Please give us a hotspot (with service) that works.
I was thrilled when T-Mobile reintroduced an old favorite, Test Drive. A program where you can test T-Mobile's network for a set period of time for free. But that thrill quickly dampened just a few minutes after opening the package and trying the hotspot included in the box, The CoolPad Surf.
If at first you don't succeed, it's going to get worse.
Let me start with the first noticeable issue on the CoolPad Surf the back panel. At first, the removal of the back panel was practically impossible. It needs quite a bit of force to even get a small section open and you certainly didn't succeed the first time. Then after a few times of removing the back cover, It wouldn't snap on completely. This is the wrong image for potential customers to have with their first device on T-Mobile. Especially when that device has a big old T-Mobile logo on it. How can they build and sell a good network if they can't even build and sell a hotspot with a proper back cover?
Other than the back cover the device, in general, has a feeling of cheap. Many other hotspots are also cheap-feeling plastic but this wouldn't be the first hotspot I recommend. Not being able to recommend it seems to be in common with other T-Mobile customers who have purchased the Surf. Customers' opinions show strongly in the reviews leaving it with only a 2.6-star rating on T-Mobile's website. I understand that T-Mobile would need a way to get rid of all these unliked hotspots but maybe giving them free to POTENTIAL customers to test their service and decide if they want to switch isn't the best idea.
The reason I make a big stink about the hotspot isn't only because it's one of the first impressions prospective customers get with the T-Mobile Test Drive kit, but it's also a product on sale for normal T-Mobile customers for $72. Yeah, that's right $72 for a hotspot that has some quality control issues. Though good news for all T-Mobile customers the hotspot is out of stock now on t-mobile.com so there is little chance of getting stuck with one.
Did you put the sim card in?
Yes. I did.
What else isn't a good idea, not having the service work. After setting up the hotspot I ran into yet another problem. The words "Internet may not be available" were displayed underneath the hotspot name in my wifi settings page. I tried turning it off and back on, nothing. I tried removing and reinserting both the battery and sim card, still nothing. None of the typically troubleshooting attempts worked. So I contacted T-Mobile through their Twitter Support Team. Surprise here they can't help you, instead, you have to call a specific team that handles the Test Drive units. This is a bit of a surprise for me since T-Mobile focuses on things like their team of experts and what not. Having any form of customer service be able to help with test drive would have in my opinion showed how T-Mobile excels in making the customer service experience easy and assessable. If you need to reach the Test Drive line yourself the number is 1 833 - 866 - 4839.
The phone call wasn't that bad aside from insultingly being asked if I put the sim card in the unit many times. Followed by is it in correctly many times. After pulling up my order though the lady on the other end said that it had not been activated, after she activated it for me she told me to wait another 2 hours and it should be up and running.
2 hours turn to 24 turns then to 48.
I waited 2 hours as the customer service rep told me to, but nothing happened. I tried a reset, including taking the battery and sim card out of the device. Still, nothing happened. Since it was later at night I decided to leave it on and wait till the next morning to see if the activation took longer than normal. The next morning turned into the next and still no service on with my hotspot 48 hours after the representative told me she had activated it. Which now makes it's up to 4 days that I have had the Test Drive kit and have not gotten a single day's worth of use out of it.
Worst for T-Mobile, I'm not the only one.
After seeing a post on my timeline of someone describing a similar issue of activation I decided to search "T-Mobile Test Drive" on Twitter to see what others were experiencing, which was more of the same. Quite a few people were complaining about activation. Let me point out that it was not everyone some people were having a perfectly fine experience with their Test Drive devices but there were too many people complaining to make me feel like it's an isolated issue
There is also some more complaints on support.t-mobile.com:
T-Mobile, this is exactly what you don't want happening to prospective consumers. And while I can't say it has anything to do with the hotspot itself I'm sure you can tell what I'm thinking.
To T-Mobile please fix this issue and make sure it runs smoothly before allowing more people to experience the same thing I have, and if anybody from T-Mobile would like to help me my email is open as always (contact@unnamedreview.com). I would love to be able to report positively on this program because it's something I believe every carrier should do but I just can't when the experience I had doesn't in my opinion match T Mobile as a company. If I do get my Test Drive unit up and running i'll defiantly have a full final review up, follow my twitter @unnamedreview for more updates.
(Update 9-8-19)
More Tweets about activation issues for the people who said there weren't a lot.