After working in telecom for 5-6 years. Makes sense that t-mo is planning it and not “there” yet. Biggest problem they have with 5g is that with high frequency it doesn’t penetrate walls very well. They already have to take special steps to get cell service into tall buildings. Guess what! Most cell companies barely use a microwave backhaul anymore. Guess why! Because as the fiber network expanded it is much better for cell backhaul and communication.

As 5g (that’s still technically 3g if you really want to break it down…I’m pretty sure that’s the case still) gets expanded and the dead zones get filled in phones, cars, homes, and anything else you can think of will be connected constantly and as ipv6 gets implemented more and more (I still have a lot to learn about ipv6) the need for home routers will disappear because there should be enough IPs to go around.

But there will always be those that like the physical connections and they will most likely always be available because it’s the backbone of the wireless networks. Might only be available near towers or densely populated areas but will always be there.