T-Mobile taps Donald Faison, Zach Braff to push 5G home internet during Super Bowl

T-Mobile has recruited Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus for two Super Bowl ads touting its wireless service. But the company also will have a third spot in this year's big game focused on its 5G home internet offering. 

On Saturday the carrier revealed the new spot, which features actors Donald Faison and Zach Braff doing a riff on Leonard Bernstein's I Feel Pretty from West Side Story. Faison and Braff are best known for their roles on the early 2000s NBC hit comedy Scrubs.

"Dolly and Miley are focused on 5G for the phones and you have Zach and Donald are focused on 5G for home broadband... we felt like it would be good to have (a) different message for both," Dow Draper, executive vice president of emerging businesses, tells CNET. 

"Why we picked those guys is it's just a great, humorous way to highlight these pain points that customers have which is paying too much for what you get, being stuck in contracts, price hikes, all that. It was fun for us to bring that out in a humorous way because we think it'll resonate and people will at least remember it more." 

T-Mobile began expanding into home internet over its 5G service last year and now offers the option to over 30 million people. The carrier charges $50 per month for service (assuming you have automatic payments enabled, otherwise it's $55 per month) with taxes, fees and a modem/router included in the price. There are no data caps or annual contracts, with the carrier saying that "typical" download speeds should be between 35-115 Mbps.

The carrier announced during its recent earnings call that it had added 224,000 home internet subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2021 and ended the year with 646,000 users. 

T-Mobile previously stated it was targeting having 7-8 million home internet customers by 2025. 

It isn't the only wireless provider looking to use 5G to rival cable and fiber options, however. Verizon has recently begun ramping up advertising for its rival 5G home internet product and similarly plans to advertise during the Super Bowl. Its ad features actor Jim Carrey reprising his role from The Cable Guy. 

Draper, for his part, sees the competition as a good thing noting the adage a "rising tide lifts all boats." 

"I actually love that we're both doing it because I think it builds category awareness and it's important for consumers to know that there is an alternative to the traditional cable. I think that the more awareness of the category, the better."