T-Mobile has started selling fiber landline internet connections at several apartment buildings in Manhattan, PCMag learned today.
While the wireless carrier is aggressively promoting its 5G home internet service, a tipster told us that "within the past few weeks," T-Mobile quietly launched a website at t-mobilefiber.com to promote its gigabit fiber service.
The service has one plan, at 940Mbps symmetrical, with an eero Pro 6 router included. The service is available at "a flat monthly rate," although the website doesn't say what that rate is.
T-Mobile confirmed that it's running the project, although not the specific number of buildings involved. The company said in a statement:
"We recently launched a pilot program in select Manhattan residential buildings to deliver home internet over fiber-optic lines, using a local fiber provider’s fiber-optic network.
So T-Mobile isn't running its own fiber lines here; it's renting them from a competitor. According to the company's site, "T-Mobile Fiber's Broadband Internet Access Services are provided over Pilot Fiber's wired fiber-optic network."
According to a Reddit post on the topic, Pilot has redirected its getpilot.com Web address to T-Mobile. Pilot is a New York-based, business fiber provider that serves more than 2,100 businesses in 600 buildings, according to that company. One of the posters on the Reddit thread says Pilot's residential service cost them $60/month.
So what we're seeing here may not be an attempt by T-Mobile to break into the fiber game the way Google tried to (and then gave up.) Rather, the company may be testing the waters to see if its consumer marketing chops can combine with business fiber providers' extra capacity to offer a partnered way to battle Verizon and AT&T. We'll keep an eye out to see if this goes any further.