Starlink vs. T-Mobile Home Internet: Which is Better for You?

Starlink may be available virtually anywhere, but T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is more reliable for most situations—if you can get it.

Wider availability
Starlink
Overall Quality ⁃ 3.4/5
bullet 3.0/5 - Speed and reliability
bullet 3.3/5 - Dollar value
bullet 4.0/5 - Customer experience
Lower prices
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet
Overall Quality ⁃ 3.8/5
bullet 3.5/5 - Speed and reliability
bullet 3.7/5 - Dollar value
bullet 4.2/5 - Customer experience
Christian de Looper
Sep 11, 2024
Icon Time To Read8 min read

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet and Starlink may both rely on non-conventional means for connectivity, but that’s where the similarities end. Starlink is a satellite internet provider, and as such, it’s available pretty much anywhere, including on moving vehicles like boats. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet, on the other hand, is built to turn 5G wireless connectivity into Wi-Fi in a home or other static location. Given its reliance on more stable cell towers, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet generally offers faster speeds and better reliability at a lower price.

That said, there are plenty of situations where Starlink is a better choice, or perhaps the only choice. For example, you can’t use T-Mobile 5G Home Internet on a moving vehicle like a boat. If you’re curious about the two services and want to know which one is better for you, read on for our full comparison.

“It’s worked pretty well for me. The speeds feel a little up and down sometimes, but it generally does everything I need it to.” –Rick Francis, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet customer
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Starlink vs. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet: Plans, pricing, and speed

ProviderStarlinkT-Mobile 5G Home Internet
Price per month
$50-$5000
$50-$160
Download speeds5-220 Mbps245-292 Mbps
Upload speeds2-25 Mbps31-31 Mbps
Details
Data as of 04/05/2023. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

Starlink and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet take slightly different approaches to internet connectivity, and as such, their pricing and speeds are quite different. Starlink relies on satellite connectivity, and satellites aren’t cheap. So a plan with Starlink is relatively expensive for speeds that aren’t all that impressive compared to terrestrial competitors. Starlink costs anywhere from $120 to $5,000 per month, though most can expect to pay $120 per month for the Starlink Standard plan. Speeds range from 5–220Mbps download, and between 5–20Mbps for upload speeds.

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is a little different. T-Mobile offers two plans for its 5G home internet service, one that costs $50 and one that costs $70. The company promises download speeds of between 72–245Mbps, and it’s able to make those promises because it doesn’t even offer the service where it can’t achieve those speeds. Upload speeds are a little better than Starlink, coming in at 15–31Mbps. That’s still not incredibly fast, but it’s not terrible.

“We love the speed of Starlink … We also love that if we wanted to take it with us, we could pay just a tad more for that.” –Kelsey Proctor

Starlink vs. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet: Fees for modem and installation

Service
Starlink fee
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet fee
Modem/routerN/AFree
Standard Equipment$499N/A
Mobile Equipment$499N/A
High performance equipment$2,500N/A

What makes this review legit?

Our fact-based research process centers on interviews with internet customers across the country, helping us understand how internet services hold up against diverse needs and challenges.

To put together this review, we looked at results from our speed test, pulled data from customer satisfaction surveys, and pored over the fine print to compare prices and speeds between the two providers. To flesh out our analysis, we also interviewed Starlink and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet customers to get their firsthand insights. We let their experiences guide our research and shape our conclusions. We also speak with ISP spokespeople and industry experts to get insights into connection types, speed capabilities, and other technical issues related to internet service.

how we review products and services

The matchup: How we rate Starlink vs. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet

For all our internet reviews, we give a rating based on three main criteria—speed and reliability, dollar value, and customer experience—which we then average to make an overall score.

Here, we compare those ratings face to face. We then offer some analysis and context for important factors to keep in mind.

Want to know more? Read our full-length Starlink review and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet.

Also see how Starlink compares to Viasat.

Speed and reliability

internet speed
Starlink: 3.0/5.0 | T-Mobile 5G Home Internet: 3.5/5.0

Both Starlink and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet offer impressive speeds for wireless internet providers, but generally speaking, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is faster. That doesn’t just relate to its top advertised download speeds, which are 25Mbps faster than Starlink. It relates to the average speeds that you can achieve on T-Mobile 5G Home Internet versus Starlink.

The Reviews.org 2023 speed test showed average download speeds on Starlink as being 39.24Mbps. That’s fine for some situations, but not great, and you shouldn’t expect to be able to stream video using it unless you turn every other device off in your home. By contrast, T-Mobile promises download speeds of at least 72Mbps, which still isn’t amazing, but it should be enough for a few people in a home that doesn’t have dozens of connected devices.

Neither service is incredibly reliable, though. Starlink signals can be interrupted by anything in the way of the line of sight between your receiving dish and the satellite, including things like poor weather. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet doesn’t necessarily have those issues, but its wireless nature does mean that you could still get fluctuating speeds throughout the day and might find that your speeds are slower during peak usage times, like in the evenings.

The end result is basically that, while T-Mobile 5G Home Internet isn’t the fastest nor the most reliable, it is better than Starlink in this arena.

Dollar value

dollar value
Starlink: 3.3/5.0 | T-Mobile 5G Home Internet: 3.7/5.0

T-Mobile wins when it comes to dollar value too. Even the most expensive T-Mobile plan is $50 cheaper than the cheapest Starlink plan.

That’s not to mention all the fees that you have to pay on Starlink. While T-Mobile doesn’t impose any fees related to equipment rental or purchase, to use Starlink, you have to pay at least $499 for the Starlink Standard equipment or up to $2,500 for the so-called high-performance equipment. It is nice that you don’t pay a monthly fee, but those high prices still sting.

Customer experience

customer experience
Starlink: 4.0/5.0 | T-Mobile 5G Home Internet: 4.2/5.0

Internet service providers usually don’t score very high when it comes to overall customer experience, but both Starlink and T-Mobile buck that trend. Most customers seem to have a very positive experience with Starlink. And four of the six customers that we spoke to noted that they never had to interact with customer service. It seems that while Starlink is relatively expensive and doesn’t offer the best download speeds, customers expect that when they sign up and are happy with the overall service that they receive for their cash.

T-Mobile customers, however, are happy too. In fact, it seems like T-Mobile customers are slightly more impressed with their service than Starlink customers. Given that T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is a relatively new service, it has performed very well in customer satisfaction surveys and even ranked in the top spot in the 2022-2023 ASCI Telecommunications Study amongst non-fiber internet providers. Part of this has to do with the fact that its service is so easy to install. Simply plug in the gateway device, and you’re basically good to go. That’s not true for Starlink, which requires a little more involvement for the installation of its service.

Overall, customers are happy with both services, but T-Mobile 5G Home Internet still edges out a win here.

Overall quality: Which internet provider should you pick?

Starlink and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet are slightly different services, but considering they both use unconventional wireless connectivity methods, they score impressively well. If you have access to both services and are looking for something for your home, then T-Mobile is the way to go because of its faster speeds, lower prices, and better reliability. But Starlink is still an impressive service overall, and if you want something that you can use on the go or happen to live in a very rural area that doesn’t have access to T-Mobile 5G Home Internet anyway, then you still get a great internet service.

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Starlink vs. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet: What deals and promotions can you get?

Starlink generally doesn’t run promotions or deals to entice new customers to its service. That’s unlike T-Mobile, which does run some promotions in an effort to win customers over. For example, T-Mobile offers a discount for those who have a T-Mobile phone plan. If you already use T-Mobile for your phone or are willing to switch, it’s worth taking advantage of that bundled pricing.

Starlink
None
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet
Get $10 to $20 off per month
Bundle T-Mobile 5G Home Internet with a T-Mobile phone plan to get between $10 and $20 off your plan every month.

Starlink add-ons and perks


Sign up in your Starlink account.


T-Mobile add-ons and perks


Try T-Mobile 5G Home Internet for 15 days, and get a full refund if you decide not to sign up.


Get your last month for free if you get a price hike on your bill.


Sign up for 5G Home Internet to get a free trial of the following streaming services:

  • ViX Premium for 1 year
  • SiriusXM Streaming for 6 mos.
  • Pandora Premium for 4 mos.

Starlink vs. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet: What do customers think?

Starlink

Generally speaking, Starlink customers love their service, especially when it’s compared to other rural internet services that are also expensive and not all that fast.

“There aren't that many options for remote locations, and what is there is low speed and expensive,” says Lauren Morley, a Starlink Mobile customer who uses the service in an RV. “It was very cool when we were traveling to set up the Starlink in the middle of a secluded forest and be connected!”

One customer, Debra Blumenthal, has used Starlink and Viasat, another satellite internet provider, ultimately finding Starlink a much more impressive service. Blumenthal uses the service on the farm where she lives with her husband in rural Montesano, Washington.

“We had started out with Viasat—but it was awful. With their plan, you had so much data that was fast speed, but once you reach that point it throttles down and you can’t even watch a Netflix movie. With Starlink, it is the same data straight across the board. No throttling down.”

Not every single customer is all that happy with their internet, though. Jonas Zuck Jr. from Pennsylvania says that he doesn’t love “the initial setup cost and the occasional service interruptions during severe weather. These interruptions, although infrequent, can be a drawback in the hospitality sector, where continuous internet access is often a given expectation.”

“We like Starlink because it doesn’t throttle down on the speed.” —Debra Blumenthal
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet

Customers of T-Mobile 5G Home Internet are very positive about their service too, though. That’s largely because the service offers an alternative to cable providers that would otherwise be the only option in a given area.

Steve Abbott and his wife 5G Home Internet customers in California who were previously stuck with a DSL connection.

“We could barely stream Lakers and Dodger games, let alone shows on Netflix,” Abbott recalls. He calls 5G Home Internet a “get out of jail free card” because it vaulted his home Wi-Fi out of the DSL dungeon. “Took us from low-quality streaming on a single TV to being able to stream two different shows in two different rooms with high definition,” he says.

Austin Aguirre is another customer who is a staff writer at HighSpeedInternet.com and subscribes to T-Mobile 5G Home Internet as a backup connection. Austin and his wife both work at home, meaning that solid internet connectivity is important all the time. He liked it so much that he even connected his Xbox and PlayStation 5 permanently to his T-Mobile network.

 “I've never experienced latency woes or lag outside of the norm while using T-Mobile as a primary gaming connection,” Aguirre says.

Not everyone is completely happy with T-Mobile 5G Home Internet. The service relies on 5G connections to provide internet connectivity to your home, and that can mean fluctuating speeds.

“I honestly gave up trying to game on this internet,” says Jordan Rivera, a T-Mobile 5G Home Internet customer in Las Vegas, Nevada. He lives close to a 5G tower, but he consistently gets high ping spikes in Apex Legends. “I would die before knowing anything hit me. I mostly play single player games now, ha.”

That said, generally speaking, customers of T-Mobile 5G Home Internet are happy with their service.

“Overall it’s pretty solid, especially if you don’t have other options, but online gaming is rough.” —Jordan Rivera

Want Starlink or T-Mobile 5G Home Internet? Find it in your area

If you have access to both Starlink and T-Mobile 5G Home Internet, it’s probably worth going for T-Mobile over Starlink. That said, Starlink is still an excellent alternative for those who need something in very rural areas.

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Christian de Looper
Written by
Christian de Looper is a technology journalist based in sunny Santa Cruz, California. Christian has over 10 years of experience covering all aspects of the consumer tech industry, with bylines in Digital Trends, Tom’s Guide, Forbes, CNN Underscored, PCMag, and more. When he’s not obsessing over the latest and greatest tech, he can be found hanging out with his family or trying and failing to train his cat.

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