T-Mobile’s Away Plan Will Be Your Best Moving Tool

Not all moves are as simple as showing up at your new place and unloading a box truck. Sometimes, you’ve got to get there and get going before finding your new home. Having been through several of these longer transitions, I can confidently say you’ll need a decent internet connection more than ever.

Changing your location replaces your daily mental map and itinerary with a blank slate. In some ways, this is incredibly refreshing, but in so many more, it’s terribly inconvenient and inefficient. Your morning routine, commute, workday, recharge rituals, all of it gets turned upside down—as every activity now begins with a question mark.

During this period of wobbly footing, Google will be your new bestie, helping you carve out your new routines, find your new favorite spots, and keep your life moving like the perfect informational assistant. Online services like Uber, Grubhub, and Airbnb become godsends rescuing you constantly as you navigate your new surroundings.

You’ve also got all your usual online activity to manage, services to find, plus a dozen new accounts to set up—doing it all on a tiny phone screen gets old quickly. There’s no way around it: You’ll need proper internet service to navigate the chaos.

The problem with free and quasi-public Wi-Fi

Most temporary housing solutions, like Airbnbs and hotels, have included Wi-Fi, but these services can be hit or miss—a risky prospect for a newcomer fully reliant on internet service. The last thing you need is one mile-per-hour Wi-Fi when you get back from a long day of working, new home searching, or exploring the new terrain. Potential performance issues aside, you’re also putting your data and sensitive information at the mercy of several completely unfamiliar networks with questionable network security. It’s a bit frightening once you realize there isn’t much of a filter on who can access these excessively-shared networks.

And don’t assume your mobile phone will carry you through the coming connectivity drought. Hotspot devices are great in a pinch, but they can’t fill in as your main internet connection for extended periods. You’ll blow through your cellular data cap in a hot minute, and even if you have unlimited data, your carrier will throttle your connection the second it discovers you’re taking up a disproportionate piece of the pie. Luckily, T-Mobile has decided to uproot its highly-praised 5G home internet to create the newest moveable connectivity option: the T-Mobile Away plan.

T-Mobile Away: The ultimate moving tool

Designed for nomads, RVers, and anyone living on the go, T-Mobile’s Away plan only needs power and reception to get you and all your devices online. It’s the first robust travel internet option utilizing a 5G network.

T-Mobile Away plans comparison

With its light footprint, the T-Mobile Away plan also doubles as a one-stop shop internet service for those going through longer moves or extended stays. Other options require installing and lugging around a satellite dish or come with the limitations of a mobile hotspot.

The T-Mobile Away plan includes a proper internet gateway capable of connecting up to 64 devices—double what a hotspot can do and way more than you’ll get out of a phone acting as a mobile hotspot or tether. Most importantly, your T-Mobile gateway will come with important security features, like WPA-3, to keep your activity and data safe. That’s especially important when you’re in unfamiliar areas.

You can choose a cheap plan with a 200GB data cap or pay a little extra for unlimited data. Either way, your speeds may be slowed after using 1.2TB in a single month, but that’s the same data cap most cable internet subscribers have. But cable ISPs charge you fees once you go over, while T-Mobile slows speeds instead. The T-Mobile Away plan is available now.

T-Mobile Away: Expected Availability

T-Mobile Away was originally slated to launch on May 8, 2024. However, due to a delay, there is no estimated launch date at this time, so stay tuned.