02/21/2025
AT&T Internet Air’s sole internet plan covers the basics fairly well. With download speeds up to 300 Mbps, you’ll have enough bandwidth for a small household in most scenarios. But you’ll run into problems if more than a few people want to download games or do cloud file backups simultaneously.
We wish AT&T had thrown Internet Air customers a bone with its price tag. Internet Air’s $60.00/mo. base price is $5 more than AT&T’s Internet 300 fiber internet plan, which offers much faster 300 Mbps download and upload speeds. Availability is the biggest difference between both plans, and it’s a slightly apples-to-oranges comparison—if AT&T fiber internet’s not available in your area, you’ll have to settle for Internet Air. But the fact that Internet Air costs more than AT&T fiber internet and has slower speeds leaves a sour taste in our mouth.
That said, Internet Air’s biggest advantage is its straightforward pricing. Unlike cable internet providers, you’ll pay one price for internet service—you won’t have to worry about hidden equipment fees, data overages, or price increases after 12 months. AT&T isn’t alone here among 5G home internet providers—Verizon and T-Mobile have similar pricing setups—but we’re still huge fans of flat-rate internet pricing regardless.
Expect decent reliability, variable speeds from AT&T Internet Air
As a 5G home internet service, Internet Air uses AT&T’s 5G cellular data network to deliver internet service. 5G internet has a lot of upsides—you don’t need wires to run into your home—but its download speeds can be unpredictable because of how 5G coverage varies between areas. It’s why AT&T’s listed download speeds (as with Verizon and T-Mobile) cover such a wide range compared to cable or fiber internet plans.
According to speed test data from our partners at ISP respondents on AT&T Internet Air had an average latency of 42.5 milliseconds. This mark isn’t the most impressive, but it’s line with other 5G home internet competitors like Verizon (31.8 milliseconds) and T-Mobile (40.7 milliseconds). AT&T Internet Air performed similarly well in ISP annual Internet Customer Satisfaction survey—around 75% of respondents were satisfied with their internet speeds and reliability, which was in line with T-Mobile and a step behind Verizon.
In practice, your real-life download performance will heavily depend on factors like AT&T network traffic and 5G towers in your area.
How reliable is AT&T Internet Air?
As part of our research, we analyzed more than 9,000 AT&T Internet Air speed test results from our partners at ISP to measure AT&T Internet Air’s reliability. Only 33.5% of our evaluated speed test results had download speeds that were at or above Internet Air’s advertised speeds, which was below Verizon (35.9%) and T-Mobile (47.5%).
This doesn’t mean that most customers will permanently have sub-100 Mbps download speeds with Internet Air, but it does underline that AT&T’s 5G network is more unpredictable for home internet compared to Verizon and T-Mobile.
AT&T Internet Air Wi-Fi equipment
AT&T also bundles the AT&T All-Fi Hub, which connects your home to AT&T’s 5G network and doubles as a Wi-Fi router.
If your home still has Wi-Fi dead zones, you can rent Wi-Fi extenders for an additional $10 per month.
However, we recommend buying your own mesh Wi-Fi system or Wi-Fi extender if you plan on living at your home for more than a year or two since they usually only cost between $100 and $300.
Leave your zip codes in the comments or send us a message, we would be more than glad to help you and guide you to meet your needs.
