The revamped plans will be available starting November 13. | Image Credit – T-Mobile
T-Mobile will also allow customers on the priciest All-In Internet plan to upgrade their gateway every three years. T-Mobile is also giving up to a $300 virtual prepaid card to customers who switch to 5G Home Internet for a limited time.
Equivalent business plans have also been updated. | Image Credit – T-Mobile
New mesh node
T-Mobile’s new mesh extender. | Image Credit – The Mobile Report
Wi-Fi 7 support has been enabled by the G5AR gateway, which first leaked in July and has been unofficially available since October.
The official announcement about the revamped plans makes no mention of it, though it’s listed on T-Mobile‘s website as “mesh Wi-Fi extender (V2).” The new Gen 5 mesh node has seemingly been made by Sercomm and bears the model number G5SEM.
T-Mobile uses excess capacity on its 5G network to provide home internet to customers. A 5G gateway, like the G5AR, is the device that T-Mobile uses to deliver home internet. A mesh Wi-Fi extender helps to expand coverage, so all areas of your home are blanketed with signals. Unlike the previous circular device, this one is rectangular, matching the design of the G5AR.
It can also be paired with the older G4AR and G4SE gateways. The most notable improvement is Wi-Fi 7 support. However, it still offers 4×4 antennas for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Curiously, 6GHz broadcast isn’t available for user devices; it has possibly been reserved for communication between the mesh device and the main router.
On the back, there are two 2.5G ethernet ports, a USB-C port, and a reset button. That’s interesting, given the G5AR doesn’t have 2.5G ports.
The device features two 2.5G ethernet ports. | Image Credit – The Mobile Report
It’s not known if current customers can request their older mesh to be replaced with the new one, but considering stock might be low, that’s unlikely to be the case.
Apparently, the device has been going out to new All-In customers since November 4.
T-Mobile is removing the QR setup option, instructing customers to instead set it up manually using the T-Life app. The mesh gateways are now being serialized and recorded to address the problem of customers not returning equipment after canceling plans. T-Mobile will charge customers who don’t follow the required return procedure.
Improvements with a glaring omission
Per an earlier report, the Wi-Fi 7 gateway doesn’t have external ports, which are used by customers to improve performance in areas where signals aren’t strong.
As for the new mesh node, while support for Wi-Fi 7 means faster speeds, reserving the 6GHz band for the connection between the mesh node and the gateway means devices can’t directly access the faster band. Overall speed and reliability will still improve, though.
The G5AR only has gigabit Ethernet ports, meaning speeds are capped at around 940mbps for wired connections, even if there was potential for hitting higher speeds. The mesh’s 2.5G ports will address that, allowing wired devices to take full advantage of 5G speeds.
Another first
Fixed wireless access is the new battleground for carriers. By bringing Wi-Fi 7 to its customers before its rivals, T-Mobile has once again proven that it doesn’t sleep on new technologies. Despite the curious choice to reserve the 6GHz band, the addition of the new standard and the 2.5G ports on the mesh node should deliver substantial overall performance increases, successfully addressing the wired speed bottleneck for most customers.
