T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet is a dream solution for many. For a flat fee, you get access to the very same 5G network your phone uses, except with unlimited data just like what you would get from a traditional wired provider. It’s great for many, and convenient, not to mention that it’s also really, really simple to use.
T-Mobile recently started adding some minor restrictions earlier this year, however, where new users would see their data “deprioritized” after going over a certain limit. Now, T-Mobile is extending this policy to all 5G Home Internet users, regardless of whether they’re new or existing users.
T-Mobile has quietly updated its terms, saying that its new “Fair Usage commitment” policy, which has been in effect for new users for some time now, is now extending to all users regardless of how long they’ve been using the service.
We also received an internal document outlining the change, shown below.
The gist of it, if you’re not aware, is that there’s a “priority data limit” that goes into effect after you hit 1.2TB of data usage in a given calendar month. After that point, your access to the network will be “deprioritized.” This means that in times of network congestion, other users that are under that data cap will be given priority over you.
It’s technically not a data cap (it’s a priority data limit!) in that in times of “normal” congestion you shouldn’t see a big impact on your speeds, as it will still be 5G, but if the network is too congested, you will see speeds slower than other users. 1.2TB is also a big ceiling, and unless you’re doing large data transfers throughout the month, you probably won’t even get near that number.
Still, there’s a chance that T-Mobile might choose to lower this cap even more eventually, or begin having different priority tiers of service just like their phone plans.
There have also been reports that this may be a good thing, too. It’s not entirely clear, but the new priority could be higher than before, up to 1.2TB. This is speculation though, and T-Mobile hasn’t confirmed if that’s the case.
Hopefully, this won’t affect Home Internet customers too badly. If you’re a Home Internet customer and regularly go over 1.2TB of data, let us know if you’ve experienced slowdowns in the comments below.
