Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,288
30,363


T-Mobile today launched a new "Network Pass" feature that is designed to allow prospective customers to try out the T-Mobile service for free for three months.

t-mobile-network-pass.jpg

With the updated T-Mobile app, customers can sign up for Network Pass, which uses the iPhone's eSIM functionality. T-Mobile's service can be tested right alongside an existing carrier's service, and T-Mobile says there are tools for viewing network performance and comparing a typical customer's average 5G experience in a given area so users can decide whether to switch to T-Mobile.

Network Pass provides potential customers with unlimited data, including 5G, for the three-month period. Customers who use more than 50GB of data per month may see reduced speeds until the next monthly cycle due to data prioritization. During the trial period, video streams in SD quality, and tethering is not available.

Network Pass is available to individual users and businesses who are not subscribed to T-Mobile, Sprint, or Metro by T-Mobile and who have not been T-Mobile customers within the past 90 days.

T-Mobile previously had a "Test Drive" program for testing the T-Mobile service, but it was limited to 30 days or 30GB of high-speed data. eSIM compatible iPhones that work with Network Pass include the iPhone XS and newer.

T-Mobile is also adding an Easy Switch option so people can switch to T-Mobile with a current unlocked eSIM-compatible smartphone in as little as five minutes. Up to five lines can be swapped over using Easy Switch in the T-Mobile app without the need to visit a T-Mobile location.

All of the new app features are available on iPhone devices starting today.

Article Link: T-Mobile Offering Three Months of Free Service for Prospective Customers
 
  • Like
Reactions: compwiz1202

BootsWalking

macrumors 68020
Feb 1, 2014
2,267
14,181
“Switching is another insane artifact left over from a stupid, broken, arrogant industry … and it’s hard on purpose. As the industry juggernauts in the 3G and 4G era, Verizon and AT&T designed switching to be difficult, keeping their hordes of customers from leaving to protect their billions in revenues,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “At the Un-carrier, we’re laser-focused on being the wireless provider you want to stay with, not the one you’re stuck with.

It's comments like these that brought me to T-Mobile. Haven't looked back since.
 

jntdroid

macrumors 6502a
Oct 12, 2011
931
1,261
“Switching is another insane artifact left over from a stupid, broken, arrogant industry … and it’s hard on purpose. As the industry juggernauts in the 3G and 4G era, Verizon and AT&T designed switching to be difficult, keeping their hordes of customers from leaving to protect their billions in revenues,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “At the Un-carrier, we’re laser-focused on being the wireless provider you want to stay with, not the one you’re stuck with.

It's comments like these that brought me to T-Mobile. Haven't looked back since.

Yeah, but how much of that is blowing smoke? They're still a slave to the same porting system, for example...
 

jntdroid

macrumors 6502a
Oct 12, 2011
931
1,261
Dumb question, as I've never used the e-sim alongside a regular sim at the same time. How does the phone know which data connection to use? I'm interested in trying this, as Verizon has become painfully slow the past 6 months in my area...

Can I just say, "Hey use Verizon. Ok, now I want to try T-Mobile, use that instead" ?

I'm assuming it's not that granular...
 
  • Like
Reactions: CoMoMacUser

Mxbzz

macrumors 6502
Jul 22, 2012
364
180
Just activated my trial with little to know effort. No credit card or SSN check, only asks for your email and current phone number along with checking if you're on an eligible phone with an available eSIM.

They immediately try to compare network speeds between your active SIM and T-Mobile's. I'm getting 4x (320 Mbps) the speed with AT&T on 5GE versus T-Mobile's 5G (77.5 Mbps), but both are more than enough for my casual use case. Will be interesting to see if international calling/data is included in the trial. I'll get to test it out next week.
 

Mxbzz

macrumors 6502
Jul 22, 2012
364
180
Dumb question, as I've never used the e-sim alongside a regular sim at the same time. How does the phone know which data connection to use? I'm interested in trying this, as Verizon has become painfully slow the past 6 months in my area...
During the setup it will ask if you want to use your primary SIM or the eSIM as a default, with the option to fallback on the secondary when there isn't a good connection on your default.

Afterwards, you can switch between the two in your settings anytime you want.
 

tfresquezdxs

macrumors regular
May 21, 2019
122
182
East Coast, USA
Just activated my trial with little to know effort. No credit card or SSN check, only asks for your email and current phone number along with checking if you're on an eligible phone with an available eSIM.

They immediately try to compare network speeds between your active SIM and T-Mobile's. I'm getting 4x (320 Mbps) the speed with AT&T on 5GE versus T-Mobile's 5G (77.5 Mbps), but both are more than enough for my casual use case. Will be interesting to see if international calling/data is included in the trial. I'll get to test it out next week.
I'm not sure what you would be testing for internationally. Quality is gonna depend on the local provider's network (subject to T-Mobiles international throttling potentially) and also a lot of the carriers use the same partners. For instance, in Paris, ATT, TMOBILE AND VERIZON (sprint too at the time) all used Orange France.
 

kingtj1971

macrumors 6502
Feb 11, 2021
494
582
Alton, IL
Just activated my trial with little to know effort. No credit card or SSN check, only asks for your email and current phone number along with checking if you're on an eligible phone with an available eSIM.

They immediately try to compare network speeds between your active SIM and T-Mobile's. I'm getting 4x (320 Mbps) the speed with AT&T on 5GE versus T-Mobile's 5G (77.5 Mbps), but both are more than enough for my casual use case. Will be interesting to see if international calling/data is included in the trial. I'll get to test it out next week.

Right.... And what many people still don't quite grasp is that the 5G service has been made purposely confusing by all of the carriers. It's a combo of marketing and the reality that they've all got multiple "levels" of 5G service that are really dependent on the infrastructure at whatever exact location you're using the phone in.

For T-Mobile, you're not on the fastest possible type of 5G unless your phone is displaying "UC" next to the 5G indicator. For Verizon, they essentially have the same thing going on but they show "UW" next to their 5G for it. On AT&T, they show a "5G+" icon if you're on their faster 5G capable network. But the majority of the time with them, it will show "5Ge" which is primarily marketing because that's essentially the same thing as 4G LTE.
 

kalafalas

macrumors 6502a
Aug 26, 2008
633
1,877
California
I’m 3 weeks into my t-mobile test drive. Currently I’m with Verizon, and my partner is with AT&T but we are looking to merge. Just came back from a camping trip in rural California, was testing all three along the way in hopes to find the best one for the two of us and hopefully save some money.

I was very impressed with T-Mobiles 2.5ghz midband 5G. It seems if I had service, it was 5G UC all the way up 5 and various other highways and into the little town before the national park, pushing 100-300 mbps the whole time. It was very fast, although there were a few dead zones of just nothing here and there and once we started climbing mountains it was completely dead in the water, hopefully their partnership with Space X fills in this gap. In the city it works great with no real coverage problems.

Verizon still had the best coverage of the three, although it was mostly LTE, not even “nationwide 5G” but plenty fast, usually around 20-50mbps. I get C-Band in the Bay Area with 300-800mbps down, but once we left and got on the highway I didn’t see it again at all. Maybe that will change this December when they add more spectrum. The main win with Verizon is I didn’t see any dead spots along the way and even in the mountains almost all the way to the campsite maintained at least 1 bar of useable LTE for maps and texting/calling while the other two were dead. This is probably what’s going to keep me on Verizon despite the price, as we were able to find a bar here and there to check in with our cat sitter during the trip while the other two were no signal.

AT&T was the worst by a long shot. I was surprised because I knew my partners service was worse than mine in the city (slow speeds, many dead zones. Doesn’t even get signal on our street), but I expected it to be better than T-Mobile. The most dead spots of the three, both on the high ways and in the mountains. They don’t offer midband 5G at all right now, even in the city. Half the time on 5 it would show one bar of LTE or “5Ge” but would be unusable, couldn’t even load google, while the other two were happy. It did have a couple spots of useable service in the mountains where T-Mobile didn’t, but Verizon was always holding strongest.

All in all I’m very impressed with T-Mobile and how far they’ve come, especially with 5G speeds and surpassing AT&T’s coverage, at least in urban and rural Northern California. But I will be sticking with Verizon for the two of us due to best overall coverage despite the higher costs, but I do hope they can catch up with T-Mobile’s urban and suburban midband which is blazing fast and top of the 5G game right now.
 
Last edited:

Amazing Iceman

macrumors 603
Nov 8, 2008
5,242
3,987
Florida, U.S.A.
That's great! Also, last night I saw the offer: iPhone 13 on Us for 4 people. at around $25 per line... something like that. Not bad at all.

Hopefully they will not oversubscribe their service and ruin it for all of us.
 
  • Like
Reactions: max2

5105973

Cancelled
Sep 11, 2014
12,132
19,733
AT&T customer service has on many occasions been rude and obstructionist. That’s bad enough. But my goodness their coverage is the pits and I think it’s actually gotten worse in the last three years.

Verizon has a slightly similar trial offer going on through one of their sub companies.

These two carriers must smell AT&T’s blood in the water.
 

alexandr

macrumors 603
Nov 11, 2005
5,382
9,793
11201-121099
Dumb question, as I've never used the e-sim alongside a regular sim at the same time. How does the phone know which data connection to use? I'm interested in trying this, as Verizon has become painfully slow the past 6 months in my area...

Can I just say, "Hey use Verizon. Ok, now I want to try T-Mobile, use that instead" ?

I'm assuming it's not that granular...
In addition to what the above responder said, you can also designate which contacts use which plan, this is less related to data and more to calls, but still a very nice feature. And this BTW will work the same if you use dual e-sim.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jntdroid

alexandr

macrumors 603
Nov 11, 2005
5,382
9,793
11201-121099
AT&T customer service has on many occasions been rude and obstructionist. That’s bad enough. But my goodness their coverage is the pits and I think it’s actually gotten worse in the last three years.

Verizon has a slightly similar trial offer going on through one of their sub companies.

These two carriers must smell AT&T’s blood in the water.
Well T-Mo's customer service has gone downhill in the last few years, it's next to impossible to speak to someone who both speaks and understands English well...
 

rub3n

macrumors newbie
Feb 9, 2021
15
14
This is a great way to test out the T-Mobile network. When abroad I buy a prepaid data plan for the e-sim in my iPhone, its great. During the setup you have to choose a name for your physical and e-sim and then it asks which sim you want to use for data. Absolutely awesome to have such flexibility
 

jntdroid

macrumors 6502a
Oct 12, 2011
931
1,261
If only they had better coverage, at *any* bandwidth, in my area :-(

That's ultimately the risk/shortcoming with T-Mobile. Their coverage has improved, and their midband 5G has helped strengthen their weak areas, and made their strong areas excellent. But they still have a lot more square footage where there's simply zero service - not even a call or text could get through. And that's where Verizon still wins. Slower... but everywhere.
 

belvdr

macrumors 603
Aug 15, 2005
5,945
1,372
If only they had better coverage, at *any* bandwidth, in my area :-(
I recall when Sprint was one of the first with unlimited data. We switched to them and they were so slow, even with bars, that I remarked that I could download 24/7 for the entire month and not consume a few GB. Terrible service.
 
  • Like
Reactions: raybo

jntdroid

macrumors 6502a
Oct 12, 2011
931
1,261
I was very impressed with T-Mobiles 2.5ghz midband 5G. It seems if I had service, it was 5G UC all the way up 5 and various other highways and into the little town before the national park, pushing 100-300 mbps the whole time. It was very fast, although there were a few dead zones of just nothing here and there and once we started climbing mountains it was completely dead in the water, hopefully their partnership with Space X fills in this gap. In the city it works great with no real coverage problems.

Verizon still had the best coverage of the three, although it was mostly LTE, not even “nationwide 5G” but plenty fast, usually around 20-50mbps. I get C-Band in the Bay Area with 300-800mbps down, but once we left and got on the highway I didn’t see it again at all. Maybe that will change this December when they add more spectrum. The main win with Verizon is I didn’t see any dead spots along the way and even in the mountains almost all the way to the campsite maintained at least 1 bar of useable LTE for maps and texting/calling while the other two were dead. This is probably what’s going to keep me on Verizon despite the price, as we were able to find a bar here and there to check in with our cat sitter during the trip while the other two were no signal.

Even though I really don't need that type of coverage 90% of the time, it's that better overall coverage that has kept me on Verizon all of these years. Even when there's no data, you can almost always at least get a text or call through. We tried T-Mobile for a stint (mind you, this has been 2-3 years now), and my wife got a flat tire in one of those spots where there was literally no service. We've been back with Verizon since then... ;)

I'll also add that Verizon's prices are competitive with T-Mobile's now as well, depending on what you need.

All of that said... still might try this out given how easy it is, and if there's a significant difference, it might be worth trying T-Mobile again.
 

max2

macrumors 603
May 31, 2015
6,347
2,023
Even though I really don't need that type of coverage 90% of the time, it's that better overall coverage that has kept me on Verizon all of these years. Even when there's no data, you can almost always at least get a text or call through. We tried T-Mobile for a stint (mind you, this has been 2-3 years now), and my wife got a flat tire in one of those spots where there was literally no service. We've been back with Verizon since then... ;)

I'll also add that Verizon's prices are competitive with T-Mobile's now as well, depending on what you need.

All of that said... still might try this out given how easy it is, and if there's a significant difference, it might be worth trying T-Mobile again.
So coverage does not always mean 4g lte or 5g coverage for data ?

Only phone calls and text sometimes?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.