A recent report claims that AT&T and T-Mobile are taking federal money meant to bring internet to rural America and spending most of it on city networks instead. According to a consulting firm (via PhoneArena) that analyzed cell tower locations across the country, this practice leaves countryside residents with spotty service while urban areas get upgraded networks funded by rural broadband programs.
Cell Tower Solutions, a firm that reverse engineers communication sites, claims carriers accept federal grants and tax breaks for building rural Fixed Wireless Access sites but then funnel the majority of funding to urban and suburban markets, with T-Mobile identified as the biggest offender. The company’s Vice President Walt Woodard said in November 2025 that carriers continue providing rural service only to attract customers to more profitable mobile plans.
The core issue is simple economics. Fixed Wireless Access requires many closely spaced towers, but rural areas aren’t dense enough to make this profitable for carriers. So according to the report, companies build just enough rural sites to qualify for government funding, then use the rest of the money in cities where they can make more money per customer.
Cell Tower Solutions also points out a technical problem: while 5G data works fine for phones, the signals can’t penetrate well enough to provide reliable internet to homes and businesses. The report states that carriers have saved hundreds of millions in taxes by claiming mobile wireless equals home broadband, despite significant differences in actual versus advertised speeds.
The Un-carrier has responded to such claims and called it “inaccurate.” They also revealed that they have not “received no federal funding for FWA” and that they “prioritize both rural and urban broadband development and will not compromise one for the other.”
T-Mobile added 506,000 5G home internet customers in the third quarter, growing 22 percent year-over-year. The company maintains a waitlist that Cell Tower Solutions says was created after customer complaints about service quality. T-Mobile Chief Broadband Officer Allan Samson recently confirmed most FWA customers live in big cities, which now appears to align with the consulting firm’s findings about fund redirection.
The Federal Communications Commission would need to step in to enforce proper use of rural broadband funding. T-Mobile has set a goal of 12 million home internet subscribers by 2028, and the company says its strategy works best in rural areas where it has extra network capacity. However, that assumes rural economics improve enough to make the investment worthwhile.
Source: PhoneArena