Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile Home Internet: Which Internet Provider Is Best for You?

Compare Brightspeed and T-Mobile Home Internet head-to-head

T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet is cheap, fast, and easy to set up—what’s not to like? It’s definitely a better option than Brightspeed, which mostly offers a relatively slow DSL home internet service. But Brightspeed is well worth considering if you can find the provider’s fiber offerings in your area or if you live in a rural area where T-Mobile has weaker cellular service.

We’ve been following the trajectories of both of these internet providers closely over the past several years—both are plucky underdogs with big plans and a lot to offer internet customers. So read on for our analysis of which one of these providers gives you the most bang for your buck.

Pros and cons: Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile 5G Home Internet

Jump to: Plans and pricing | Extra fees | Customer ratings | Bundles | Internet types | Data caps | Contracts | Installation | Availability

Jump to:

• Plans and pricing
• Extra fees
• Customer ratings
• Bundles
• Internet types
• Data caps
• Contracts
• Installation
• Availability

Plans and pricing: Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile Home Internet

Brightspeed plans and pricing

Many Brightspeed customers are limited to the DSL plan, which gives you speeds up to 40Mbps. The plan isn’t exactly an eye-popping offering—it’s actually kinda slow—but the price is right, especially considering that the plan includes unlimited data and doesn’t require an annual contract.

Looking for Brightspeed’s fiber service might play out like a game of Where’s Waldo? for some: These fiber offerings don’t seem widely available. That said, you should definitely spring for one of the fiber plans if you can get it, since Brightspeed gets you superb speeds at a fair price.

T-Mobile Home Internet plans and pricing

T-Mobile keeps it simple with a single internet plan. With advertised speeds of between 72 and 245Mbps, you get enough bandwidth to cover plenty of streaming, gaming, and more in a small to mid-sized household—not enough to launch a crypto-mining farm, but plenty for the average netizen.

You don’t have to worry about data caps, contracts, or equipment or installation fees with T-Mobile. Even better, you get a $20 discount if you’re also signed up for one of T-Mobile’s flagship cellular plans, Go5G Next, Go5G Plus or Magenta MAX.

Extra fees: Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile Home Internet

One of T-Mobile’s big selling points is that it doesn’t tack on any extra fees to its 5G home internet service. You don’t have to pay for equipment or installation, nor need you fret about exceeding a monthly data cap or shelling out early termination fees for canceling your service.

Brightspeed does charge a fee for professional installation, but you can install your service at no cost with an easy-to-use self-install kit. You also need to pay a fee to lease one of Brightspeed’s modem during the length of your service, but you can opt out of that monthly expense by paying $200 to buy the modem outright.

An even better idea, though, would be buying your own modem and router. That way, you can ensure you’re getting top-quality hardware at a price within your budget! Take a look at our best routers guide for ideas.

Customer ratings: Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile Home Internet

T-Mobile rocks the house in our annual customer satisfaction survey. In an analysis of 15 internet providers, the 5G provider sweeps to the top in crucial categories like price and customer service, beating out formidable contenders like Google Fiber and Verizon.

Brightspeed doesn’t make the cut as a featured ISP in our report—the provider launched about a year ago, and it doesn’t quite rank with the big boys just yet. But we still solicited customer feedback, and they gave Brightspeed below-average scores across the board, as you can see in the full results tallied at the end of the report. (See the “Results for All ISPs” section.)

Best TV and internet bundles

T-Mobile is best known for its cell phone plans, so of course it’s going to hook up customers who bundle their internet with cellular service. You can get up to $20 a month off your 5G Home Internet plan when you also have a qualifying wireless plan. Although some plans get you a $10 monthly discount, you get the full $20 discount with Go5G Next, Go5G Plus, or Magenta MAX.

You can’t get a bundle deal from Brightspeed—this provider doesn’t have TV or cellular offerings like T-Mobile does. However, you can get a digital phone line through Brightspeed, and you can sign up for moving services if you’re moving to a new place too. Contact customer service for more details.

Internet types: Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile Home Internet

Although Brightspeed offers fast fiber in some areas, it’s mainly a DSL provider. DSL runs over the copper wiring of a landline phone network, making it widely available but also slow and prone to technical issues. A lot of internet providers are phasing out their DSL services due to dwindling customer interest.

By comparison, T-Mobile’s 5G home internet is all the rage in urban areas and big cities. 5G is the fifth generation of cellular network technology—it works over wireless transmitters and is capable of delivering impressive speeds. 5G’s wireless connection makes it less stable compared to wired connections like fiber and cable, but many customers still give it positive reviews and report receiving fast and reliable service.

Data caps: Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile Home Internet

Neither Brightspeed nor T-Mobile impose data caps on customers. You can use as much internet data as you like all month long to stream, game, make video calls, and more—no need to worry about overage charges or throttled speeds.

Contracts: Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile Home Internet

You don’t have to sign up for an annual contract when you get Brightspeed or T-Mobile. You can cancel your service any time without shelling out early termination fees—so breathe easy if you’re going to move soon or just not happy with your service.

Installation: Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile Home Internet

Brightspeed lets you choose between professional installation or self installation. You’re better off getting the self-install kit because the internet is fairly straightforward to set up. You don’t need a professional to handle it unless you need someone to run wiring through your walls or underground.

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet also comes with a self-installation kit. Setting things up is quick and easy: you use the T-Mobile app to find a good place for your gateway and then follow the instructions to get your Wi-Fi activated.

Availability: Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile Home Internet

You can find Brightspeed in 20 states in the South and Midwest, as well as Pennsylvania and New Jersey. T-Mobile has a larger nationwide footprint—it’s mostly up and running in large cities and metro areas with ample 5G network access. Search your zip code below to see if you can get either of these providers on your block.

Final call: Brightspeed vs. T-Mobile Home Internet

If you had to choose between these two, T-Mobile Home Internet is definitely the way to go. T-Mobile’s 5G internet service is cheap, fast, and ridiculously easy to set up. It also comes with tons of deals, including a $20 monthly discount for select T-Mobile cellular customers.

Brightspeed isn’t too shabby either. The relatively new provider has solid prices and features for fiber internet, and we recommend jumping on that if you can get it. But “if” is the key word here. Most of Brightspeed’s customers only have access to DSL, which is only good if you live in a small town or rural area with limited internet options.

Methodology

Our HighSpeedInternet.com editorial team bases our analyses on customer input from our annual customer satisfaction survey, results from our speed test tool, and proprietary internet provider data on speeds and pricing. To strengthen our research, we look closely at provider contracts to get hard-to-find information on price hikes, data caps, and extra fees, and we keep tabs on the latest news reports and online reviews. When applicable, we also rely on our personal experiences testing these services.

More about Brightspeed and T-Mobile Home Internet

• What Is Brightspeed and Why Did It Take Over My CenturyLink Internet Plan?
• Is Bundling T-Mobile Phone and Internet Worth It?
• How to Get Out of an Annual Price Hike