T-Mobile has offered 5G Home Internet since 2021. During that time, all of the company’s gateways have been capable of receiving what is called Sub-6 5G signals. These are the standard long-range 5G signals that most 5G phones can receive.
Millimeter-wave 5G, or mmWave, uses much higher frequencies than Sub-6. These signals often require the receiving device to have what is essentially line-of-sight signal to the tower broadcasting it. Famously, mmWave 5G can be blocked by a glass window or a tree branch or even your hand, so it’s deployment is somewhat limited. It’s often used best in places like sports stadiums and large gatherings/events.
Despite the drawbacks, we’ve received information that T-Mobile is testing 5G mmWave Home Internet in the Phoenix, Arizona area by invite only, and the details are quite interesting.
Invite notifications apparently began October 21st, and customers are invited to sign up for a trial account to receive mmWave Home Internet service. The trial involves expert setup, conducted by Asurion, to mount an external mmWave antenna and connect it to a gateway inside the home. The device then broadcasts WiFi for the customer.
Free Service And Free Cash
To encourage customers to sign up for the trial, T-Mobile is offering a pretty impressive incentive. For the duration of the trial, customers will not only receive mmWave Home Internet at no cost, but T-Mobile will also cover a customer’s existing voice line service up to 12 lines along with up to two existing standard 5G Home Internet lines the customer may already have. That’s quite a bribe!
Customers on the trial would only pay for relevant taxes and fees, if not on a taxes-included plan, for the entire run of the trial.
In addition, upon the completion of the trial, customers will automatically receive a $500 prepaid gift card via email or SMS.
5G Gateway Device
The gateway device and it’s associated antenna are manufactured by Nokia. The company was the first one T-Mobile partnered with for 5G Home Internet back in January 2021 with the 5G21 Gateway.
These new mmWave devices, which we think we’ve found at the FCC (gateway here, antenna here), appears to be factory spec and not specifically branded or customized for T-Mobile. Presumably, if T-Mobile moves forward with offering this service on a broad scale, they’ll have a custom model made similar to the original 5G21 gateway.
The gateway comes in two parts: A router device placed inside the home, and a mmWave antenna device mounted outside. The antenna connects to the indoor router to provide the signal.
Due to standard confidentiality there are no true images of the devices yet, though we were able to find a rough sketch of what the outdoor antenna will look like, as well as the labels for each device. The labeling, as well as other FCC documents, is what suggests to us that these devices are not T-Mobile branded. We could be wrong about the final device though.
There are also signs on the FCC website that the device offers WiFi 7 connectivity, which would make sense for a device made in 2024.
Service Details
The mmWave Home Internet service itself comes with unlimited data and no speed caps. Interestingly, the internal document we’ve reviewed says that there is “no data prioritization”.
All connections to T-Mobile have some level of priority, called QCI, but by stating there is “no” priority it could indicate that this service would be at the lowest priority on the network. That would ensure that these high-speed connections won’t impact other users on the network.
Otherwise, the devices themselves as well as installation are provided at no cost.
The trial is set to run until May of 2025. That will give customers about 6 months of service for free. After the trial, customers are told to schedule a “deinstallation” of the devices via their trial account. It’s not clear if a customer could choose to continue service and pay for it afterward, but that will likely be determined later based on if the company decides to offer it more broadly.
It’s important to note that this service is by invite only. Interested customers should not reach out to support asking for the trial, as they will not be able to help. If you’re in the Phoenix, Arizona area and have T-Mobile service, though, keep an eye out for a notification inviting you to the trial! If you do get into the trial, feel free to drop us a few anonymous images to our tip line as well!
Update: We have received shareable documents of the information written above. You’ll find them below.
