Horrendous Download vs. Awesome Upload Speeds

If there is suspicion about wireless vs. wired connections from the client you use run speed testing with an Ethernet cable vs. via the wireless network. If all clients are connecting via wireless and the results of speed testing are consistent to a reference server then a comparison with a wired client would be good to know. 

If all tests still reflect poor download speeds I would still be suspicious of the tower operation. 

With respect to your neighbors interest. What I have learned here is that especially on the n71 towers they have only so many available connections before they stop taking customers in a given location. If they delay and do not request a subscription they might be left in the queue. If they go ahead and get the gateway and try it they do have the time to send it back OR if T-Mobile tells them it will be a month or two before they have the tower stable then they can have their home internet account suspended (at no cost) and then jump back on when the tower is right. Here the tower loaded up really fast and I have heard from multiple people in our area that are in the queue. Unless someone drops out OR a new cell becomes available they would have to wait or go for another solution. Just food for thought.

IF I was stuck with a slow expensive solution I would jump in right away. Delay means they will probably not get a spot on the tower. If it does not work out they can cancel at any time or suspend and wait till it does work.

Another thought on that is if your neighbor gets a gateway/subscription and it works well for them then the datapoint may be very helpful. It could suggest that the problem is more with the gateway you have vs a tower issue. You could request another gateway and have them send one out. Just a thought.