AT&T’s prepaid brand Cricket Wireless has launched Cricket 5G Home Internet, a fixed wireless service that runs on AT&T’s network and adds another low-cost option to a home broadband market T-Mobile and Verizon have been reshaping. The service costs $65 a month for new customers, $75 when bundled with Cricket Wireless, and $45 for existing Cricket customers with the $5 autopay discount, Rolling Out reported.
Cricket lists typical downloads of 90 to 300 Mbps, uploads of 8 to 30 Mbps and latency of 30 to 65 milliseconds. Customers set it up themselves through the myCricket Internet app, with no installation appointment or annual contract.
Fixed wireless keeps growing
T-Mobile added about 520,000 broadband customers in the second quarter, according to Recon Analytics, while Verizon reported about 348,000 internet additions. 5G fixed wireless connections from Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T topped 17 million in the first quarter, about 13.7% of U.S. home broadband subscriptions, Ookla said, citing Census data.
The technology was pitched as a rural fix, but roughly 70% of Ookla’s second-quarter fixed wireless test samples came from urban users. T-Mobile led on speed with a median download of 222.7 Mbps, 38.4% higher than AT&T Internet Air and 76% higher than Verizon 5G Home, and a median upload of 18.1 Mbps. All three carriers’ speeds dipped from the first quarter, which Ookla attributed likely to seasonal foliage. Rural users saw slower speeds and higher latency than urban ones, and in 48 states fewer than 40% of fixed wireless Speedtest users hit the FCC’s 100/20 Mbps broadband benchmark.
Wave7 Research principal Jeff Moore wrote in RCR Wireless News in May that “the U.S. broadband duopoly of cable and telcos is fading.” Citing CCG Consulting, he said cable still held 59% of broadband subscribers at the end of 2025, telcos 27% and fixed wireless 14%.
Cable bets on bundles
Spectrum COO Nick Jeffery said in a LinkedIn post that fixed wireless will land “at some form of equilibrium” and satellite will remain a rural complement, Broadband Breakfast reported. He argued cheap fixed wireless prices will eventually rise as the service takes up more of carriers’ spare spectrum. “Ultimately all players need to converge or watch their single-play markets shrink,” he wrote. “Whoever’s strong in cellular needs fixed assets, and vice versa.”
Capacity is the open question. New Street Research has estimated room for about 32 million fixed wireless customers, not counting spectrum acquired after late 2025, while CTIA puts the current count at about 16 million. MoffettNathanson estimates fixed wireless accounts for about half of T-Mobile and Verizon traffic. T-Mobile executives said that wasn’t far off, while Verizon CEO Dan Schulman would only say it wasn’t a majority. Comcast, AT&T and Verizon have all reported lower churn among customers who bundle mobile and home broadband.
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