T-Mobile finished strong in the third quarter of 2024 and now offers service to 6 million home internet customers across the country. However, this number doesn’t tell the entire story.
Just recently, on Dec. 3, T-Mobile Consumer Group President Jon Freier made headlines at the UBS TMT Summit in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, by stating that 1 million additional customers are currently in a queue for the company’s service.
“We have a million people on our waitlist right now for 5G broadband at T-Mobile — a million people that want to be a part of us, but we don’t have a slot open for them right here right now based on where they live,” Freier said.
T-Mobile frequently boasts about its large 5G network, stating on its website that it’s the country’s largest and fastest 5G network. In fact, T-Mobile Home Internet connected over 400,000 new home broadband customers in the third quarter alone.
However, regarding the backlog, a spokesperson told CNET that “the availability of T-Mobile’s 5G home internet depends on network capacity, and spots are available on a first-come, first-served basis to ensure all customers, including wireless, get the best possible experience.”
That vibes with what a T-Mobile spokesperson told us last year when we asked why some people can get 5G mobile service at home but can’t sign up for 5G home broadband service.
“There are still many households that do not qualify for Home Internet yet, even though they may get 5G on their mobile device — and that’s intentional,” we were told via email. “
“Our fixed wireless Home Internet runs on the extra capacity on our wireless network. In some areas, we have extra capacity on the network, but in others, we don’t. So, we allocate access to Home Internet on a sector-by-sector, home-by-home basis.”
While its 5G network has grown substantially over the years, the company still has plenty of room for improvement to ensure that coverage is met across its entire footprint.
According to the latest data from the Federal Communications Commission, a little over 59% of the US population has access to T-Mobile Home Internet. More importantly, some households in the Western region — including Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah — lack significant access. The same can be said for certain addresses in the Midwest, where coverage is spotty in South Dakota and Nebraska.
Overall, broadband access is an ongoing issue, and as the FCC map shows, it’s particularly affecting rural America, which does not have many options for a decent internet connection. But 5G home internet is helping to bridge that gap more quickly than other internet connection types, apart from satellite internet, which can be cost-prohibitive due to expensive equipment costs.
5G home internet has been on the rise, as seen in the growth of AT&T Internet Air, Starry Internet, Verizon 5G Home Internet and T-Mobile Home Internet. Demand is growing, evidenced by T-Mobile’s considerable waitlist and users’ reports of being more satisfied with wireless connections. The latest J.D. Power 2024 Customer Satisfaction survey highlights that even with the potential slow speeds that come with a wireless connection, people aren’t dissuaded and consider this technology as a less costly option.
That said, this will pressure wireless internet service providers, such as T-Mobile, to address the rising demand for 5G home internet technology. While T-Mobile hasn’t announced how it’ll bridge the gap of home internet access for the million Americans on its waitlist, the company may lean on another approach: fiber internet.
In September, Mike Katz, T-Mobile’s president of Marketing, Strategy and Products, spoke at the company’s Markets Day about using its growing fiber network to address the backlog.
“One of the things that gives us a real advantage as we move into fiber is the fact that we have customers today that have tried to buy 5G broadband from us and we haven’t been able to support them because of our fallow capacity model. We think there’s an immediate opportunity for us to take that demand and convert it into paying fiber customers,” Katz said.
In other words, T-Mobile’s recent expansion of its fiber network is, in part, trying to fill the gap that its 5G network simply cannot fill. According to a company press release, T-Mobile is aiming to reach 12 to 15 million or more households with its fiber network by the end of 2030.
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