This oh-so-subtle messaging comes with an offer to Comcast customers, enticing them to switch to T-Mobile’s 5G internet service for $25 a month (provided you have a “qualifying voice line” ). It also underscores how important fixed wireless broadband is to T-Mobile as it looks to capitalize on its early lead in 5G and take a bite out of the cable company’s Internet business.
Part of T-Mobile’s interest in home internet is due to a condition of its acquisition of Sprint. In exchange for reducing competition from our wireless carriers, the company promised the FCC that by 2025 it would offer low-cost wireless Internet to half of the U.S. population. as a successful tool in attracting new customers and increasing the average revenue per account. That is financially speaking for ‘earning more money from you’.
T-Mobile has targeted a particularly easy target in Comcast. For starters, Comcast’s wireless MVNO service runs on a competitor’s network: Verizon. Comcast is also, as T-Mobile likes to point out, consistently rated with a negative Net Promoter Score. Hating Comcast comes as naturally to most Americans as hating the Patriots.
At last count, T-Mobile had more than 2 million home internet customers, but there’s still a long way to go; the company hopes to have 7 to 8 million subscribers by 2025. And in our testing, 5G home internet showed promise, but ultimately was too unreliable where we tried. No amount of billboard trucks will save bad service.
