5G Internet Service and Ubuntu-Mate LINUX
First Impressions: Cutting the Cord (Again)
Santa came a bit early this year. I replaced an aging television with a 43" Hisense QLED Fire TV from Amazon and paired it with an RCA “55-mile” over-the-air antenna. That combination works, and from Victoria, Texas it is currently pulling in 14 broadcast channels. There will be some figuring out to do, as this set is far more advanced than the old TV it replaced (which has now been disposed of).
At the same time, I added a T-Mobile 5G Home Internet gateway, with the intention of replacing the local fixed-wireless ISP (TISD). The gateway is positioned near a window facing downtown Victoria, where most of the 5G towers appear to be located. The unit reports a three-bar signal. While I would naturally prefer to see five bars, three does not seem to be a practical problem so far.
For clarity, the old TISD system is now turned off at the wall switch. There is no possibility of confusion or accidental fallback. Once the T-Mobile system finally connected, my subjective impression was that it felt slightly faster than TISD, though at this stage that impression is based more on responsiveness than on measured numbers.
Getting the T-Mobile system to connect on my Ubuntu-MATE Z840 workstation took several attempts. Initially, clicking the Wi-Fi icon, selecting the T-Mobile network, and entering the password would cause the dialog box to disappear without establishing a usable connection. Browsers such as Brave and Chromium would report “NO INTERNET.”
On about the fifth or sixth attempt, however, the connection finally “stuck,” and from that point onward the system behaved normally. Based on experience and follow-up explanation, this appears to be typical Linux NetworkManager behavior when dealing with a brand-new router or cellular gateway, particularly one that is still finalizing its upstream link and DHCP state. In other words, annoying but not alarming.
Once connected, the system has been stable. The T-Mobile gateway is operating through an insect screen and a metal Venetian blind, neither of which seems to be causing meaningful degradation. Modern 5G MIMO systems are surprisingly tolerant of imperfect signal paths, and the reported three-bar signal does not appear to limit real-world usability.
The plan is to run both setups in parallel until Wednesday, December 17. If the T-Mobile service continues to perform well, I will have TISD collect their approximately 1,000-foot rooftop antenna and formally discontinue service.
This is not my first forced transition. About five years ago, getting rid of Suddenlink/Optimum had become an emergency priority, and TISD was the only halfway rational alternative available at the time. If T-Mobile proves reliable, this will finally put an end to that entire chapter.
So far, the takeaway is simple: over-the-air television plus cellular home internet is now a genuinely viable combination, even in a smaller city like Victoria. Fewer wires, fewer vendors, and fewer points of failure is a welcome change.