THIS!

I wanted to go with T Mobile for the international layovers but from talking to my neighbors, T Mobile in our area sucked and Verizon was much better so I went with Verizon. My wife can't get ahold of me on an international layover..... and that's the way I like it!

 

Do you have the new 5G T-Mobile service? FWIW, and this is one data point, but I live rurally and regularly speed test at 300-500mbs on my T-Mobile 5G hotspot/tower. Plenty fast to stream 4k.

I don’t use T-Mobile for regular cell service, so I can’t compare if voice would be any different reception.

Do what you want, I’m just saying at $50 bucks for a month, it’s worth a try before laying out $600 bucks plus $70 extra dollars per month for Starlink (and you have to have a unobstructed view of the sky. Trees and house blockage can be prohibitive.)

And if none of that will work, check out Peplink’s cellular routers. They are about the same as Starlink, and can do 5G from ANY provider who has coverage with options for up to 4 SIM cards…

 

Yes I got the 5G router nearly as soon as they released it. I used to get 100+ Mpbs. We must be in a really crappy spot or the system is just overloaded because I just ran the test on my company ipad, which I think is AT&T, and I only got 9-12 down/1 up.

 

Interesting. I just did a test on my 5G tower from T-mobile and got 811Mbps down and 65Mbps up. That’s better than Fiber options locally. I didn’t know it could vary that much. I’m certainly no expert to understand the possibilities.

 

I know you're mostly focusing on the Cellular Modem/Router systems, but there's an interesting tidbit that I learned when we replaced our cable modem that does relate to this discussion.

My download/upload speeds prior to 'cable system' and modem replacement were running 30-35 down/ 3-4 up. (10% up compared to down). After the modem/system upgrade I was told to expect 300 down.

After the modem was upgraded, I was consistently getting 100 down/ 10 up at my computer through the same WiFi router I'd been using for a while. I called and complained that I was not getting the speed promised/paid for and they had me ethernet cable to the modem and rerun the test. Sure enough, hard-wired I was getting 300 down and 30 up. Again, 10% up compared to down.

The slowdown was in my WiFi router. Grrr.

On the 5G towers, are they combined modem/routers? How many devices are you connecting via WiFi?

 

I'm cable wired and my desktop's speeds 80/10. My new wifi router is 55/10 and changes frequently. I attribute it to all the smart home stuff. Running tests during off peak times always results in higher speeds. If the kids are gaming and have the priority set to the Xbox or gaming PC, I can't even watch TV.

 

Sounds like you need to kick the kids off.

 

I have the router app on my phone. I just go in and change the priority. The TV works and the gaming slows to the point they can't play any FPS games and lose interest. Anonymously passive aggresive, but effective. It works better than "asking" and getting the teenage rant response and ensuing argument. They get the point when they notice my game on in 4K.

 

Interesting Timbo. I have verizon and I have no issues with it internationally. I do have the int'l plan tho so that might be a diff here.

 

the T-Mobile 5G we are talking about is about 4.5” square footprint and about 10” tall. It is a cellular modem and WiFi router in one.

However, it has a LAN port to off-board the signal, which I was doing for a while into the Peplink cellular router’s WAN port. The Peplink has software to set the priority of each of the “plans”.

Cellular was my only option living rurally until very recently. I now have fiber, which isn’t much different than what I had before, FWIW.