T-Mobile Test Drive Results

[Markintosh]

Well the T-Mobile Test Drive Kit arrived today. In the box is a Coolpad Surf hot spot that you activate for free for 30 days or 30 gigs. The fact that it is free and I could test it right in my living room without finding a friend with T-Mobile is good.

What's not to like? The service sucks at our house, even more than our current provider, Verizon.

The Coolpad could only hold a poor connection, based on the yellow light on the device. When I tested for download speed, the speed was about 0.82 Mbps, which is pretty darn bad.

For comparison, Verizon regularly shows only 1 bar of service at our house. I tested the Verizon speed immediately following T Mobile and the download speed was 5.8 Mbps, which is still poor, but way better than T-Mobile.

We generally use wifi on our phones when home, so that is no big deal...until the power goes out and you only have cellular internet. We will not be switching to T-Mobile, even though we could save $50 per month on 4 lines.

I still am hoping that the T-Mobile Test Drive device will carry me through the Lost Sierra Hoedown next week. I do all of the merch sales for the event, so it would be nice to be able to process Square transactions without doing the "Square dance" looking for a Verizon service.

[Ombligo]

I'm getting a much better signal at my house than expected, 23.48Mbps.

The senior plan is making me think seriously about switching.

[Speedy]

Thanks! Mine is still in the box awaiting some free time when I can test it.

[RAMd®d]

I wish T-Moble had a cheap plan for one line.

[pinion]

T-Mobile service isn't quite as good as what I had with AT&T but the savings are amazing and well worth any degradation. At least, in my experience.

[NewtonMP2100]

....just a note....the fine print says 30 days or 30GB whichever comes first.....I already used up the 30GB in a week and 1/2.........

[Ombligo]

NewtonMP2100 wrote:
....just a note....the fine print says 30 days or 30GB whichever comes first.....I already used up the 30GB in a week and 1/2.........

let me guess, you stream TV and movies endlessly.

[NewtonMP2100]

....actually, no......normally, just watch OTA but occassionally watch streaming.....

[Bill in NC]

Speed is better here...roughly 20 MBps down & 2 MBps up, but often slows to a crawl at night (e.g. ~200 KBps down)

So far it underperforms my $35/month unlimited* AT&T "tablet" plan (SIM put into an unlocked hotspot)

*may be throttled after the first 22GB/month of LTE data.

[Zoidberg]

My son just jumped ship back to AT&T after just 5 months on T-Mobile. If he strayed too far from the interstate (where the only towers apparently are), he would get no signal; not even roaming. WiFi calling & texting worked, but was not reliable enough. Even when the signal was at 3 or 4 bars, calls would drop, texts wouldn't go through. This was on several model iPhones (a 5SE and a 6S) and two different Samsung Galaxy phones (his roommate).

T-Mobile absolutely sucks where I am (central AR, just outside of Little Rock). Even Verizon, which has a major billing/marketing (?) center in the area (they even are the big arena's sponsor), is spotty throughout the area.

Much like Comcast/Xfinity, the only game in town if you want coverage & reliability is AT&T, like it or not.