FWA test by Eli BlumenthalConsumers have spoken: there is no doubt fixed wireless is a reasonable alternative for many. 532,000 of the 1,065,000 of  broadband net additions in the first quarter were wireless, according to Bruce Leichtman, whose work has proven reliable.

At my apartment, T-Mobile wireless is faster than cable on the upstream, fine on the downstream, and $20 cheaper. I'd happily switch. Reporter Eli Blumental was able to try both Verizon and T-Mobile and found them to be reasonable choices, although still shaking out the system. He tested one service at 465 Mbps down and 445 Mbps up. (Illustration)

T-Mobile has now reached 1 million FWA subs after adding 338,000 in Q1. It is just getting started, with service only available in about a third of the country,  Target is 8 million by 2025.

Diana Goovaerts reports, "Verizon scooped up 194,000 fixed wireless customers in the first quarter, leaving it with total broadband net additions of 229,000. CFO Matt Ellis said on the call this figure was the 'highest net adds in over a decade'"

The 532,000 FWA is about the same number as the combined adds of cable and fiber. That's way down from last year despite $billions in subsidies.

Cable Companies

   
 

Comcast

32,163,000

262,000

 

Charter

30,274,000

185,000

 

Cox*

5,560,000

30,000

 

Altice**

4,373,200

(13,000)

 

Mediacom*

1,468,000

5,000

 

Cable One**

1,057,000

11,000

 

Breezeline**

719,608

2,830

 

Total Top Cable

75,614,808

482,830

 

Wireline Phone Companies

   
 

AT&T

15,533,000

29,000

 

Verizon

7,400,000

35,000

 

Lumen

4,470,000

(49,000)

 

Frontier

2,819,000

20,000

 

Windstream

1,176,000

11,300

 

TDS^

495,200

4,900

 

Consolidated

380,150

(850)

 

Total Top Wireline Phone

32,273,350

50,350

 

Fixed Wireless Services

   
 

T-Mobile

984,000

338,000

 

Verizon

433,000

194,000

 

Total Top Fixed Wireless

1,417,000

532,000

 

Total Top Broadband

109,305,158

1,065,180