If you're interested in changing networks, it can be a lot of work to try out another carrier, because you'll often have to go to a store, get a new phone, transfer your data over, and so on. T-Mobile wants to make the process of trying out a network easier.
T-Mobile today launched an updated version of Test Drive, its Un-carrier 5.0 move that launched more than five years ago. With this new Test Drive, you can receive a Coolpad Surf mobile hotspot and use the T-Mobile network for 30 days or 30GB of data usage (whichever comes first), totally free.
The Coolpad Surf is a small mobile hotspot device that can connect up to 15 devices to T-Mobile's network using a Wi-Fi connection. It connects to T-Mobile LTE bands 2, 4, 12, 66, and 71. That includes 600MHz LTE (band 71), which T-Mobile touts as reaching twice as far and penetrating buildings four times better than mid-band spectrum.
You can sign up for a T-Mobile Test Drive by going to this page and filling out your name, phone number, and email address, and then a Coolpad Surf will be shipped to you for free. T-Mo wants to make finishing your test drive just as easy as signing up, so once you're done, you can return the Coolpad Surf to a T-Mobile store or hand it off to a friend.
The original T-Mobile Test Drive gave interested consumers a free iPhone 5s to try out T-Mo's network for seven days. One of the big draws with the updated Test Drive is that you now get 30 days to try out the T-Mobile network, meaning you'll have time to check the coverage at home, at work, at the dog park, at your favorite vacation spot, and anywhere else. One thing to keep in mind is that a mobile hotspot doesn't allow you to try out the voice calling on T-Mobile, so that's one thing to keep in mind while you're taking the network for a test spin.