Verizon-owned Tracfone is offering 5G Home Internet via Target for $60 a month, while T-Mobile’s Mint Mobile subsidiary is selling ‚Home Minternet‘ starting at $40 per month.
If you’ve had your mind set on T-Mobile or Verizon’s popular fixed-wireless home broadband but have issues with their pricing or just seeing those carriers‘ names on the bill, this week brought two additional ways to get it.
On Monday, Verizon-owned Tracfone began selling prepaid 5G Home Internet on Target.com and at Target stores for $60 a month, with the purchase of a $69.99 router required.
Tracfone advertises download speeds ranging from 20 to 200Mbps and uploads of 3 to 15Mbps for this service. If only an LTE connection is available, those estimates drop to 20 to 50Mbps down and 3 to 6Mbps up. (The FCC-mandated broadband label on Tracfone’s service plans page cites different speed ranges and also lists a $70 rate. Tracfone did not answer a request for clarification emailed Friday afternoon.)
Then on Wednesday, T-Mobile announced that its Mint Mobile subsidiary was now selling the cutely named Home Minternet, with rates starting at $40 a month and the router provided free. Mint cites typical download speeds of 133 to 415Mbps and uploads of 12 to 55Mbps, numbers repeated in its broadband label.
But while both prepaid brands offer the fixed-wireless service provided by their parent companies, with the same commendable absence of a data cap, they don’t offer comparably enticing bargains.
