. Speeds vary minute by minute too much. You may have 200mb then two minutes later have 6mb. For regular web browsing it's ok, but it won't even support standard definition streaming. I have it in the front room pointed out the window right at where it says to point it (you use your cell phone and it orients you).

Xfinity sent me an email to call them for a special offer to stay, I'll probably just stick with them.

 

[Hop]

I used t-mobile for a few years and when I had good 5G signal, it was great. Fantastic download speeds >400mbps. Great pricing too.

My house was in a dead spot though and I couldn't walk around the block and maintain a connection to data nor cell service. I still have their "signal booster" box and need to turn that in. I had to port out.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Follow up: T-mobile was great to work with, but the service remained terrible and I turned the equipment back in. If you turn it back in within 14 days, no charge of any kind as they are aware the service is spotty.

It has to be an issue with network prioritization. My cell phone in hot spot mode would consistently do 120-200 mbps right next to the gateway bouncing between 6-200 on the same device hooked up to one or the other.

T-mobile rep said they are getting in to fiber and should be rolling that out in 2025 at some point. I would definitely give them another shot at that point.

In short, tried something new, didn't work, no harm no foul.

 

[ZurokSlayer7X9]

So just a quick PSA for the technically challenged: "mb" is different than "MB", just like "kb" is different than "KB". "mb" stands for mega-bit, while MB stands for mega-byte. There are 8 mega-bits in 1 mega-byte, just like there are 8 kilo-bits in 1 kilo-byte. The reason I give this PSA is because some people are sometimes confused when internet speeds translate to how computer data is stored. Computer data is handled and stored in Bytes, not bits. So if you have an 8 GB file to download with a download at a speed of 8 gbps, if the speed is consistent (which it won't be, the speeds you see are burst packets), it will finish in 8 seconds, not 1 second.

In other words: 1 mb x 8 = 1 MB

Ok, now back to your regular scheduled program.

 

[foszoe]

So just a quick PSA for the technically challenged: "mb" is different than "MB", just like "kb" is different than "KB". "mb" stands for mega-bit, while MB stands for mega-byte. There are 8 mega-bits in 1 mega-byte, just like there are 8 kilo-bits in 1 kilo-byte. The reason I give this PSA is because some people are sometimes confused when internet speeds translate to how computer data is stored. Computer data is handled and stored in Bytes, not bits. So if you have an 8 GB file to download with a download at a speed of 8 gbps, if the speed is consistent (which it won't be, the speeds you see are burst packets), it will finish in 8 seconds, not 1 second.

In other words: 1 mb x 8 = 1 MB

Ok, now back to your regular scheduled program.

I have actually wondered about that. Thanks.

At first thought you were going to talk about how speeds cheat me like storage.

 

[Ziggidy]

It has to be an issue with network prioritization.

I agree. Too bad, I was hoping it would work for you. Just watch your bill. I returned mine the same day and they have it on my bill. They say it will cycle off but if you have auto pay you may have to stop it til it cycles off; otherwise it may take the entire amount out of your checking account. That's what I was told 10 days ago when I called them about the charges on my account.

 

[ZurokSlayer7X9]

I'll also add while I'm at it: Kilo, Mega, Giga, Terra, Peta, etc. are SI Prefixes for orders of magnitude. Kilo = 1,000, Mega = 1,000,000, Giga = 1,000,000,000, etc. However, a mega-byte does not technically have 1,000 kilo-bytes in it. It actually has 1,024 kilo-bytes. That translates up and down the line as well: 1,024 GBs in 1 TB, 1,024 TBs in 1 PT, so on and so forth.

 

[d.kaufman]

Just gonna chime in my

We tried the t-mobile wireless and couldn't get a signal at all. I literally had to put the thing outside to get a signal. Was a free trial so no harm no foul, but dumped it within a week. Went back to Xfinity

As far as fiber optic goes. Have frontier at the shop. Wasn't given a choice but to switch to the fiber optic. When it works it's great but I've had so many issues since the "upgrade" it drives me nuts sometime