Why 5G Internet Providers Are Replacing Cable Faster Than You Think

by Marcin Frąckiewicz
in Internet, Technology, Telecommunications
on 1 August 2025

Move Over, Cable – 5G Home Internet is Taking the Fast Lane: Not long ago, the idea of ditching your cable or fiber line for home internet sounded far-fetched. But the rapid rise of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) internet is turning the broadband market on its head – and it’s happening much faster than almost anyone predicted. Millions of consumers are already swapping coaxial cables for 5G home internet routers, drawn by lower prices, easy setup, and “good enough” performance. In this report, we’ll explore how 5G home internet is surging, who the big players are (in the U.S. and abroad), how it stacks up against traditional cable/fiber, and what this all means for your internet choices. Prepare to be surprised at just how quickly wireless carriers are challenging the cable giants – and why this 5G vs. cable showdown matters for your wallet and online life.

The Rise of 5G Home Internet (and the Fall of Cable?)

Just a few years ago, cable companies like Comcast and Charter (Spectrum) had a stranglehold on home broadband in many regions, and the phrase “wireless home internet” usually meant slow, last-resort solutions. That changed with the rollout of 5G. Using upgraded cellular networks, carriers began offering 5G home internet – essentially a fixed wireless service where your home gets internet via a 5G signal instead of a cable or phone line. The concept isn’t entirely new (4G and WiMax tried something similar), but 5G’s speed and capacity have made FWA a viable competitor. Since mid-2022, 5G FWA has effectively absorbed all broadband subscriber growth in the U.S. market opensignal.com opensignal.com. In other words, every net new home internet customer is choosing wireless over wired service, a dramatic turning of the tide.

Traditional cable providers have even started to see their subscriber numbers stall or decline for the first time ever. In 2024, the two biggest U.S. cable companies (Comcast Xfinity and Charter Spectrum) together lost nearly a million broadband subscribers, while Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T collectively gained about 3.7 million fixed wireless home internet customers techblog.comsoc.org. This was virtually unheard of a few years ago. It’s clear evidence that 5G home internet is eating into cable’s lunch, and doing so at a breakneck pace. Industry observers note that mobile carriers’ FWA offerings have “brought competition into markets where cable companies had long enjoyed being the only game in town” techblog.comsoc.org. With wireless now in the mix, home internet choice and competition are increasing quickly – a big win for consumers after decades of being stuck with one or two high-priced cable or DSL options.

Big Players Driving the 5G Home Internet Boom

In the United States, T-Mobile and Verizon have emerged as the powerhouse providers of 5G home internet, with AT&T entering the fray more recently. These telecom giants are leveraging their nationwide cellular networks to offer home broadband, and the uptake has been striking. T-Mobile and Verizon, which launched 5G home internet services broadly in 2021–2022, have already signed up millions of customers. As of early 2024, T-Mobile had over 5 million subscribers and Verizon over 3 million for their 5G home internet plans opensignal.com. By mid-2025 those numbers have continued climbing – T-Mobile reported 7.3 million FWA customers by Q2 2025 after adding another 454,000 in just one quarter broadbandbreakfast.com broadbandbreakfast.com. Verizon is a close second, and even AT&T (which had initially focused solely on fiber) added over 200,000 wireless home internet users in the same quarter broadbandbreakfast.com. Analysts estimate U.S. wireless carriers could collectively support around 16–19 million fixed wireless subscribers with their current spectrum and capacity, a ceiling they might reach within the next five years at current growth rates techblog.comsoc.org. That means we may see well over 10% of U.S. broadband households using 5G-based home internet by the late 2020s – a remarkable share for a technology that only recently got off the ground.

It’s not just a U.S. phenomenon. Globally, 5G FWA is on the rise as both an urban competitor and a rural connectivity solution. According to Ericsson’s Mobility Report, about 80% of operators worldwide now offer fixed wireless access, often enhanced by 5G speeds techblog.comsoc.org. By 2030, Ericsson projects FWA will account for 35% of all new broadband connections, with an estimated 350 million FWA subscriptions worldwide techblog.comsoc.org. In markets where wired infrastructure is less prevalent, carriers are using 5G to leapfrog straight to wireless broadband. India is a prime example – in 2023, Reliance Jio launched its Jio AirFiber 5G home hotspot, aiming to add up to 150,000 new broadband connections per day and reach 200 million homes in a few years techcrunch.com. Rival Bharti Airtel quickly followed with its own 5G “Xstream AirFiber” offering unlimited 5G home Wi-Fi (100 Mbps) for about $10/month techcrunch.com. Across Europe and Asia, providers like Three UK, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, and Telstra have also rolled out 5G home internet options, especially in areas where laying new fiber is costly or slow. In many developing regions (parts of Africa, the Middle East, etc.), 5G FWA is viewed as a crucial tool to connect rural villages and underserved communities without waiting for cables to be dug in the ground.

Who are the key players in this 5G home internet revolution? Here’s a quick rundown:

T-Mobile (U.S.) – Aggressively marketing its 5G Home Internet nationwide. Available to over 50 million households, it offers simple pricing (around $50/month, all-in) with no contracts. T-Mobile has led in subscriber growth, seeing FWA as a big growth vector. Company executives openly boast that most new FWA customers are coming from cable companies, indicating they’re directly stealing cable’s customers broadbandbreakfast.com.
Verizon (U.S.) – Launched Verizon 5G Home in 2018 on millimeter-wave and expanded to broader 5G in 2022. Verizon offers two tiers (typical speeds ~300 Mbps and a “5G Home Plus” up to ~1 Gbps in some areas). It has over 3–4 million customers and growing opensignal.com. Verizon often markets its service for its reliability and integrates it with its mobile offerings (discounts for Verizon mobile users).
AT&T (U.S.) – After focusing on fiber, AT&T in 2023 introduced Internet Air, a 5G-based home internet mostly targeted at areas where it hasn’t yet built fiber (often as an upgrade for old DSL customers). AT&T added ~200k FWA customers in one quarter of 2025 broadbandbreakfast.com. Long-term, AT&T views FWA as a bridge to eventually moving folks to fiber where possible techblog.comsoc.org.
Other U.S. Providers – Smaller regional carriers and ISPs are joining in. For example, UScellular offers 5G home internet in some Midwest markets. Some local telecom cooperatives and WISPs (wireless ISPs) are upgrading to 5G gear. Even satellite providers like Starlink, while not 5G, are part of the new competitive mix for rural broadband (Starlink had ~1.3 million U.S. subscribers by end of 2023) lightreading.com.
International – Reliance Jio (India) as mentioned is pushing 5G FWA at massive scale, with Mukesh Ambani heralding it as a way to “replace wired broadband” in millions of homes techcrunch.com techcrunch.com. Bharti Airtel (India) likewise sees wireless broadband as a huge market. Carriers in Europe (like Vodafone, which is merging with Three UK to invest in 5G coverage) and East Asia (South Korean and Japanese providers) have 5G broadband offerings, though in fiber-rich countries, FWA is often a niche for specific scenarios (rural areas or as backup connections). In Africa and remote regions, 5G FWA is emerging as a key to bridging the digital divide where laying fiber is impractical opensignal.com.

This broad industry embrace shows that 5G home internet is not a fringe experiment – it’s a worldwide trend. Telecom companies see it as both a revenue opportunity (using existing mobile networks to sell home service) and a competitive necessity.

5G Fixed Wireless vs. Fiber and Cable: How Do They Compare?

Whenever a new technology arrives, the natural question is “Is it better?” In the case of 5G home internet, the answer isn’t black-and-white – it excels in some areas and has trade-offs in others. Let’s break down how 5G fixed wireless access compares to the long-established fiber optic and cable (coaxial) broadband technologies on key factors:

Speed & Bandwidth: Modern fiber-optic connections are the gold standard – they can deliver gigabit speeds and beyond, often symmetrically (equal download and upload), with some fiber networks now topping 5 Gbps offerings jdpower.com. Cable broadband (using DOCSIS over coaxial cable) can typically provide hundreds of Mbps up to ~1 Gbps download, but usually much lower upload speeds (e.g. 10–35 Mbps up on many plans) and shared bandwidth in local nodes. 5G home internet speeds vary with signal strength and network capacity. In practice, users often see anywhere from ~100 Mbps up to 300–400 Mbps down, and perhaps 10–50 Mbps up – which is comparable to mid-tier cable plans. In certain areas with advanced 5G (millimeter wave spectrum), Verizon and others have clocked near gigabit speeds on FWA broadbandinsider.com, but those are more the exception than the norm. The bottom line: fiber still wins on raw speed, and cable is a close second for downloads. 5G is typically “fast enough” for almost all everyday needs (4K streaming, video calls, online gaming), but it may not yet match the top speeds of the best wired connections. As one analysis put it, “While FWA isn’t typically as fast as fiber, it is often cheaper, and can be viable where it’s difficult to lay wire.” fierce-network.com
Latency (Ping Time): This measures responsiveness (lower is better). Fiber offers extremely low latency – often ~1–5 milliseconds – making it excellent for real-time applications. Cable internet latency is usually low as well (maybe ~15–30 ms typical), though it can vary if the network is congested. 5G latency has improved greatly over prior wireless tech; on a good 5G connection one might see ~20–40 ms ping, very usable for Zoom calls or gaming, albeit a tad higher than fiber. Some 5G networks in standalone mode aim for sub-10 ms latency in the future. Real-world reports indicate fixed 5G can deliver latency on par with cable in many cases (and much better than satellite internet) nhcgrp.com. For most users, the latency difference of a few milliseconds won’t be noticeable, but die-hard competitive gamers or others needing ultra-stable low ping might still prefer fiber.
Reliability & Consistency: Fiber is inherently very reliable – it’s immune to electrical interference and not a shared medium until reaching the provider’s core network. Cable is generally reliable too, but performance can dip if too many neighbors heavily use the connection at once (cable nodes are shared) or if there’s network congestion. Cable lines can also be affected by electrical noise or, rarely, issues like water ingress. 5G wireless reliability depends on maintaining a strong signal from the cell tower. Things like distance, building materials, or even heavy rain (for high-frequency bands) can impact the signal. In practice, carriers mitigate this with techniques like Massive MIMO and beamforming to focus signals opensignal.com. Many 5G home users report stable service, but there can be variability – e.g. speeds might slow during peak evening hours if the cell sector is busy, or you might need to place the gateway in a particular window for best reception. Also, if the power or cell site goes out, your internet goes out (just like cable would if the network/local power fails). Overall: fiber still has the edge in rock-solid consistency, cable is next (generally stable but with occasional slowdowns), and 5G is improving fast – offering a mostly steady experience for many, but with a bit more variability based on environmental factors.
Coverage & Availability: This is where 5G shines. If you live in an area with a strong 5G signal, you can get broadband without any wired infrastructure to your home. That opens options in rural or underserved areas where cable or fiber lines haven’t been built. Historically, fixed wireless was seen as mainly a rural solution – a way to reach farmhouses or remote towns. But 5G is changing that narrative. Now, even suburban and urban customers are embracing FWA as an alternative to the cable company. In the U.S., T-Mobile reports that nearly three-quarters of recent FWA customers are using it as their primary home connection, often in places that had cable or fiber available – indicating many are actively choosing it over a wired competitor fierce-network.com. Still, availability is not universal: 5G home internet can only be offered where carriers have enough network capacity. Some dense city neighborhoods might not be open for new FWA service if the carrier fears the cell network would get overloaded. On the flip side, cable/fiber availability is very geographic – you either have the wire on your street or you don’t. Many U.S. households (especially in cities and suburbs) do have at least one cable or fiber ISP available; however, tens of millions had no choice of a second high-speed provider. Now, thanks to 5G, the percentage of U.S. homes passed by two or more broadband providers (wired or wireless) jumped from 50% in early 2022 to 78% by late 2023 opensignal.com. In other words, 5G has dramatically expanded competitive coverage, giving more people a choice.
Cost to Consumers: 5G home internet plans are generally cheaper and simpler than traditional wired plans – and this is a major selling point. For example, T-Mobile and Verizon typically charge around $50 per month (or even as low as $25–$35 for customers who also have a mobile phone bundle) for unlimited 5G home service, with no extra fees, no contracts, and equipment included. In contrast, cable providers might advertise a similar base price for new customers, but often require equipment rental fees, have 12-month promotional pricing (followed by hikes), or insist on bundles. The wireless carriers have heavily marketed their price-lock guarantees (T-Mobile touts no price hikes, Verizon offers 2–3 year price guarantees, etc.) – forcing cable companies to respond with their own multi-year price guarantees in some cases techblog.comsoc.org. A recent analysis by the IEEE Techblog found that U.S. home internet prices dropped 3.1% year-over-year as of May 2025, even while overall inflation was up 2.4% – thanks largely to the fierce competition between FWA and cable ISPs driving prices down techblog.comsoc.org. On average, J.D. Power found wireless internet customers report paying about $72 per month vs $81 for wired internet, and a significantly higher share of wireless users feel their plan is affordable jdpower.com. In some cases, 5G can be half the cost of cable for similar usage needs techblog.comsoc.org. Bottom line: 5G home internet is often a better deal, especially after factoring in all the sneaky fees cable tends to add. It’s no wonder cost-sensitive consumers are flocking to it despite cable’s speed advantage.
Installation & Setup: If you’ve ever waited half a day for a cable guy to show up, you’ll appreciate this: 5G home internet is generally plug-and-play. The carrier mails you a Wi-Fi gateway (a combination modem/router that connects to 5G) – you plug it in near a window, follow a smartphone app to find the best signal spot, and you’re online. No drilling holes or scheduling technicians. For example, Verizon’s 5G Home router and T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi Gateway are self-install kits that most users get running in 15 minutes. Cable and fiber, on the other hand, often require either a professional install or a self-install that still relies on an existing cable jack. Running a brand-new fiber line to a house is a time-consuming process involving burying or stringing cable. Thus, from a convenience standpoint, 5G wins easily. That said, placement of the 5G receiver can matter – you might have to try a few spots to get the strongest signal (the gateway device usually has an indicator for signal strength). But there’s a certain freedom in that too: some users love that you can simply take the 5G modem with you when you move apartments (assuming the service is available at the new location) – no need to wait for a new hookup. This flexibility (even using it in an RV or vacation home temporarily) is a new perk that fixed wireless brings.

To sum up, 5G FWA vs. fiber vs. cable is not about one being universally “better” – it’s about trade-offs and use cases. Fiber remains the performance champ (crucial for bandwidth-hungry or ultra-low-latency needs), but it’s costly and limited in reach. Cable is widely available and fast for downloads, but often comes with customer service frustrations and higher total costs. 5G home internet offers an attractive middle ground: more than enough speed for most families, typically lower price and easier setup, and expanding availability. As one telecom expert noted, “Wireless internet…has become more widely available, less expensive and delivers more satisfaction across all parts of the customer experience we measure. If wireless internet can prove to be sustainable… these providers have the ability to be major industry disruptors.” jdpower.com The key question now is not whether 5G can technically compete – it clearly can – but how happy customers are with it, and whether they stick with it long-term.

Consumers Are On Board: Adoption Trends and Satisfaction Levels

One of the most striking aspects of the 5G home internet boom is how positive the customer reaction has been. It turns out people really like paying less and not dealing with certain cable company hassles! Surveys and studies show that FWA isn’t just signing up customers – it’s delighting them.

Take customer satisfaction metrics: J.D. Power’s 2024 customer satisfaction study for ISPs found that wireless internet providers (fixed wireless) scored higher than wired providers on overall satisfaction, 630 vs. 538 (on a 1000-point scale) jdpower.com. That’s a pretty large gap. In fact, the report noted wireless internet earned better scores in every aspect of the customer experience they measure. The primary reason? Value. Customers indicated they’re willing to accept potential drawbacks like slightly slower speeds or the possibility of more disruptions in exchange for a lower monthly cost, and indeed a large majority of wireless internet users considered their service a good value jdpower.com. This aligns with what carriers themselves are seeing. T-Mobile’s CEO Mike Sievert has bragged that their 5G Home Internet is “the highest Net Promoter Score … product in the country”, meaning customers are more likely to recommend it than almost any other service broadbandbreakfast.com. People appreciate a simple proposition: $50 or less for unlimited home broadband that just works, with no hidden fees. It’s a refreshing change in an industry notorious for pricing shenanigans.

Of course, it’s not just about price. User experience matters, and many 5G home internet users are finding the service performs better than expected. Early adopters often report speeds well above what they anticipated and sufficient for streaming, gaming, and remote work. In one survey, fewer than 1 in 10 households using 5G FWA said they would consider canceling within a year fierce-network.com, indicating strong loyalty. Ericsson’s consumer research similarly found FWA users had a higher loyalty index than even fiber users fierce-network.com. Once people cut the cord (literally) with cable, they’re not rushing back.

Adoption numbers illustrate the trend: by early 2024, U.S. fixed wireless home providers had around 8 million subscribers (mostly via T-Mobile and Verizon) opensignal.com. That figure has been climbing quarter by quarter – T-Mobile and Verizon each have been adding around half a million FWA customers every quarter recently broadbandbreakfast.com broadbandbreakfast.com. By the end of 2024, the combined FWA subscriber base likely surpassed 10 million, and one forecast expects the total to reach around 19 million before growth levels off due to network capacity constraints techblog.comsoc.org. For context, cable and fiber ISPs in the U.S. together have about 110–120 million broadband subscriptions; fixed wireless has already captured roughly ~10% of the market in just a few years, and could reach ~15% or more in the next few years. The adoption has been fastest in areas with frustrated cable customers – suburban and rural communities where perhaps the only wired option was a single cable provider with high prices. It’s telling that T-Mobile says the majority of their new FWA users are coming directly from cable ISPs (often, they’re existing T-Mobile phone customers who are all too happy to drop their cable internet) broadbandbreakfast.com.

Another aspect is consumer demographics and use cases. Initially, some analysts thought fixed wireless would mainly appeal to rural households with no other choice, or perhaps light-use customers (those who don’t need super-fast speeds). That has proven only partially true. Yes, FWA is being widely adopted in rural America to replace slow DSL or expensive satellite. But a huge chunk of growth has been in metro areas where people do have cable or fiber available – they’re switching for reasons like price, simplicity, or as a statement against poor cable customer service. As one tongue-in-cheek industry article noted, it’s like Green Eggs and Ham – people tried fixed wireless and by golly, they like it fierce-network.com. Many consumers were simply waiting for any viable alternative to the cable/telco duopoly, and 5G came along at the right time.

Satisfaction drivers include:

Lower monthly bills (often saving $20+ compared to cable for similar usage) – clearly a big one.
No contracts or annual fights with retention departments. Customers feel more in control.
Self-install ease – empowering for users not to have to schedule service calls.
Adequate performance for daily needs – most families stream, browse, Zoom, and game without issues on 100+ Mbps speeds that FWA delivers.
Improving service quality – as 5G networks expand and optimize, many users see their speeds actually improving over time, not deteriorating opensignal.com. Verizon and T-Mobile have managed to add millions of users while still increasing mobile 5G speeds year-over-year, suggesting their networks can handle the load so far opensignal.com.

All that said, customer satisfaction with FWA will be something to watch in the coming years. Will it remain high as more people sign on? There are some potential pitfalls: if networks get crowded, speeds could suffer for everyone. Some users in very congested areas might eventually feel the service doesn’t meet their needs (especially if many neighbors also sign up – the curse of popularity). The industry is aware of this, and carriers use eligibility checks and network management to try to prevent overload (for example, in areas where a cell sector is nearing capacity, a carrier might stop taking new FWA customers or throttle heavy usage at peak times). So far, though, such issues have been the exception, and the overall trend is that FWA customers are a happy bunch – notably happier, on average, than cable subscribers fierce-network.com fierce-network.com. This positive word-of-mouth fuels further growth, creating a virtuous cycle for 5G home internet.

Pricing, Performance, and Practicalities: Key Factors for Consumers

From a consumer’s point of view, choosing between 5G home internet and cable comes down to a few pragmatic questions: How much does it cost? How fast and reliable is it really? Is it available in my area? And what’s the hassle (or lack thereof) in setting it up? We’ve touched on many of these, but let’s break down the current 5G vs. cable landscape in these practical terms:

Price and Plans: 5G home internet plans are refreshingly simple. T-Mobile charges $50/month (or $30–$35 if bundled with a phone line) for unlimited data, which includes all fees and equipment – they even throw in a price lock guarantee for new customers t-mobile.com. Verizon similarly offers its basic 5G Home plan for as low as $35/month for Verizon mobile customers, or around $50 for others, and a faster “5G Home Plus” plan around $70–$80/month with higher potential speeds and a 3-year price guarantee reddit.com broadbandinsider.com. Importantly, these wireless plans have no data caps (unlike some satellite or older wireless plans) – truly unlimited usage, though fine print says speeds may slow if a tower is very congested. In contrast, cable ISP pricing is often higher and more complex. A cable provider might advertise $50/month, but that often excludes Wi-Fi router rental ($10–$15 extra), plus taxes and fees, and the rate might jump after 12 months. Many cable plans still impose data caps in some regions (e.g. 1.2 TB/month on Xfinity, with extra charges if you exceed it), whereas 5G FWA typically has no such caps. The competitive pressure from FWA has caused cablecos to run promotions like multi-year price guarantees or contract buyouts to entice or keep customers techblog.comsoc.org. As of now, though, the perceived value edge lies with 5G home internet – you generally know exactly what you’ll pay, and it’s lower for a comparable tier of service. The gap could narrow if cable aggressively lowers prices, but cable relies on those higher margins, so it’s in a tough spot.
Speed and Performance Expectations: If you’re considering switching, you might wonder: will 5G be as fast as my current service? The honest answer is, “it depends on what you have now and what you do online.” For many households, 5G speeds are plenty. T-Mobile says most of its customers get 100–300 Mbps download speeds, and often 10–50 Mbps upload, on its Home Internet service. Verizon’s base plan often delivers similar ranges (with higher bursts if you’re in a premium coverage area). These speeds allow multiple HD/4K video streams, gaming, video conferencing, and smart home devices all running simultaneously. In fact, average home internet usage (even with work-from-home) rarely needs more than ~50–100 Mbps at a time, aside from very large downloads or uploads. So for a large segment of users, 5G will feel no different from cable in everyday tasks – except maybe that uploads might be faster than old DSL but slower than fiber. However, if you currently subscribe to a gigabit cable or fiber plan because you truly use that bandwidth (for example, running servers, doing daily multi-hundred-gigabyte file transfers, etc.), 5G may not fully match that, at least not yet. Gamers and latency-sensitive users will generally find 5G acceptable for most games (pings in the 20-40ms range in many cases), but extremely competitive gaming or applications requiring sub-10ms latency still favor fiber. In terms of reliability, most users find 5G stable day-to-day, but there’s a chance you’ll see some speed variability at peak times. It can also be sensitive to router placement – put the 5G gateway in a good spot and you’ll rarely have issues, but if it’s shoved in a basement corner with a weak signal, that’s asking for trouble. In summary, for typical internet use, 5G FWA’s performance has proven “good enough” – and improving – for a majority of users, though top-tier wired plans hold an edge in raw speed and consistency fierce-network.com fierce-network.com.
Availability Check: Not everyone can get 5G home internet – you have to be in a covered location and one where the provider is currently offering service. The coverage footprint is expanding rapidly. As of 2025, T-Mobile’s 5G Home was reportedly available to over 50 million households in the U.S., and they continue to open more each quarter opensignal.com. Verizon’s 5G Home availability is a bit more limited (they focus on areas where their “Ultra Wideband” 5G is deployed, including both C-band and mmWave cities). AT&T’s Internet Air is being rolled out regionally as they fine-tune it. The best way to know is to plug in your address on the provider’s website – they will indicate if service is open there. Even if you have a strong 5G phone signal, the company might not offer home service in your area yet due to capacity planning. This could change, so it’s worth checking periodically. In suburban and rural areas especially, coverage has been a game-changer – places that had only slow DSL or pricey satellite now have a 5G option coming online. For instance, fixed wireless has quickly become the default broadband in many small towns that fiber hasn’t reached. If you’re in a major city, ironically, you might face the opposite: you have fiber available and the carrier isn’t marketing 5G to you because they prioritize fiber there (this is the case with AT&T – they’d rather sell you fiber if possible, using FWA mostly where they lack wired infrastructure techblog.comsoc.org). But with Verizon and T-Mobile, plenty of urban dwellers are subscribing to 5G Home especially if they’re looking to save money.
Installation and Equipment: As described earlier, setup is self-service and straightforward. The equipment (a combined modem/Wi-Fi router unit) is usually provided free on loan. For example, the gray cylinder-shaped T-Mobile Home Gateway or Verizon’s 5G Home Router come in the mail; you plug the device in, use an app to activate and position it optimally (e.g. near a window facing the cell tower), and that’s it – your whole home gets Wi-Fi from that box. No drilling, no waiting. If it doesn’t work well in one spot, you can try another – you have that flexibility. Most devices even have backup battery options in case of power outage (so you can maintain internet for a while, which is great for those who need connectivity during blackouts, assuming the cell tower has backup power too). By contrast, with cable or fiber, typically a tech would need to come if your home hasn’t had service recently. The DIY aspect of 5G is a big selling point – even non-technical users report that the process is app-guided and simple. And if you decide you don’t like the service, you can cancel without a penalty in most cases, since it’s contract-free – the provider will just have you send the equipment back. This low commitment factor has actually led a lot of people to “trial” 5G internet while still keeping their cable active, just to compare. Many end up so satisfied they cancel the cable after the trial, but even for those who don’t, it’s a zero-risk way to see how wireless performs in real life.

In short, from a consumer perspective 5G home internet often wins on price and convenience, and is “good enough” on performance for a wide swath of users, though it’s not universally available and doesn’t yet match the extreme high-end capabilities of fiber. It pays to evaluate your own needs: if you’re paying $80/month for cable and only using a fraction of that bandwidth, a $50 5G plan might be a no-brainer. On the other hand, if you’re lucky enough to have affordable fiber at $60/month and you do heavy uploads or need rock-solid ping, you might stick with fiber. The great thing is you now have a choice – something many of us have lacked in home internet until recently.

Technological Advantages and Limitations of 5G Networks

What makes 5G so much more successful at fixed wireless broadband than earlier attempts? It comes down to the technology leaps in 5G that provide better capacity and efficiency, as well as how carriers are deploying it. But along with its strengths, 5G has some inherent limitations when used for home internet that are important to understand.

Key technological advantages of 5G FWA:

High Spectral Efficiency: 5G can transfer more data per hertz of spectrum than 4G could. Techniques like Massive MIMO (multiple antennas) and beamforming allow 5G base stations to direct focused, high-capacity signals toward a user’s receiver, rather than just broadcasting broadly opensignal.com. This means a 5G cell tower sector can handle far more home internet users (and data) than a 4G tower could. It’s one reason T-Mobile and Verizon have been able to add millions of FWA users without tanking their mobile network performance – 5G simply carries data more efficiently, and the networks are designed to manage heavy traffic.
Mid-Band Spectrum “Sweet Spot”: Early 5G marketing centered on millimeter wave (very high frequency) spectrum for eye-popping gigabit speeds, but it turns out the mid-band frequencies (like 2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz C-band, etc.) are the real workhorses for FWA. They offer an ideal mix of decent range and high capacity. Carriers have invested heavily in mid-band – e.g., Verizon and AT&T spent billions at the C-band auction, T-Mobile leveraged Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum – specifically to roll out wide-coverage 5G that’s great for home internet. This mid-band 5G can blanket cities and towns and penetrate homes reasonably well (much better than ultra-high mmWave signals, which can be blocked by walls or even trees). With enough mid-band spectrum channels, carriers can deliver hundreds of Mbps to each home and still serve mobile users. The U.S. has allocated a lot of mid-band for 5G, and the industry is lobbying for more to keep FWA growth going techblog.comsoc.org. In countries like China and Korea, plentiful mid-band spectrum and dense networks have enabled high-performance 5G that some use as a home broadband replacement as well.
Rapid Deployment & Scale: Building a wireless network is generally faster than running new wires to each home. To cover a neighborhood with fiber could take months of construction; to cover it with 5G, you might just upgrade a few existing cell towers and small cells. Fixed wireless access leverages the existing mobile network footprint, so scaling to new areas can be as quick as a software update or antenna addition on a tower. This is why T-Mobile could suddenly declare tens of millions of households “covered” for Home Internet in a short time – they lit it up on their 5G cell sites largely using capacity that was already there. The ability to turn up service rapidly is a huge advantage, especially in response to competitive pressures. Cable can’t build new lines overnight, but a mobile carrier can open up new FWA markets relatively fast (subject to ensuring they don’t oversubscribe the network).
Lower Infrastructure Cost per User: Providing home internet via 5G means no truck roll to each house, no last-mile wire. The costly part – the cell towers and core network – is shared with the mobile business. Carriers do incur costs (more backhaul capacity to towers, maybe extra spectrum licenses, customer support for new services, etc.), but analysts estimate FWA is a much cheaper way to add broadband subscribers than traditional wired builds fierce-network.com. This lower cost structure is part of why they can price it lower and still profit. It’s also why 5G FWA can be viable in rural areas where running fiber might never pay off. Economics are important: as one expert put it, the industry initial skepticism about FWA focused too much on raw performance and ignored that “FWA doesn’t cost as much to build as wired connections and is faster to deploy.” fierce-network.com Now carriers see it as a key way to monetize their 5G investments – one report even called FWA “the secret sauce for 5G monetization” due to its combination of lower price and “good enough” service tapping into existing retail channels opensignal.com.
Ongoing Wireless Improvements: 5G itself continues to evolve (with 5G-Advanced features coming, and research into 6G on the horizon). Over time, we can expect even better throughput and capacity. Also, network management is getting smarter – carriers use dynamic algorithms to allocate resources, and since home usage patterns often differ from mobile (e.g. home peak usage in evenings vs mobile peaks in daytime), they can balance the two effectively opensignal.com. Future tech like network slicing could allow carriers to guarantee certain bandwidth to FWA users or offer premium tiers with higher QoS. All this means the gap between wireless and wired capabilities could further narrow in coming years.

However, 5G isn’t a magic bullet; it has limitations to acknowledge:

Network Capacity and Congestion: The finite capacity of a cell site is the number one limiting factor. There is only so much bandwidth each cell tower sector can provide, and it’s shared among all users in that area (mobile and home internet alike). If too many heavy-use households all use FWA on the same sector, performance will degrade. Analysts like New Street Research’s Jonathan Chaplin estimate that U.S. 5G networks might max out around ~19 million FWA users given current spectrum – beyond that, carriers would have to invest in significantly more capacity (more spectrum, small cells, etc.) techblog.comsoc.org. In Chaplin’s view, “fixed-wireless growth can’t last indefinitely… The wireless networks…will eventually hit capacity, limiting how many subscribers they can add.” techblog.comsoc.org. Carriers are aware of this ceiling; they don’t want to sign up more users than the network can handle at quality. This is a key difference from wired networks: if a cable company needs to add a new subscriber, they just plug them in (they might need to split a node if it gets congested, but they have well-understood ways to scale). A wireless carrier adding a new FWA subscriber has to ensure that radio sector can carry the load, and if not, they might have to say “no” to that customer or upgrade the network first. We may see growth naturally slow in areas that approach capacity – T-Mobile and Verizon have hinted they will be judicious in how far they push FWA if it starts to strain mobile performance. Long-term, adding more spectrum (e.g., new bands) and densifying networks with more small cell sites will raise the capacity ceiling, but those require investment and sometimes regulatory help (for siting more antennas, etc.).
Signal Propagation and Obstacles: Despite 5G’s improvements, it’s still wireless – meaning its quality can be impacted by distance and obstructions. Users at the edge of a cell coverage area might get weaker signals and thus lower speeds. Things like hills, thick walls, metal roofs, or trees can reduce the signal strength to a home. Carriers mitigate this by giving you guidelines for placing your gateway (e.g., top floor near a window facing the tower is ideal). There’s also the distinction between frequency bands: low-band 5G (600 MHz, etc.) goes far but doesn’t have huge capacity; mid-band 5G (2.5–3.7 GHz) has great balance but may struggle through too many walls; high-band mmWave (24–39 GHz) can deliver fiber-like speeds but only works within a few blocks of the transmitter and gets blocked by almost everything (even raindrops to some degree). Currently, most FWA subscribers are served by mid-band signals. In apartments or dense areas, if you don’t have a window or any line-of-sight to a cell, you might not get the best result. Weather isn’t a major issue for mid-band (it’s similar to how your phone works in rain – usually fine), but mmWave can be affected by heavy rain or even hot humid air causing signal attenuation. So, while 5G is generally robust, it doesn’t have the 100% physical reliability of a wired connection in all conditions. If your cell tower has an outage or your neighborhood loses coverage, you lose internet – whereas a buried fiber line might keep working through a storm (unless a pole falls or a line is cut). Redundancy is usually lower with wireless (though one could use phone tethering as backup if the home internet unit fails).
Shared Medium and Peak Usage: As with any shared system, speeds can vary. A cable node is shared too, but cable companies often split nodes as they grow to keep performance up. With wireless, splitting capacity means adding new cell sites or sectors, which can be more complex (permitting, equipment costs). So, if FWA becomes very popular in a neighborhood, it’s possible users might notice slower speeds during the busiest hours until the carrier upgrades something. We’ve already seen a hint of this: Verizon’s CEO mentioned early in their rollout that they would carefully manage how many FWA users per cell they allow. Users also report that sometimes their speeds fluctuate – e.g., blazing fast late at night, but moderate in the evening prime time. This variability is normal and usually not a huge problem (even the “slower” times often still give 100+ Mbps), but it’s a limitation to be aware of. Consistency may not equal that of fiber, especially under heavy load.
Not Symmetric (so far): 5G FWA, like cable, is primarily focused on download speed. Upload speeds on FWA are typically a fraction of download (due to how wireless links are optimized and spectrum split). For most, this is fine – you can still upload photos or join video calls with 10-20 Mbps up. But fiber’s symmetric gigabit (1000/1000) clearly outclasses a typical 200/20 FWA connection if you’re someone who needs to upload very large files frequently (e.g. media professionals, cloud backup fiends). 5G may improve uplink with techniques like distributed massive MIMO or using more time slots for uplink, but physics is physics – it’s harder to maintain high uplink from many dispersed users. Some future 5G iterations or 6G might crack this, but for now, heavy upload demand is a niche where wired still wins.
Equipment Limitations: The 5G home routers have their own quirks – they can overheat if not ventilated, their firmware needs updates, etc. And they rely on power (though one could use a UPS/battery). A subtle point: many 5G gateways do NAT (network address translation) similar to cellular networks, and they don’t always offer the ability to open ports or have a public static IP like some wired ISPs do. For average users this means nothing, but techies who host servers or need certain remote access setups might find mobile-based internet a bit restrictive (some carriers are improving this by offering IPv6 or evolving their networking). Again, a minor issue, but a limitation for a small segment of users.

In essence, 5G technology has made fixed wireless a real competitor by massively increasing capacity and efficiency, but it still faces the inherent challenges of any wireless medium. The encouraging news is that telecom engineers are actively working on pushing those limits further out – whether through more spectrum (e.g., governments freeing up 6 GHz or other bands for 5G), network densification, or the next generation of wireless standards. Many experts believe that what we see now is just the beginning, and that wireless home broadband will keep improving to the point that the experience may become virtually indistinguishable from wired for most consumers. As Ericsson’s CTO put it, “We are at an inflection point, where 5G and the ecosystem are set to unleash a wave of innovation… To fully realize the potential of 5G, it is essential to continue deploying 5G standalone and further build out mid-band sites.” techblog.comsoc.org In plain English: continued investment in 5G tech (like upgrading to the newest 5G core networks and adding more cell sites) will be key to sustaining the FWA momentum.

Impact on Traditional Cable Providers – and How They’re Fighting Back

Cable companies have enjoyed decades of dominance in U.S. broadband. Now they’re facing a serious threat from 5G providers poaching their customers. How is this impacting the cable giants, and what are they doing about it?

First off, the numbers are telling: Cable broadband growth has flattened and, in recent quarters, turned negative. For example, Comcast – the largest U.S. cable ISP – lost 65,000 internet subscribers in Q1 2024 fierce-network.com and then 226,000 in Q2 2025 broadbandbreakfast.com. Charter (Spectrum) likewise has had quarters of net losses (e.g. 113k loss in one quarter, by one report morningstar.com). These losses coincided with the surge of FWA. Executives at Comcast have openly acknowledged that fixed wireless competition is a big factor in their subscriber declines fierce-network.com. In fact, Comcast’s CEO Brian Roberts noted that all at once “three companies… are offering a home connectivity product that’s by their own admission a lower speed, more easily congested network,” clearly referring to Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T’s wireless offerings fierce-network.com. This somewhat dismissive description – “lower speed, more easily congested” – sums up how cable executives try to frame FWA as an inferior, stopgap technology. But the very need to talk about it shows they feel the pressure.

One immediate impact has been competitive responses on pricing and marketing. Cable operators historically raised rates annually and didn’t worry much about churn (since customers had few alternatives). Now, churn (defections) in broadband is rising for cable techblog.comsoc.org, so they’ve had to adjust strategy. We’ve seen cable companies roll out multi-year price lock guarantees (something they never offered before) to better compete with the likes of T-Mobile’s 5-year lock promise techblog.comsoc.org. Charter Spectrum offered a 3-year price guarantee, Comcast introduced a 2-year “no increase” pledge on certain plans techblog.comsoc.org. As UBS analyst John Hodulik put it, “Cable companies went from gaining subscribers and raising rates every year to declining subscribers and giving people price locks” – a remarkable pivot techblog.comsoc.org. He also noted, “They’re seeing churn rise… trying to nip that in the bud. Fixed wireless can sometimes cost half as much as cable… the lower price point has been luring cable customers away.” techblog.comsoc.org In short, cable is being forced to compete on price and customer-friendly terms in ways they didn’t when they had a monopoly. For consumers, that’s good news – it means promotional offers, retention deals, and generally more effort to keep you happy.

Figure: U.S. broadband subscriber net additions by provider type. This chart illustrates how the once steady growth in cable broadband subscriptions has stalled and reversed, while 5G fixed wireless providers have rapidly added customers techblog.comsoc.org. Over the last few years, traditional cable giants Comcast (Xfinity) and Charter (Spectrum) went from consistently adding broadband subscribers (blue bars above zero) to seeing quarterly losses (blue bars dipping below zero by 2023–2024). Conversely, wireless carriers like T-Mobile and Verizon (orange bars) have been posting strong gains in home internet customers each quarter, now making up essentially all net broadband growth since 2022 techblog.comsoc.org opensignal.com. This dramatic shift underscores how 5G home internet is directly siphoning off cable’s subscriber base. In response, cable companies have rolled out new strategies – such as multi-year price guarantees – and stepped up marketing to stem the bleeding techblog.comsoc.org techblog.comsoc.org. (Source: WSJ/UBS via IEEE ComSoc Techblog)

Another strategy for cable is to emphasize their advantages. If the wireless carriers say “ditch cable, save money,” the cable companies retort “you get what you pay for.” Comcast’s CEO Roberts said Comcast chose to “accentuate the difference” in quality – their advertising highlights that with cable you can have multiple devices streaming, ultra-fast speeds, and no worries about data limits or congestion fierce-network.com. Essentially, they’re trying to paint FWA as a budget, entry-level service, and cable as the premium, robust option. Roberts pointed out that in Comcast’s experience, they’ve competed with many technologies (satellite, telco DSL, fiber overbuilders, etc.) and they plan to “wait [for] your time” – implying that if they stay the course and keep investing in their network, the initial tide of wireless competition may ebb and growth will return fierce-network.com. Indeed, some analysts think cable’s worst subscriber losses may be peaking now, with slower losses expected going forward as the market normalizes lightreading.com lightreading.com. MoffettNathanson’s latest forecast expects cable will still lose broadband subs in 2025 (~321k loss) but far fewer than the ~1.08 million lost in 2024, and potentially even return to a small gain by 2026 as FWA growth plateaus and new rural fiber buildouts kick in lightreading.com.

Technology upgrades are another pillar of cable’s response. The cable industry isn’t standing still – they’re pushing forward on next-gen infrastructure like DOCSIS 4.0 (“10G” cable) which can enable multi-gigabit download speeds and much improved uploads over coax. In the next couple of years, Comcast and Charter plan to offer 2–5 Gbps download and hundreds of Mbps upload over enhanced coax networks, approaching fiber-like performance. They’re also expanding fiber deployments in new housing developments or rural builds (Charter especially has a big rural fiber initiative partly funded by government grants). The idea is to erase any performance gap: if cable can say “we offer 5 Gbps and virtually unlimited capacity”, then the appeal of FWA being “good enough” might lessen for high-end users. Additionally, cable companies are now fully in the mobile game themselves – through MVNO agreements, Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile and Charter’s Spectrum Mobile have amassed over 10 million wireless phone customers combined broadbandbreakfast.com. They bundle mobile service with home internet, which can make customers less likely to leave (e.g., a bundle discount if you have both). It’s ironic: at the same time wireless operators are invading home broadband, cable operators are invading the mobile phone market. Each is trying to offer “convergence” bundles of mobile + home service to lock in loyalty. In fact, all major players now compete in both arenas: “all tier 1 providers today compete with dual play strategies, where mobile network operators offer FWA and MSOs [cable companies] offer mobile services.” fierce-network.com The lines between wireless and cable industries have blurred.

Despite these efforts, cable’s challenge is significant. They have a reputation problem with many consumers – years of rate hikes and customer service gripes have left a bad taste. A wireless executive, Roger Entner of Recon Analytics, quipped that if cable wants to slow FWA’s momentum, “it can start offering better customer service… stop offering exploding prices… treat its customers better.” fierce-network.com In other words, cable might need not just technological responses, but cultural ones, to win back goodwill. Comcast appears to recognize this somewhat – they launched a new “XFinitiy Prepaid/NOW” low-cost offering aimed at price-sensitive customers, to directly combat FWA in that segment fierce-network.com. Comcast’s Roberts admitted they “haven’t competed well for the low-end broadband” historically fierce-network.com, so NOW prepaid Internet is meant to be simple and cheap, hopefully preventing those customers from churning to T-Mobile or Verizon. The plan is maybe to keep such users in the fold until they can upsell them to higher-end broadband later when FWA might hit limits.

There’s also consolidation and scale plays: Charter recently agreed to buy smaller cable operator Cox Communications in a bid to gain more territory and economies of scale to better fend off wireless competition techblog.comsoc.org. The thinking is that larger scale allows more network investment and better bundling opportunities. But regulators are scrutinizing such deals, and it’s not clear if merging cable companies helps against an entirely different technology threat.

And what about smaller regional cable or telecom operators? They’re arguably under even more pressure. A small rural cable or DSL provider might not have the resources to upgrade to fiber quickly, and if 5G covers their area, they could see an “existential crisis.” Roger Entner noted that for big cable MSOs, FWA will “cramp their style” but for small rural telcos, it’s life-or-death if they lose too many customers to wireless fierce-network.com. Some of these smaller players are responding by partnering with wireless rather than fighting – e.g., Brightspeed (a rural telco spun from Lumen) is teaming up with Verizon to deliver FWA to its legacy DSL customers as a stopgap until fiber arrives fierce-network.com fierce-network.com. This kind of collaboration might become more common: instead of duplicating networks, a local ISP might resell a national wireless service to cover hard-to-reach locations. Brightspeed’s CEO essentially said they’ll use fixed wireless as a “copper replacement” for customers who can’t get fiber for some years fierce-network.com fierce-network.com. This shows an interesting dynamic – wireless isn’t only competition, it can also be a solution for cable/telcos to modernize their footprint more quickly.

In sum, the impact on cable providers has been profound: they’re losing customers (and the revenue those bring), they’re being forced into more consumer-friendly pricing, and they’re racing to upgrade networks and highlight quality differences. Cable’s core argument now is “we offer the best, most reliable internet – and we’re not just a ‘cable company’, we’re a technology leader” fierce-network.com. Comcast’s Roberts even insisted “we’re not a cable company” in an interview, trying to reposition Comcast as a broader connectivity tech firm fierce-network.com. Whether that messaging sticks is uncertain, but clearly the competitive fire is lit.

From the consumers’ perspective, cable vs 5G competition is largely a positive development. It means better deals and innovations on both sides. The days of the cable ISP monopoly in your town are ending – they know it, and you know it. Even if you stay with cable, you’re likely to benefit from them trying harder to keep you. The next few years will show if cable can stabilize by leveraging their superior infrastructure or if wireless will continue chipping away at their base. Perhaps we’ll land in a steady state where cable serves the heavy-demand users and densely populated areas, while 5G serves cost-conscious and edge areas – or maybe technology advances will tilt it decisively one way. For now, the battle rages, and the consumer is caught — in a good way — in the middle.

Regulatory, Infrastructural, and Competitive Dynamics

The clash between 5G providers and cable isn’t happening in a vacuum; it’s influenced by broader regulatory and industry forces. Here are some key dynamics on that front:

Broadband Policy and Funding: Governments have traditionally promoted wired broadband (fiber/coax) as the end goal, especially for closing the digital divide. In the U.S., the 2021 infrastructure law’s BEAD program allocated $42+ billion mainly for fiber builds to unserved areas, with a stated preference for fiber over wireless. This meant initially, fixed wireless operators wouldn’t get much of that funding. However, there’s a debate: wireless industry groups (like WISPA) argue that supporting FWA could connect people faster and cheaper, creating a surplus of funds for states to cover more ground broadbandbreakfast.com. With a change of administration or evolving policy, there are hints that the fiber-only preference might soften to allow alternatives like FWA in certain cases fierce-network.com. If regulators open the door for 5G projects to receive some subsidies for rural builds, it could further boost FWA deployment in hard-to-reach communities where laying fiber is exorbitantly expensive. We saw the Brightspeed example: they’re eyeing any policy changes that would let them use wireless to meet broadband obligations if fiber plans fall short fierce-network.com. In essence, regulatory support (or at least neutrality) towards FWA could accelerate its expansion, whereas a strict fiber-first stance might constrain it in subsidized markets.
Spectrum Allocation: 5G’s success hinges on access to spectrum. Regulators (like the FCC in the U.S.) play a huge role in freeing up new frequency bands for mobile use. The mid-band spectrum that’s powering current FWA (2.5 GHz, C-band at 3.7 GHz, CBRS at 3.5 GHz, etc.) largely became available through FCC auctions and decisions in the last 5 years. To keep up momentum, carriers want more – like the 3.1–3.45 GHz band, or portions of 4.8 GHz and 7 GHz, etc. The CTIA (wireless lobby) has been pushing for more licensed mid-band spectrum to be released, explicitly citing the need to support 5G home broadband growth techblog.comsoc.org. These spectrum battles matter because without enough airwaves, 5G networks could hit capacity limits. Conversely, more spectrum = more capacity = more potential FWA customers served at high speeds. Policymakers are weighing these requests against other uses (military, satellite, Wi-Fi, etc.). So far, the trend is towards allocating more for 5G, which bodes well for FWA. Internationally, some countries have assigned exclusive FWA spectrum licenses to encourage wireless ISPs, while others allow mobile operators to use existing spectrum for fixed. How regulators prioritize and price spectrum (it’s often extremely costly at auction) will influence 5G home internet economics.
Infrastructure and Siting: 5G requires lots of cell sites, including small cells in some areas. Regulatory frameworks that ease the deployment of these (e.g., streamlined local permitting, access to utility poles, etc.) can speed up 5G rollouts. The FCC has adopted rules to make small cell deployment easier (shot clocks on permits, etc.), but there’s often local pushback about aesthetics or radiation fears. If city councils make it hard to put up new 5G antennas, that can slow down capacity upgrades that benefit FWA users. On the flip side, initiatives to use existing infrastructure (like light poles, rooftops) for small cells can expand coverage. In rural areas, programs to fund 5G tower expansion or allow taller towers could increase reach of FWA. There’s also the matter of backhaul – a 5G tower needs a fat pipe (fiber or microwave) connecting it to the core network. Government efforts to expand middle-mile fiber to tower sites indirectly help FWA too. In summary, infrastructure policy (federal, state, local) can either be a tailwind or headwind for how quickly 5G networks can scale to meet demand.
Competition and Antitrust: We’re witnessing a rare moment of new competitive entry in broadband thanks to wireless. Regulators, who long fretted about cable/telco monopolies, are pleased to see this development. The FCC and Justice Department likely view FWA as a pro-competitive force. This could influence how they approach mergers: for instance, if cable companies try to merge, they might argue “wireless is now a competitor, so the market is broader and our merger isn’t anti-competitive.” We saw an example in the UK where Vodafone and Three’s merger was partly justified by saying they’d create a stronger 5G network to compete with fixed broadband computerweekly.com. In the U.S., T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint (back in 2020) was actually pitched in part on the promise that a stronger T-Mobile would deliver wireless home broadband to compete with cable – a promise that, so far, they’ve kept. So regulatory attitudes toward convergence are shaped by this wireless vs cable rivalry. It’s also worth noting that cable and wireless companies are partnering in some ways (Comcast and Charter use Verizon for mobile service; recently Comcast/Charter and T-Mobile struck a deal for business mobile service broadbandbreakfast.com). Regulators will keep an eye on any collusion or anti-competitive behavior, but as long as there’s vibrant fighting for customers, they’re likely content.
Global Differences: In some countries, regulators heavily favor fiber (e.g., some European countries have national fiber targets and treat FWA as just a supplement). In others, regulators are technology-neutral and even incentivize wireless rollout to meet broadband goals quickly. For example, some developing countries issue unified licenses that let operators choose the best mix to hit coverage obligations. In highly urbanized places like Singapore or South Korea, 5G is ubiquitous but they also have nearly universal fiber, so regulators emphasize 5G more for mobile innovation (like IoT, smart city apps) rather than home internet. Meanwhile, countries like Australia had interesting experiments like an “NBN wireless” for rural areas. All said, regulatory climate can either encourage or simply tolerate FWA growth. So far, the trend is positive: many authorities see it as a key tool to extend internet access and foster competition.
Net Neutrality and Data Practices: There’s an angle where wireless carriers historically have had more flexibility to throttle or prioritize traffic (e.g., video streams at lower resolution, or deprioritizing heavy users after a cap) compared to wired ISPs, due to different regulatory classification. If net neutrality rules are reinstated strongly, it could ensure FWA providers treat traffic equally, which would be good for consumers (no sneaky throttling of certain content on 5G home internet). On the other hand, if wireless stays less regulated, carriers might, for instance, prioritize their own video services or impose hidden data management practices. We haven’t seen major issues yet – in fact, Verizon and T-Mobile have largely marketed FWA as open internet with no caps. But as the service grows, regulators may scrutinize if these offerings truly deliver on promises or if any anti-consumer practices creep in (like making it hard to use certain devices or apps).

In essence, the regulatory and competitive environment is generally favoring the rise of 5G FWA right now – competition authorities are happy to see cable challenged, and incremental policy moves (more spectrum, possible funding tweaks) could boost wireless further. However, policy can also introduce friction if, say, all public funds go only to fiber, or if local governments stymie 5G expansion. Stakeholders on all sides are aware of these levers and are lobbying accordingly. We can expect ongoing tug-of-war in telecom policy circles, but one thing is clear: 5G home internet has arrived as a significant factor, and regulators are adapting to this new reality in the broadband market.

Recent Developments (2024–2025): News and Milestones in the 5G vs. Cable Space

The past two years have been action-packed in this arena. Here are some of the major news stories and milestones from 2024 into 2025 that highlight how 5G providers are replacing cable broadband faster than anticipated:

Record FWA Growth and Cable Losses: Throughout 2023 and 2024, quarterly earnings reports became almost routine in showing the same pattern – T-Mobile and Verizon announcing hundreds of thousands of new home internet customers, while big cable reported flat or negative broadband adds. For instance, in Q2 2024, FWA providers added ~933,000 customers in just that quarter benton.org, whereas telephone DSL/fiber providers only had a small net gain and cable companies lost increasing numbers of subscribers. By year-end 2024, estimates put total U.S. fixed wireless subscriptions around 12 million fitchratings.com. 2024 was the first full year ever where the cable industry had a net loss of broadband subscribers (over 1 million lost that year), while FWA gained roughly 3.7 million techblog.comsoc.org. These facts were widely covered in tech and business media, often with headlines about wireless “stealing” cable’s customers.
T-Mobile Hits 5 Million, 6 Million, 7 Million…: T-Mobile in particular has issued press releases at various milestones. They reached 5 million Home Internet customers by early 2024 opensignal.com, then 6 million by around Q3 2024 broadbandbreakfast.com, and 7+ million by mid-2025 broadbandbreakfast.com. T-Mobile loves to tout that they’ve been the fastest growing broadband provider in the country for over a year running. In 2024 they often added more broadband subs than any cable company. Mike Sievert (CEO) frequently provides colorful commentary, like stating that the majority of their new customers are coming directly from fed-up cable users broadbandbreakfast.com, and that their network can handle many more. T-Mobile has also been expanding eligibility – as they build out more 5G capacity, they “open up” additional addresses for Home Internet. This has been newsworthy in local markets where suddenly people have a new choice.
Verizon’s 5G Home Expansion: Verizon was a bit slower out of the gate, focusing initially on high-speed mmWave in cities, but in 2022–2023 they expanded 5G Home using C-Band spectrum widely. By 2024 Verizon had around 1.5 million FWA customers and targeted 4–5 million by end of 2025. They also introduced a second FWA plan (5G Home “Plus”) with higher speeds and an included streaming device, trying to differentiate on quality. Verizon execs in interviews have noted that they push FWA in areas where they don’t have FiOS fiber, and they position it as solving “pain points” customers have with cable – like price hikes and contracts techblog.comsoc.org. Verizon’s chief revenue officer Frank Boulben explicitly said they’re emphasizing FWA even over their own fiber in many marketing messages, because it addresses what irks people about cable (namely, unpredictable pricing) techblog.comsoc.org. Verizon’s growth picked up pace in late 2023 and 2024, narrowing T-Mobile’s lead in quarterly net adds onetouchintelligence.com. There were also stories of Verizon doing promotions like offering to cover early termination fees for people leaving cable, etc.
AT&T Enters the Chat: In mid-2023, AT&T launched “Internet Air”, finally jumping into consumer FWA after sitting on the sidelines. Initially it was in a few cities (Chicago, Detroit, etc.) as a soft launch to replace aging DSL lines. By 2024, AT&T ramped it up, reporting hundreds of thousands of adds. AT&T’s approach was interesting: they view it as a complementary offering – use wireless to get customers now, but aim to upgrade many of them to fiber over time when fiber becomes available techblog.comsoc.org. AT&T execs have been a bit measured, implying they won’t aggressively pursue FWA in areas where they can do fiber, because ultimately fiber is their bread-and-butter for future-proof network. Nonetheless, their entry validated that all three national wireless carriers are now actively competing in home broadband. AT&T’s service is similarly priced (around $55) and they highlight easy self-install. As AT&T’s footprint overlaps a lot with cable and not with T-Mobile (due to Sprint merger divestitures), they may start taking some share in their territories too.
Cable Responds – Price Locks and Product Pivots: As mentioned, 2024 saw Comcast, Charter, etc., unveil new strategies: multi-year price guarantees (Comcast’s “xFi Complete” with 2-year lock, Charter’s “Spectrum One” with 1-2 year promo and mobile bundle). Comcast also launched Xfinity “NOW” Prepaid Internet in late 2023 as a no-frills, lower-cost prepaid broadband (around $45/month) to mimic the simplicity of FWA for budget consumers fierce-network.com. They even made it self-install. This was widely viewed as Comcast trying to stop bleeding out those price-sensitive customers who might otherwise jump to T-Mobile. News outlets covered statements from cable execs; for example, Charter’s CEO said in late 2024 that the worst of the subscriber losses might be over and that as they complete rural builds and FWA hits some limits, cable could resume growth – a stance backed by the Moffett forecast data lightreading.com. However, in early 2025, Comcast shocked some by reporting its “heaviest broadband subscriber losses ever” in Q1 2025 (over 200k lost) tech.slashdot.org, suggesting the competitive crunch was still intensifying at that point. This prompted more discussion in media about how cable would adjust (some analysts speculated cable might have to cut base prices or offer “good enough” cheaper plans – essentially do segmenting).
Mergers and Market Shakeups: Late 2024 into 2025 saw some big deals that indirectly relate. Charter’s bid to acquire Cox Communications (another top-5 cable operator) in 2025 was at least partly motivated by the need to scale up in the face of competition techblog.comsoc.org. Also, in mobile, Vodafone and Three’s merger in the UK (announced 2023, approved 2024) was tied to a pledge to invest in 5G to reach almost all UK population and even challenge broadband with wireless threemediacentre.co.uk computerweekly.com. In the U.S., Dish Network (satellite TV provider turned would-be wireless carrier) started offering its own 5G broadband in some cities via a partnership with AT&T and T-Mobile, though this remains very limited. And fixed wireless startups like Starry struggled – Starry, which offered 5G-esque home internet in Boston and a few cities, filed for bankruptcy in 2023, illustrating that it’s tough to do FWA without owning a mobile network (they didn’t own significant licensed spectrum). But Starry’s customers were often taken over by T-Mobile or others, so the demand didn’t disappear. Meanwhile, satellite broadband (Starlink) kept growing but largely in rural niches; interestingly, by late 2024 Starlink had over 4 million global users but was not seen as direct competition to cable in urban areas (more of a competitor to HughesNet/Viasat or an option for very rural folks) lightreading.com. Still, some speculate Starlink’s presence puts additional pressure on rural cable or telco ISPs.
Technology Milestones: On the tech side, there were some notable achievements. Verizon achieved 5G Home speeds over 1 Gbps in a handful of cities using millimeter wave – showcasing that wireless can truly reach cable/fiber-like speeds in ideal conditions. T-Mobile began testing 5G carrier aggregation techniques that could boost FWA capacity (combining 5G bands for fatter pipes). There’s also been buzz about 5G Standalone networks (a more advanced 5G core) which T-Mobile and Verizon are deploying – this can lower latency and improve consistency for FWA users when fully implemented. Additionally, 2024 saw major spectrum moves: the FCC started planning new auctions (like 3.1-3.45 GHz band) which in 2025 and beyond could give carriers more mid-band spectrum to expand FWA. Ericsson and Nokia released new home router devices supporting these improvements, meaning by 2025 some customers might get upgraded hardware for even better performance.
Expert Commentary and Predictions: Telecom analysts have been somewhat split – some, like Craig Moffett, argue that 2023 might have been “peak FWA growth” and it will slow as the easy-to-convert customers are exhausted and networks fill up lightreading.com. Others, like New Street’s Chaplin, project FWA can continue strong growth for roughly five more years until hitting ~19M subs capacity techblog.comsoc.org – Chaplin thinks that limit will be reached around 2028, after which cable might regain an upper hand unless wireless carriers add capacity. Roger Entner (Recon Analytics) is bullish, saying it will be years before it slows and implying that unless cable fundamentally changes its approach, FWA will keep siphoning users fierce-network.com. We also heard optimistic takes from industry bodies: the CTIA in early 2024 lauded that “5G home broadband [is] bringing real competition to cable” and pushed for policies to support it, essentially celebrating the success of 5G as a competitive force (not a surprise from the wireless lobby, but it underscores the narrative). On the consumer side, publications like the Wall Street Journal ran stories about people “cutting the cord” on cable internet to save money with 5G, featuring quotes like a family who was tired of the cable company’s rate hikes and switched to T-Mobile and found it perfectly adequate.

All these developments paint a picture of an industry in flux. The tone of news has shifted from “Can 5G be a viable home internet?” a few years ago to now “5G home broadband is here in a big way – where does that leave cable?”. A headline from Fierce Telecom in April 2024 captured it well: “Oh, the places FWA will go” fierce-network.com, highlighting how initial skepticism turned into widespread adoption and even “triumph over cable” in satisfaction ratings fierce-network.com. Another from late 2024 might read “Cable’s worst year ever, wireless’ best” as a summary of subscriber trends. And as 2025 unfolds, the story continues to develop, with both sides innovating and adjusting.

What Industry Experts Are Saying (Quotes from the Field)

To give some additional flavor, here are a few insightful quotes from telecom leaders and analysts about this trend:

Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile (Oct 2024): “The majority [of fixed wireless subscribers] come from cable [and] existing T-Mobile customers… People just love this product. This is the highest Net Promoter Score… product in the country.” broadbandbreakfast.com broadbandbreakfast.com – Sievert highlighting that most of their growth is at cable’s expense and boasting about customer satisfaction.
Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon (mid-2024 earnings call): “We are addressing customer pain points with our 5G Home… no annual contracts, simple pricing. Our focus is on taking share in broadband where we don’t have Fios, by delivering a great experience over wireless.” (Paraphrased from various statements, cites the strategy that Verizon uses FWA to compete out-of-region and emphasizes simplicity as a competitive angle techblog.comsoc.org).
Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast (May 2024): “Three companies… are all offering a home connectivity product that’s… a lower speed, more easily congested network. So how did we respond? We chose to accentuate the difference… In our experience over [past competitors], you accept that new competitive reality, wait your time properly and then start growing again.” fierce-network.com fierce-network.com – Roberts downplaying FWA’s quality and suggesting Comcast will bide its time until it can return to growth, while focusing on its strengths.
Craig Moffett, Analyst at MoffettNathanson (Jan 2025): “It appears increasingly likely that 2023 will have marked the peak for FWA net additions, and therefore for its competitive impact, as well… We don’t expect net subscriber growth for cable in 2025, but we expect dramatically smaller losses.” lightreading.com lightreading.com – a contrarian view that the worst is over for cable as FWA growth moderates.
Roger Entner, Analyst at Recon Analytics (Apr 2024): “It will be years before [FWA] slows down… If cable wants to slow this down, it can start offering better customer service. It can stop offering exploding prices. It can treat its customers better.” fierce-network.com – Entner suggesting FWA’s rise has legs and taking a jab at cable company practices as their Achilles heel.
Carl Lepper, Senior Director at J.D. Power (Oct 2024 press release): “Fiber… is the fastest and most reliable service… but it comes at a cost. Then comes wireless internet, which is more accessible, less expensive and delivers more satisfaction across all parts of the customer experience we measure. If wireless internet can prove to be sustainable… these providers have the ability to be major industry disruptors.” jdpower.com – an independent view that encapsulates why consumers are rating FWA highly and its disruptive potential, albeit with the caveat of needing to sustain quality.
John Hodulik, Analyst at UBS (WSJ interview, June 2025): “The cable companies went from gaining subscribers and raising rates every year to declining subscribers and giving people price locks… Fixed wireless can sometimes cost half as much as cable… [its] lower price point has been luring cable customers away.” techblog.comsoc.org – describing the unprecedented shift in cable’s business model due to competition.
Jonathan Chaplin, Analyst at New Street Research (June 2025): “Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile are winning converts to FWA at a faster pace than many anticipated… However, fixed-wireless growth can’t last indefinitely. The networks on which they run will eventually hit capacity… around 19 million total fixed-wireless subscribers, which he predicts they will reach in about five years.” techblog.comsoc.org techblog.comsoc.org – acknowledging the surprising rapid success but also forecasting an eventual plateau when capacity maxes out.
Erik Ekudden, CTO of Ericsson (June 2025 statement): “Service providers have recognized the potential of 5G and are beginning to monetize it through innovative offerings that extend beyond merely selling data plans… To fully realize 5G’s potential, it is essential to continue deploying 5G SA and to further build out mid-band sites… 5G SA capabilities serve as a catalyst for driving new business growth.” techblog.comsoc.org – basically urging continued 5G investment (which would include supporting things like FWA) to unlock more growth and use cases.

These quotes collectively capture the competitive fire, the differing perspectives (incumbents vs new entrants vs neutral observers), and the future considerations. It’s not often we see such candid talk from cable CEOs acknowledging a threat, nor telecom CEOs crowing about stealing customers so openly. It underscores that this isn’t business as usual – it’s a major competitive upheaval in the telecom landscape.

The Road Ahead: Predictions and What It Means for Consumers

Looking forward, the key question is: Will 5G providers continue to replace cable at this rapid clip, and what does that mean for the average internet user? Based on current trends, expert insights, and technological trajectories, here are some predictions for the near future and their consumer implications:

FWA Growth Continues, but Slows Eventually: In the next 2-3 years, expect 5G home internet to keep adding millions of subscribers, though the feverish pace of 2022–2024 may moderate as the early adopters are largely captured. We might see 15+ million U.S. FWA users by 2026, which is a substantial chunk of the market. As networks approach certain capacity thresholds in high-demand areas, carriers will become more selective in new sign-ups (we may hear more often “sorry, not available in your location” if a cell sector is full). This doesn’t mean FWA hits a wall; it means growth will be more targeted. New capacity (via more spectrum auctions in 2025–2026, network densification, etc.) could re-accelerate growth. But one likely scenario per analysts: by 2028 or so, FWA may level off around 20 million U.S. subscribers unless big technological advances expand it further techblog.comsoc.org. In parallel, fiber deployment will also continue (thanks to federal funding, etc.), and cable will upgrade to offer multi-gig speeds in more places. So the marketplace will stabilize into a new equilibrium where wireless has, say, 15-20% share of broadband, and wired (cable/fiber) retains 80-85%. That alone is a huge shift from 0% wireless share a few years ago. For consumers, it means the majority will have at least two viable options for internet – something that can keep both sides on their toes to offer better value.
Cable Companies Transform (or Struggle): The traditional cable ISP will need to reinvent itself to stay competitive. We can expect cable firms to lean heavily into their strengths – promoting reliability, consistent speeds, and eventually symmetrical multi-gig capabilities. They will likely bundle more services (expect to see packages that integrate home internet, mobile phone, streaming TV, maybe even home security or smart home add-ons). The idea is to make their offering sticky and “premium.” However, they’ll also need to find ways to compete on price for those who just want basic connectivity. We might see low-cost cable plans quietly offered to match FWA pricing (Comcast’s prepaid model is an example). If cable can improve customer service and keep prices in check (or offer long-term fixed rates), they could stem the tide of defections. Some forecasts, like Moffett’s, suggest cable might return to mild broadband growth by 2026 lightreading.com lightreading.com – but that assumes they endure the current storm and that FWA’s appeal plateaus. If cable doesn’t adapt – continuing business-as-usual with price hikes and poor service – they risk a larger exodus, especially as younger, more tech-savvy households have no qualms about trying wireless. Consumers should see cable fighting harder for their loyalty: more retention deals, better support, maybe even perks like free upgrades or hardware. Essentially, cable will have to behave like a competitive business rather than a monopoly, which is a mindset shift.
Technology Convergence and Hybrid Solutions: We could see some interesting hybrids emerge. For example, integrated fiber + 5G offerings – carriers might use FWA to get a customer today and promise a fiber upgrade tomorrow, effectively bridging the gap. T-Mobile signaled this with its acquisition of a fiber company (Lumen’s fiber assets via a joint venture) and ambition to offer fiber in some markets alongside wireless broadbandbreakfast.com broadbandbreakfast.com. AT&T is explicitly doing this “FWA now, fiber later” approach techblog.comsoc.org. So some consumers might start on 5G and later be offered a seamless switch to fiber when it becomes available, maybe even using the same provider. Conversely, cable operators could utilize wireless as part of their network – for instance, cableWi-Fi hotspots or CBRS small cells to offload some traffic wirelessly. In rural areas, we may see local ISPs use a mix: fiber to a town, then 5G wireless to reach the last few miles to remote homes (an approach the FCC might support for cost-efficiency). So rather than all-wireless or all-wired, many regions will get a patchwork of solutions working together to maximize coverage and capacity. For users, this could mean more choices and tailored solutions – maybe you get a fiber line if you’re a heavy user or business, but your neighbor who just needs casual internet gets 5G, and both are satisfied.
Improved 5G Tech = Better Service: The next iterations of 5G (Release 17, 18, etc.) and eventually 6G (in the 2030s) promise upgrades that will benefit FWA. We’re talking higher spectrum bands (perhaps even terahertz waves) for extreme capacity over short ranges, more intelligent antennas, AI-driven network optimization, etc. While 6G is speculative right now, the industry’s trajectory is always moving toward higher speeds and more connections. By the later 2020s, 5G Advanced networks might employ techniques like network slicing to offer guaranteed bandwidth FWA plans (e.g., pay extra to always have 500 Mbps even at peak times). Latency might drop further if edge computing is deployed (useful for gamers). And new spectrum like the 12 GHz band could open up, which might allow wireless ISPs to deliver fiber-like performance in suburban neighborhoods with lots of small cells. So, the gap between what’s possible on wireless vs wired may further narrow. This is important because one of the bearish arguments on FWA is that it can’t support gigabit-class service for all – but what if in, say, 5 years, 5G networks can commonly deliver 1 Gbps to each home using advanced tech and abundant spectrum? That would be a game-changer, effectively removing the speed advantage of wired except in extreme cases. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s plausible. For consumers, that future would mean wireless truly competing head-to-head with fiber on performance, leaving things like price, customer service, and convenience as the main differentiators.
Satellite and Other Wildcards: While the main battle is between terrestrial players, we shouldn’t ignore others. Satellite internet (especially low-earth orbit constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink and upcoming Amazon’s Kuiper) is rapidly evolving. Starlink’s capacity is expanding with new satellites and they’re rolling out a second-gen constellation. Right now, satellite is still a niche for those with no other option (due to high cost and some reliability issues), but in a few years, if Starlink can deliver 500 Mbps with low latency and bring costs down, it could start to overlap with the same market FWA and cable are targeting – particularly in exurban or even some suburban areas. It’s something to watch; cable analysts have noted Starlink is mostly hurting other satellite providers so far, not cable lightreading.com, but that could change if the tech improves. Also, new technologies like HAPS (high altitude platform stations) – essentially broadband via balloons or drones – and even fixed wireless using unlicensed spectrum (Wi-Fi 7 based WISPs) might add more options. The more players, the more competitive pressure, which generally helps consumers.
Consumer Empowerment and Choice: Ultimately, the continuation of this trend means internet users will be increasingly in the driver’s seat. The days of just begrudgingly paying the cable bill because there’s no alternative are ending. If your provider raises rates or treats you poorly, you can switch to the other type (wireless vs wired) fairly easily. That’s empowering. We may also see more short-term or flexible plans – e.g., maybe one day you can pause your home internet if you’re away and rely on mobile only, or subscribe seasonally (carriers like T-Mobile have already played with month-to-month home internet for snowbirds). Competition breeds innovation in pricing models too. On the flip side, as providers fight for subscribers, we should caution that some might resort to too-good-to-be-true introductory deals and then we could see a cycle of promotional churn (where customers hop back and forth to get the best deal). But even that beats being stuck under one monopoly. Regulators will likely stay vigilant to ensure competition remains fair and that no anticompetitive collusion happens (like, we wouldn’t want cable and wireless to secretly agree not to undercut each other – there’s no indication of that, but it’s something authorities watch).
Outcome: A More Dynamic Broadband Market: The near future promises a broadband market that is dynamic, diverse, and customer-centric. If we roll the clock say to 2030, one plausible scenario is: in cities and towns, most people will have the option of a fiber-like service (either actual fiber or a wireless equivalent) from at least two providers. In rural areas, most will at least have one decent option (either fiber, FWA, or satellite) as universal coverage improves. Broadband could become like mobile service – a thing you can shop for and switch with relative ease if a better deal comes. That’s a far cry from how static it has been.

For consumers, the advice is to stay informed and periodically re-evaluate your options. The landscape is changing quickly. The provider that was best for you two years ago might not be the best (or best value) next year. With 5G expanding, check if it’s now available in your area if you’re looking to save money or want to cut ties with cable. Conversely, if you have 5G and it’s not meeting your needs, keep an eye on whether fiber or cable upgrades become available that could serve you better – providers are building out all the time. Use the competition to your advantage: negotiate with your ISP, leverage the fact that you can go elsewhere.

In conclusion, 5G internet providers replacing cable faster than you think is not just a flashy headline – it’s a reality that’s unfolding and accelerating. It represents a shift from one era (where your home internet came from a wire owned by the phone or cable company) to a new era (where your internet comes through the air from a cell tower, or frankly, wherever the best signal and deal are). This shift brings with it lower prices, more innovation, and a bit of healthy chaos in a previously staid market. If you’re a consumer, that’s largely great news. The mere existence of an alternative keeps the incumbents honest. And if you’re a tech enthusiast, it’s fascinating to watch wireless and wired worlds collide and converge.

The next few years will reveal just how far this trend goes – will wireless one day overtake wired entirely for most users? Or will we settle into a balanced coexistence? One thing’s for sure: never again will we underestimate the ability of mobile technology to disrupt even the most entrenched industries. 5G has proven it can take on the cables, and it’s forcing everyone to up their game. In the end, that means a better connected, more empowered world for all of us online.

Sources:

J.D. Power 2024 ISP Satisfaction Study – Press Release jdpower.com jdpower.com jdpower.com
Fierce Telecom – “Oh, the places FWA will go” (Julia King, Apr 2024) fierce-network.com fierce-network.com fierce-network.com fierce-network.com
Opensignal Report (June 2024) – “5G FWA reshaped the U.S. broadband market” opensignal.com opensignal.com opensignal.com
IEEE ComSoc Techblog – “U.S. Home Internet prices decline amidst competition” (June 2025) techblog.comsoc.org techblog.comsoc.org techblog.comsoc.org techblog.comsoc.org techblog.comsoc.org
Fierce Telecom – Comcast CEO interview (M. Abarinova, May 2024) fierce-network.com fierce-network.com fierce-network.com
Broadband Breakfast – T-Mobile earnings reports (Jake Neenan, Jul 2025 & Ari Bertenthal, Oct 2024) broadbandbreakfast.com broadbandbreakfast.com broadbandbreakfast.com
Light Reading – Craig Moffett analysis (Jeff Baumgartner, Jan 2025) lightreading.com lightreading.com
TechCrunch – Reliance Jio AirFiber launch (Aug 2023) techcrunch.com techcrunch.com
Benton Institute – Industry trends (Doug Dawson, Aug 2024) benton.org
[Additional citations throughout the text from various industry sources and news reports as referenced above.]

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