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I’ve spent years covering wireless and home broadband companies and a significant amount of time studying and testing a variety of networks. In the 5G era, these two worlds have intersected, and for everyday users in 2025, this is a great thing that finally brings some legitimate alternatives and much-needed competition.
After spending the last few months living with several different 5G home internet products, it’s clear that it can compete with traditional broadband for most everyday tasks. It may not be faster than a multi-giga fiber connection, but for most people, it can certainly be more than enough.
Get to know the players
AT&T Air Internet.
On its website, AT&T promises download speeds between 90 and 300 Mbps (higher is better) for its 5G home broadband service (which it calls AT&T Internet Air), with uploads between 8 and 30 Mbps. The carrier says the typical latency or response time for its service is between 30-65 milliseconds (lower is better).
T-Mobile promises similar performance with its base T-Mobile home internet A service that uses a less powerful modem (so-called Rely Home Internet). According to the FCC broadband facts listed on its site Websiteusers of the basic version of Rely can expect download speeds between 87 and 318 Mbps, uploads between 14 and 56 Mbps, and response times between 18 and 36 milliseconds.
Stepping up to the pricier Amplified plan with the best modem promises faster average downloads of 133-415 Mbps and a more responsive latency of 16-28 ms. These speeds are similar to those on the most expensive All-In plan, which has the same modem but offers some extra perks, like a Wi-Fi access point, subscriptions to Hulu (with ads), and Paramount Plus Essential for an additional cost. $10 per month.
5G home internet comparison
| He plans | Monthly price | Maximum speeds | Fees and service details |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T Internet Air | $60 ($47 with eligible AT&T wireless plan) | 90-300 down, 8-30 Mbps up | There are no equipment fees, overage fees or contracts |
| He plans | Monthly price | Maximum speeds | Fees and service details |
| T-Mobile relies on the Internet | $50 ($35 for eligible Go5G Plus and Magenta Max customers) | Download 87-318 Mbps, upload 14-56 Mbps | There are no equipment fees, data caps or contracts. Taxes and fees are included in the price. |
| T-Mobile Amplified Internet | $60 ($45 for eligible Go5G Plus and Magenta Max customers) | Download 133-415 Mbps, upload 12-55 Mbps | There are no equipment fees, data caps or contracts. Taxes and fees are included in the price. |
| T-Mobile All in Internet | $70 ($55 for eligible Go5G Plus and Magenta Max customers) | Download 133-415 Mbps, upload 12-55 Mbps | There are no equipment fees, data caps or contracts. Taxes and fees are included in the price. |
| He plans | Monthly price | Maximum speeds | Fees and service details |
| Verizon 5G Home Page | $50 ($35 with qualifying Verizon 5G mobile plans) | 85-300Mbps download, 10-20Mbps upload | There are no equipment fees, data caps or contracts. Taxes and fees are included in the price. |
| Verizon 5G Home Plus | $70 ($45 with qualifying Verizon 5G mobile plans) | 85-300Mbps download, 10-20Mbps upload | There are no equipment fees, data caps or contracts. Taxes and fees are included in the price. |
speeds for Verizon 5G Home Internet It’s hard to spot since the carrier doesn’t make it easy to access on their website. Instead, the FAQ encourages people to enter their addresses to see what options are available in their area. At one site I looked at in upstate New York, download speeds were listed as between 50 and 85 Mbps on the basic 5G Home plan, with uploads between 5 and 10 Mbps and latency between 37 and 57 ms.
Stepping up to the pricier 5G Home Plus plan for an additional $20 per month resulted in download speeds of 85-250 Mbps and upload speeds of 10-20 Mbps, as reported in the Broadband Facts.
T-Mobile and Verizon both include taxes and fees in their sticker prices, but AT&T does not. All three carriers offer discounts if you bundle home internet with some of their wireless plans and sign up for things like automatic payments, which can bring prices down even further.
For most users, lower speeds should be more than fine
Verizon 5G Home Gateway.
The speeds listed above may be significantly lower than a similar plan offered by a local cable company or fiber provider, depending on where you live.
T-Mobile’s Rely Home Internet offering without bundled wireless service is $55 per month, which is more expensive for me New York City Of getting rangewhich is $50 in my building with “typical” download speeds of 551Mbps, upload speeds of 21Mbps and 20ms latency.
Promotional pricing should make it even cheaper, at $40 per month for a year. This is all good news.
As 5G networks continue to evolve and mature, speeds should improve and competition should continue to increase. Over the past few months, I’ve been testing and switching between T-Mobile’s basic router (which I’ve used for years), its newer router that’s included in its pricier plans, and AT&T’s Internet Air in New York City.
All three easily handled many of the tasks my friends, roommates, and I threw at them: from multiple people video calling and streaming at the same time, to 4K Netflix streaming, to watching multiple games at once on YouTube TV and online gaming on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series My previous tests with Verizon’s 5G Home Even millimeter wave options from companies like Honest Networks handled these tasks well.
This is to be expected. Many of the popular services we rely on today are optimized to work across different types of networks and don’t need gigabit connections. Want to stream Netflix in 4K? They recommend a download speed of Only 15 Mbps. Do you want to zoom in? A group call needs 4 Mbps, while a 1080p individual call only needs 4 Mbps. Download at 3.8 Mbps and upload at 3 Mbps.
Looking to watch YouTube TV? You only need 13Mbps to stream in HD and 25 Mbps to watch in 4K. Xbox Cloud Gaming or Sony game streaming with PlayStation Plus? Microsoft recommends a minimum speed 20Mbps for consoles, tablets or computers To serve her, while Sony needs at least 5Mbps speed to work (At least 15Mbps is recommended for 1080p streaming.)
You don’t want to be at the low end for an optimal experience, and if you’re doing more intensive tasks (especially ones that require regularly downloading or uploading large files), a cable or fiber connection is definitely still the better option. But assuming you have good coverage where you live, 5G could be a very capable alternative.
Is it perfect? No, but the situation is improving
Yes, there were random moments 5G home internet Where things don’t seem to be going well, this also happened with regular cable and fiber ISPs. But in the last few months of my life, these problems were few and far between and often resolved on their own and in moments. It went so fast that I didn’t have time to check if the issue was with my modem, something wrong with my router, or the app and device I was using.
T-Mobile’s Nokia home internet router may not be as powerful as its newer models, but it still works well.
While running various speed and download tests, I also noticed that the newer T-Mobile equipment performed better than the original equipment The Nokia portal that I have used since the launch of the service years ago. Downloading games like Marvel Rivals on the Xbox Series I also enjoyed playing online games like NBA 2K on the newer portal, as its connection seemed consistently faster.
This leads to the best part: Not only are wireless providers constantly improving their 5G networks, they should also have better 5G gateways rolling out this year.
T-Mobile told me last year It will launch a new modem in 2025 that will not only be able to double its role as a Wi-Fi 7 router, but should be able to take advantage of more advanced mesh radios to work faster and more efficiently on its 5G network. AT&T is Work similarly on new home internet portals.
And as cable companies react by improving their speeds, performance, and offerings — which we’ve seen with the recent focus on multi-gigabit offerings and faster core tiers — 5G providers will need to respond in kind.
When added together, that means you can now Contact your regular service provider and give them a real threat to switch to If they can’t lower your bill or improve your service.
