After appearing to have been put on hold for a few months, T-Mobile has brought back its Test Drive program and given it a new device.

T-Mobile’s Test Drive is available once again, as spotted by Reddit users this week, letting non-T-Mo customers try out the T-Mobile network free of charge. When the program was refreshed last year, T-Mo gave test drivers a free Coolpad Surf mobile hotspot, but now its handing out free Franklin T9 hotspot devices.

The Franklin T9 is a mobile hotspot with a small display to show signal strength, number of devices connected, battery level, and more. It supports up to 15 connections at once, has a 2450mAh battery that’s rated to last 8 hours on a single charge, and includes support for LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 12, 25, 26, 41, 66, and 71.

The Test Drive program is open to non-T-Mobile customers who haven’t already taken a Test Drive in the past 6 months. It’s free to participate, and when you sign up, T-Mo will send you a Franklin T9 hotspot with up to 30GB of data for up to 30 days. Once you’re done, you can turn in the hotspot at a T-Mobile store or pass it on to a friend.

It’s not known why the Test Drive program was put on hold, but the coronavirus pandemic may have played a part in that move. It’s good to see Test Drive make a return, though, because it’s an easy way for anyone thinking about switching to T-Mobile to see what the network is really like in their area. Not only is it free, but the mobile hotspot allows them to keep using their current phone and phone number while they take T-Mo’s network for a test drive.

Source: T-Mobile