T-Mobile offers good prices and great customer service, while WOW! Edges out on price and reliability.
T-Mobile vs. WOW!: Which One Is Worth Your Money?
Solid speeds and price, but unreliable
Overall Quality ⁃ 3.8/5
3.5/5 - Speed and reliability
3.7/5 - Dollar value
4.2/5 - Customer experience
Cheap and reliable, but limited availability
Overall Quality ⁃ 3.9/5
3.8/5 - Speed and reliability
4.5/5 - Dollar value
3.3/5 - Customer experience 
9 min readT-Mobile has long been a go-to cell phone service for people on a budget, and that remains true when it comes to its internet services. Just like with its cell phone plans that can have spotty service, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet customers tell us that service can be unreliable. But still, it does what it needs to do.
“The speeds feel a little up and down sometimes, but it generally does everything I need it to,” says Rick Francis, a physical therapist in Charlottesville, North Carolina.
T-Mobile customer service also gets high grades from customers we spoke to and industry surveys across the country. That’s a pretty big deal.
By comparison, WOW! comes in strong with solid speeds and reliability customers have praised. With reasonable prices, no contracts, data limits, and a price-lock guarantee, WOW! gives T-Mobile a run for its money. But all cannot be perfect with anything, let alone an internet provider. The biggest drawback to WOW! internet services: Availability. Only a few places in the United States can access services from the provider. And unlike T-Mobile, WOW! receives some strong criticisms from users about its customer service agents.
The pros and cons of both have them neck-and-neck, with a difference of only 0.1 in our rating system—the closest margin I’ve seen since entering the internet service reviews business. While it’s close, WOW! comes just ahead. However, you can’t go wrong with T-Mobile, especially if you don’t live in a WOW! service area.
“It's reliable, and it's a great price.” —Gary LaPointe, a WOW! Internet customer in Dearborn, Michigan
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Free upgrade + $200
Upgrade to T-Mobile's Home Internet Plus Plan for Free
Enjoy better speeds, wider Wi-Fi coverage, and 24/7 tech support for $50/month with AutoPay.
Order online and get $200 back with a Virtual Prepaid Mastercard.
T-Mobile vs. WOW!: Plans, pricing, and speed
| Provider | | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per month |
$50-$160
|
$30-$185
|
| Download speeds | 245-292 Mbps | 100-5000 Mbps |
| Upload speeds | 31-31 Mbps | 50-5000 Mbps |
| Details | View Plans | View Plans |
Data as of 04/05/2023. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.
Over at T-Mobile, you get two 5G Home Internet plan options, both with speeds around 72–245. That’s not the fastest, but the prices are some of the most affordable on the marketplace. Neither plan comes with extra installation or equipment fees, and both offer unlimited data every month. If you’re an existing T-Mobile cell phone customer and enroll in AutoPay, you get an additional $10 discount. There’s also up to $20 a month off with T-Mobile’s unlimited plans: Go5G Next, Go5G Plus, or Magenta MAX. Because T-Mobile 5G Home Internet uses cellular connections to fire up your home with Wi-Fi—the same network your smartphone connects to—speeds can be a bit more unstable than with cable or fiber internet providers.
WOW!’s nine (yes, nine!) internet plans offer great pricing, starting at just $30 a month with no contracts or extra data fees for both its cable internet and fiber internet plans. There is a catch, as can be expected. But thankfully, it’s a relatively easy one. To qualify for the $30 per month rate, which gives you 300Mbps as part of the plan, you have to enroll in AutoPay. If you want to add on the WOW! Price Lock Promise, and you definitely should, your bill goes to $35 a month. From there, cable plans go up to $95 a month for 1.2Gbps. Fiber internet plans go up to 5Gbps for $185 per month, though that’s more bandwidth than any typical household could ever need. These also require you to enroll in AutoPay to receive those savings. However, fiber plans don’t have the Price Lock Promise option. Any plan you choose comes with your modem or Hybrid Connection Pack. That all deserves a great big WOW! Sorry, had to do it.
“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, a physical therapist in Charlottesville, North Carolina
T-Mobile vs. WOW!: Fees for modem and installation
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 T-Mobile and WOW! 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.
The matchup: How we rate T-Mobile vs. WOW!
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 T-Mobile review and WOW! review.
Speed and reliability
T-Mobile: 3.5/5.0 | WOW!: 3.8/5.0
Slow and steady may win some races, but when it comes to internet speed and reliability, most people want the fastest of the fast. And they want steady. They want it all! But that’s not always possible.
T-Mobile isn’t matching up to any rabbits, advertising speeds ranging from 72Mbps to 245Mbps. That keeps things running in a household with two or three, but if you’ve got a hype house full of aspiring YouTubers (or even like, four of them), it doesn’t offer the connection you need. T-Mobile’s service runs on wireless cellular transmitters—the same you connect to on your smartphone. That inevitably equates to fluctuation in services and outages.
WOW!, on the other hand, has cable, fiber, and hybrid connections mean both speed and reliability are pretty strong. Our speed tests showed WOW!’s average download speed is 125.53Mbps, which is faster than many of its big name brand competitors. And when it comes to reliability, customers we spoke to had some positive words to say. “It's been rock solid for me, generally even during power outages (for as long as my battery backup at home lasts),” says Gary LaPointe, who is based in Dearborn, Michigan.
Even with this overall praise, HighSpeedInternet.com ranked WOW! Internet at below average in its 2023 customer satisfaction survey.
Dollar value
T-Mobile: 3.7/5.0 | WOW!: 4.5/5.0
T-Mobile’s biggest selling point is its pricing. With its 5G Home Internet plans, you get a fixed rate that includes unlimited data, equipment, and a $10 monthly discount when you bundle with a cell phone plan. t.
WOW!’s fiber and hybrid options start at just $30 a month. We like the $45 deal, which gets you 600Mbps. That’s more speed than most homes need for a well-functioning internet connection where they can freely stream, game, scroll, video call, and more. Fiber providers can always offer much more in terms of speed than T-Mobile, and at a super competitive price. It’s a clear winner.
Customer experience
T-Mobile: 4.2/5.0 | WOW!: 3.3/5.0
While cost and reliability are what typically sway someone into choosing an internet provider, customer experience is what keeps them. One bad customer service experience can lead someone to cancel on the spot out of pure frustration.
T-Mobile’s customer satisfaction received high scores in HighSpeedInternet.com’s 2023 customer survey. That may be because of the super easy installation. T-Mobile’s 5G Gateway device is a fixed wireless modem and router (and comes at no additional cost) that you simply plug in to get your Wi-Fi flowing. After you download the T-Mobile app, follow the instructions to get set up, and voila! Easy peasy! Should you have any issues with setup or with service at any point, customers we spoke to say getting an agent on the phone isn’t too difficult and technical issues are resolved relatively quickly. “It’s always been easy to get to a real person on the phone when I call T-Mobile,” says Steve Abbott, a T-Mobile user we spoke to.
While WOW! has been running away with this matchup against T-Mobile in speed and reliability, it certainly slinks behind in customer experience. HighSpeedInternet.com gave WOW! Internet a below average ranking for customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, the American Customer Service Index put the provider at slightly above average for fiber and slightly below for non-fiber. Reddit user throwawaydakappa tells us they dealt with underwhelming customer support when hit by a 20-minute outage followed by two hours of unstable service. “The support on the phone claims the fiber terminal/modem doesn't actually have logs or a control panel anyone can access, but I think they're just poorly trained and not given the tools to support customer issues,” they tell us.
Overall quality: Which internet provider should you pick?
T-Mobile: 3.8/5.0 | WOW!: 3.9/5.0 (average of previous scores)
Both internet providers have a lot to offer, and it really boils down to your personal needs. T-Mobile is a great choice for small households using the internet. The excellent price point, ease of installation, and high-quality customer service experience more than does the job.
WOW! comes in strong with speed, reliability, and excellently priced options, especially for fiber connections. It beats out T-Mobile and many other internet providers in these important categories. Still, as mentioned above, WOW! has to improve its customer service if it expects to keep customers happy. Still, it’s an excellent option—if you can find it in your area.
T-Mobile vs. WOW!: What deals and promotions can you get?
There’s still much more to save with both T-Mobile and WOW! internet, with each offering $10 off per month for bundling. Internet providers love a bundle!
Get up to $10 off per month
Sign up for T-Mobile 5G Home Internet and add a qualifying T-Mobile phone plan to get a killer discount.
Save $10 each month on YouTube TV for one year
All you have to do is bundle with WOW! Internet service.
T-Mobile add-ons and perks
Try 5G Home Internet for 15 days, with a money back guarantee if you decide not to sign up.
Get your last month of service for free if you get an unexpected price hike on your bill.
Sign up for 5G Home Internet to get a free trial of ViX Premium for 1 year, SiriusXM Streaming for 6 months, and Pandora Premium for 4 months.
Download the T-Mobile Tuesdays app and hear about regular deals on food, gas, entertainment, and more.
WOW! add-ons and perks
Available after signing up for internet services
Sign up starting at $5 when you enroll in WOW! internet.
T-Mobile vs. WOW!: What do customers think?
T-Mobile is fine for basic needs, but not the way to go for anything beyond simple streaming.
Speaking with several customers who rely on their T-Mobile service for various needs, from simple streaming to hardcore gaming, the consensus isn’t wholly surprising. Because both internet and smartphone connections come from the same towers, service can go up and down, particularly in rural areas with few towers or areas of congestion like big cities. If you’re not the most online household, just browsing the web on your devices and streaming your fave shows and movies, T-Mobile is a solid choice.
“We could barely stream Lakers and Dodger games, let alone shows on Netflix,” Steve Abbott says of his former internet service provider. Once his son set him up with T-Mobile, he noticed a big improvement right away.
“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 of his T-Mobile connection.
However, for customers who use their Wi-Fi for gaming, streaming, vlogging and more, T-Mobile falls short.
“I honestly gave up trying to game on this internet,” says Jordan Rivera, a T-Mobile 5G Home Internet customer in Las Vegas, Nevada. Even living near a 5G tower hasn’t helped him retain his lives while playing Apex Legends. “I would die before knowing anything hit me.”
Overall, customers call their T-Mobile services solid but have much to complain about when it comes to consistency.
“The speed has been great 95% of the time. Every once in a while I get an unstable connection with an intermittent speed.” —Reddit user throwawaydakappa
Customers sing WOW!’s praises for price and connection but find it lacking in customer service
Here’s the thing that becomes abundantly clear right away when reviewing internet services: Fiber is the way to go. Customers tend to be very happy with their fiber services, and it’s no different with WOW!
Gary LaPointe has been a WOW! customer for nine years. Based in Dearborn, Michigan, he’s tried various WOW! plans over his near decade as a user and says, “It’s been rock solid for me,” regardless of his plan.
“I've tried higher speeds up to 1Gbps, but the higher speeds were basically for two different reasons: Higher upload speeds (most of the lower plans were only 10Mbps up, and when I was teaching from home, I wanted a little higher upload speed) AND higher data cap (in some areas, they implemented a data cap and higher speed plans had higher caps),” he explains.
LaPointe loves that WOW! provides “great speed for the price.”
The issue is WOW! is not available in many cities, which makes it a pain to find. (Though there’s plenty of fiber options outside of WOW! to choose from.) And customers we’ve spoken to have had issues dealing with customer service agents. Reddit user throwawaydakappa tells us they were “impressed” with the service at first, having been offered a great deal from a salesman that showed up at their door—no charge for the first month. “They actually showed up the next day. They got everything installed,” they recall.
Then, 45 days later, throwawaydakappa’s service was disconnected for nonpayment. “Weird, ‘cause my first month is supposed to be free,” he says.
“I had some questions when I first set up my home internet connection, and the agent I talked to had no problem answering them.” - Steve Abbott, T-Mobile customer
Want T-Mobile or WOW!? Find it in your area
Either way you go, you’re sure to have much to appreciate … and probably a few things that drive you mad. But that’s always inevitable. Armed with all this information, you can confidently choose a service that’s best for you.
Make sure to use our zip check tool to see what ISPs offer service in your area.
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