T-Mobile is stepping up the competition for home broadband, offering limited-time perks on both its 5G Home Internet and its still-rare fiber service. The headline benefits are $20 off 5G Home Internet per month when you pair it with a qualifying voice line, up to $200 returned in the form of a virtual prepaid Mastercard, and an enormous discount on Fiber 2 Gig as well as a decade-long price guarantee.
What you get from the 5G Home Internet discount
The carrier’s 5G Home Internet package reduces the monthly price by $20 if you have or take out an eligible T-Mobile voice line and sign up for AutoPay. In addition to the regular discount, new subscribers can also get up to $200 back via a virtual prepaid Mastercard with activation that will further slash the costs of service for those first few months.
There are trade-offs to weigh. A voice line is required to get the $20 off, and the cheapest smartphone plan will be closer to $60 per month with AutoPay. Market variations in taxes and fees apply. Even so, for households already on T-Mobile wireless, the math is simple: The discount on internet effectively reduces the total bundle cost without tacking on equipment rental or data cap fees.
Performance will vary depending on local 5G coverage and network load. T-Mobile, for its part, generally promises average download speeds in the tens to low hundreds of megabits a second — fast enough for streaming, video calls, and gaming within many households. Tests from outfits such as Ookla and Opensignal have often put T-Mobile’s 5G in first or close to it for nationwide availability and median speeds, although of course the results can be quite different on a fixed wireless basis, address by address.
Fiber Founders Club aims for power users
For those fortunate to reside where T-Mobile Fiber is available, the company is waving around one of the more aggressive fiber promos in the industry. The Fiber Founders Club deal lowers the 2 Gig plan to $70 per month with AutoPay in certain locations — or $25 cheaper than usual — and comes with a 10-year price guarantee. Such a multi-year lock is uncommon in consumer broadband, and it eliminates the anxiety of annual price creep, promotional roll-offs, or surcharges.
Fiber 2 Gig is aimed at heavy households and creators, featuring symmetric speeds for fast uploads, streaming across multiple devices, and cloud backups. It’s not available in vast swaths of the country. T-Mobile adds to its coverage by contracting with regional fiber builders to light up neighborhoods, so it is all about whether your address qualifies. Setup and equipment are generally included, and service is accompanied by unlimited data.
Why T-Mobile is promoting home broadband
Fixed wireless access has emerged as a breakout growth engine for the U.S. broadband market. Fixed wireless attracted the bulk of net broadband additions in 2023, according to Leichtman Research Group, while mobile carriers gained at a faster rate than cable and DSL holdovers. T-Mobile has leaned into that theme, noting it already has “millions” of 5G Home Internet customers and continuing to add customers as it densifies mid-band spectrum and optimizes capacity.
The fiber push, more targeted but still in that vein, plays well with that strategy. Fiber serves peak-demand subscribers — and makes T-Mobile look good in markets where cable incumbents have been dominant for decades. By putting a 10-year price lock on the line in the new offer, T-Mobile is betting confidently on costs and hoping to contrast its offering with consumers getting burned by bundled cable costs and sticky “intro” rates that go up after a year.
How T-Mobile’s offers compare to rival providers
Verizon, the other primary 5G home broadband provider, often runs promotional bundle offers for its fixed-wireless and Fios fiber plans, but multiyear price guarantees are rare throughout the industry. Cable providers like Comcast and Charter have sped up multigig rollouts and promotional pricing, but equipment fees, data caps (in some markets), and post-promo price increases can add uncertainty.
T-Mobile’s pitch is simple: one universal rate, no contract commitment, unlimited data, and a gateway. For fiber, the 2 Gig at $70 with a 10-year lock actually undercuts many multigig plans that start well north of $80 before fees. The catch, as always, is availability — T-Mobile’s fiber footprint remains small compared with nationwide cable networks.
Key caveats and eligibility for T-Mobile’s current offers
- 5G Home Internet: $20/month discount available for high-speed internet; customers must place a credit or debit card on file to utilize the discount and must sign up for AutoPay. Regular monthly price not reflected when combined with other offers.
- The virtual prepaid Mastercard (up to $200) is generally sent after activation with a delay, cannot be used for recurring AutoPay, and may have an expiration.
- Fiber Founders Club pricing is only eligible at certain addresses with access to T-Mobile Fiber; the 10-year price guarantee applies to that plan at that location and may not transfer if you switch plans.
- Speeds on 5G Home Internet can vary based on network congestion and signal quality. Potential customers should confirm address eligibility with the carrier’s coverage tools and consider starting with a trial period.
Bottom line for bargain hunters considering these deals
If you have an existing T-Mobile phone plan, the $20 monthly discount and a possible $200 kickback make the 5G Home Internet package seem both compelling and low-risk. Power users in a T-Mobile Fiber zone are looking at the deal of the moment: 2 Gbps service priced at $70/month with a 10-year rate lock, which is unusual for consumer broadband. The primary caveats are the limited availability and the voice line requirement, but for qualifying households, these offers fall directly into that sweet spot of speed, simplicity, and price certainty.