Traditionally, high-speed residential Internet service has entered homes through wires.

The Comcast broadband service my family has relied on for decades arrives at our St. Paul house via coaxial cable. Similarly, CenturyLink users receive service via copper-wire networks and, increasingly, speedier fiber-optic hook-ups.

Consumers have another way to get online — using their smartphones — but such cellular connections are intended for on-the-go use and not as residential-broadband modems.

Recently, however, wireless broadband has started to give wired broadband a run for its money.

Such “fixed wireless” services are furnished by the same big-three carriers that provide mobile-phone service. T-Mobile and Verizon have offered home broadband for a while. AT&T joined the party not long ago.

All three options — AT&T Internet Air, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet and Verizon 5G Home Internet — work the same way. Each carrier provides an apparatus that creates a local Wi-Fi network within the home while tapping cellular bandwidth for the backhaul link to the Internet.

Wireless home Internet has been around for years, largely in rural areas, but didn’t see wide adoption because it tended to be slow. 5G changed that. With performance sometimes rivaling that provided by wired Internet providers, wireless broadband has come into its own.

In fact, I was once tempted to dump my Comcast (now more commonly called Xfinity) for a wireless equivalent.

Wireless broadband isn’t for everyone. In many cases, you will get better performance from one of the wired providers. Xfinity and CenturyLink (now more commonly known as Quantum Fiber) are rushing to improve their networks in ways that could make the wireless services appear wanting.

Also, not everyone can get wireless Internet. All three services are available in the Twin Cities — but not every address is eligible due to a variety of factors, such as proximity to cell towers and the quality of the 5G signal.

I can’t officially get Verizon’s service at my address, for instance. And while AT&T’s service is available within the borders of St. Paul and Minneapolis, suburban residents appear to be out of luck.

Still, the services’ arrival is a welcome development. Broadband choice has long been sparse in many regions — including the east metro. Now, with more Internet providers jostling for clientele and making upgrades at a brisk clip, everyone wins.

Trying T-Mobile and Verizon

When I heard about the T-Mobile and Verizon wireless broadband services in 2022, I was eager to try them out. The carriers furnished access to their services for a limited time so that I could test them in real-life conditions (with Verizon helpfully overlooking the fact that my address is ineligible).

The wireless-broadband devices provided by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are aesthetically worlds apart but they serve the same function: creating a local Wi-Fi network in a home while tapping cellular bandwidth for a backhaul link to the Internet. (courtesy of Verizon and T-Mobile)

Setup is a cinch. In each case, once plugged into power, the device searched for a 5G signal. An app helped me find a spot in my home with good wireless reception. Logging in to each device’s Wi-Fi was a snap because the network names and passwords were conveniently emblazoned on the gear.

At the time, my Xfinity service provided downloads of about 100 megabits per second, with pokey uploads in the single digits. This was painful, especially uploading, because I work from home and often transfer large files.

The wireless services left Xfinity in the dust.

T-Mobile downloads consistently hit 200 Mbps and sometimes peaked at 250 Mbps. Verizon regularly exceeded 250 Mbps and sometimes topped 300 Mbps. Uploads for both services were higher than 10 Mbps and sometimes peaked at 30 to 40 Mbps.

At 300 Mbps, it takes about four minutes to download a high-definition video file.

Where in the Twin Cities is wireless broadband available? Official coverage maps are hard to come by, so you have to check address by address. However, the BroadbandNow site has an unofficial map of T-Mobile fixed-wireless coverage. The white portions are dead spots. (screengrab)

Such performance had me sorely tempted to switch — but a couple of factors gave me pause. Speeds over the wireless networks tended to fluctuate — which won’t surprise those who keeps tabs on their phone performance — and reliability was iffy at times.

Xfinity, by comparison, was steady and dependable, as it has tended to be over the years.

What’s more, I was unexpectedly due for an Xfinity upgrade. When I took my aging router to an Xfinity store to be swapped out for the newest model, I was told I was eligible for a major speed bumb — to 1 gigabit per second down and 100 Mbps up — at no extra cost.

In real-life use, I’m seeing downloads of about 500 to 800 Mbps, but this is still a big improvement (and I’m always hitting 100 Mbps on the uploads).

Verizon’s 5G Home Internet can match Xfinity’s 1-gigabit downloads, but only in the nooks and crannies of certain cities — such as portions of downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis — where it provides a turbocharged flavor of 5G called “high band” or “millimeter wave” service. Most customers can’t get that.

AT&T Internet Air arrives

AT&T unveiled its wireless service in June, and I have been testing it for the last couple of months. (I’m paying for it myself because the carrier didn’t provide access.) It’s much like the T-Mobile and Verizon equivalents in terms of easy setup.

AT&T’s device, called the All-Fi Hub, is a groovy gizmo that resembles a big Bluetooth speaker from afar, and builds in a data readout made up of white dots that display Lite Brite-style patterns to convey useful information.

Performance isn’t bad but nowhere near what I get with my Xfinity upgrade. Wireless downloads hover around 40 to 140 Mbps and sometimes surge to 250 or 300 Mbps. Uploads are in the 5 to 25 Mbps range.

AT&T offers one nice perk its wireless competitors do not. For an additional $10, users can get up to 5 extender devices to provide better Wi-Fi coverage where needed — in a house that is extra-big or with thick walls, for instance. (Xfinity also offers extenders.)

Users of the AT&T Internet Air home broadband service can pay an extra $10 a month to get up to 5 extender devices that improve Wi-Fi coverage in residences with multiple floors or thick walls. (courtesy of AT&T)

Curiously, T-Mobile and Verizon are a bit slower these days — at least where I live. T-Mobile downloads tend not to exceed 150 Mbps lately, while Verizon peaks at about 200 Mbps. (T-Mobile gave me encore access but Verizon declined to do so, so I got my speed readings off a neighbor’s connection).

As a result, the three wireless carriers appear to have approximate parity performance-wise nowadays.

Speeds still fluctuate — again, this is par for the course with cellular connections — but reliability appears to be decent throughout.

Wired providers improve

Meanwhile, wired broadband providers aren’t standing still.

Quantum Fiber (part of Louisiana-based Lumen Technologies) has been building out its fiber-optic network in the east metro for years.

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Availability in St. Paul used to be pretty spotty with a majority of customers using pokier copper hook-ups. Fiber is now much more widespread, the company told me — though it declined to provide numbers or let me see coverage maps.

Fiber’s big advantage: It’s “symmetrical.” This means uploads are just as fast as downloads, unlike the lopsided speeds Xfinity and the wireless services provide. Quantum customers can enjoy up to about 1 gigabit per second — down and up.

Quantum said it is adding goodies such as Wi-Fi extenders — customers can get up to four of the devices at no extra cost.

Philadelphia-based Xfinity, meanwhile, has major updates on its roadmap. Customers eventually will get symmetrical service with download and upload speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second.

It is set to offer this option in parts of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Wider deployment is due to begin at the end of 2024, with portions of Atlanta and Philadelphia getting the upgraded service. Nationwide availability (including the Twin Cities) is expected by the end of 2025.

Meanwhile, Xfinity has expanded its current network into locations like the west-metro city of Wayzata.

It is preparing to do likewise for about 500 households in Stillwater Township, adjacent to the city of Stillwater in Washington County, along with other Minnesota locations — partly with broadband financing from the state. The Stillwater Township build-out is due to be completed in mid-2024.

Is wireless service for you?

With my Xfinity performance outpacing that of the wireless broadband providers, I must confess to scant interest in using the AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon options beyond the scope of this article.

But that’s just me. AT&T Internet Air or one of the rival wireless Internet services could be perfect for your household, based on a variety factors.

It might be a contender: You might not have access to gigabit-grade service where you live, but a blend of slower wired and wireless options could be available. Maybe wireless is the best fit for you!

It’s fast enough (for many): Not all Internet subscribers are power users with dozens of online-connected gadgets and advanced usage such as online gaming and high-res streaming. Some just want a reliable, reasonably zippy service for web and YouTube.

It’s convenient to set up: You can do it yourself, with simple instructions. No technicians tromp into your house. No one will string cables from your alley to your house and drill holes into walls (which would have happened at my house with a Quantum installation a few years ago if I hadn’t aborted it at my wife’s request).

It’s minimal and flexible: The equipment is unobtrusive with no wires other than a power cord. As a result, you have a bit of flexibility in where to put the hardware. My Xfinity gadget, on the other hand, is a bit of an nuisance tethered via an ugly coaxial cable to a wall port under my home-office desk.

It is mobile (kind of): When you submit your address for service eligibility, you attest you’ll use it only at that address. But if you are moving across town or to another city where the service exists, you can ask to have the gear registered to the new address.

It could be a bargain: Wireless carriers are all about incentives, some of which apply to their home Internet services. AT&T will take $20 off your $55 monthly bill if you are using an eligible phone plan (but preexisting phone service is not required to use the home service). Further, AT&T Internet Air has no annual contract, no overage charges, and offers a 12-month price guarantee. T-Mobile and Verizon take a similar approach.

You have little or nothing to lose: All the services have free trials. AT&T is stingiest with a one-week test period, while T-Mobile provides 15 days, and Verizon offers a full month. If you need more time, sign up for a month on your own dime with no lock-in.

Here are all the details

Check out the chart below for lots of specifics about how the three wireless-broadband services compare. Also, I have written about the services in more detail here and here.

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