Cellphone Companies Want to Be Your Home-Internet Provider—and Vice Versa

A budding battle between U.S. cable and phone companies has brought fresh competition for services typically dominated by a few large companies. Wireless carriers are using the excess capacity on next-generation networks to win over customers who have been using traditional broadband-internet providers, while those same cable companies are promoting new and cheaper cellphone plans. New fifth-generation cellular networks have helped carriers T-Mobile and Verizon signed up 2.2 million wireless-internet customers through June, often at traditional broadband providers’ expense. The mobile-phone companies’ fixed wireless signals beam broadband connections from cell towers to routers placed in homes and businesses instead of by wire, which can be costly and time-consuming to install. Cable-internet providers blamed a slowdown in household moves for the drop but said new competition from mobile carriers played a role, albeit a small one. T-Mobile CEO, Mike Sievert, believes that demand comes primarily from suburban cable customers and underserved customers in smaller markets and rural areas, where customers are more likely to switch from traditional cable services to wireless carriers for broadband. Even with slower internet speeds from wireless carriers, customers find primacy in lower bill costs than in slower speeds, which often goes unnoticed. Competition in this space is expected to increase in the coming years.