Today, took the *jump* - to 5G Home Internet, away from wires inside and out
Last edited Sun Jun 22, 2025, 09:29 PM - Edit history (1)
Have been a captive of fads and gimmicks in this category for 30 or more years - started with the gigantic satellite (Turner, Echo), stayed with the roof little dish for about 10 years (a bummer when I took down the thing by hand), then in the last 5 or more years cut the cable with DSL and outside antenna/locals.
So in the past month or two, as documented in traumatized OPs below, the DSL has been jerky and I've been doing the anxiety thing trying to decide about trying the inside plug-in 5G from my phone provider. Looked at several YouTubes of setting-up and reviews. The main cons were that might be slow for high roller users like for gamers, take care about overheating.
Had worked up a high state of anticipation, indecision, trepidation for target day yesterday or today, and it went down today. The store people did the actual set-up, needing only for me to plug in and then connect each device (laptop, tablet, smart tv) to the new wifi. Done and four hours later not a single down time.
No buried cable, no hole in the wall, we'll see. If all is tolerable within a month, will terminate the DSL. And might not be seen in these parts.

canetoad
(19,320 posts)Hope it all works out for you with no surprises or annoyances. Does this mean that we cannot look forward to your anguished posts?
UTUSN
(74,826 posts)UpInArms
(53,141 posts)Enjoy your freedom, friend
UTUSN
(74,826 posts)flying rabbit
(4,877 posts)enjoy!
Silent Type
(10,517 posts)some large files a few times a week. Just working part time, but cant afford lags. But its costing me.
Maybe I should try it for a month, like you.
UTUSN
(74,826 posts)Silent Type
(10,517 posts)ret5hd
(21,614 posts)1) you have a 5G cellphone
2) you have hotspot capability on your cell plan
3) your computer has wifi capability
then you can try before you buy
just enable your hotspot on your phone, turn off your router, connect your computer to your phone via wifi
and give it a try.
Silent Type
(10,517 posts)Plus, while I can handle most situations with enough time and patience, I hesitate to touch anything when its working. This I will try.
ret5hd
(21,614 posts)essentially 5G like your setup
for about 3 years now. absolutely no problems. we steam hulu, etc no issues.
we arent high-end users like gaming, but it absolutely works for us. i hope it works for you also.
Wishing you all the very best of luck and success too!
Hokie
(4,355 posts)I would switch to 5G if it were available but Starlink is the only real option. It is $120/month for residential service. I get 300 Mb down and 20 Mb up with 20 ms latency. I'm sure 5G would be half the cost. Please indicate what kind of speeds you are getting.
UTUSN
(74,826 posts)Had been with a local internet for DSL at $30/mo for 10 or more years, no big problems/outages until recently. Have had no/zero outages with the 5G. Starlink is MUSKrat, right, nothing else available?
Hokie
(4,355 posts)Try be be close to the router/modem so you arent limited by your WiFi connection speed.