Many posts on carrier quality or speeds can be found by quickly browsing wireless carrier forums, help groups, and Reddit threads. Finding folks who dislike T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T networks is not difficult. I understand that forums are for that purpose, but the fact is that in this day and age you can fairly easily test out a different provider for free to determine whether it’s time to switch.
Additionally, AT&T’s Cricket Wireless will allow you to do the same if you want to test out their network. Verizon and T-Mobile both provide free network trials.There are nearly always multiple posts about carrier quality or speeds when browsing through wireless carrier forums, help groups, and Reddit discussions. People who dislike the T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T networks are easy to discover. I realize that’s what forums are for, but the truth is that these days you can quite easily test out a different provider for free to see whether it’s time to switch.
You can test out the networks of Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T’s Cricket Wireless for free, and all three companies provide these services.
T-Mobile was likely the first to setup their free trial with launch kicking off in September of last year. This is also arguably the best free trial, as it gives you access to their network for 90 days. That’s the longest of any carrier.
T-Mobile’s offer is 90 days of 5G service through their Network Pass. This appears to be data-only access, where you get to trial their 5G network for app use, web browsing, etc. and still use your other carrier’s phone for calls and texts. You get unlimited data during that time, but could see data slow at times if you use more than 50GB in a month.
How to sign-up for T-Mobile’s Network pass: To try T-Mobile’s 5G network for free, you will need a phone that has eSIM support. That’s basically any modern phone like your Pixel, Samsung, or iPhone. For reference here, a phone as old as the Pixel 3a has eSIM support. If you’ve purchased a phone any time in the last several years, the chances of it supporting eSIM are high.
If you have a supported phone, the next step is to download the T-Mobile app (Android, iOS). Once installed, you’ll open and find a “Sample the T-Mobile experience” area before clicking “Try T-Mobile.” From there, the app confirms your eligibility and that your phone is compatible. It’ll then run through the final steps to activating eSIM and activating data. The video below takes you through it.
