Home 5G speeds much slower than 5G cell phone

Question

I’ve had T-Mobile 5G Home Internet for a couple years now. Speeds have been pretty consistent with upload speed seeing a slight boost a few months ago. I routinely get around 250Mb download and 40-50Mb upload.

My question is, on my Samsung 5G phone, also running on T-Mobile’s network, from the exact same spot as where the Home Internet gateway is, I routinely get in excess of 600Mb download and 50-60Mb upload speeds on the phone. Now I assume the antenna quality is different between the two products, and maybe the phone has support for more/different 5G channels, but does that account for such a large discrepancy?

nc1037 · Accepted Answer

That’s interesting. I think the gateway’s antenna should be better than the phone’s antenna, because there’s a lot more room.

I remember seeing that mobile users are prioritized over home internet users. I don’t know how they do it, but it seems to be the case.

formercanuck · Answer

That last statement is true. These are set as QoS by device.

While my stats can typically be the same (I’m close to the tower),

Modems aren’t built for 5 channel CA while some phones are.
QoS settings
Directional antenna. One would expect the gateway to have a better antenna, but its also shielded (case + electronics). If you have the white g4AR/SE modem you can use an external antenna for better performance.

I can get from 450-550Mbps typically / 40-90 with the home internet, and off hours hitting 700.

Phone, 500-700 / 20-40Mbps at the same location. On another note, I have hit +2Gbps with a full fiber tower.

Home 5G speeds much slower than 5G cell phone

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