Using T-Mobile Test Drive

[ylrkdr]

T-Mobile has supposedly expanded their Home Internet coverage, so in order to see if I can actually get T-M service here, I signed up for their Test Drive 30 day trial. They are supposed to send a hotspot with a sim card; I wonder if there's a way to take that sim, and install it in the MOFI?(probably not, but worth a shot).

[Dbfit89]

Cool! I just signed up too. I was planning on signing up with them anyway. Hope it works! Thanks for sharing

[ylrkdr]

I'm kinda guarded on whether T-Mobile's Rural Internet gateway will work here; there seems to be no antenna connectors on the device, and I'm 99% sure I'll need something to help the signal. T-M claims I can get 5G here(yeah, right).

It'll be interesting what the free trial hotspot will do. Saw this on the support page(but not the faq): Trial SIMs are locked to the Franklin T9 Mobile Hotspot; they won't work with other devices.

So no MOFI.

[Dr-BroadBand]

You are correct. SIM is locked to T9

But you will be able to see if you can get a signal. That is what I did to give hope to start my quest on 4G internet.
There are three types of 5G. TM has band n71 which is more like 4G+ (600MHz) could work for you.

[thejohnfist]

I ordered one of these recently as well, thinking of dropping AT&T since service is troublesome now. (whole thread about it, won't hijack here lol)

[hitcow]

So the trial SIM is locked to the Franklin. Does anyone know if the actual plans sim is locked to the TM-RTL0102
LTE WiFi Gateway?

https://www.t-mobile.com/support/public ... 0Guide.pdf

[ylrkdr]

So the trial SIM is locked to the Franklin. Does anyone know if the actual plans sim is locked to the TM-RTL0102
LTE WiFi Gateway?

https://www.t-mobile.com/support/public ... 0Guide.pdf

From TMO's website

Does T-Mobile allow customers to use non- T-Mobile devices and applications for its Broadband Internet Access Services?

T-Mobile customers may use any compatible GSM, UMTS, LTE, or 5G device, such as a tablet or smartphone, to access our Broadband Internet Access Services, as long as they do not cause harm to our network.

I'd say "probably not". First, I need to figure out if the T9 will work.

[frznfngrs]

I just signed up as well. I have a mofi4500 with external antenna on the roof however I do have pretty close access to the tower so I will be curious to see how their gateway performs. If its able to access frequencies my mofi cant.

[mripper]

I have the Franklin T9, just arrived. The speed is incredibly slow, like 0.1mbs, anyone aware if they throttle speed for the test drive?

[Dbfit89]

FYI- I attempted to put the sim from the test drive in my MoFi and initially I got great speeds, but then it got blocked

[Kicoman]

Tmobile is pushing LTE plus as 5g in areas not served by millimeter wave equipment. But it's not 5G

[ylrkdr]

Got mine today. I have to use the cell phone booster and use 5G band wifi to get it to work, but I'm getting 7 down, about 1 up. In case you want to know, the T9 uses a 9207 LTE Modem, which is cat 1.

It says though, I only have 20GB to play with. Will see how it does with connectivity over the next few days.

Ping is around 70, and Speedtest routes the connection to Denver, for some reason.

Update: 9 down, 2 up.

[Dr-BroadBand]

You may want to see if T-Mobile Home Internet is available for your location.

https://www.t-mobile.com/isp

[ylrkdr]

You may want to see if T-Mobile Home Internet is available for your location.

https://www.t-mobile.com/isp

The purpose of the test drive is to see if I could even get TMO service here; The closest tower is 6 miles away. Not sure if that's the tower I'm getting data from; the Franklin doesn't provide cell tower info on the web interface. My cell booster w/standard HiBoost Yagi antenna is pointed about 90 degrees away from that tower. I'm still running everything else off my AT&T account, and need those antennas to point to the tower where I get my best signal from(13 miles away).

As for TMO home internet, I'll inquire about it when I go to the TMO store to return the hotspot.(Oddly enough, they don't tell you up front how to return the unit, I had to dig up this info as well). The thing about their internet hotspot, although it does come with a cat 12 modem, there's no antenna ports on it. If TMO will allow me to use their sim into a device of my choosing(I would probably have to build something with a EM7411, and sell the MOFI). I'll also have to move and reposition my antennas, too, as the roof on my house is in the way.

As for performance, it's about the same as when I had the AT&T sim installed into an M1 Nighthawk, using the cell booster only. About 2-4 down average. I'm guessing the faster speeds reported previously were more of an anomaly.

[Dr-BroadBand]

I also did a TM Test Drive, I think you get to keep the hardware!
This is what I found on the internet, so it must be true.

Do you have to return test drive tmobile?

T-Mobile is amping one of its original Un-carrier movies — Test Drive — to give everyone a chance to try the Un-carrier's expanded LTE network, which reaches further than ever before. ... After 30-days or 30GB of data, whichever comes first, you can return the device to any T-Mobile store or pass it on to a friend.

[hitcow]

Well I received my actual home internet modem today. Speed was solid at first 25/4 but then with 5 minutes dropped to 3/1. Spent some time with tech support on the phone and they couldn't figure it out either as they agreed that it shouldn't be dropping like that. Have elevated call with next level tech support later this week. Wish me luck.

[dogdragon]

What exactly is the point of the test drive, besides just seeing if you can get service? I got mine a week or so ago, and it's pretty unusable inside my trailer (I assume limitations of the device itself) but it's okay outside (like 6-8mbps). Probably with a better modem and outdoor antennas, it would be usable service here. But, does this information feed back to T-Mobile? Like does this help them decide if my area/address is a potential candidate for home internet? Like should I go keep it outside so it keeps reading decent speeds constantly, for T-Mobile's data collecting? Hah.

[ylrkdr]

Turned in my hotspot; no point in trying to see if I can get TMO internet, since the sim is stuck to their device, which has no external antenna ports.

[Poorguyyy]

Turned in my hotspot; no point in trying to see if I can get TMO internet, since the sim is stuck to their device, which has no external antenna ports.

Have you tried calling Tmo customer service to see if they can allow you to switch device?

[ylrkdr]

Have you tried calling Tmo customer service to see if they can allow you to switch device?

I have not; I have read somewhere(either here or Reddit, I can't recall) that the sim stays with the device. I have seen mods to the device where you can add antenna ports to the side, but how much would TMO ding you if/when you returned it?

Not a fan of the hard credit check TMO does, either.

If I did get TMO, more than likely I would have to (1) mod the hotspot to accept antennas, and (2) move the antennas so they could point to TMO's tower.

At this moment, the ebay sim reseller I have my AT&T service with has been good so far; been using it for 7 months at an avg. of 700GB/mo. for $65/mo., no interruptions in service aside from AT&T's transparent proxy crap. Speeds have averaged overall in the upper teens. At some point in the future, I may put in a "swwifty-style" external modem setup on an tower away from the house, but that's $$$$.