Before you leave 5G home internet: check the signal and try an outdoor antenna

If your T-Mobile or Verizon home internet is fine at 3 a.m. and slow at 8 p.m., test it on three evenings before you leave: a weak signal can often be fixed with a better spot or an outdoor antenna, but a crowded tower can’t, because no antenna adds capacity to the tower. The notes from those three evenings tell you which problem you have, and whether to spend money, stay put or compare something else.

Weak signal or crowded tower? The three-evening test

A 5G home internet gateway shares its cell site with every phone and home nearby. T-Mobile says so in its own terms: during congestion, Home Internet customers may get slower speeds than other customers, and slower still after 1.2 TB in a month. Verizon says even its basic 5G Home plan keeps high-speed data when the network is busy, subject to its customer agreement. Either way, evenings are when everyone is online.

Run the test like this:

1. Pick three weeknights. Run a speed test at about 8 p.m., then again late at night, after midnight.
2. Keep everything else the same. Same device, same room. A computer plugged into the gateway with a network cable rules out Wi-Fi problems.
3. Write down four numbers each time: download, upload, ping, and the gateway’s signal reading at that moment (next section).

Then read your notes:

The national data shows the same evening pattern. In Ookla’s Q2 2026 figures, T-Mobile’s slowest 10% of tests fell from 59.65 Mbps around 5 a.m. to 22.43 Mbps in prime evening hours, and AT&T Internet Air’s from 46.86 Mbps to 15.07 Mbps at 8 p.m. Verizon’s slowest 10% held between 21.09 and 24.75 Mbps. Ookla also found fixed-wireless speeds dip in spring and summer, when leaves and heat weaken the signal, so a test in November may look better than one in June.

Where to read your signal numbers

Look in three places: the carrier’s home internet app, the gateway’s own screen or lights, and on some models a status page you open in a web browser. Many gateways show two technical readings, often labeled RSRP (how strong the signal is) and SINR (how clean it is). For both, a higher number means a better signal; RSRP is negative, so closer to zero is better.

Bars alone hide too much. The point of writing the reading next to each speed test is to see what moves: if the signal stays the same but speed collapses every evening, the tower is busy. If the signal itself is poor at all hours, your house is the problem, and that you can work on.

Move the gateway first, then try an antenna

Moving the gateway costs nothing, so do it before buying anything:

• Put it on the side of the house that faces the tower, as high as practical; an upstairs window usually beats a shelf in the middle of the house.
• Keep it away from metal, mirrors and large appliances.
• Give each spot a full day, with an 8 p.m. test and a late-night test, and move it a little at a time while watching the reading.

If a new spot lifts the evening numbers, stop there. A 5G connection that holds up in the evening, at 5G prices, is hard to beat. The T-Mobile vs Starlink page walks through placement in more detail.

Does your gateway take an external antenna?

Some gateway models have connectors for an external antenna; many don’t. Check your model’s label, manual or support page, or ask the carrier, before you buy anything. Outdoor antennas are usually mounted high on the side of the house that faces the tower, with the cable run indoors to the gateway.

Two cautions:

• Don’t open or modify a leased gateway. T-Mobile charges up to $370 if a gateway isn’t returned undamaged, and Verizon up to $300 per unit of unreturned equipment.
• Buy where returns are easy. An antenna can only help a signal problem, and you won’t know until it’s up. A seller’s return window protects you if your three-evening test was borderline.

What an antenna costs vs a year of the price gap

Antenna prices vary too much by type and installation to quote one figure here. A simpler yardstick: compare the antenna’s total cost with one year of the price difference between your 5G plan and whatever you’d switch to.

An example: T-Mobile Rely costs $50 a month with AutoPay (regular rate, November 3, 2026). If starlink.com quotes $76.50 for your address, one of the levels on Starlink’s national list that day, the gap is $26.50 a month, or $318 a year. If it quotes a higher level, the gap and the case for fixing the 5G grow with it; if Residential 100 Mbps is offered near your 5G price, the decision comes down to performance alone.

Starlink prices are set by address, so use the figure starlink.com shows you; what switching costs lists the current levels and the kit charges you’d add on the Starlink side. If an antenna that fixes your signal costs less than a year of the gap, it pays for itself within the year. If the test pointed at a crowded tower, skip the antenna entirely.

Your trial clocks: T-Mobile’s 15-day test drive, Verizon’s 30-day guarantee

These matter if you started 5G home internet recently, perhaps after leaving satellite or DSL:

• T-Mobile: a 15-day test drive. Cancel within 15 days of activation, return the gateway, and submit the refund request within 30 days of cancelling; the refund comes as a bill credit. T-Mobile’s support page says the test drive starts when the gateway ships if you ordered online or by phone. Return the gateway within 45 days of cancelling, or pay up to $370.
• Verizon: a 30-day money-back guarantee on service charges, not equipment, setup or add-ons. Equipment goes back within 30 days, or up to $300 per unit.
• AT&T Internet Air: no trial or money-back window is published on its consumer pages, so ask before ordering. AT&T’s return window for the hub is 21 days, with a $200 charge if it doesn’t come back.

If you’re inside one of these windows, run the three-evening test now. An antenna experiment can easily outlast a 15-day clock.

Still slow every evening? Compare Starlink the same way

A strong signal with slow evenings means the tower is the limit. Your choices are to live with it, to check whether another carrier’s home internet is offered at your address (each carrier checks address by address), or to compare a service that doesn’t use the tower at all.

Starlink isn’t immune to busy hours. It names its peak hours as 6 to 11 p.m., and its plan terms say speeds can slow during congestion and peak hours, with the 100 and 200 Mbps plans slowing sooner than Residential Max. Nationally, Ookla measured a median of 127.39 Mbps down and 39 ms of lag for Starlink in Q1 2026, against 222.72 Mbps and 46 ms for T-Mobile and 126.53 Mbps and 53 ms for Verizon in Q2 2026. National medians don’t settle anything at your address, so run the same 8 p.m. test on any replacement before you cancel the 5G service.

The full comparisons are in T-Mobile vs Starlink and Verizon 5G Home vs Starlink.

Compare T-Mobile and Starlink

Checking method: each price, fee and rule here links to the provider’s or regulator’s own page, dated the day we read it. No internet provider pays for a place on this site; the only income is the Starlink referral explained on our money page. Our fact-checking · How we make money · Corrections