T-Mobile Home Internet Heads to Metro Stores

T-Mobile is continuing to expand its home broadband offering, announcing on Thursday that it is rolling out its T-Mobile Home Internet product to 7,000 Metro stores. The new offering is largely identical to the one T-Mobile has been offering over the last year. Service runs $50 per month (with automatic payments enabled, otherwise it's $55 per month) and there are no data caps, contracts or other fees. 

Metro is owned by T-Mobile and is the carrier's prepaid brand. 

T-Mobile says the modem Metro users will get is the same as the ones provided to those who sign up directly from T-Mobile. The carrier tells CNET that the broadband experience should be the same regardless of whether you signed up through T-Mobile or through Metro. T-Mobile has touted that "typical" home broadband download speeds should be between 35-115 Mbps.

There is, however, one difference between the T-Mobile and Metro versions of Home Internet. T-Mobile is not running any credit checks for those signing up at Metro. Instead, it is charging a one-time $99 equipment fee to purchase the modem/router. 

Metro users will own the gateway and will not have to return the device if they cancel or switch to another home internet service. T-Mobile's name-branded service doesn't charge for the gateway, and instead just requires that users return the device if they switch to a different provider or cancel service. If they don't return the modem they are on the hook for a charge of potentially up to $370.

T-Mobile has been getting increasingly aggressive with its marketing of home internet over its 5G network, including running a Super Bowl ad. The carrier says its home internet service is available to over 30 million people.