My Week With AT&T Internet Air: How Did It Fare?

5G home internet has recently taken the broadband world by storm. a report The study found that 89% of new broadband subscriptions over the past two years came from just two 5G providers: T-Mobile and Verizon. When AT&T entered the fray this year, I was excited, but quickly disappointed to see how it compared.

I have a testing environment that is as friendly as my internet provider. I live alone in a one-bedroom apartment, and my list of connected devices is surprisingly small: just my iPhone SE, Apple TV 4K, and MacBook Pro that I use to work from home. That’s not too much pressure on a Wi-Fi network, and even so, AT&T Internet Air can’t handle it.

That’s why it’s hard for me to recommend this service to anyone. AT&T’s wireless connections have consistently delivered download speeds below 10Mbps, a far cry from the 90 to 300Mbps they advertise. That said, wireless speeds are more location-dependent than wired options like cable and fiber, so your experience may be much better than mine. (User in AT&T’s Reddit subreddit Reported speeds range from 150 to 300Mbps.

I like some features of the AT&T Internet Air—namely the easy setup and useful apps—but that’s like saying I like everything about the car except the fact that it can’t go faster than 25 miles an hour. One of the responsibilities of an Internet provider is to provide fast, reliable connections, and in this regard, AT&T Internet Air definitely fails.

Read more: Best Internet Provider 2024

Set up AT&T Internet Air

All in all, it only took me 11 minutes to set up the AT&T Internet Air. It really couldn’t be simpler. There are only two things in the box: the gateway device and the power socket. I followed the instructions in the box and downloaded AT&T’s Smart Home Manager app and scanned the QR code on the device.

The app recommended that I place the gateway device near a window, facing west if possible. I found a place that checked two boxes near my desk where I needed the strongest internet speed possible. When I arrive at a location, the app does a quick test and gives me approval. I’m now ready to test the connection.

AT&T Network Over-The-Air Speed ​​and Reliability

There’s no way around this: AT&T Internet Air has very disappointing speeds and is basically unusable for most people.

After dozens of speed tests a week, the average download speed was 5.86Mbps and the upload speed was 9.87Mbps. The maximum download speed I got was 10.63Mbps and the maximum upload speed was 14.38Mbps. In the meantime, my $50 Connect More plan goes through unlimited — Advertised as 300Mbps download — Return average speed was 321/109Mbps.

AT&T Internet Air also had very high latency, with an average ping rate of 298 milliseconds. That’s bad news if you plan on doing anything online gameswhere 40ms or less is considered ideal.

AT&T says users typically experience download speeds between 90 and 300 Mbps, and upload speeds between 8 and 30 Mbps. My upload speeds were in this range, but my download speeds never got close to 90Mbps. The highest speed I got was 14.38Mbps. (I use Ookla for all my speed tests, which is owned by the same parent company, Ziff Davis, as CNET.)

Wireless network such as AT&T Internet Air or T-Mobile Home Internet Inherently more unstable than wired connections such as cable or fiber optics. Because it transmits data wirelessly from cell towers, it’s more susceptible to network congestion and weather interference. This is why router placement is particularly important – if you don’t have a clear line to the nearest tower, your internet connection will suffer.

but i did There are clear boundaries. I was able to locate the router next to a west-facing window, just like I was instructed to do during setup. The problem doesn’t seem to be my home’s location, either: AT&T Overlay Show entire city seattle Covering 5G+ speeds, it calls it the fastest tier.

During my testing, I tried moving the router to a few different locations, but the speeds never improved. In fact, when I moved it to another room or away from the window, it became slower. AT&T recommends calling customer support for assistance in determining the best location for your device based on the location of the nearest cell towers.

Wireless providers like AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all include warnings in the fine print that they may temporarily slow down your speeds if the network is congested. If my test results all occurred during “peak Internet hours” – between 7pm and 11pm, when traffic is highest, then this might explain my test results. But I tested the AT&T Internet Air at different times of the day and didn’t notice much of a difference.

What’s it like using AT&T Internet Air?

If anyone can tolerate slow internet speeds, it’s me. I live alone and don’t do any bandwidth-intensive activities, such as online gaming. I only have three devices connected to the internet: my phone, my laptop, and my streaming device.

But even with such simple setup, AT&T Internet Air still struggles to function as well as it should. Zoom meetings at work were really unreliable, so much so that I had to switch back to the Xfinity connection multiple times. While working in Google Docs, the connection dropped frequently, causing me to wait a few seconds before I could continue writing this review.

AT&T Internet Air coverage is basically limited to the room where the router is. When I ran a speed test in my bedroom (a wall away from the router), my download and upload speeds slowed to around 1Mbps.

It was a frustrating experience and I found that every time I wanted to do something (like watch a YouTube video or take a FaceTime call in a group chat), I would switch back to Xfinity or cellular data on my phone.

I don’t need show speeds—I probably don’t even need 100Mbps—but I do need at least 15Mbps, which is Netflix’s recommended speed for 4K streaming. Unfortunately, AT&T Internet Air doesn’t even break that low bar.

How does AT&T Internet Air compare to other 5G network providers?

5G home internet AT&T has taken off in the past few years, with AT&T having a bigger presence than T-Mobile Home Internet and Verizon 5G Home Internet. Overall, using 5G technology for home networking is undoubtedly a success. one J.D. Power Survey The report released over the summer found that wireless customers were more satisfied than wired or fiber customers, despite lower performance scores.

“A lot of the concerns I hear about fixed wireless access is that it’s never going to be as fast as fiber,” Carl Lepper, senior director of JD Power’s technology, media and telecom intelligence practice, told me at the time.

“But for many people, affordability is more important than that. And you don’t often need super-fast speeds, depending on how you use the internet.

5G home networks can often reach rural homes without cable or fiber, which is a significant improvement over the satellite or DSL services these users typically use. And because 5G providers are cell phone carriers first, they can save big when you bundle your home network with your cell phone plan.

AT&T’s savings aren’t as dramatic as those with T-Mobile and Verizon, but paying $47 a month for home internet is still a good deal. AT&T Internet Air is expensive if you don’t bundle it with a cellphone plan, and there’s no guarantee it’ll make up for it with faster speeds — as my week with AT&T showed.

Conclusion: AT&T Internet Air is still worth a try in some situations

After these disappointing results, you might be surprised to learn that I still won’t give up on the AT&T Internet Air entirely. Other customers apparently got faster speeds than I did—Reddit users regularly reported speeds in excess of 700Mbps—and my apartment was probably in a location that was particularly unsuitable for service.

Unlike T-Mobile Home Internet, AT&T Internet Air doesn’t offer a free trial, so if you sign up and find the speeds aren’t fast enough, you’ll be out at least $60. If you want to try 5G home internet, I still recommend starting with T-Mobile or Verizon, but if your options are limited, AT&T Internet is still worth a try.